Yasuji Okamura Biography . Early life . Born in Tokyo in 1884 , Okamura enrolled in Sakamachi Elementary School and graduated eight years later . In 1897 , he entered Waseda Junior High School . In 1898 , he was transferred to Tokyo Junior Army School , and was transferred to Army Central Junior School later . Okamura entered the 16th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1899 and graduated in 1904 . His classmates included the future generals Itagaki Seishiro , Kenji Doihara and Ando Rikichi . He was commissioned a lieutenant in the IJA 1st Infantry Regiment . In 1910 , Okamura entered the 25th class of the Army War College , and was promoted to captain soon after graduation in 1913 . He served in a number of staff positions on the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff during and after World War I . He moved briefly to China in the early 1920s , and served as a military advisor to a Chinese warlord . From 1932 to 1933 , Okamura was Vice chief - of - staff of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army under the aegis of the Kwantung Army . According to Okamura ' s own memoirs , he played a role in the recruitment of comfort women from Nagasaki prefecture to serve in military brothels in Shanghai . He also served as military attaché to Manchukuo from 1933 - 1934 . Okamura was promoted to lieutenant general in 1936 , and assigned command of the IJA 2nd Division . Second Sino - Japanese War . In 1938 , a year after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident , Okamura was assigned as the commander in chief of the Japanese Eleventh Army , which participated in numerous major engagements in the Second Sino - Japanese War , notably the Battles of Wuhan , Nanchang and Changsha . According to historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno , Okamura was authorized by Emperor Showa to use chemical weapons during those battles . In April 1940 , Okamura was promoted to the rank of full general . In July 1941 , he was appointed the commander - in - chief of the Northern China Area Army . In December 1941 , Okamura received Imperial General Headquarters Order Number 575 authorizing the implementation of the Three Alls Policy in north China , aimed primarily at breaking the Chinese Red Army . According to historian Mitsuyoshi Himeta , the scorched earth campaign was responsible for the deaths of " more than 2 . 7 million " Chinese civilians . In 1944 , Okamura was overall commander of the massive and largely successful Operation Ichigo against airfields in southern China , while retaining personal command of the Japanese Sixth Area Army . A few months later , he was appointed the commander - in - chief of the China Expeditionary Army . As late as January 1945 , Okamura was still confident of the victory of Japan in China . With the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 , Okamura represented the Imperial Japanese Army in the China Burma India Theater official surrender ceremony held at Nanjing on 9 September 1945 . General Okamura is the first confirmed officer in the Japanese army who instituted forced prostitution . Widely known as the system of " comfort women " . His order can be traced back to 1932 with documentation of Japanese Lieutenant - General Okamura Yasuji ’ s proposal for a “ shipment ” of comfort women to be sent to Shanghai . Postwar life . After the war , Okamura was convicted for war crimes in July 1948 by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal but was immediately protected by the personal order of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai - shek , who retained him as a military adviser for the Nationalist Government ( China ) . While he was questioned by the investigators , he testified about the Nanking massacre : Okamura returned to Japan in 1949 and died in 1966 .