Masao Baba

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Masao Baba (January 7, 1892 – August 7, 1947) was a Japanese army general who led the ground forces in the Borneo Campaign at the end of World War II and served as military governor of Sabah.

He was born in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, the son of a career army officer. From a young age he attended military preparatory schools and joined the Army Cadet School in Hiroshima. He graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1912, specializing in cavalry, and later from the Army War College in 1921. Baba spent his career in the cavalry, working as an instructor and holding various regimental and brigade commands.

In 1935 he became a colonel and led the IJA 2nd Cavalry Regiment, then commanded the IJA 3rd Cavalry Brigade from 1938 to 1939. He was promoted to major general in 1938 and to lieutenant general in 1941. During the early years of World War II he commanded the IJA 53rd Division until 1943, then took charge of the IJA 4th Division in Sumatra. Later he was the commander-in-chief of the IJA 37th Army based in Borneo and served as military governor of Sabah from late 1944 until Japan’s surrender in September 1945.

After Japan’s defeat, Baba handed over his sword to Australian General George Wootten at Labuan on September 10, 1945, and was discharged from the army in April 1946. In January 1947 he was arrested on suspicion of war crimes and brought to Rabaul for trial. He was charged with responsibility for the Sandakan Death Marches, where many prisoners of war died, and evidence suggested he knew of the prisoners’ weakened condition but still ordered the second march. The trial began in May 1947, and he was sentenced to death in June. Baba was executed by hanging on August 7, 1947, in Rabaul.