Ozawa Jizaburo, Vice-Admiral

Ozawa Jizaburo, Vice-Admiral (1886–1963),Japanese naval officer who in May 1945 succeeded Toyoda as the last C-in-C of the Japanese Combined Fleet. ‘A first class fighting admiral, and the Navy's foremost tactician’ ( A. Marder, Old Friends, New Enemies: Vol.1, Oxford, 1981, p. 445), he commanded the Malaya Force (Southern Expeditionary Fleet) which covered the Japanese landings at the start of the Malayan campaign. He was an early supporter of naval air power and it was the aircraft under his operational control which sank Force Z, the Prince of Wales and Repulse, off the Malayan coast on 10 December 1941. He used the aircraft at his disposal to equally good effect during the conquest of Netherlands East Indies and in KondōIndian Ocean raid in April 1942. He commanded the First Mobile Fleet during the battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 and also played a critical role in the Leyte Gulf battle in October 1944 when his carriers successfully lured Halsey's Third Fleet away from protecting the US invasion beaches on Leyte.

Ozawa was a modest man who said little but did not hesitate to speak out if he thought it right. He took no pleasure in the sinking of Force Z, had no interest in glory, and refused promotion to admiral on the grounds that serving his country was more important than rank.