Who was the highest commander of the German military during World War II?
Axis leaders of World War II
Hirohito (posthumously known as Emperor Shōwa) was the Emperor from 1926 until his death in 1989. He was viewed as a semi-divine leader. He was Commander of the Imperial General Headquarters from 1937 to 1945 and authorized in 1936, by imperial decree, the expansion of Shiro Ishii's bacteriological research unit,[1] while, according to some authors, assuming control over the use of chemical and bacteriological weapons.[2] His generals took the full blame and he was exonerated from criminal prosecution, with all members of the imperial family, by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP).
Fumimaro Konoe was prime minister from 1937 to 1939 and 1940 until 1941. Konoe authorized the publications of Kokutai no Hongi (1937) and Shinmin no Michi (1941). He joined the military to recommended to emperor Shōwa the invasion of China and launched the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement, the League of Diet Members Believing the Objectives of the Holy War and the Taisei Yokusankai to promote a total war effort. Konoe was opposed to war with the Occidental powers. During the occupation of Japan, he refused to collaborate with the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers to exonerate Hirohito and the imperial family of criminal responsibility and came under suspicion of war crimes. He committed suicide in 1945.
Hiranuma Kiichirō was prime minister from 5 January 1939 to 30 August 1939. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Nobuyuki Abe was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, Governor-General of Korea, and Prime Minister of Japan from 30 August 1939 to 16 January 1940.
Mitsumasa Yonai was prime minister in 1940 and minister of the Navy from 1937 to 1939 and 1944 to 1945. During his second mandate as Navy minister, the Imperial Japanese Navy implemented the tokkōtai or suicide units against the Allied fleet. He cooperated with SCAP to fix the testimony of the senior officers accused in the Tokyo trials and was exonerated from criminal prosecutions.
Hideki Tojo was Supreme Military Leader from 1936 until 1944 and prime minister from 1941 until 1944. He was a strong supporter of the Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany and Italy. Minister of War in the second cabinet of Fumimaro Konoe, he was chosen as prime minister by the emperor in October 1941. He was a main proponent of the war against the Occidental powers. Tojo strengthened the Taisei Yokusankai to create a single-party state. He was demoted in July 1944 by the emperor, following the Battle of Saipan and condemned to death by the Tokyo tribunal and executed.
Kuniaki Koiso was a senior army general who served as prime minister from July 1944 to April 1945.
Kantarō Suzuki was an admiral who served as prime minister from April to August 1945.  He agreed to Japan's surrender to the Allies on August 15, 1945.
Sadao Araki was Minister of the Army from 1931 to 1933 and Education Minister from 1938 to 1939. Araki was one of the main proponents of militarism and expansionism during the Shōwa era. He developed the fascist ideas of the Kōdōha and led the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement to promote the Holy war against China. After the war Araki was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment but was released in 1955 with all the other major convicts.
Kotohito Kanin was Chief of Staff of the Army from 1931 to 1940. During his mandate, the Army committed the Nanking massacre and regularly used chemical weapons in China. Kan'in was one of the main proponents of State Shinto. He died before the end of the war.
Hajime Sugiyama was Minister of the Army from 1937 to 1938, then chief of staff from 1940 to 1944. During this period, the Army kept using chemical weapons and implemented the sanko sakusen. He committed suicide in 1945.
Hisaichi Terauchi was a Marshal in the Imperial Japanese Army and the Commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group from 1941 to 1945, overseeing all IJA operations across South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific. He surrendered at the end of the war and died of a stroke in 1946, while a prisoner of war.
Masaharu Homma was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army, most noted for his victory in conquering the Philippines in the Philippines Campaign.
Yoshijirō Umezu was Commander of the Kwantung Army from 1939 to 1944, and was the Chief of Staff of the Army from 1944 to 1945. He was sentenced by the Tokyo Tribunal to life imprisonment in 1948, and died of cancer in prison the following year.
Otozō Yamada was the final Commander of the Kwantung Army from 1944 to 1945. Taken prisoner in Manchuria by the Red Army at the end of the war, he was sentenced at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials to 25 years in a Soviet labor camp for war crimes primarily related to the activities of Unit 731, but was released in 1956 and repatriated to Japan.
Tomoyuki Yamashita was lieutenant-general of the Japanese Imperial Army from 1905 to 1945. He was most famous for conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, earning the nickname "The Tiger of Malaya". He was hanged on 23 February 1946.
Hiroyasu Fushimi was Chief of Staff of the Navy from 1932 to 1941. Starting in 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service implemented strategic bombing of Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou. He was exonerated from criminal prosecutions with all members of the imperial family by SCAP.
Osami Nagano was Chief of Staff of the Navy from 1941 to 1944. During this period, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service committed the attack of Pearl Harbor and the strategic bombing of Chongqing. He was tried before the Tokyo tribunal but died in prison before his sentence was carried out.
Isoroku Yamamoto was Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1939 to 1943 and was responsible for Japan's early naval victories, including the attack on Pearl Harbor. Considered the most brilliant Japanese naval commander of the war, his death in 1943 deprived the military of a skilled tactician and was a severe blow to Japanese morale.
Jisaburō Ozawa was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, commander of the Japanese forces in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. He was the last commander-in-chief of the Japanese fleet.
Tadamichi Kuribayashi was commander of the Japanese forces who was killed at the battle of Iwo Jima.
Isamu Yokoyama was commander of Japanese forces in China.
Shigeyoshi Inoue was commander of the Japanese forces at the Battle of the Coral Sea
Iwane Matsui
Prince Yasuhiko Asaka