Toshinari Shōji

nihongo|Toshinari Shōji, also known as Toshishige Shoji

Shōji was promoted to rank of colonel on August 1, 1939. Beginning in 1941, he commanded the Imperial Japanese Army 230th Infantry Regiment, sometimes called the Shōji Detachment, There, his unit captured an airfield on the day of his landing in the Battle of Kalijati and later launched a successful gamble to break through Dutch fortifications surrounding Bandung in the Battle of Tjiater Pass, leading to the Dutch capitulation.

In October 1942, he and his regiment were deployed to Guadalcanal as part of the strategically significant Guadalcanal campaign. After participating to a minor degree in the Battle for Henderson Field, Shōji's regiment took heavy losses in the Koli Point action, Carlson's patrol, and Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse.

Surviving the Japanese defeat in the campaign and withdrawal from Guadalcanal, Shōji was promoted to major general in March 1944. After his return to the Japanese home islands in 1945, he was appointed commander of the Sendai Area Command under the Japanese Fifth Area Army in the final stages of World War II. He died in December 1974.