List of military attachés in World War I

The functions of a military attaché are illustrated by the American military attachés in Japan during the war years. A series of military officers had been assigned to the American diplomatic mission in Tokyo since 1901 when the US and Japan were co-operating closely in response to the Boxer Rebellion in China. The military attaché advised the United States Ambassador to Japan on military matters, acted as a liaison between US Army and the Imperial General Headquarters, and gathered and disseminated intelligence. The military attaché's office in Tokyo usually had two assistants and a number of "language officers" who were assigned specifically to learn Japanese whilst attached to Japanese Imperial Army regiments as observers. These "language officers" translated training and technical manuals and reported on conditions in Japanese military units.^[1]

Selected military attachés serving with Entente powers

Russia

Nakajima Masatake, Japan (1915).^[2]
Mitsumasa Yonai, Japan (1915).^[3]
Vidkun Quisling, Norway (1918).

France

James Collins, US (1917).^[4]^: 154

United Kingdom

Arne Dagfin Dahl, Norway (1916-1919).^[5]
Teijiro Toyoda, Japan (1914).^[6]
Nicholas Alexandrovich Wolkoff, Russia (1913-1919)

United States

Lieutenant Colonel Karl F. Baldwin, Japan (1917–1919).^[7]
Lieutenant Colonel Halsey E. Yates, Romania (1916-1920).^{[citation needed]}
Lieutenant Colonel James A. Ruggles, Russia (1918).^[8]

Japan

Kichisaburo Nomura, Japan (1914–1918).^[6]
Major-General Katsusugu Iouye, Japan (1917–1919); awarded Distinguished Service Medal.^[9]
Lieutenant Colonel T. Mizumachi, Japan (1917–1919); awarded Distinguished Service Medal.^[9]
Captain Hsiao Watari, Japan (1917–1919); awarded Distinguished Service Medal.^[9]

Belgium

Arne Dagfin Dahl, Norway (1917-1919).^[5]

Selected military attachés serving with Central powers

Germany

Joseph E. Kuhn, US (1915–1916).^[10]

Ottoman Empire

Lt. Col. R.H. Williams

Notes

^ Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London: US Military Intelligence Reports, Japan, Context
^ Savliev, Igor; Pestushko, Yuri S. (2001). "Dangerous Rapprochement Russia and Japan in the First World War, 1914-1916". Acta Salvica Iaponica. 18 (19–41): 26n33 – via Central and Eastern European Online Library.
^ "Mitsumasa Yonai". WW2DB. WWII Database.
^ Venzon, Anne Cipriano; Miles, Paul L.; Publishing, Garland (1995). The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-8240-7055-7.
^ ^a ^b Barth, Bjarne Keyser, ed. (1930). "Dahl, A. D.". Norges militære embedsmenn 1929 (in Norwegian). Oslo: A. M. Hanche. p. 103.
^ ^a ^b Japan Center for Asian Historical Records: "US-Japan War Talks," key figures.
^ Stringer, p. 435.
^ "Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1918, Russia, Volume I - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov.
^ ^a ^b ^c Stringer, p. 466.
^ Venzon, p. 318.

References

Kepplinger, Hans Mathias; Brosius, Hans-Bernd; Staab, Joachim Friedrich (September 1991). "Instrumental Actualization: A Theory of Mediated Conflicts". European Journal of Communication. 6 (3): 263–290. doi:10.1177/0267323191006003002. ISSN 0020-2754. JSTOR 3650646. S2CID 145150113.
Strachan, Hew (2001). The First World War: To Arms. Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926191-8.
Stringer, Harry R. (1919). Heroes All!: A Compendium of the Names and Official Citations of the Soldiers and Citizens of the United States and of Her Allies who Were Decorated by the American Government for Exceptional Heroism and Conspicuous Service Above and Beyond the Call of Duty in the War with Germany, 1917-1919. Fassett Publishing Company. OCLC 394536.