thumb {{nihongo|'''Tei Monzen'''{{efn|[https://www.metsoc.jp/tenki/pdf/1977/1977_06_0299.pdf K.Hidaka(日高孝次）June.1977 "Kaisōroku"（回想録)P308][https://www.metsoc.jp/tenki/index_tenki.php Meteorological Society of Japan『天気』（Tenki) Vol.24 No.6] writes his first name with Furigana as "Kanae"（かなえ）.}}|門前 鼎}} was a vice admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, posthumously promoted to that rank. He was from Fukui.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.niehorster.org/014_japan/Etajima_Classes/etajima_042.html|title=Etajima Class No. 42, Imperial Japanese Navy, World War II}}</ref>
He was a graduate of the Etajima Naval Academy, Class 42, on 12 December 1914.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.niehorster.org/014_japan/Etajima_Classes/etajima_042.html|title = Etajima Class No. 42, Imperial Japanese Navy, World War II}}</ref>
== Assignments == On 10 March 1934, Commander Monzen Tei was appointed Commanding Officer of the IJN River Gunboat ''Atami''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Atami_t.htm|title = Japanese Gunboats}}</ref>
On 15 December 1938, Captain Monzen Tei (former executive officer of IJN ''Hyūga'') was appointed Commanding Officer of IJN icebreaker ''Odomari''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.combinedfleet.com/Odomari_t.htm|title=Japanese Icebreakers}}</ref>
When 11,000 U.S. Marines came ashore at Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 in Operation Watchtower,<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, “History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume 5, The Struggle for Guadalcanal August 1942 - February 1943,” Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1948, 1989, page 15.</ref> the 2,571 Japanese construction troops and 400 soldiers assigned to defend the area were under the command of Captain Tei Monzen.<ref>Watson, Patrick, “Watson’s Really Big WWII Almanac, Volume II: July to December,” Xlibris Corporation, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-4257-8994-7}}, page 144.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHb_geGUpFcC&q=admiral+tei+monzen&pg=PA144 |title = Watson's Really Big WWII Almanac|isbn = 9781425789930|last1 = Watson|first1 = Patrick|year = 2007}}</ref>
:”A remarkable amount of work had been done at the airfield in just one month. Japanese Navy Captain Tei Monzen, who was in charge of the project, was so pleased with the progress that he had ordered an extra, celebratory sake ration for the construction workers during the night of August 6, hours before the Marines landed.”<ref>Whelan, Joseph, “Midnight in the Pacific: Guadalcanal - The World War II Battle That Turned The Tide of War,”, Da Capo Press, an imprint of Perseus Books, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., Boston, 2017, {{ISBN|978-0-306-82459-3}}, August Part I: Marine Invasion and Naval Disaster.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RirDQAAQBAJ&q=tei+monzen&pg=PT49 |title = Midnight in the Pacific: Guadalcanal--The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War|isbn = 9780306824609|last1 = Wheelan|first1 = Joseph|date = August 2017}}</ref>
:“The field was nearly finished. Repair shops, bomb sheds, a fine medical clinic, and a pagodalike administration building were ready; only a small middle section of the runway remained to be graded. Around the field a criss-cross of serviceable roads connected the positions of the 400-man force assigned to defend the base.
:”It was time for a small celebration. On the evening of August 6, Monzen ordered an extra ration of sake for all hands, and it was announced that thanks to their industry and patriotism, planes would start landing in a few days.”<ref>Lord, Walter, “Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons,” 1977; Reprint by U.S. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2006, {{ISBN|1591144663}}; Kindle edition, Bluejacket Books, Open Road Integrated Media, New York, 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fv5RaDrEMIgC&q=monzen+tei&pg=PT57 |title = Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons|isbn = 9781453238493|last1 = Lord|first1 = Walter|date = 2012-03-06}}</ref>
The landing of the Marines put paid to these expectations.
Monzen was assigned with the Maizuru Submarine Base Unit, 1 October 1943 - 20 May 1944.{{Fact|date=November 2019}} == Death == He was killed in action 9 June 1944 with the 3rd Convoy HQ.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.niehorster.org/014_japan/Etajima_Classes/etajima_042.html|title = Etajima Class No. 42, Imperial Japanese Navy, World War II}}</ref> His posthumous promotion to vice admiral was effective this date.
The Japanese Dōmei news agency reported on 22 September 1944 that he had “died in action” but gave no details.
The dispatch, recorded by a Federal Communications Commission monitor, said that the Yokosuka naval station, near Tokyo, had listed him as a fatality.<ref>United Press, “Five More Jap Admirals Said Killed ‘in Action’”, ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Saturday 23 September 1944, Volume 51, page 2.</ref>
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Monzen, Tei}} Category:1944 deaths Category:Japanese admirals of World War II Category:Imperial Japanese Navy personnel killed in World War II