Figure 1.--This horrifying image shows an unidentified victim of Unit 731 as part of a test of a killing agent atthe Unit's proving grounds. We are not sure what is being done here. We suspect the unufortunate victim is bing hosed down with a neutraling fluids so ne can be safely taken back to the unit and discected by Japanese doctors to determin the impct on various organs and bodily processes.

Japanese medical units in Manchuria experimented with biological warfare. The Japanese work was conducted at Unit 731. This was a sprawling secret 6 kilometer-square complex on the outskirts of Harbin--the capital of the rich agricultural and coal region of Hailongjiang Province in what was known as Manchuko at the time (Japanese occupied Manchuria). The commander of the Unit was Shiro Ishii. The Unit focused on developing biological weapons, but was not limited to this area. There were tests on other weapons systems as well as work on how injured Japanese soldiers could best be treated. The Japanese researchers at Unit 731 are believed to have killed large numbers of individuals they used for their experimentation. The numbers killed are not known with any precision, but may have totaled as many as 0.2 million civilians and military POWs. Most of the individuals used for the experiments were Chinese and Korean nationals, primarily because they were the people most accessible. People selected for these experiments included children. Some Pacific Islanders as well as Allied POWs were used in the experiments. Most of those inflected for the experiments died or were killed. Some 0.1 million people may have survived. One historian writes, “These scientists had a weird sense of humor. They referred to their victims as “matures”, which, loosely translated, is logs, and that’s how they thought about them, as pieces of wood, not as humans. They could cut them up; they could burn them in a fireplace… If they ran short of candidates, the secret police would just literally sweep the streets of the city and pick up enough candidates for the lab.” [Harris] The experiments included amputations, germ warfare tests, explosive weapons testing, and other horrors to advance the Japanese war effort. Subjects at the Unit were subjected to vivisection--dissected alive without anesthetic. Apparently the Japanese army doctors believed that this method produced the highest quality organs. There were also reports of cremations of live subjects after the experiments were completed. More than 400 villagers died of bubonic plague in China's eastern Zhejiang province during September 1942. Japanese planes with bombs prepared by medical Unit 731 dropped germ bombs. The Unit is known to have introduced typhus into the water supply flowing into Manchuria. Unit 731 was active until the Soviet Union entered the war by invading Japanese-occupied Manchuria (August 1945). The Japanese planned to the Unit 731 weapons against the American soldiers in the Pacific theater when the Americans invaded the Home Islands. There were also plans to deliver disease-carrying balloon bombs to the United States. They also had a pln to use kamikaze pilots to dump plague-infected fleas over San Diego. [Beevor] Unit commander Ishii and most of his staff escaped back to Japan when the Soviets invaded. Ishii was apparently protected by American military officials in exchange for the data he collected. (This was a secret arrangement and it unclear how much the officers masking the deal knew about Unit 731 or how high up the chain of command the decision went.) The Chinese and Soviets managed to arrest and prosecute about a dozen members of he staff each. China has turned the buildings into a museum as a memorial to the people killed there.

Reserach Units

Japanese medical units in Manchuria experimented with biological warfare. This was primarily Unit 731. There was also a pallell nfacility -- Unit 1644.

Unit 731

The Japanese work was conducted at Unit 731. This was a sprawling secret 6 kilometer-square complex on the outskirts of Harbin--the capital of the rich agricultural and coal region of Hailongjiang Province in what was known as Manchuko at the time (Japanese occupied Manchuria). The commander of the Unit was Shiro Ishii. The Unit focused on developing biological weapons, but was not limited to this area. There were tests on other weapons systems as well as work on how injured Japanese soldiers could best be treated. The Japanese researchers at Unit 731 are believed to have killed large numbers of individuals they used for their experimentation.

Unit 1644

Tests

More than 400 villagers died of bubonic plague in China's eastern Zhejiang province during September 1942. Japanese planes with bombs prepared by medical Unit 731 dropped germ bombs. The Unit is known to have introduced typhus into the water supply flowing into Manchuria.

Victims

The numbers of people killed with the agenbts develoed are not known with any precision, but may have totaled as many as 0.2 million civilians and military POWs. Most of the individuals used for the experiments were Chinese and Korean nationals, primarily because they were the people most accessible. People selected for these experiments included children. Some Pacific Islanders as well as Allied POWs were used in the experiments. Most of those inflected for the experiments died or were killed. Some 0.1 million people may have survived. One historian writes, “These scientists had a weird sense of humor. They referred to their victims as “matures”, which, loosely translated, is logs, and that’s how they thought about them, as pieces of wood, not as humans. They could cut them up; they could burn them in a fireplace… If they ran short of candidates, the secret police would just literally sweep the streets of the city and pick up enough candidates for the lab.” [Harris] The experiments included amputations, germ warfare tests, explosive weapons testing, and other horrors to advance the Japanese war effort.

Assessments

Subjects at the Unit were subjected to vivisection--dissected alive without anesthetic. Apparently the Japanese army doctors believed that this method produced the highest quality organs. There were also reports of cremations of live subjects after the experiments were completed.

Japanese Plans

The Japanese planned to the Unit 731 weapons against the American soldiers in the Pacific theater when the Americans invaded the Home Islands. There were also plans to deliver disease-carrying balloon bombs to the United States. They also had a plan to use kamikaze pilots to dump plague-infected fleas over San Diego. [Beevor]

Soviet Invasion (August 1945)

Unit 731 was active until the Soviet Union entered the war by invading Japanese-occupied Manchuria (August 1945). Unit commander Ishii and most of his staff escaped back to Japan when the Soviets invaded.

American Investigation

Ishii was apparently protected by American military officials in exchange for the data he collected. Ishii managed to convince the officers investigating that his research was of scientific value and had significant military potential. This was a secret arrangement and it unclear how much the officers making the deal knew about Unit 731 or how high up the Army chain of command the decision went. One might assume that the action was cleared with General Mac Arthur. This seems like to important decision not to have been cleared with MacArthur., but there is no actual evidence. It seems unlikely that it was cleared with Pentagon officials, but again there is no actual evidence. At any rate it was perhaps the most serious miscarriage of justice in the post-war and occupation era.

Soviet Investigation

The Soviet invasion of Manchuria came as a surprise to the Japanese. The Chinese and Soviets managed to arrest and prosecute about a dozen members of the staff each. The Soviets arrested people from both Unit 731 and a parallel unit, Unit 1644. The proceedings are known as the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials (December 1949). Khabarovsk is the largest city within the Russian Far East adjacent to Japan. The defendants testified no only about the units, but on the use of the agents on Chinese civilians. Their testimony appears creditable. Of course the NKVD is notorious for extracting false confessions. This apparently was not needed here. The truth was terrible enough. It is basically corroborated with the information obtained by the Americans.

Cold War

All of this got complicated by the developing Cold War. The Americans interested in a Japanese ally tended to dismiss the Soviet trials as propaganda. Of course Soviet trials were often not trials at all, especially when dealing with the millions of political offenders that went into the Gulag. The determination of guilt was made by the NKVD. The court simply announced the verdict. In the case of the Unit731/1644 trials, the investigation appears to have been genuine. The whole issue was further complicated with the advent of the Korean War with the Chinese Communists making the absolutely false claim of American germ warfare.

Chinese Memorial

China has turned the buildings into a museum as a memorial to the people killed there.

Sources

Beevor, Anthony.

Harris, Sheldon H. Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-1945, and the American Cover-up (New York and London: Routledge, 2002), 385p. Harris is a noted expert on Section 731.

Created: 5:21 AM 4/8/2016
Last updated: 5:30 AM 6/21/2018