Unit 731, officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army was established by the Kempeitai, the Military Police of the Japanese Empire, who sought to develop biological weapons of mass-destruction for use in their war against China and later the Western Allies in the Pacific and elsewhere. It was based at the city of Harbin in the Japanese puppet-State of Manchukuo, formerly Manchuria. It was to be led by General Shiro Ishii, the Chief Medical Officer of the Japanese Army.

Shiru Ishii

General Ishii was eager to get on with his work. His victims were to be prisoners-of-war, civilians rounded up at his request, and those considered politically suspect by the Kempeitai. These people were referred to as the logs, apparently a joke, though the victims were considered inferior and less than human. Prisoners-of-war were subject to vivisection without anesthesia, pregnant women had their fetus’s removed, limbs were amputated to study blood loss, women were injected with gonorrhea and syphilis, and victims were frozen to study the effects of gangrene. They were also used to test weapons. Flame throwers, grenades, and chemical weapons were used on prisoners tied to posts to check on their effectiveness. Plague bombs containing cholera and anthrax were also designed to be dropped on civilian targets and the Japanese used chemical weapons to destroy crops, pollute the water supply, and terrorise civilian populations. Ishii, was pleased with his work and campaigned hard for chemical weapons he had designed to be used in the Pacific War. That they never were is a question open to debate.

The number of those killed by the Japanese in their use of germ warfare and human experimentation is believed to be as many 580,000, 95% of whom were Chinese and Korean. Western prisoners-of-war were also subject to vivisection, especially in Singapore and Thailand.

In August, 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Manchukuo and the Japanese Army collapsed quicker than anyone had previously imagined. Ishii was now desperate to destroy all evidence of Unit 731’s existence. All of those involved were ordered to take the secret of their work to their grave on pain of death. Documents were destroyed, those prisoners still held executed, and buildings blown up. But he failed in his mission.

Following the dropping of the Americans own weapons of mass-destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered. The Americans were aware of the existence of Unit 731 and knew of its activities. They were eager to obtain for themselves the important scientific knowledge with regard to biological weapons acquired and to deprive it to others. No members of Unit 731 were arraigned before the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, though 12 were tried by the Russians receiving sentences between 2 and 25 years in a Soviet Labour Camp. In 1946, Shiru Ishii received immunity from prosecution in return for data and his expertise. It is possible that he later moved to the United States to work on their bio-weapons programme. Others claim that he never left Japan. He died of throat cancer in Tokyo on 9 October, 1959. It is only in recent years that those involved in Unit 731’s activities have come forward to speak of their experiences.

Ysh Cabana © Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved.

What led to the enormity of the sheer wickedness and barbarity displayed by the Japanese Imperial Army towards the Chinese?

Why did the Japanese Army and their Generals act with such impunity & heartlessness?

These were the questions that raced through my mind as I read the tragic story of the Chinese people at Nanking.

The Japanese had just overpowered the Chinese Army at the battle fields of Shanghai. After the defeat, 50,000 Japanese soldiers marched into the city of Nanking, then capital city of China, and proceeded to massacre a total of about 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians.

The Massacre of the Chinese POWs (Prisoners of War) & Civilians

Some of the Chinese soldiers had already been captured by the Japanese Army at the outskirts of the city of Nanking. As soon as they [Japanese Army] entered Nanking, they rounded up some civilians and young men who they suspected were soldiers (most of the Chinese soldiers that escaped had changed into civilian clothes to avoid detection). They were marched out of the city to be massacred. Most were shot with machine guns and the ones suspected to still be alive were individually bayoneted. In some cases, they were gassed to death and their bodies dumped in mass graves. The Japanese Army also shot indiscriminately at civilians within the city. Thousands died this way.

The Unsuccessful Escape Attempts

A large number of refugees tried to flee by crossing the Yangtze River. Unfortunately, there were no means of transportation. The Japanese arrived and shot at the people at the river bank and even those that were trying to get away by swimming. The whole river was littered with dead bodies of children and adults. An approximate number of 50,000 died this way.

The Japanese also managed to infiltrate the safety zones that were established by some American and European Missionaries, businessmen and doctors. Several Chinese were murdered even in the safety zone areas.

Other Atrocities Committed

The Japanese employed barbaric means of executing their carnage. They shot, stabbed, beheaded, burnt and drowned their victims. There were even more horrid cases of cutting open abdomens, excavation of human hearts, and castration.

Raping & Killings

20,000 women were raped. This included girls under 8, women over 70 and even pregnant women. Some Japanese soldiers even forced fathers to rape their daughters and sons to rape their mothers while they watched. Those who declined were killed.

Pillaging, Burning & Vandalism

Jewelry, money, animals, food, clothes and even items of lower or insignificant value were looted. The Chinese were sometimes forced to carry their loot.

Buildings were set on fire and people that tried to escape from the burning buildings were murdered.

These heinous crimes were committed and apart from the few missionaries that were in China at the time, no help was forthcoming. Even though some of the perpetrators were punished for crimes against humanity, nothing can compensate for the pains caused and the thousands of lives that were lost.