A Major Biological Atrocity in World War II
Serving in Unit 731, Japanese doctors kill 12,000 victims
Unit 731
During the Second World War, the Japanese Army Unit 731 committed some of the worst atrocities in modern history. The unit was stationed in Hardin, Manchuria from 1936-1945. It was the world’s largest biological weapons research complex. What happened at Unit 731 was the perfection of germ warfare. Under command of General Shiro Ishii, with Emperor Hirohito’s blessing, Japan’s brightest doctors and scientists bred cholera, anthrax and other deadly diseases.
. What these scientists experimented on, though, were live human beings. Over 12,000 Chinese, Russian and Korean prisoners were killed in Unit 731’s laboratories. The victims were given no pain killers and as the doctor sliced the stomach open or cut off an arm or leg, the victim screamed in pain. When the experiment was completed, the victim was left to die.
Infected victims with diseases
The innocent victims were human guinea pigs subjected to various germs. The locals were told Unit 731 was a disease prevention and water purification plant. The victims suffered terrible deaths. The Japanese’s point of view was they were all criminals who had been sentenced to death. Unit 731 was extremely cruel. The scientists did not possess any sense of humanity at all.
Allied Prisoners of War
Toward the end of the war Unit 731 began experimenting on Allied POWs. It is not known how many American, Australian and British POWs were killed by these experiments, but two POWs at the Mukden POW camp, kept diaries and they both said one day 150 POWs were marched out of camp never to return.
The end of the war
When the war ended the leaders of Unit731 were ordered to completely destroy their laboratories and equipment. In Tokyo 1946, the war crimes trials began. Not one Unit 731 leader was charged with a crime. America was worried that the Soviet Union would grab the secret data and we wanted to have total access to this information. These records were extremely dangerous information to have in the Soviets possession. General MacArthur offered immunity to these leaders in return for handing over vital information on the experiments to the United States. These were turned over to the Americans.
The leaders of the unit return to Japan as heroes.
These leaders’ careers were given a major boost and a memorial was erected in their honor. The majority of these “butchers” have become top executives in the medical field and a few of them have become presidents of top universities in Japan and the deans of medical schools. One doctor that worked with Unit 731 became the chief censor of textbooks with the Ministry of Education.
Sources:
Factories of Death, Sheldon H, Harris, Rutledge 1994
Selected Archival Materials of Japanese Aggression Against China: Biological Warfare and Poison Gas Warfare, Beijing, Chunghua Book Co. 1989
Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity, Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, March 17, 1995
Unit 731: Japan’s Secret Biological Warfare in World War II, London, Hodder and Stoughton 1989
Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II, Gavan Davis, William Morris 1994
Personal Interview with Ishmael Cox, former POW at Mukden Prisoner of War Camp, 1973
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