THE TESTING PROGRAM
Between 1932 and 1945 scientists and doctors with the Imperial Japanese Army conducted thousands of medical experiments on human beings. This testing program surpassed in scale, extent, and duration that of Nazi doctors in German-occupied Europe. More importantly, these experiments also included a biological weapons testing program, which even the Germans never attempted. These activities took place in a series of research camps established in the Japanese puppet-state of Manchukuo (Manchuria), which Japan had conquered from China in 1931. The subjects of the testing included civilians and prisoners of war, among which were Chinese, Koreans, Russians, Mongolians, Americans, and POWs from other Allied countries. Symbolic of their disdain for human life, the Japanese referred to these testing subjects as "Maruta" or "logs".
The primary testing facility was located in a camp complex at Ping Fan outside of the city of Harbin. The unit stationed there was designated Unit 731 and placed under the command of Lieutenant General Ishii Shiro. For security purposes Unit 731 was given the ironic designation of "Water Purification Unit 731". In the last two decades the designation "Unit 731" has become a blanket term used to describe the overall Japanese bio-weapons program. In reality, however, the complex under Unit 731 consisted of more than 150 buildings spread out over six kilometers. In addition, nine satellite facilities were also established: Unit 100, Unit 200, Unite 516, Unit 543, Unit 773, Unit 1644, Unit 1855, Unit 8604, and Unit 9420.
Within the Unit 731 complex numerous factories and laboratories produced chemicals and biological agents, among which were disease-infected fleas and plague bacteria. Autopsies and other controlled experiments were carried out as well.
These included, but were not limited to
- The testing of grenades, flame throwers, and bombs on human beings.
- The removal of entire bodily organs purposely infected with various diseases in order to see the effect of the disease on the organ.
- Amputations of limbs for studying the impact of blood loss.
- Frostbite experiments.
- Operations on subjects in which parts of organs would be removed , limbs would be moved around on the body, and healthy organs would be removed to study the reaction of the body.
- Food and water deprivation to study the effect and duration before death.
- Air pressure experiments in which subjects died.
- Burning experiments to determine the physiological effect of fire on the human body.
- X-ray radiation experiments
- Combining animal and human blood experiments.
- Simulated stroke experiments using air bubbles.
A large number of biological weapons experiments were also conducted at Ping Fan and its subsidiary camps. These experiments sometimes entailed the injection of a biological pathogen into the body of a human subject. Among the pathogens tested were cholera, small pox, plague, and botulism. Once the disease had run its course an autopsy would be conducted to determine the impact of the pathogen. Other experiments included placing humans in gas chambers and exposing them to airborne diseases like anthrax. Just under 1,000 autopsies were carried out at Unit 731, with estimates of the overall number who being as high as 3,000 people.
In addition to conducting medical experiments in controlled camp conditions, the Japanese also conducted field tests. These tests took place during the Second Sino-Japanese war from 1937 to 1945 and they entailed the use of weaponized pathogens. Parachute-laden ceramic bombs containing plague-infected fleas were dropped on Chinese cities and water supplies were poisoned with water-borne pathogens like cholera. Altogether the Japanese attacked eleven Chinese cities with biological weapons, causing the deaths of as many as 200,000 people. This research, while deemed important by the Japanese High Command, likely did not significantly alter the course of the war in China. Furthermore, during the last two years of the conflict with the United States, General Ishii unsuccessfully lobbied for the use of biological weapons in the Pacific.
Toward the end of the war the activities of Unit 731 were gradually curtailed. Then, shortly before the Japanese surrender, Ishii swore his personnel to silence and ordered the Ping Fan complex destroyed. During these final operations Japanese troops released thousands of plague-infected rodents and other disease-infected animals. The resulting outbreaks of the plague killed at least 30,000 people in the Harbin area from 1946 through 1948. Tons of toxic chemicals were also dumped into rivers or buried. Most of the buildings at Ping Fan were then either razed to the ground or destroyed with explosives.
