Page 33 - Marutas of Unit 731

Similar to the Zhong Ma structure, Pingfan was evacuated by the Japanes e

Army. Hundreds of families were forced to move out and sell their land at a

cheap price despite having been there for generations. In order to increase

secrecy this time around, people needed a pass to go to Pingfan. Even the

airspace over the area was off-limits except to Japanese army planes.

Violators were to be shot down. e Pingfan complex was considerably
more impressive than the Zhong Ma complex as a walled city with more

than 70 buildings on a six kilometer tract of land. e complex’s huge size

drew international attention and when asked what the structure was, the

scientists replied that it was a lumber mill as human subjects were logs, or in

Japanese, “maruta”s.
Abusing his power, Ishii granted Nihon Tokushu-Kog yo Co. Ltd. A

monopoly to supply the unit with all necessar y equipment and he received a

handsome kickback from the company. Suzuki, a Japanese construction

company, worked day and night when possible, but due to Manchuria’s

weather, there were times when it was impossible to do so since ever ything
had iced over. Again, Chinese laborers were hired to construct the complex,

were denied any basic human rights and wore rags even during cold

weather. Some died from the cold and were tossed into a pit, their clothes

and valuables passed on to the next laborers who needed them. e laborers

slept in tents that barely sheltered them from the winter and meals consisted
of pickled vegetables and dumplings. e attitude toward the Chines e

laborers and subjects of experiments was similar. Since there were so many

Chinese, it did not matter if one or two died because there would always be

[13]
others.
At the time, the Imperial Japanese Army inter nally refer red to the unit
related to Ishii’s biological warfare as the Ishii Network and refer red to