Page 68 - Marutas of Unit 731

concealing the fact that weapons for conducting bacter iological warfare had
been manufactured in the Japanes e Kwantung Army and that Branch 673 of

Detachment 731 under my command had been involved in thes e criminal

activities, on my orders all the branch’s ser vice premises and living quarters,

equipment, materials, and documents were destroyed by re, and for the

same purpose, on my orders, on August 14, 1945, poison in the shape of

potassium cyanide was issued to the entire personnel (120 men) to be taken
by them to commit suicide in the event of the danger arising of their being

captured by the Soviet forces.”

ey also designed special weapons for ger ms dissemination: sprayers in

the form of fountain pens and walking sticks, porcelain aer ial bombs, and

others for sabotage missions. Unit 731’s and Unit 100’s production facilities
[36]
were designed for an active prosecution of bacter iological warfare.
According to the Japanese Imper ial Army’s plans, specially equipped

aircra, specially trained army units, and sabotage squads were to

disseminate large quantities of let hal ger ms of plague, cholera, typhoid,

glanders, anthrax, and other severe infectious diseases along the enemy’s
territor y targeting soil, water sources, wells, crops, and cattle, and ever y

possible front. e purpose was to cause epidemics among the civilian

population that would result in millions of painful deaths.

At the Anta testing grounds, to test the biological weapons the unit was

developing, were usually bacter ia shells lled with plague and anthrax
germs, gas gangrene, and other disease producing substances were exploded

in direct proximity to victims tied to stakes. is was to obser ve rsthand

the action of various bacteria as ammunition. In testimony by Kawashima

during the Khabarovsk Trial on December 25, he stated, “Ver y soon aer my

appointment to Detachment 731, that is, in the summer of 1941,
experiments were performed at Anta Station on the use of the Ishii porcelain