Page 18 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950
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the Japanese Army. . . . The function of the epizootic units was to prepare for and conduct
               bacteriological warfare and sabotage against the Soviet Union. ..." (Vol. 11, pp. 53-54.)


                  Accused  Kawashima  testified  as  follows  with  regard  to  Japan's  intensification  of
               preparations for bacteriological warfare in 1941:


                  ". . . During one of my visits to General Ishii in the summer of 1941, after Germany had
               begun war on the Soviet Union, General Ishil, referring in the presence of divisional chiefs
               Lieutenant  Colonel  Murakami  and  Colonel  Oota  Akira  to  the  need  for  intensifying  the
               detachment's activities, read out to us an order of the Chief of the Japanese General Staff
               insisting  upon  the  speeding  up  of  research  work  on  plague  bacteria  as  a  means  of
               bacteriological warfare. The order made special mention of the need for the mass breeding of
               fleas as plague carriers." (Vol. 3, pp. 28-29.) Speaking of Japan's state of preparedness for
               bacteriological warfare at the time of Hitler Germany's attack on the U.S.S.R., accused Nishi,
               formerly Chief of the Training and Education Division of Detachment 731, testified:


                  ". . . By the time of Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 and the concentration of
               the Kwantung Army in Manchuria on the borders of the Soviet Union, the research work of
               Detachment 731 in the sphere of devising effective means of bacteriological attack had in the
               main  been  completed,  and  the  detachment's  activities  were  now  directed  to  perfecting  the
               process  of  mass  production  of  bacteria  and  the  means  for  their  dissemination.  It  was
               established that plague bacteria were the most effective means of attack." (Vol. 7, p. 124.) In
               1942,  detachments  731  and  100  carried  out  special  reconnoitring  operations  in  the  border
               areas of the Soviet Union in preparation for bacteriological warfare. For several years before
               that, on the orders of the Headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army, Detachment 100 had
               systematically sent bacteriological parties to the borders of the Soviet Union, where they had
               contaminated water sources, notably in the Tryokhrechye area, as a sabotage move.


                  These facts are established by the testimony of accused Hirazakura and Mitorno, as well as
               of Yoshikawa and other witnesses. (Vol. 12, pp. 94 and 192; Vol. 13, pp. 57-58.)


                  With the object of testing the effectiveness of bacteriological weapons, Detachment 100 in
               September 1944 held so-called manoeuvres on the Anta proving ground of Detachment 731.
               The  manoeuvres  were  attended  by  representatives  of  the  Headquarters  of  the  Kwantung
               Army.


                  Witness Fukuzumi Mitsuyoshi, who was present at these manoeuvres, testified:


                  ". . . Research in methods for the mass employment of bacteria was conducted by means of
               experiments  on  special  proving  grounds,  special  apparatus  and  aircraft  being  used.  Large-
               scale  experiments  of  this  kind  were  called  'manoeuvres.'  Such  'manoeuvres'  were  held  in
               September 1944 at Anta Station. . . . The experiments were made on 300 cattle and sheep.
               This  experiment  showed  good  results,  as  all  the  animals  were  infected  and  died.
               Representatives of the Headquarters of the Kwantung Army arrived by plane to witness these
               manoeuvres." (Vol. 13, p. 49.)


                  In 1945 there was a second period of intensified activity by detachments 731 and 100 and


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