Page 20 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

Personal Responsibility of the Accused

The criminal activity of each of the accused in this case took the following specific forms:

1. Yamada Otozoo, as Ccmmander-in-Chief of the Japanese Kwantung Army, from 1944
till the day of the surrender of the Japanese .Army supervised the activity of special
detachments 731 and 100 in the field of preparations for bacteriological warfare.

During this period Yamada, personally and through responsible staff officers, inspected
these detachments, on repeated occasions heard the reports of their chiefs, and took measures
to keep the detachments in a constant state of military preparedness.

From his personal observations and the reports of the commanders of the bacteriological
detachments, accused Yamada was aware that criminal experiments were being performed on
human beings, and he encouraged these atrocities. Yamada is thus responsible for the brutal
killing of thousands of people, who were put to death by being infected with lethal bacteria.

Speakmg of his role in the supervision of Detachment 731, accused Yamada testified:

"Detachment 731 was directly subordinated to me, as Commander-in-Chief of the
Kwantung Army. I had charge of the tactical direction of Detachment 731 in all matters
concerning the production of bacteriological weapons and their use. This meant that if the
necessity arose to employ bacteriological weapons against enemy forces, it was I that would
have to give the order to this effect, since Detachment 731 was a special combat unit under
my control." (Vol. 18, p. 383.) Bacteriological Detachment 100 was subordinated to accused
Yamada on the same basis. (Vol. 18, p. 392.)

2. Kajitsuka Ryuji, who from 1939 onward was Chief of the Medical Administration of the
Kwantung Army, directly supervised the work of Detachment 731, which was engaged in
active preparations for bacteriological warfare. Kajitsuka was one of the initiators of research
on methods of employing bacteriological weapons.

As far back as 1931, Kajitsuka actively supported Ishii Shiro, one of the ideologists of
bacteriological warfare, and his recommendations that research on bacteriological weapons of
war be intensified.

In 1934-36, as head of a division of the Medical Administration of the Japanese War
Ministry, accused Kajitsuka took an active part in the formation of Detachment 731 and in
providing it with the necessary expert staff, and, in particular, was instrumental in having
Ishii Shiro appointed Chief of Detachment 731.

Interrogated as an accused person, Kajitsuka admitted that he was fully informed of the
activities of Detachment 731 and its branches, beginning with the criminal experiments on
human beings and ending with the use of bacteriological weapons.

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