Page 204 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950
P. 204

The  second  occasion  was  in  the  spring  of  1944.  These  were  experiments  in  the  use  of
               plague  germs.  The  infection  was  to  be  through  the  respiratory  organs.  The  experimentees
               were handled in the same way as in the anthrax tests.


                  Question: That is, they were tied to stakes?


                  Answer: Just so. A cylinder containing fluid charged with plague germs was placed ten
               metres away from them. The cylinder exploded. But I know that infection did not result from
               these experiments; the infection failed to penetrate the respiratory organs.


                  Question: Which of the etachment's divisions engaged in breeding fleas?


                  Answer: The 2nd Division.


                  Question: Was there a special flea-breeding section?


                  Answer: This work was done by the 3rd Section of the 2nd Division.


                  Question: Who was the head of the 3rd Section of the 2nd Division?


                  Answer: The head of this section was Major Tanaka, a researcher.


                  Question: What was the job of the brother of Ishii Shiro, the Chief of the detachment?


                  Answer: He was in charge of the 1st Division's prison.


                  Question: Will you tell us everything you know about Detachment 731 's expeditions to
               China?


                  Answer: As far as I know Detachment 731 sent expeditions to China twice, in 1940 and
               1942.


                  The first expedition was in 1910, in the latter part of the year. My immediate superior,
               Major  Suzuki,  Chief  of  the  Production  Section,  gave  orders  to  prepare  70  kilograms  of
               typhoid germs and 50 kilograms of cholera germs. I was told by Major Suzuki that these
               germs were to be used by a special expedition which was going to China under the command
               of General Ishii.


                  As head of a unit in the Production Section of the 4th Division, my job was to prepare the
               necessary quantity of germs for the expedition. I also learned that the expedition had taken
               along five kilograms of plague fleas.


                  As far as I can recall, the expedition headed by General Ishii went to the Hankow area, in
               Central China, where it employed plague fleas and bacteria as a weapon.




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