Page 220 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

Answer: They were not sweets, but ordinary chocolates, which were to be stuffed with
bacteria and then wrapped in paper. The chocolates were to be of round shape.

Question: Did Colonel Oota show you specimens of these chocolates?

Answer: He showed us about ten chocolates he had prepared.

Question: What bacteria were these chocolates infected with?

Answer: Colonel Oota said that the chocolates contained the bacteria of anthrax. The
chocolates were intended for sabotage actions.

Question: Will you tell us what you know about the practical employment of
bacteriological means of warfare by Detachment 731?

Answer: I heard that the bacteriological weapon was employed against China in 1940. In
August or September 1940, when I was at the headquarters of the Water Supply and
Prophylaxis Administration in Peking, I heard there that bacteria were used in the Nimpo
area, in Central China.

Question: From whom did you hear this? And under what circumstances?

Answer: While I was at the headquarters of the Water Supply and Prophylaxis
Administration in Peking, a document was received from the headquarters of the Water
Supply and Prophylaxis Administration in Nanking. From this document I learned that
bacteria had been employed in the Nimpo area. Then Lieutenant Colonel Yoshimura, Chief
of the Water Supply and Prophylaxis Administration in Peking, told me that the plague bacilli
for China had been supplied by Ishii's detachment. In September or October 1940, my friend
Major Seto stopped in Peking on his way from Nanking, and he told me that he had just
returned from the operation in Central China. I thus know about the employment of plague
fleas in Central China from three sources: first, from what I was told by Major Seto;
secondly, from what I was told by Yoshimura; thirdly, from the document received by Peking
headquarters from Nanking headquarters.

Question: Will you tell us what you yourself saw in Detachment 731 relating to the
expedition in China?

Answer: I saw a documentary film showing the Detachment 731 expedition in action in
Central China in 1940. It first showed a receptacle containing plague-infected fleas being
attached to the fuselage of an aircraft. Then the spraying apparatus was shown being fastened
to the aircraft's wings. An explanatory text was thrown on the screen, stating that the
apparatus was charged with plague fleas. After this, four or five persons boarded the plane,
but who they were I could not make out. The plane took off, and it was explained that it was
on its way to the enemy's territory. The plane was next seen flying over the enemy's
positions. Then followed shots of the aircraft, of Chinese troops in movement and of Chinese
villages. A cloud of smoke was seen detaching itself from the aeroplane's wings, and it
transpired from the explanation that this smoke consisted of plague fleas, which were being

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