Page 222 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

Answer: I was told by researcher Yoshimura that at times of great frost, with temperatures
below—20°, people were brought out from the detachment's prison into the open. Their arms
were bared and made to freeze with the help of an artificial current of air. This was done until
their frozen arms, when struck with a short stick, emitted a sound resembling that which a
board gives out when it is struck. I also read his .account of the experiments. A film was
made on this subject too.

The picture showed four or five men, with their legs in chains, being led out into the open,
dressed in warm clothing, but with their arms bare. Then the process of artificially
accelerating the freezing with the help of a large fan was shown. Next one saw the men's
arms being struck with a stick to test whether they had definitely frozen, and after that the
men were brought into a room. Yoshimura told me that these researches were being
conducted with a view to future war against the U.S.S.R.

Question: Will you tell us everything you know about the experiments on the proving
ground at Anta Station?

Answer: Anta Station is situated 146 kilometres from Harbin. Near it the detachment had a
proving ground, where the 2nd Division conducted various experiments under field
conditions.

In January 1945, by order of the Chief of Detachment 731, I went to Anta Station. There I
saw experiments in inducing gas gangrene, conducted under the direction of the Chief of the
2nd Division, Ikari, and researcher Futaki. Ten prisoners were used for the purpose. They
were tied facing stakes, five to ten metres apart from one another. The prisoners' heads were
covered with metal helmets, and their bodies with screens.

Each man's body was fully protected, only the naked buttocks being exposed. At about 100
metres away a fragmentation bomb was exploded by electricity, this being the means of
causing the infection. All ten men were wounded in the exposed part. The experiment over,
the ten men were put in a special automobile and sent back to the prison at Pingfan Station. I
later asked Ikari and researcher Futaki what the results had been. They told me that all ten
men had been injured and died of gas gangrene.

Question: Did you say that when General Ishii was appointed Chief of the detachment he
began to hold conferences with the officers?

Answer: After his arrival in the detachment, Ishii arranged such talks every day.

One day he said in the presence of the chiefs of the divisions and a number of officers that
if in the future it should be necessary to employ bacteriological weapons, the best and most
effective weapon would be plague fleas. He said that headquarters and the branches must do
their utmost to expand the mass production of plague fleas. It was after this that the training
of about twenty men in breeding plague fleas, to which I have referred, was instituted.

In this connection, the personnel of Tanaka's section at detachment headquarters was
increased. At the same time, headquarters' planning section drew up a project for the

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