Page 232 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

an area south of Shanghai, taking with them the necessary materials, and had there
disseminated plague fleas from the air, and that these experiments had proved effective. This
was all he told me about the employment of the bacteriological weapon in China.

Question: Consequently, he told you that the bacteriological weapon had been employed in
China in the form of masses of plague fleas, that is, fleas infected with plague. Is that so?
Answer: Yes, that is what he said. He said that this method could be used for spreading
plague.

Question: Consequently, Major General Kitano reported to you that those same plague-
infected fleas which Ishii was the first to tell you about were the most effective weapon of
bacteriological warfare, had been practically employed against the Chinese. Is that so?
Answer: That is so.

Question: Consequently, you knew that the experiments which were originally conducted
by Detachment 731 under laboratory conditions and on the proving ground, subsequently
assumed a mass scale and passed into the category of bacteriological attacks on the civilian
population of China? Answer: That is so.

Question: Now let us pass to the question of how you yourself assessed these
bacteriological attacks on the Chinese people.

I shall recall the testimony you gave on October 30, 1949, to be found in Vol. 8, p. 105.
You then said:

"I confirm that Detachment 731 employed the bacteriological weapon against Chinese
troops and civilians in Central China. Undoubtedly, for the Chinese this was a weapon of
attack, but for the Japanese, I consider it was an experimental one."

Perhaps you will explain these words and tell us what you meant when you said that for the
Japanese this weapon was an experimental one.

Answer: This should be understood in the sense that the effect of this weapon had not been
finally investigated, and that the experiments were being conducted to determine its effect.

Question: You are a physician by speciality?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And being a physician by speciality, a member of a humane profession, you
nevertheless considered that the employment of tens of millions of plague fleas against the
Chinese civilian population was only an experiment?

Answer: Of course, it was an experiment, but it was an inhuman experiment.

Question: What did General Kitano tell you about the experiments on human beings that

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