Page 27 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

The interrogation is conducted in Japanese through interpreter T s v i r o v, who was
warned of his liability to prosecution for deliberately false interpretation under Art. 95 of the
Criminal Code of the R.S.F.S.R.

Signed: Tsvirov

Question: Do you understand the substance of the charge brought against you in
conformity with the order of December 5, 1949, under Art. 1 of the Decree of the Presidium
of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. of April 19, 1943?

Answer: I understand the charge brought against me under Art. 1 of the Decree of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. of April 19, 1943 in conformity with the
order of December 5, 1949.

Question: Do you plead guilty to the charge brought against you under Art. 1 of the Decree
of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. of April 19, 1943, in conformity with
the order of December 5, 1949, of which you were informed?

Answer: Yes, I fully plead guilty on all the points of the charge brought against me and set
forth in the order of December 5, 1949, to bring the charge against me.

Question: To what, concretely, do you plead guilty?

Answer: First of all I plead guilty to having, from 1944 to the day of surrender, as
Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army, exercised direct guidance of the activities of
bacteriological detachments 731 and 100, which were under my command, and which were
engaged in devising the most effective methods of employing bacteriological weapons and in
their mass production for war purposes. In other words, I plead guilty to having exercised
direct guidance of preparations for conducting bacteriological warfare against the U.S.S.R.,
China, the Mongolian People's Republic, England, the U.S.A. and other countries. I must also
admit that, in the main, these preparations were directed against the Soviet Union. It is this
that explains why bacteriological detachments 731 and 100, and their branches, were located
near the frontier of the Soviet Union.

Concretely, my practical activities as Commander-inChief of the Japanese Kwantung
Army in guiding the preparations for conducting bacteriological warfare consisted in the
following:

On my arrival in Manchuria, after taking over the post of Commander-in-Chief of the
Kwantung Army, I learned from reports submitted to me in July 1944 by my subordinates,
Kajitsuka and Takahashi, chiefs of the medical and veterinary administrations, that
bacteriological detachments 731 and 100 were engaged in devising and in the mass
production of bacteriological weapons.

Somewhat later I myself visited Detachment 731 with the object of inspecting its work in
making bacteriological weapons. I visited Detachment 731 in August 1944 and made myself
familiar with this detachment's work in devising and in the mass production of bacteriological

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