Page 299 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950
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Answer: I will not be able to describe exactly all the changes in the work of the detachment
that took place after General Ishii's return to the post of Chief of Detachment 731. •However,
after his arrival in the detachment he spoke to us often about the important tasks that
confronted Detachment 731. He said that between June and September 1945 there would be
war against the Soviet Union and that it was necessary to make intense preparations for this
war, for this decisive war, as he put it. I also know that the work of breeding rodents was
activized.
Question: Did you have to make any kind of calculations connected with the possible
increase in the number of rodents?
Answer: Yes, I did.
Question: By whose orders were these calculations made?
Answer: By order of the Chfef of the detachment, Ishii. The Chief of the Quartermaster's
Section, Major Sato, ordered me to calculate the quantity of feed and nutritive substances that
would be required for 3,000,000 rodents that were to be bred by September.
Question: Thus, General Ishii counted on raising the number of rats and mice in the
possession of the detachment to 3,000,000 by September 1945. Is that right?
Answer: Yes, that was his plan.
Question: What do you know about the financial expenditure connected with Detachment
731's work and with the maintenance of its apparatus?
Answer: From what the Chief of the Quartermaster's Section, Major Sato, and
Quartermaster Nakamura, told me, I know that the budget for 1945 fixed Detachment 731 's
expenditure at 10,000,000 yen. Furthermore, I know that out of this 10,000,000—3,000,000
was assigned for provisions for Detachment 731's personnel and the rest, 7,000,000, for the
production of bacteria and research work. Furthermore, out of this sum—200,000-300,000
yen were assigned for the branches.
Question: Thus, the predominant place in the detachment's budget was occupied by
expenditure connected with preparations to conduct bacteriological warfare, that is,
expenditure connected with experiments and the breeding of bacteria on a mass scale. Is that
correct?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Tell us, were experiments on human beings conducted in Detachment 731 that
were not connected with bacteriology?
Answer: One of my fellow trainees in the detachment's Training Division was officer of
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