Page 40 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

which was part of the 1st Division.

As Chief of the lst Division I, in the period mentioned, directed the work of the division in
the channel required to fulfil the division's tasks of devising bacteriological weapons.

In addition to the laboratory experiments performed by the lst Division, experiments on
living people were performed on the proving grounds of Detachment 731 and also under field
conditions. On one occasion I myself took part in an experiment on living people.

In June 1941, I, with other members of the detachment, took part in the testing, on the
detachment's proving ground at Anta Station, of bombs filled with plague-infected fleas. This
experiment tested the action of bacteria aerial bombs on 10-15 prisoners who were tied to
stakes. On that occasion more than ten bombs were dropped from an aeroplane.

I took part in this experiment as Chief of the detachment's General Division for the purpose
of verifying the organization of the experiment and the execution of the order of the Chief of
Detachment 731 on this matter, which I myself had drafted. Furthermore, I was also
interested in this experiment as Chief of the Production Division; but practical direction of
this experiment was exercised by the Chief of the 2nd Division, Colonel Oota.

On the grounds of the information at my disposal, which I obtained from the nature of my
duties in the detachment, I can say that the number of prisoners of Detachment 731 who died
from the effects of experiments in infecting them with severe infectious diseases was no less
than about 600 per annum.

In 1942, by order of the Command of the Kwantung Army, Detachment 731 sent an
expedition of about a hundred men into Central China for the purpose of using bacteriological
weapons against the Chinese troops in the region of Chekang. Men from the 1st, 2nd and 4th
divisions took part in this expedition. I assigned for it eight men from the Production
Division. On my instructions, based on the order of General Ishii, the Production Division
prepared about 130kilograms of paratyphoid and anthrax germs, with which I supplied the
expedition. In addition, the men of the 1st Division had with them cultures of cholera and
plague germs which they had cultivated in the necessary quantities at the headquarters of the
Nanking Detachment Ei. The men of the 2nd Division were supplied with a sufficient
quantity of plague-infected fleas.

I know that the expedition carried out its assignment successfully.

Furthermore, in 1941, Detachment 731 also used bacteriological weapons against the
Chinese troops in the region of Changteh, and in 1940, an expedition of Detachment 731 used
bacteriological weapons against Chinese troops in the region of Nimpo.

As one of the leading members of the detachment I attended conferences called by the
Chief of the detachment, General Ishii, and from the summer of 1942 onwards by General
Kitano, at which questions were discussed connected with research, the preparation of
bacteriological material and its practical employment in war.

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