Page 46 - MaterialsTrial-JapaneseArmy-1950

warfare.

In performing its function of preparing to conduct bacteriological warfare, the detachment
systematically performed experiments in forcibly infecting with contagious diseases people
whom the Japanese Gendarmerie sent to Detachment 731 to be done away with.

In 1940 and in 1942, Detachment 731 carried out special expeditions for the purpose of
employing bacteria as bacteriological weapons in the war against the Chinese people. . . .
Question: To what, concretely, do you plead guilty? Answer: Concretely, I plead guilty to
having for a long period of time, namely, from December 1939 to August 1944, served in the
criminal organization, Detachment 731, first as an ordinary officer and later as Chief of a
section, and from the end of 1942, or beginning of 1943, as Chief of a unit of the 4th
(production) Division of Detachment 731.

The section, and later the unit, of which I was in charge, engaged in cultivating the germs
of typhoid, paratyphoid, cholera, plague and anthrax in huge quantities in proportion as they
were needed for practical use, in particular, for the performance of experiments in the
employment of bacteria under field conditions on the proving ground at the Anta Station, and
for the practical employment of bacteria as a bacteriological weapon in the war against the
Chinese people.

While producing huge quantities of bacteria, I, as a bacteriologist physician, knew that they
were intended for the purpose of exterminating human beings. Nevertheless, at that time, I
was of the opinion that this was justified by my sense of duty as an officer of the Japanese
Army and therefore did all in my power successfully to carry out my duties as defined in the
orders of my superiors.

During my service in the detachment, I was in command of 50-70 officers, non-
commissioned officers and civilian employees and had at my disposal all the equipment
necessary for the production of bacteria on a mass scale. . . .

Utilizing the available equipment, the unit of which I was in command could produce the
following quantity of a given type of bacteria per month: plague—100 kilograms, anthrax—
200 kilograms, typhoid—300 kilograms, paratyphoid "A"—300 kilograms, cholera—330
kilograms, and dysentery—300 kilograms.

In the latter half of 1940, the group of which I was in charge produced 70 kilograms of
typhoid germs and 50 kilograms of cholera germs for a special expedition of the detachment
carried out under the command of former Chief of the detachment General Ishii, who, with a
group of other detachment workers, went into Central China. In addition to typhoid and
cholera germs, the afore-mentioned expedition used plague-infected fleas against the Chinese
Army.

In the middle of 1942, the section of which I was in charge produced 130 kilograms of
paratyphoid "A" and anthrax germs for an analogous expedition under General Ishii, which
went into Central China with the object of using bacteria against the Chinese Army. As I
have learned from the evidence of witnesses that has been presented to me, the

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