Page 47 - Unit 731

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Bacteriological Warfare

Unit 731 planned and skilfully designed a fully-equipped base with all necessary facilities in the Pingfang area in Harbin. The base was built to prepare for
bacteriological warfare. The Unit prepared and launched a series of outdoor field experimentations on bacterial bombs, bacterial vaccines, and
bacteriological war strategy.
At the same time, the Japanese imported a large number of rats, mice, and rabbits as experimental objects used to spread bacteria along with insects
such as fleas, lice, flies, and mosquitoes. These living creatures were infected with more than fifty kinds of bacteria, including plague, typhoid fever,
anthrax, glanders, and tuberculosis, for research on bacteriological warfare.
Since the battles of Nomonhan in 1939, Unit 731 and all other similar units in Japan intensified their efforts in carrying out research and planning for
bacteriological warfare on behalf of Imperial Japan. The quantity of the biochemical weapons and bacterial vaccines that were produced by Unit 731 alone
would be sufficient to infect and eliminate the entire global population.
According to the current data at hand, Unit 731 and other units had indeed conducted large-scale bacteriological warfare in a vast expense of land in
China, ranging from Hulunbuir of Inner Mongolia, Changchun in Jilin Province, Nong’an, and west of Shandong peninsula to upper Jiangxi, Guangfeng,
Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Quzhou, Jinhua, Yiwu, Yunhe, Jiangshan, Longyou, Lishui, Changsha, Changde, and west of Yunnan. All these communities
suffered from widespread plague, cholera, and typhoid fever resulting in a high death rate. Japanese bacteriological warfare brought disaster to the Chinese
population along with huge violations of the ecosystem as well as human societies. Although the war ended long ago, the harm and disaster remain.
Due to the high secrecy, members of Unit 731 and related units were able to evade the Tokyo trials with the cooperation of the US. Former members of
the Unit chose not to reveal the truth, making the investigation process an extremely complicated task. In recent years, the US has begun to declassify
material related to Japanese bacteriological warfare that allows researchers further avenues of investigation.

Research, Experimentation, and Choice of Bacteriological Weapons and Bacterial Vaccines

‘Inglis’s Report’ by Thomas B. Inglis, ‘Thompson’s Report’ by Arvo T. Thompson, ‘Fell’s Report’ by Nobert Fell, and ‘Hill’s Report’ by Edwin V. Hill
recorded the details of bacteriological warfare and bacterial vaccines invented or developed by Unit 731.
Bacteria Bombs
From 1937 to 1942, Unit 731 invented at least 1,770 bacteria bombs (see Chart 1), including Model I, Model RO, Model U, Model GA, Older Model UJI,
Model UJ150, Model JUI100, Model HA, Model SI, and the cluster bomb.

Of the ten types of bacterial bombs, UJ150 was the most frequently produced. The UJ150—also known as Model UJI—was built in a ceramic shell in
Ishii style (Shirō Ishii, leader of Unit 731). Like the Ishii-style filter, UJ150 was invented and produced by Shirō Ishii. From 1940 to 1943, 500 Ishii-style
ceramic bombs were produced. The quantity of fragments of UJ150 bombs found in the Unit 731 ruins—as well as the scale of the former factory (a five-
storey building, with two kilns and four chimneys) located in Wanggang Village, Nangang, Harbin—indicate huge-scale production.
The chief aim of Unit 731 was to produce bombs with great lethality and destructive power that were easy to carry. From 1937 to 1942, at least ten
kinds were tested. Information such as type of bombs, types of bacterial liquid, attack results, and production budgets were widely studied.
In Thompson’s Report, Shirō Ishii claims these experiments did not follow official command and were medical research to prevent disease. However,
based on current materials, the aim of producing bacteria bombs was to eventually initiate bacteriological warfare. The scale of design and experiments
make it impossible that they were part of medical research for military purposes. The experimental data, statistics, and drawings from Inglis’s Report and
Thompson’s Report confirm that Unit 731 was established for the purpose of bacteriological warfare research (see Fig. 27).
Bacterial Liquid

Regarding the records on the type of bacterial liquid invented by Unit 731, I referred to medical reports and academic articles written by former Unit 731
members as well as oral narratives collected by the US Army.
Oral Narratives of Former Soldiers
Army surgeon Tomoshisa Masuda, a core member of Unit 731, supporter of Shirō Ishii, the third division head of Unit 731 and the head of Unit 1644, was
investigated by Sanders and Thompson of the US Army. Masuda submitted a report entitled ‘Bacteriological Warfare’ to the US Army on 15 December
1942. He believed four types of bacterial liquid could be used in warfare. One of them is bacteria, including plague, cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery,
glanders, anthrax, brucellosis, tularaemia, tuberculosis, tetanus, gas gangrene, Botulinum toxin, diphtheria, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and
meningococcal meningitis. The second was protozoa, such as Farber disease, relapsing fever, yaws, malaria, and kala-azar. The third type was rickettsia,
such as typhus, typhus fever, and scrub typhus. The last type was viruses, such as dengue, yellow fever, smallpox, foot and mouth disease, rabies, and
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