Page 65 - Unit 731

Kamo Unit renamed Manchuria Unit 731, Wakamatsu Unit renamed Manchuria Unit 100, Mudanjijang Unit becomes Manchuria Unit 643, Linkou Unit becomes Manchuria Unit 162, Sunwu changes to
Manchuria Unit 763, and Hailar renamed Manchuria Unit 543
March 1941
Shirō Ishii promoted to army surgeon major-general
July 1941
Kanto Army carries out large-scale military exercises with 700,000 soldiers in Manchuria
4 November 1941
Japanese Army initiates biochemical warfare in Changde, Huana by aerial drops of bacteria-infected 36 grams of siphonaptera, cloth, beans, wheat, grain, cotton, and other material. Plague breaks out in
Changde, Hunan
5 May 1942
Japanese Southern Area Army Unit 9420 set up in Singapore
June–August 1942
Japanese Army drops cholera, typhoid fever, and shigella bacteria by plane on Jinhua and Lanxi, Zhejiang, causing large number of Chinese civilian fatalities
1 August 1942
Shirō Ishii relocates to Northern Area Army as division head of Army Surgeon in the First Division. Masaji Kitano appointed Second Division head of Unit 731
August 1942
Japanese Army places cholera, typhoid fever, and shigella bacteria in wells, river water, and food in Yushan County, Jiangxi. Large numbers of Chinese villagers are reported dead
February 1943
Baitabao event occurs. Mukden Military Police Generals Zhoa Zongbo, Shi Shunchen, and Cui Bingzhang sent to Unit 731
15 February 1943
Kanto Army headquarters announce command no. 98 sending Unit 731 to Shenyang to start ‘disease prevention’ on British and American POWs
12 March 1943
Kanto Army headquarters announce command no. 120 ‘About Ultimatum of Special Transportation’ setting regulations of special transportation
October 1943
Dalian Heishijiao event: Dalian Military Police Generals Yaoxuan Wang, Xuenian Wang, Zhongshan Li, and Delong Shen specially transported to Unit 731
1 January 1945
Unit 731 announces ‘About Remaining behind List of Kanto Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department’
1 March 1945
Shirō Ishii becomes division head of Unit 731 again and is promoted to army surgeon lieutenant-general. Masaji Kitano relocates to Shanghai as the division head of Army Surgeons in ‘Chinese
Expeditionary Army (Shanghai) Thirteenth Army’
9–14 August 1945
Unit 731 destroys evidence of biochemical warfare and human experimentation, bombs headquarters, and sub-branch buildings and facilities
15 August 1945
Japan announces unconditional surrender
9 September 9 1945
Japan signs the instrument of surrender to China in Nanjing
September–October 1945
Lt-Col. Murray Sanders investigates Japanese biochemical warfare and finishes his report ‘Investigation Report on Japan Science Information’
February 1946
US investigator Lt-Col. Murray Sanders interrogates core members of Unit 731, including Shirō Ishii, Masaji Kitano, Kiyoshi Oda, and Naitō Ryoichi. US Army investigator Thompson finishes his ‘Report of
Japanese Biochemical Warfare Research and Preparation’
25–29 December 1949
Soviet Union establishes military court at Khabarovsk and tries twelve Japanese war criminals involved in biochemical warfare. The Khabarovsk Trials official record is published in Materials on the Trial of
Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons. The book is translated into Chinese, English, German, Japanese, Korean, and other
languages
June–July 1956
The People’s Republic of China Supreme People’s Court Special Military Court puts forty-five Japanese war criminals on trial at Shenyang and Taiyuan, including the head of Linkou Division, Sakakibara
Hideo
15 November 1957
Former member of Unit 731 Kaneda Yasushi and others start Unit 731 Companion Club ‘Fusatomo Kai’ (房友会) and publish international magazine Fusatomo
1958
Former members of Unit 731 establish ‘Seikon Tō’ (精魂塔) at Tama Cemetery, Tokyo. They also set up the Companion Club ‘Seikon Kai’ (精魂会)
9 October 1959
Shirō Ishii dies in Tokyo due to illness
19 July–3 October 1981
Japanese writer Seiichi Morimura publishes The Devil’s Gluttony in Akahata (赤旗)
October 1981
American journalist John William Powell publishes ‘A Hidden Chapter in History’ in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists revealing covert deal between Japan and the US
November 1981
The Devil’s Gluttony by Seiichi Morimura is published, revealing Japanese Army biochemical warfare and human experimentation. Translated into Chinese, English, Russian, and other languages, it receives
huge international response
1 December 1982
The Cultural and Artefact Management Office of Pingfang area in Harbin was established, which offers protection to the sites of Unit 371
1983
Site of Unit 731 registered as a Heilongjiang’s major historical and cultural site protected at the provincial level
1984
The Japan Ministry of Education, Science and Culture deletes mentions of Unit 731 in textbooks
13 August 1985
British independent television company broadcasts a documentary titled Unit 731: Did the Emperor Know?
15 August 1985
The Museum of War Crime Evidence by Japanese Army Unit 731 officially opens to public
1988
The film Men Behind the Sun shows in movie theatres