Page 142 - Unit 731 Testimony

First, water is poured on the chest to prevent a heart attack. A cloth is
placed over the mouth and nose, and water is trickled over it slowly. The
cloth becomes saturated, and no matter how much the victim tries to fight,

water enters the body and in five or six minutes the belly swells. This is
continued until the desired confession is obtained. The reason for devising
this system was that it was easy to use and did not leave any visible scars as
evidence of torture.
Concerning the human experiments, I had some idea that they were

going on but it was secret and we were not informed. Sometimes people
would not confess under any amount of torture. Their bodies would be
broken down but they would not give in. If we released them, they would
accuse us of torturing them, so we sent them to the Ishii unit.

Condemned prisoners from all over were brought to us at Harbin.
Instead of being executed, they were used for freezing experiments in
Harbin's subzero winters. I knew that these tests were necessary if we were
going to have to fight Russia.

There were occasional parties to commemorate someone's work. A
committee would decide on carrying out executions while everyone was
drinking saké. There was one officer who was especially fond of
executions. He would have about five persons sit in front of a ditch, then
behead them and kick the bodies into the ditch. These particular executions
apparently had no scientific aims.

I thought it was good that the place was blown up after the war and the
secrets did not get into the hands of the Russians. Everyone else thought so,
too.

Three Youth Corps members (Anonymous)

[These men held a panel discussion at the Iwate exhibition site. All three

still retain anonymity, and are listed here simply as Y-san, T-san and K-san.
Y-san and T-san were in a group that was sent to Manchuria as Japan
was on the verge of collapse. The war ended without their knowing the real
function of Unit 731. When the outfit was getting ready to pull out from its
base, T-san was given the job of disposing of the maruta.