Page 182 - Unit 731 Testimony

Once, a maruta got loose, and, one after the other, they untied each
other and began running away. Just about all forty of them scattered over
the field. But there was no place to escape to by that remote airport. There

was nothing else to do but get in the truck and run over them. Sometimes,
I'd get one under the front; sometimes, I'd feel one crushed under the
running board. In the end, all forty were killed.

Around June 1945, we knew that things were coming to an end. About
that time, one day a truckload of about forty Russians came in. There were
a lot of maruta already on hand, and there would be no need for them. So,
the Russians were told that there was an epidemic in the region, and that
they should get off the truck to get preventive injections. Then, they were

injected with potassium cyanide. The men administering the injections
rubbed the arms of the Russians with alcohol first. If you're going to kill
someone, there's no need to disinfect the injection area; that was just to
conceal the real intention. It only took a small amount, and even those big
Russians fell back as soon as the injection was given. They didn't even
make a sound—they just dropped.

Pharmacist attached to the laboratory at Dalian

(Meguro Masahiko)

The last time I saw Ishii was at Dalian, around August 10, 1945.
Everybody was gone, except for four or five people who stayed behind to
blow up the buildings. Ishii wanted pictures of the site taken after the
buildings were destroyed. He said he needed them for the Army Ministry.
Large quantities of photos were taken and developed before Ishii left. He
took the photos and flew to Tokyo.

After the war, there were fantastic payments to former Unit 731
members. Some people got up to two million yen. That kind of money was
unheard of in those days, around 1948 or 1949. It was unbelievable. Maybe
the American army brought it in: I don't know where it came from, but,

almost without exception, anyone connected in any way at all with Unit 731
got something. That was the best-paying job there was.