Page 24 - Unit 731 Testimony

developed speedily and the Japanese troop was compelled to make a
violent attack upon the North

Barracks . .. After several hours of fierce battle, the barracks fell
completely into the hand of the Japanese forces.
On the other hand, the Japanese regiment in Mukden rose in
concert with the railway guards in the midnight of the same day and

succeeded in occupying the walled town.

This "incident"—a pitched battle, actually—was no more than a
Japanese ruse, used to justify occupying Mukden and moving on to a
complete takeover of Manchuria. The real reasons behind the Japanese
advance were a pair of developments in the region that had sounded
warning bells to Japanese intent on retaining control of the area. First,

China was showing trends toward unification under Nationalist leader Jiang
Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek). Also, the Soviets were flexing their muscles and
applying pressure from the north. The Kwantung Army made a move to
strengthen its hold on Manchuria, with its wealth of coal, iron, an array of
other ores, and oil.

Three days after the explosion at Mukden, supporting troops came in
from Japan's colony of Korea, and in three months Japan had completely
occupied Manchuria. Jiang was concentrating on establishing his influence
over the rest of China at the time, and ordered a policy of nonresistance,
leaving it for the ineffectual League of Nations to cope with Japan's

invasion. Japan thereupon established a Manchuria-wide government,
concocting an ironical euphemism by declaring the three eastern provinces
an "independent" nation called Manzhouguo (Manchukuo). Henry Pu Yi,
who had been emperor of the Manchu dynasty until 1912, when it abdicated
its control of China, was pulled out of retirement to lead the new "nation."
The Japanese gave him the title of "chief executive" to lend an illusion of
historical legitimacy to the government.

With Japanese military control over Manchuria complete, the stage
was set for the procurement of human specimens for the labs of Unit 731
and its associated organizations.

The Stage Is Set