Page 39 - Unit 731 Testimony

Tests generally used from ten to forty people at a time, with subjects
tied to crosses in circles of various sizes. The tests involved an element of
trial and error, and comparing results obtained from differently sized circles

enabled researchers to determine ranges of effectiveness at various
distances from the points where projectiles struck or infected insects were
released. When biological warfare bombs were tested, each maruta was
protected with headgear and a metal plate hung from the neck to cover the
front part of the body. These protective devices prevented death or serious
injury that would make it imposssible to obtain the needed data. Arms and
legs were left exposed, so that they could be bitten by the disease-carrying

insects. In some tests, subjects were tied to vertical boards that were
anchored into the ground at various distances and patterns from points of
release. Careful notes were made of wind and atmospheric conditions, and
each person was marked with a number on his or her chest during each test
for easy tracking of human specimens.

Xinjing

Under veterinarian Wakamatsu Yujiro, Unit 100 in Xinjing (present-
day Changchun), concentrated its research on pathogens effective against
domesticated animals. The horses and edible animals of the Soviet and
Chinese armies were the targets of this research. Unit 100 was also a
bacteria factory, producing large quantities of glanders, anthrax, and other
pathogens.

Sabotage was another focus of the operations here, and one experiment
entailed mixing poisons with food to study their effects on subjects and to
gain knowledge of appropriate dosages for various toxins. Additionally,

extensive areas of land were cultivated for research into chemicals for crop
destruction.

Guangzhou
The Guangzhou unit has been mentioned in documentary films and
written reports, though its activities have not been fully clarified, nor had its

existence even been decisively proven. In late October 1994, a private
research mission from Japan went to Guangzhou to investigate the
possibility of Japanese biological warfare activity there. They also located a
former unit member in Japan, who provided them with additional evidence
of a germ warfare unit's having been in Guangzhou.