Page 61 - Unit 731 Testimony

pathogens from higher altitudes, and started developing a series of bombs
that could deliver rodents and insects from greater heights.

The test ground at Anda started seeing drops from higher altitudes
using different prototypes of biological warfare bombs. Early attempts had
proven that explosives were not practical for releasing the bombs' contents
since the detonations killed the insects. Glass bombs were experimented
with, and then Ishii remembered Japan's ceramic heritage. He went into
villages where traditional kilns had turned out ceramic wares, and ordered

bombs made to his specifications.
It was not the first use of ceramics for war. The secret poison gas
factory at Okunoshima had ordered ceramic gas bombs from the centuries-

old pottery makers in the Kyoto region. Japan had also made ceramic land
mines, avoiding use of precious metals in anticipation of a possible Allied
invasion of the home islands. Only the sensors on top were metal.
The artisans making Ishii's bombs reportedly had no idea what they
were making. Their orders were to follow the plans and produce the

"objects" he designed. About sixty-five centimeters in length, each had a
screw-top in the nose that could be removed so that pathogens could be
loaded in.

New light on the pathogenic air attacks on the Chinese population
centers was shed by Okijima, the former Unit 731 member who, at seventy-
eight years of age, broke a half-century of silence and gave his observations
on the civilian makeup of Unit 731. In 1939, Okijima became a civilian
employee of the army and was sent to Unit 731. He was assigned to work
with bacteria in the laboratory of the unit's air wing. On the morning of the
attack on Ningbo, Okijima dressed in an anti-contamination protective suit,

and pumped liquid pathogens from oil drums into two tanks fixed to the
belly of the plane that would be used in the attack. The combination of this
liquid and the wheat flour described by the resident of Ningbo might
account for the smoky appearance of the plane's payload.

Okijima also explained one of several preliminary tests that was
conducted beforehand.

We used the airfield inside the Unit 731 complex. A truck filled with
eggs drove into the airport. Several hundred eggs were broken into a
drum and mixed, then loaded onto a plane. The meteorological team