During World War II Japanese warmongers planned to use bacteriological weapons in their military operations against the USSR. That’s what we know from the records of interrogation of Yamada Otozō, ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army, which have been disclosed by the Federal Security Service of Russia. The text is available on RIA News website.
Interrogations of the ex-commander were held in 1947 and 1949 within the framework of preparation for the Khabarovsk Trial – a trial that revised crimes of a group of Japanese servicemen who made infection-carrying ammo. Yamada was among them.
That was the first and only tribunal where manufacturers of biological weapons were tried. It took place at the end of December 1949. At that moment, death penalty was abolished in the USSR and the culprits were sentenced to 2- to 25-year incarceration.
Tasks on creation and ramp-up of production of severe infection-carrying bacteriological weapons were performed by secret units of the Kwantung Army, aka “Unit No.731” and “Unit No.100”, which were formed in 1935‒1936. The weapons were tested on prisoners, with most of them coming from the USSR and China.
“Annihilation of secret buildings, equipment and materials managed and handled by the 731st Unit, and the evacuation of the unit to Korea are easy to explain – I just had to keep the buildings, equipment and materials from being seized by the Soviet army since it would mean handing secret documents to our enemy, and those documents would give evidence to the preparations to the bacteriological war that Japan was about to launch against the USSR”, Yamada said.
Ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army also told his interrogators that the evacuation of the unit to Korea was also aimed at preventing the property of the secret unit from falling into the hands of the US.
“Death Laboratories”
While answering the questions of his interrogators, Ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army said that he had got reports from Chief of Unit No.731, Ishii Shiro. However, he claimed that he could not recall what those reports were about. At the same time, the captured commander did not deny that he was directly in charge of Unit No.731.
That formation was operating in a standalone military community the infrastructure of which included laboratories, maintenance and administrative facilities, an air field, and a military training ground. Servicemen of Unit No.731 produced up to 300 kg of plague bacteria or up to 1,000 kg of cholera bacteria a month.
Yamada Otozō, ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army/ © Wikimedia
All in all, some 3 thousand people fell prey to the warmongers. None of the prisoners of Unit No.731 came out of the Unit’s facility alive. That’s what we know from a record of interrogation of Kawashima Kiyoshi, ex-Head of the Operations Department of the secret division and Major General of the Medical Service of the Kwantung Army.
The practices of the Japanese in terms of their experiments on prisoners were just as inhumane as those of Nazis. For instance, in order to examine the course of diseases the warmongers autopsied people while those were still alive.
The prisoners were infected with plague, anthrax, cholera, typhus, and emphysematous gangrene. Most of the subjects died a terrible death, and those who recovered were re-infected and then died anyway.
Such blood-freezing experiments were conducted to estimate the time during which the person infected could survive the effects of deadly bacteria and other factors.
In an RT-produced documentary “Death Laboratories: How the Japanese “Unit # 731 Operated”, one of those who participated in the tortures of humans, Okawa Fukumatsu, claimed that he killed three or four people every day by cutting out their internal organs while they were still alive.
“Every time I think of it I pray to forget the horrific, hellish things we had done, but that is impossible to forget”, Fukumatsu said.
More than once the Kwantung Army used the weapons made by the secret units. In 1939, when the Japanese were retreating after their defeat at the hands of the Soviet Army, they poured bacteria to Khalkhin-Gol River.
Soldiers of the Kwantung Army / © Wikimedia / JapanesePress
In 1940, Unit No.731 released fleas infected with plague near a Chinese city of Ningbo. In summer 1941 the warmongers used their bacteriological weapons in the neighbourhood of Changde, and in June and August 1942 they did the same in the vicinity of Hailar.
In autumn 1944 Yamada got an oral report of use of an “Ishii-system” bacteriological bomb. The bomb had a ceramic case stuffed with plague-infected fleas. It was designed to explode at an altitude of 50 to 100 m, which ensured contamination of vast areas.
Yamada Otozō himself did not see anything criminal in operations of the secret units. Nevertheless, he agreed that he had his share of responsibility for activities of the units related to the bacteriological weapons manufacturing.
“In my view, it’s the commanders of Units No.731 and No.100, the Central Military Mission and the Kwantung Gendarmerie who should be held responsible for the experiments on live people, yet as those experiments were conducted while I was the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army I do deem myself guilty of that crime, to some extent. If this is a crime under Soviet laws, I’m ready to undergo punishment as the tribunal may rule”, Yamada said.
Furthermore, referring to his “unsatisfactory” memory, Yamada said that he could not recall any activity of the creators of biological weapons against the Red Army.
Mikhail Myagkov, Scientific Director of the Russian Military Historical Society, told RT that the leaders of the military Japan knowingly conducted experiments using bacteriological weapons. In his opinion, those in Tokyo believed that mass infection of military men and civilians would make Japan the victor in its war against the anti-Hitler coalition.
- “It was an absolutely barbarian plan, but the Japanese were really nourishing the idea. They hoped that a bacteriological war would result in mass casualties in the USSR, China, Korea, the US, and Great Britain. The consequences of such war are too horrific to imagine: It would mean millions of people dead and mutilated, and vast areas contaminated”, Myagkov noted.
At the same time, the expert condemns the use of nuclear bombs by the US – the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in August 1945. Mr. Myagkov believes that there was no actual need to strike such a devastating blow.
“If we count all who perished immediately after the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and those who died of their consequences like radiation sickness, we will get some 500 thousand people. It was the crime of the Unites States which can’t be justified. The bombs were dropped on the civilians, on old people, women and children. The Americans were eager to test their nuclear weapons in real-life settings, to showcase their power to the world, and to strike fear into the USSR”, Mr. Myagkov said.
A Disclosed Diary
Experts suggest that the bacteriological war was prevented mostly thanks to successful offensive operations in Manchuria in August 1945. The combat operations were launched by the Red Army on 9th August, and on 15th August Emperor Hirohito addressed the nation to announce capitulation.
Losses of the Kwantung Army exceeded 7,000 thousand people (with some 640 thousand captives among them).
The Yamada’s diary disclosed by the Federal Security Service of Russia implies that the Emperor’s decision to capitulate was the subject matter in multiple discussions among officers of the Kwantung Army. At their meetings he heard their opinion and on 16th August 1945 he gave an order to stop resistance. At the same time the Japanese retained the right to use weapons in case of extreme need, for “self-defense”.
·
The Red Army enters the liberated Harbin on 21st August 1945 / © Wikimedia / mil.ru
If what Yamada said is true, he tried to facilitate cessation of hostilities with the Red Army in Manchuria. In particular, in his diary ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army describes a situation near Mukden where, as he feared, “there is an emerging situation where we are going to face an obstacle in our way to the great purpose to end this war.”
“That is why I deemed it more reasonable to lay down arms as the Soviet Army was advancing and, thus, to prevent any incidents”, Yamada wrote.
In his interview with RT, a military historian Yuriy Knutov said that publication of archives related to activities and operation of the militarist Japan was of a great significance for the humanity. According to him, the disclosed materials allow us to not forget the cruel lessons learnt during World War II.
“Of course, the atrocities of the Japanese are widely known, and the inhumane activities of Unit No.731 were exposed long ago within the framework of the Khabarovsk Trial. However, we must never forget the devious cruelty of the Japanese warmongers, their mass killing of Chinese people, and the tortures our citizens suffered at their hands. And we must always keep in memory the heroic deeds of the Red Army first at Khalkhin-Gol River in 1939, and then in Manchuria in August 1945”, Kutov emphasized.
Source: RT website