While Dr. Ishii conducted experiments that ranged from bullet wounds to burn injuries, he focused on four main areas of experiments: cholera, Epidemic Hemorrhagic Fever, the plague, and frostbite. Below are descriptions of the tests he performed while the head of Unit 731.
Cholera
Because of the high rate of cholera among Japanese soldiers, one of the
first objectives Dr. Ishii set out to accomplish was to develop a vaccine
for the infection. He decided the best way to do so would be to infect
individuals with cholera and observe their symptoms with a trial and error
technique used for treatment. He also injected animals with cholera and
released them into small villages and towns in order to examine how long
it took for the disease to spread. Captain Kojima Takeo, an officer attached
to Unit 731 in the cholera campaign, often had to pass through the villages
where cholera had taken a stronghold. He testified, "The disease
had already developed before we got there, and as we moved into the village
everyone scattered. The only ones left were those who were too sick to
move. Cholera produces a face like a skeleton, vomiting, and diarrhea.
And the vomiting and defecating of the people lying sick brought flies
swarming around. One after the other, people died."
Surgical tools used for amputating and removing organs.
Epidemic
Hemorrhagic Fever (EHF)
After Japanese troops moved into Manchuria in the 1930s, there were outbreaks
of this disease that mystified doctors. It was discovered the virus originated
around the Chinese-Soviet Union border, a disease Japanese soldiers had
been exposed to while building railroads close to there. In order to learn
more about the illness General Masaji Kitano, the head of the EHF division,
decided to test monkeys by injecting them with the virus. Approximately
200 infected ticks were gathered, ground up, and mixed into a saline solution
that was then injected into a group of monkeys. In the monkeys where the
disease manifested, doctors removed blood from them and injected that
blood into another group of test subjects. The doctors then took those
monkeys that showed symptoms and dissected them, removing their organs
and grinding them up into another saline solution that was then injected
into yet another group of monkeys. This process was repeated continuously
until the pathogen was successfully isolated. Because of various mistakes
General Kitano made in outlining the article he published regarding these
tests, it is known that the test subjects were in fact humans and not
monkeys at all.
Unidentified doctor performing a dissection on a pregnant
woman.
Plague
Because of Cholera's and EHF's incubation period of about twenty days,
it made more sense for Japanese researchers to devise ways to prevent
the disease among soldiers rather than use them as a sort of biological
weapon. The Bubonic Plague on the other hand starts killing within three
days, making it a potent chemical weapon. There are five instances where
the Japanese dropped the plague on Chinese civilians. Qian Guifa, a resident
in one of the villages where the plague was used had this to say about
those who caught the disease: "Everyone who died did so in pain and
agony, going into convulsions. At first the bodies turned red, then after
death they turned black." In each case, Japanese researchers would
establish a house on the periphery of the village where the plague was
dropped where those afflicted with the disease could come for "treatment."
Instead, they would usually be dissected alive in order to satisfy the
doctor's curiosity as to how the disease affected each individual organ.
Human Vivisection
Frostbite
Of all the experiments, dissections, and vivisections that occurred at
Unit 731, it has been said that the cruelest of all the research concerned
frostbite victims. The Japanese were convinced a war with the Soviet Union
was imminent and wanted to be ready for a cold weather environment. To
be adequately prepared they decided to test human prisoners with frostbite
to observe its affects and the best means of treatment. Prisoners were
taken from their cells into below freezing temperatures and tied up outside
with no shirt on. Their limbs were repeatedly hit with clubs in order
to see when their arms or legs were thoroughly frozen through. The eventual
result was the same for the subjects: gangrene and the rotting of extremities,
leaving many with no hands, feet, arms, or legs.
All Pictures on this page courtesy of http://www.sjwar.org/Unit731.htm
This exhibit was researched and designed by John Charles Andris.
This
exhibit and museum were created during an introductory seminar on the
Asia-Pacific War, taught at Wake Forest University
during the spring semester 2002.
The material
and opinions are those of their respective authors and do not represent
the views of the University or the Department
of History.