Unit 731: The Horrors of Japan's Secret Biological Warfare Program

Image Source: Wikiwand/Wikimedia Commons

I've been surrounded with people who are even afraid of seeing animals getting tested or experimented at a lab.

Now just imagine if I tell you that there was literally a cruelest 'Unit' or a 'Lab' where humans were experimented. Alive.

To hear about human beings used for medical experiments have been a common knowledge for more than seven decades of the liberation of hundreds ghastly concentration camps and the awful reality of Nazi racism.

But far less known is the cruel and clear wholesale slaughter of thousands of Chinese by a Japanese organization known as Unit 731. 

The Birth of a Nightmare: What Was Unit 731?

Established for the purpose of developing biological and chemical weapons, Unit 731 was an infamous for its human experimentation Japan’s covert biological warfare program during the 1930s. 

Officially, it was called the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department." In reality, it was a biological and chemical weapons testing ground disguised as a research facility. Located in Harbin, Manchukuo (modern-day China), this shadowy base became a hub for unspeakable atrocities.

Unit 731 was established in 1939 in Chinese Pingfang Province and initially this department was named as Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwant to hide the dark secrets under an officially named department. Unit 731 was also known as 'Manshu Detachment 731', ' The Kamo Detachment', and 'Ishi Unit'. 

Unit 731 was spread in 6 sq. km having more than 150 buildings getting prisoners of wars, majorly Chinese, pregnant women, children, young men, young women, beggars, poor, and many more in large numbers and they all were experimented differently with different diseases and viruses to see the reaction of different kind of atrocities on all the humans. Out of all the prisoners, most of them were Chinese, rest included of Britain, America, and Korea. 

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How did Unit 731 Begin?

Image Credit: The Guardian
This image depicts members of Unit 731, a covert biological warfare unit of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

In the early 1930s, Japan extended its imperial ambitions across Asia, the establishment of Unit 731 was a cruelest chapter of the Japan's military strategy.

Created in 1936, Unit 731 was led by General Shiro Ishii in the territory of Manchukuo, in northeast China. It was during the Sino Japanese II war that Shiro Ishii thought of the darkest idea anyone could ever imagine in their worst nightmares, the idea was to experiments on humans to make a biological weapon that would cost less any other military weapon that too impacting the entire humankind.

Not only was the idea intended to be beyond notorious, but also due to the fact that after the World War I, use of biological weapon in any war was prohibited in the Geneva Protocol. But cruelty finds its ways no matter what, and Sadao Iraki, General of Imperial Japanese Army provided him the permission to conduct these experiments.

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Being a microbiologist and army officer, Shiro Ishii proposed the development of a specialized research team of 3000 scientists, doctors, technicians, and researchers to enhance Japan's capabilities in biological warfare arguing that diseases could become more powerful and cheaper weapons, capable of destroying entire population without military forces. 

Thus, by 1936, Ishii's vision materialized as Unit 731 ad their first target was to use this biological bomb in San Diego, America on September 22, 1945. This operation was named 'Cherry Blossoms at Night' by Ishiii himself, finalized on March 26, 1945 to launch off the California coast to drop uji bombs on the city. Indeed this operation was no less than a one way suicide mission for both the pilots and the submarines involved following the completion of the necessary 1-400-class submarines. 

But it was quite 'Karma' happened to Japan as it was only the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the subsequent Japanese surrender on August 15 that cancelled Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night.

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Not that what US did was quite right at all, but as they say that war only harms the innocent and the only collateral damage is of the ones who never wanted it, so again innocents had to suffer due to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Experiments and Atrocities

Vivisection was specifically the most gruesome practice used to be conducted on live humans without the use of anesthetics. To study internal organs and their reactions during the progression of disease was the aim of the scientists, which means that most often subjects were often dissected while they were alive to observe the immediate effects on the body.

These deadly procedures involved dissecting open abdominal cavities, removing organs, and even replacing organs from one place to another to see how the body functions and to analyze the damage caused by infections or chemical agents.

From frostbite experiments by subjecting prisoners to extreme cold to study the effect of hyperthermia to forcing them to endure subzero temperature, they even used instruments to measure the breaking point of frozen flesh. 

These experiments were conducted with the intent to treat Japanese military operating in cold environments. 

Most of the times the prisoners were also used as the subject of testing weapons to assess the lethality of various biological and chemical agents, not only that, but bombs containing anthrax or plague-infected viruses were exposed near groups of the subjects to observe the consequences.

To meticulously record the results by noting the time and severity caused by exposing to severe poisonous gases like phosogene or mustard gas, researchers observed their effects on respiratory system and skin.

Now writing a certain statement about how many more atrocities were given to the captives would merely be an action to terrify you more, but the reality was much more notorious than that.

And what is more shocking is that there was not only Unit 731 that carried out these dark secrets, but there were also many more units were established in different regions of China named as:- Unit 162, Unit 164, Unit 643, Unit 673, Unit 516, and Unit 100.

Post-War Pacts 

As you must have always seen in the movies, it didn't happen in that case, no truth was ever revealed, not even a single scientist or a doctor from Unit 731 or other units got arrested, and even after the war, the Japanese government and military leaders worked their best to hide the notorious and inhumane activities of Unit 731.

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Many documents containing the truth were traded to US while Japan surrendered, and many other documents were deliberately destroyed with an intent to remove the evidence of the atrocities and stats of the captives. Before the Allied forces could reach the Unit 731 at Pingfang, all the records were burnt following the instructions of the unit head, General Shiro Ishii.

Even more miserable is the fact is that after the World War II, people even considered Shiro Ishii as a hero. Truth was fragmented and fabricated were the records and the statistics.

What remained are just an approximate of the statistics of some around 2 lakh- 5.5 lakh people killed during the experiments while this could do nothing to the ones who did it!