Unit 731
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2008-07-15T20:31:37Z
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/71.51.183.204|71.51.183.204]] ([[User talk:71.51.183.204|talk]]) to last version by Ninetyone
[[Image:Unit 731.jpg|right|frame|Body disposal at Unit 731.]]
{{nihongo|'''Unit 731'''|731 部隊|Nana-san-ichi butai}} was a covert [[biological warfare|biological]] and [[chemical warfare]] research and development unit of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] that undertook lethal [[Japanese human experimentation on the Chinese|human experimentation]] during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (1937–1945) and [[World War II]]. It was responsible for some of the most notorious [[Japanese war crimes|war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel]]. Officially known by the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] as the '''''Kempeitai'' Political Department and Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory''', it was initially set up under the ''[[Kempeitai]]'' [[military police]] of the [[Empire of Japan]] to develop [[weapons of mass destruction]] for potential use against Chinese, and possibly [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] forces.
==Description==
Unit 731 was based in the [[Pingfang]] district of the city of [[Harbin]] in the [[puppet state]] of [[Manchukuo]].
[[Image:Shiro-ishii.jpg|right|thumb|170px|[[Shiro Ishii]], commander of Unit 731]]
More than ten thousand people <ref>http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/17/content_273165.htm – Book on Japan’s germ warfare crimes published.</ref>, from which around 600 every year were provided by the [[kempeitai]] <ref>Yuki Tanaka, ''Hidden Horrors'', Westviewpress, 1996, p.138</ref>, were subjects of the experimentation conducted by Unit 731. These were both civilian and military of [[Han Chinese|Chinese]], [[Koreans|Korean]], [[Mongols|Mongolian]], and [[Russians|Russian]] origin. Some American and European [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] also died at the hands of Unit 731.<ref>http://english.people.com.cn/200508/03/eng20050803_200004.html - Archives give up secrets of Japan's Unit 731.</ref> In addition, the use of biological weapons researched in Unit 731's bioweapons and chemical weapons programs resulted in tens of thousands of military and civilian deaths in China – possibly as many as 200,000 casualties by some estimates.<ref>http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/japan/bw.htm – Biological Weapons Program.</ref>
Unit 731 was the headquarters of many subsidiary units used by the [[Japan]]ese to research biological warfare; other units included [[Unit 516]] ([[Qiqihar]]), [[Unit 543]] ([[Hailar, China|Hailar]]), [[Unit 773]] (Songo unit), [[Unit 100]] ([[Changchun]]), [[Unit Ei 1644]] ([[Nanjing]]), [[Unit 1855]] ([[Beijing]]), [[Unit 8604]] ([[Guangzhou]]), [[Unit 200]] ([[Manchuria]]) and [[Unit 9420]] ([[Singapore]]).
Many of the scientists involved in Unit 731 went on to prominent careers in [[Post-Occupation Japan|post-war]] [[politics]], [[academia]], [[business]], and [[medicine]]. Some were arrested by [[Red Army|Soviet forces]] and tried at the [[Khabarovsk War Crime Trials]]; others, who surrendered to the Americans, were granted [[amnesty]] in exchange for access to the data collected by them.<ref>http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/cbw/bw.htm - Biological Weapons.</ref>
Because of their brutality, Unit 731's actions have now been declared by the [[United Nations]] to have been [[crimes against humanity]].
==Formation==
In 1932, General [[Shiro Ishii]] (石井四郎), chief medical officer of the Japanese Army and protégé of [[Ministry of War of Japan|Army Minister]] [[Sadao Araki]] was placed in command of the '''Army Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory'''. He and his men built the Zhong Ma Prison Camp (whose main building was known locally as the [[Zhongma Fortress]]), a prison/experimentation camp in Beiyinhe, a village 100 kilometers south of [[Harbin]] on the [[South Manchurian Railway]]. Ishii organized a secret research group, the "Togo Unit", for the conduct of various chemical and biological investigations. In 1935, a jailbreak, and later, an explosion (believed to be an attack) forced Ishii to shut down Zhongma Fortress. He later moved to Pingfang, approximately 24 kilometers south of Harbin, to set up a new and much larger facility.<ref>Harris, Sheldon H. ''Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up'', Routledge, 1994. ISBN 0-415-09105-5 ISBN 0-415-93214-9. Page 26 for the Zhong Ma Prison Camp's creation, page 33 for the Pingfang site's creation.</ref>
This unit later was integrated into the [[Kwantung Army]] as the Epidemic Prevention Department, but was divided at the same time into the "Ishii Unit" and "Wakamatsu Unit" with a base in [[Hsinking]]. From 1941 on all these units were known collectively as the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army (関東軍防疫給水部本部)", or "Unit 731" (満州第731部隊) for short.
==Activities==
{{WMD}}
A special project code-named ''Maruta'' used human beings for experiments. Test subjects were gathered from the surrounding population and were sometimes referred to euphemistically as {{nihongo|"logs"|丸太|maruta}}.<ref name = depravity>{{cite news | title = Doctors of Depravity | publisher = Daily Mail | author = Christopher Hudson |date=2 March 2007 | url = http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=439776&in_page_id=1770}}</ref> This term originated as a joke on the part of the staff due to the fact that the official cover story for the facility given to the local authorities was that it was a lumber mill.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=439776&in_page_id=1770 Doctors of Depravity | Mail Online<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>The test subjects were selected to give a wide cross section of the population, and included common criminals, captured bandits and anti-Japanese partisans, [[political prisoner]]s, and also people rounded up by the [[secret police]] for alleged "suspicious activities" and included infants, the elderly, and pregnant women.
===Vivisection===
* Prisoners of war were subjected to [[vivisection]] without anesthesia. <ref name = dissect>{{cite news | title = Dissect them alive: order not to be disobeyed | author = Richard Lloyd Parry | publisher = Times Online |date=February 25, 2007 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1438491.ece}}</ref><ref name = depravity/>
* Vivisections were performed on prisoners after infecting them with various diseases. Scientists performed invasive surgery on prisoners, removing organs to study the effects of disease on the human body. These were conducted while the patients were alive because it was feared that the decomposition process would affect the results.<ref>
[http://web.archive.org/web/20061119053825/http://www.technologyartist.com/unit_731/ Interview with former Unit 731 member Nobuo Kamada]
</ref><ref name = depravity/> The infected and vivisected prisoners included men, women, children, and infants.<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2D71630F934A25750C0A963958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=print "Unmasking Horror"] Nicholas D. Kristof (March 17, 1995) New York Times. A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity</ref>
* Vivisections were also performed on pregnant women, sometimes impregnated by doctors, and the [[fetus]] removed.<ref>[http://www.nesa.org.uk/html/unlocking_a_deadly_secret.htm Unlocking a deadly secret] Photos of vivisection </ref>
* Prisoners had limbs [[amputation|amputated]] in order to study blood loss.<ref name = depravity/>
* Those limbs that were removed were sometimes re-attached to the opposite sides of the body.<ref name = depravity/>
* Some prisoners' [[Limb (anatomy)|limb]]s were frozen and amputated, while others had limbs frozen then thawed to study the effects of the resultant untreated [[gangrene]] and rotting.
* Some prisoners had their [[stomach]]s surgically removed and the [[esophagus]] reattached to the [[intestines]].<ref name = depravity/>
* Parts of the [[brain]], [[lungs]], [[liver]], etc. were removed from some prisoners.<ref>[http://www.ww2pacific.com/unit731.html Japan Admits Dissecting WW-II POWs] James Bauer. "Japanese Unit 731 Biological Warfare Unit" Viewed January 16, 2007</ref><ref name = dissect/><ref name = depravity/>
In 2007, Doctor Ken Yuasa testified to the ''Japan Times'' that "I was afraid during my first vivisection, but the second time around, it was much easier. By the third time, I was willing to do it." He believes at least 1,000 persons, including surgeons, were involved in vivisections over mainland China. <ref>''Vivisectionist recalls his day of reckoning'', http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071024w1.html</ref>
===Weapons testing===
* Human targets were used to test [[grenade]]s positioned at various distances and in different positions.<ref name = depravity/>
* [[Flame thrower]]s were tested on humans.<ref name = depravity/>
* Humans were tied to stakes and used as targets to test [[germ warfare|germ-releasing bombs]], [[chemical weapons]] and explosive [[bomb]]s.<ref name = depravity/>
===Germ warfare attacks===
* Prisoners were injected with inoculations of disease, disguised as [[vaccine|vaccinations]], to study their effects. <ref name = depravity/>
* To study the effects of untreated [[venereal disease]]s, male and female prisoners were deliberately infected with [[syphilis]] and [[gonorrhea]], then studied.
* Prisoners were infested with [[flea]]s in order to acquire large quantities of disease-carrying fleas for the purposes of studying the viability of germ warfare.
* [[Bubonic Plague|Plague]] fleas, infected clothing, and infected supplies encased in bombs were dropped on various targets. The resulting [[cholera]], [[anthrax]], and plague were estimated to have killed around 200,000 Chinese civilians.<ref name = depravity/>
* [[Tularemia]] was tested on Chinese civilians. <ref>[http://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/epr/historyofbt/wmcc/07_tularemia_cc.wmv Video] adapted from "Biological Warfare & Terrorism: The Military and Public Health Response", [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]. Retrieved October 21, 2007</ref>
* Unit 731 and its affiliated units (Unit 1644, Unit 100, et cetera) were actively involved not only in research and development, but also in experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against the Chinese populace (both civilian and military) throughout World War II. Plague-infested fleas, bred in the laboratories of Unit 731 and Unit 1644, were spread by low-flying airplanes upon Chinese cities, coastal [[Ningbo]] in 1940, and [[Changde]], [[Hunan]] Province, in 1941. This military aerial spraying killed thousands of people with [[bubonic plague]] epidemics. <ref>Barenblatt, Daniel. ''A Plague Upon Humanity: the Secret Genocide of Axis Japan's Germ Warfare Operation'', HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN 0-06-018625-9
</ref>
===Other experiments===
Prisoners were subjected to other experiments such as:
* being hung upside down to see how long it would take for them to choke to death.<ref name = depravity/>
* having air injected into their arteries to determine the time until the onset of [[embolism]].<ref name = depravity/>
* having horse [[urine]] injected into their kidneys.<ref name = depravity/>
* being deprived of food and water to determine the length of time until death.
* being placed into high-pressure chambers until death.
* being exposed to extreme temperatures and developed [[frostbite]] to determine how long humans could survive with such an affliction, and to determine the effects of rotting and gangrene on human flesh.<ref name = depravity/>
* having experiments performed upon prisoners to determine the relationship between temperature, burns, and human survival.
* being placed into [[centrifuges]] and spun until dead.
* having animal blood injected and the effects studied.
* being exposed to lethal doses of [[x-ray]] [[radiation]].
* having various chemical weapons tested on prisoners inside gas chambers.
* being injected with sea water to determine if it could be a substitute for [[saline (medicine)|saline]].
==Biological warfare==
Japanese scientists performed tests on prisoners with [[Bubonic plague|plague]], [[cholera]], [[smallpox]], [[botulism]] and other diseases.<ref>[http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/bw/ Biological Weapons Program-Japan] Federation of American Scientists</ref> This research led to the development of the [[defoliation bacilli bomb]] and the [[flea bomb]] used to spread the [[bubonic plague]].<ref>[http://www.centurychina.com/wiihist/germwar/731rev.htm Review of the studies on Germ Warfare] Tien-wei Wu A Preliminary Review of Studies of Japanese Biological Warfare and Unit 731 in the United States</ref> Some of these bombs were designed with [[ceramic]] ([[porcelain]]) shells, an idea proposed by Ishii in 1938. These bombs enabled Japanese soldiers to launch biological attacks, infecting agriculture, reservoirs, wells, and other areas with [[anthrax]], plague-carrier [[flea]]s, [[typhoid]], [[dysentery]], [[cholera]], and other deadly pathogens. In addition, infected food supplies and clothing were dropped by airplane into areas of China not occupied by Japanese forces.
==Unit members==
* Lieutenant General [[Shiro Ishii]]
* Lieutenant Colonel [[Ryoichi Naito]]
* Dr. [[Masaji Kitano]]
* [[Yoshio Shinozuka]]
* [[Yasuji Kaneko]]
==Divisions==
Unit 731 was divided into eight divisions:
*Division 1: Research on [[bubonic plague]], [[cholera]], [[anthrax]], [[typhoid]], and [[tuberculosis]], using live human subjects. For this purpose a prison was constructed to contain around three to four hundred people.
*Division 2: Research for biological weapons used in the field, in particular the production of devices to spread germs and parasites.
*Division 3: Production of shells containing biological agents. Stationed in Harbin.
*Division 4: Production of other miscellaneous agents.
*Division 5: Training of personnel.
*Divisions 6–8: Equipment, medical, and administrative units.
==Facilities==
[[Image:Harbin maj enh 731 1.JPG|thumb|right|280px|One of the buildings is open to visitors]]
The Unit 731 complex covered six square kilometers and consisted of more than 150 buildings. The design of the facilities made them hard to destroy by bombing. The complex contained various factories. It had around 4,500 containers to be used to raise [[flea]]s, six giant cauldrons to produce various chemicals and around 1,800 containers to produce biological agents. Approximately 30 kg of bubonic plague bacteria could be produced in several days.
Some of Unit 731's satellite facilities are in use by various Chinese industrial concerns. A portion has been preserved and is open to visitors as a War Crimes Museum.
Tons of biological weapons (and some chemicals) were stored in various places in northeastern China throughout the war. The Japanese attempted to destroy evidence of the facilities after disbanding. In August 2003, 29 people were hospitalized after a construction crew in [[Heilongjiang]] inadvertently dug up chemical shells that had been buried deep in the soil more than fifty years before.
===Anta testing site===
This site was an open air testing area about 120 km from the [[Pingfang]] facility.
===Hsinking (Changchung) HQ===
Headquarters of "Wakamatsu Unit" (Unit 100), under command of [[veterinary medicine|veterinarian]] [[Wakamatsu Yujiro]]. This facility dedicated itself to both the study of animal [[vaccine]]s to protect Japanese resources, and, especially, veterinary biological-warfare. Diseases were tested for use against the Soviet and Chinese horses and other [[livestock]]. In addition to these tests, Unit 100 ran a bacteria factory to produce the pathogens needed by other units. Biological sabotage testing was also handled at this facility: everything from poisons to chemical crop destruction.
===Peking (Peiping) HQ===
This HQ served as the headquarters of [[Unit 1855]]. It was also an experimental branch unit based at [[Jinan|Chinan]], [[Hopei]]. [[Pandemic disease]]s were extensively studied at this facility.
===Nanking HQ===
This section was the headquarters of the "Tama Unit" ([[Unit Ei 1644]]) and conducted extensive joint projects and operations with Unit 731.
===Kwantung (Canton) HQ===
The headquarters of the "Nami Unit" (Unit 8604). This installation conducted human experimentation in food and water deprivation as well as water-borne [[typhus]]. In addition, this facility served as the main rat-farm for the medical units to provide them with [[bubonic plague]] vectors for experiments.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
===Syonan (Singapore) HQ===
Formed in [[1942]], by [[Ryoichi Naito]], [[Unit 9420]] had approximately 1000 personnel based at the [[Raffles University|Raffles Medical University]]. The unit was commanded by Major General [[Kitagawa Masataka]] and supported by the Japanese Southern Army Headquarters.
There were two main sub units: the "Kono Unit," which specialized in [[malaria]], and "Umeoka Unit," which dealt with the plague. In addition to disease experiments, this facility served as one of the main rat catching and processing centers. Evidence points towards this facility supplying a medical sub-unit operating in [[Thailand]], with diseases for unknown operations and or experiments.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
===Hiroshima HQ===
A top secret factory in [[Ōkunoshima]] produced chemical weapons for the Japanese military and medical units. Starting with [[mustard gas]] production in 1928, the factory moved on to such poisons as [[Yperite]], [[Lewisite]], and [[Cyanogen]]. During the 1930s, as the war in China grew worse, the island the factory sat on was removed from most maps to strengthen secrecy and security.
===Manchuria HQ (Unit 200)===
This unit was associated directly with Unit 731, and worked mainly in plague research.
===Manchuria HQ (Unit 571)===
This section, with unknown headquarters, was another unit that worked directly and extensively with Unit 731.
===Special Mobile Teams===
Special units led by [[Ishii Shiro]]'s elder brother and only staffed with members from Ishii's home town operated separately from the regular medical organizations as roving researchers and [[trouble shooter]]s.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
===Special Operations units===
Units with special and unknown assignments in Manchuria and the Asian mainland. It has been suggested that [[nuclear weapons]] research was conducted in Manchuria towards the end of the war by this branch.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
== Disbanding and the end of World War II ==
[[Image:Harbin Gedenkplakette Einheit731.JPG|thumb|right|270px|Information sign at the site today]]
Operations and experiments continued until the end of the war. Ishii had wanted to use biological weapons in the [[Pacific War|Pacific conflict]] since May 1944, but his attempts were repeatedly foiled by poor planning and Allied intervention. With the [[Operation August Storm|Russian invasion]] of Manchukuo and [[Mengjiang]] in August 1945, the unit had to abandon their work in haste. The members and their families fled to Japan.
Ishii ordered every member of the group "to take the secret to the grave," threatening to find them if they failed, and prohibiting any of them from going into public work back in Japan. [[Potassium cyanide]] vials were issued for use in the event that the remaining personnel were captured.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
[[Skeleton crew]]s of Ishii's Japanese troops blew the compound up in the final days of the war to destroy evidence of their activities, but most were so well constructed that they survived somewhat intact as a testimony to what had happened there.
After Imperial Japan [[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|surrendered]] to the Allies in 1945, [[Douglas MacArthur]] became the [[Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers]], rebuilding Japan during the [[Occupation of Japan|Allied occupation]].
At the end of the war, MacArthur secretly granted [[immunity (legal)|immunity]] to the physicians of Unit 731 in exchange for providing America with their research on [[biological warfare]]. The United States believed that the research data was valuable because the allies had never publicly conducted or condoned such [[human experiment|experiments on humans]] due to moral and political revulsion. The United States also did not want other nations, particularly the [[Soviet Union]], to acquire data on [[biological warfare|biological weapons]], not to mention the military benefits of such research.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/1796044.stm - Unit 731: Japan's biological force.</ref>
The [[Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal]] heard only one reference to Japanese experiments with "poisonous serums" on Chinese civilians. This took place in August 1946 and was actioned by David Sutton, assistant to the Chinese prosecutor.
The Japanese defense counselor argued that the claim was vague and uncorroborated and it was dismissed by the tribunal president, Sir [[William Webb]], for lack of evidence.
The subject was not pursued further by Sutton, who was likely aware of Unit 731's activities. His reference to it at the trial is believed to have been accidental.
Although publicly silent on the issue at the Tokyo trials, the Soviet Union pursued the case and prosecuted twelve top military leaders and scientists from Unit 731 and its affiliated biological-war prisons Unit 1644 in Nanjing, and Unit 100 in Changchun, in the [[Khabarovsk War Crime Trials]]. Included among the prosecuted for [[war crimes]] including germ warfare was General [[Otozo Yamada]], the [[commander-in-chief]] of the million man [[Kwantung Army]] occupying Manchuria.
Many Russian civilians, including women and children, and Soviet POWs held by Japan were killed in chemical and biological warfare experiments by Unit 731, along with Chinese, Koreans, Mongolians, and other nationalities. The trial of those captured Japanese perpetrators was held in [[Khabarovsk]] in December of 1949. A lengthy partial transcript of the trial proceedings was published in different languages the following year by a [[Moscow]] foreign languages press, including an English language edition: ''Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1950)''. This book remains an invaluable resource for historians on the organization and activities of the Japanese biological warfare "death factory" lab-prisons. The lead prosecuting attorney at the Khabarovsk trial was [[Lev Smirnov]], who had been one of the top Soviet prosecutors at the [[Nuremberg Trials]].
The Japanese doctors and army commanders who had perpetrated the Unit 731 atrocities and germ warfare experiments received sentences ranging from 2 to 25 years in a [[Siberia]]n labor camp from the Khabarovsk court.
Some former members of Unit 731 became part of the Japanese medical establishment.
Dr [[Masaji Kitano]] led Japan's largest [[pharmaceutical]] company, the [[Green Cross (Japan)|Green Cross]]. Others headed U.S.-backed medical schools or worked for the Japanese health ministry. [[Shiro Ishii]] in particular moved to [[Maryland]] to work on bio-weapons research. <ref> "http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0510-24.htm An Ethical Blank Cheque: British and US mythology about the second world war ignores our own crimes and legitimizes Anglo-American war making- the Guardian, May 10, 2005, by Richard Drayton </ref>
==Cultural depictions and representations==
*Japanese author [[Morimura Seiichi]] published the book ''The Devil's Gluttony'' (悪魔の飽食) in 1981, followed by ''The Devil's Gluttony - A Sequel'' in 1983, which were the first [[Japanese language]] publications to reveal the history of Unit 731 in Japan.
*The Chinese movie ''[[Men Behind the Sun]]'' is a film about the atrocities committed by Unit 731, as is the 2008 film ''[[Philosophy of a Knife]]'' from Russia.
*The television show ''[[The X-Files]]'' weaves Unit 731 into its complex government conspiracy mythology. In the episodes "[[Nisei (The X-Files)|Nisei]]" and "[[731 (The X-Files)|731]]", Japanese scientists given amnesty in the U.S. after World War II are said to be continuing their work in secret, experimenting with [[extraterrestrial life|alien]]-human hybrids, possibly to be immune to biological weapons. The name of the character in charge of the former Unit 731 doctors, Takeo Ishimaru, and his alias, Shiro Zama, are based on [[Shiro Ishii|Dr. Shiro Ishii]] and [[Camp Zama]] (a U.S. Army base in [[Sagamihara]], Japan).
*Japanese director [[Minoru Matsui]]'s 2001 documentary ''[[Japanese Devils]]'' was composed largely of interviews with 14 members of Unit 731 who had been taken as prisoners by China and later released.
*Japanese author [[Shusaku Endo]] published the book ''The Sea and Poison'' (1958): Set largely in a Fukuoka hospital, during World War II, this novel is concerned with lethal vivisections carried out on downed American airmen. It is told from the first-person point of view of one of the doctors and the third-person perspective of his colleagues who cut open, experiment on, and kill the six crew members. This is based on a true incident.
*[[Iron Maiden]] vocalist [[Bruce Dickinson]] recorded the song 'The Breeding House', about Unit 731.
*In [[The Zombie Survival Guide]] author [[Max Brooks]] depicted Unit 731 as experimenting with the "Solanum virus" in an attempt to train zombies as soldiers.
== See also ==
=== Pacific War (World War II)===
* [[Japanese human experimentations]]
* [[Changde chemical weapon attack]]
* [[Japanese war crimes]]
* [[Kaimingye germ weapon attack]]
* [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]
=== Nazi Germany ===
* [[Nazi human experimentation]]
* [[Josef Mengele]]
===In Asia===
* [[North Korean human experimentation]]
== References ==
{{reflist|2}}
== Further reading ==
<div class="references-small">
* Barenblatt, Daniel. ''A Plague Upon Humanity: the Secret Genocide of Axis Japan's Germ Warfare Operation'', HarperCollins, 2004. ISBN 0-06-018625-9
* Gold, Hal. ''Unit 731 Testimony'', Charles E Tuttle Co., 1996. ISBN 4-900737-39-9
* Williams, Peter. ''Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II'', Free Press, 1989. ISBN 0-02-935301-7
* Harris, Sheldon H. ''Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up'', Routledge, 1994. ISBN 0-415-09105-5 ISBN 0-415-93214-9
* Endicott, Stephen and Hagerman, Edward. ''The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the Early Cold War and Korea'', Indiana University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-253-33472-1
* Handelman, Stephen and Alibek, Ken. ''Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World--Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It'', Random House, 1999. ISBN 0-375-50231-9 ISBN 0-385-33496-6
* Harris, Robert and Paxman, Jeremy. ''A Higher Form of Killing : The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare'', Random House, 2002. ISBN 0-8129-6653-8
* Barnaby, Wendy. ''The Plague Makers: The Secret World of Biological Warfare'', Frog Ltd, 1999. ISBN 1-883319-85-4 ISBN 0-7567-5698-7 ISBN 0-8264-1258-0 ISBN 0-8264-1415-X
* Moreno, Jonathan D. ''Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans'', Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-92835-4
</div>
== External links ==
{{sisterlinks}}
=== Resources ===
*[http://www.archives.gov/iwg/ The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group (IWG)] — The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
*[http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/bw/ History of Japan's biological weapons program] — The Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
*[http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/cbw/bw.htm History of United States' biological weapons program] — The Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
*[http://www.geocities.com/dib10280/ Dan Barenblatt's ''A Plague Upon Humanity: The Continuing Story''] — an internet gathering place for news and emerging information about Japan's human experiment and biological warfare program of the 1930s and '40s, commonly known in shorthand as "Unit 731".
*[http://www.unit-731.com/ UNIT 731: Japanese Experimentation Camp (1937-1945)] — information site.
* ''Unit 731, Nightmare in Manchuria'', a World Justice documentary, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdQ5HJl5XMU]
==== Images ====
*[http://www.sunshine-project.org/pingfan/ ''The forgotten victims of biological warfare''] — online slideshow from the Sunshine Project.
*[http://www.aiipowmia.com/731/731caveat.html Unit 731: Auschwitz of the East] — AII POW-MIA images.
=== Accounts ===
*[http://www.centurychina.com/wiihist/confess/demondoc.html ''Army Doctor''] — a firsthand account by Yuasa Ken.
=== Articles ===
*[http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/thth/projects/thth_projects_2003_parkeun.htm ''Theodicy - through the Case of “Unit 731”''] — by Eun Park (2003).
*[http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0820/p1s3-woap.html ''Why the past still separates China and Japan''] — by Robert Marquand (2001), ''Christian Science Monitor''.
*[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-05/06/content_439768.htm ''China recalls germ warfare experiments''] — Agencies (2005), ''China Daily''.
*[http://users.westnet.gr/~cgian/shinozuka.htm ''Ex-Japanese Soldier Deemed War Criminal''] — by Michael Zielenziger (1998), ''Houston Chronicle''.
*[http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1437314.htm ''US paid for Japanese human germ warfare data''] — ''Australian Broadcasting Corporation News Online''.
*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1338296,00.html ''Japan's sins of the past''] — by Justin McCurry (2004), ''The Guardian''.
*[http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/28/1030508070534.html ''The Asian Auschwitz of Unit 731''] — by Shane Green (2002), ''The Age''.
*[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=439776&in_page_id=1770 ''Doctors of Depravity''] - by Christopher Hudson (2007), ''the Daily Mail''.
*[http://www.repubblica.it/online/cronaca/virustre/fabbrica/fabbrica.html ''Orrori e misteri dell'Unità 731, la "fabbrica" dei batteri killer''] — by Marco Lupis (2003), ''La Repubblica'' (Italy).
{{IJA special research units}}
{{World War II}}
[[Category:Biological warfare facilities]]
[[Category:Imperial Japanese Army]]
[[Category:Japanese human experimentation]]
[[Category:Manchukuo]]
[[Category:Military history of Japan during World War II]]
[[Category:Second Sino-Japanese War]]
[[Category:War crimes in China]]
[[Category:Defunct military provosts|Japan]]
[[ar:الوحدة 731]]
[[bg:Отряд 731]]
[[de:Einheit 731]]
[[es:Escuadrón 731]]
[[fr:Unité 731]]
[[ko:731 부대]]
[[it:Unità 731]]
[[he:יחידה 731]]
[[lv:731. vienība]]
[[nl:Unit 731]]
[[ja:731部隊]]
[[pl:Oddział 731]]
[[pt:Unidade 731]]
[[ro:Unitatea 731]]
[[ru:Отряд 731]]
[[sr:Јединица 731]]
[[fi:Yksikkö 731]]
[[sv:Enhet 731]]
[[zh:731部队]]