Reply #13: BFEE forgave Japan for war crimes -- well, certain war crimes. Unit 731... [View All]

[Octafish]

... for instance. War crimes we needed to know about.



Human Logs Light Military Research Fires.

© 1997 David Guyatt

When Ishii wanted a human brain to experiment upon, guards were assigned to acquire the organ. Grabbing a prisoner, the guards held him down, while another cleaved open his skull with an axe. The organ was clumsily removed and rushed to Ishii's laboratory. The remains of the "sacrificed" prisoner were then "disposed" of in the camp crematorium. Other prisoners could look forward to equally horrific experimentation. Live dissection was common-place.

For forty years the grisly activities of Japan's Unit 731 and sister units, remained the best kept secret of World War two. The victorious Allies were desperate to secretly acquire the expertise and know how of the Japanese Biological Warfare research. Fulsome records of the human experimentation undertaken, were especially sought. Hindered at home by social repulsion to such activities, human experimentation data was viewed as the jewel in the crown.

Scientists and medical experts from Fort Detrick, Maryland - the American top secret BW facility - raced to interview Japanese technicians. Barely one of them stopped to consider the ethical implications. Having assessed the facts, an intelligence cable coldly informed the War Department, Washington DC, that the "foregoing information warrants conclusion that Japanese BW Group, headed by Ishii did violate rules of land warfare." The message added pragmatically: "this expression of opinion is not a recommendation that group be charged and tried as such." None of those implicated in Japanese BW research were brought to trial by the Allies.

Rivalling in size Germany's notorious Auschwitz-Burkenau death camp, Unit 731's facility was located at, Pingfan, Manchuria. This isolated location was chosen for secrecy and security. Pingfan's compound was 6 square kilometres in size. It housed administrative buildings, laboratories, workers dormitories, barracks, an autopsy-dissecting building and a special prison to house human test subjects. Three giant furnaces handled "disposal" of human carcasses. Subjects chosen for human testing were humorously referred to as "logs" or "lumber." A smaller camp at Mukden, Manchuria, housed American, British, Australian and New Zealand POW's. Here too, hideous experiments were performed in secret.

Ishii Shiro was a brilliant and grandiose Army microbiologist. Possessing a flamboyant personality, he soon attracted the attention of influential and senior officers, and was assured rapid promotion. By 1927 he was closely aligned to ultra-nationalists in the War Ministry and pushing hard for developments in Biological Weapons. Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Ishii wangled an assignment to the Manchurian colony. He chose Harbin, capital of the Heilongjiang province, to begin his covert work involving human experimentation. Even though a junior officer, Major Ishii was given a large, secret annual budget. His first command was assigned the cover name, the "Togo Unit" and boasted 300 men. This unit rapidly evolved and grew, undergoing a number of "cover" identities along the way.

CONTINUED...

http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/unit_731.html

Ironic to hear Smirko talk about protectin' life when his War Party appears to worship nothing but death.