Unit 731

Unit 731 (Japanese: 731部隊, Hepburn: Nana-san-ichi Butai) was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Imperial Japan. Unit 731 was based at the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (now Northeast China).

Background

Unit 731 was established in 1935 by Shiro Ishii, a microbiologist and lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Ishii was interested in the potential of biological and chemical warfare, and with the support of the Japanese government, he established a large and sophisticated research complex at Pingfang. The unit was officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army.

Human Experimentation

The activities of Unit 731 included the testing of various biological and chemical weapons on human subjects, as well as vivisection, weapon testing, and other experiments. Prisoners of war, primarily Chinese and Russian individuals, as well as some Koreans and Mongolians, were subjected to these experiments without consent. The experiments included, but were not limited to, the following:

• Infecting prisoners with plague, cholera, anthrax, and other pathogens to study their effects.
• Subjecting prisoners to extreme temperatures and pressures, electric shocks, and radiation to study the limits of the human body.
• Testing the effects of various chemical weapons on living subjects.
• Forced pregnancies and studies on the effects of various diseases on pregnant women and their fetuses.

Impact

The exact number of victims of Unit 731 is unknown, but estimates range from 3,000 to 12,000. Unlike Nazi doctors who were tried for war crimes after World War II, members of Unit 731, including its leader Shiro Ishii, were granted immunity by the United States in exchange for the data they had gathered through human experimentation. This has led to significant controversy and criticism.

Legacy

The legacy of Unit 731 remains a highly sensitive and controversial topic in Japan and China. In Japan, there has been a long-standing reluctance to confront this aspect of the country's wartime history. In China, the memories of the atrocities committed by Unit 731 have fueled anti-Japanese sentiment. Efforts to bring more attention to the activities of Unit 731 have included museums, documentaries, and books. However, the subject remains a source of tension in Sino-Japanese relations.

See also

• Biological warfare
• Chemical warfare
• War crime
• Shiro Ishii