Chapter 8 Chapter 5 Striving to Be a Man
The wall of the ad hoc prison facing the rear corridor is about 40 centimeters thick. There is a certain reason why the structure of the wall is so strong.There is a very thick pipe in the middle of the wall, which is connected to the ventilation holes of each cell.
There are only two windows in the single cell: one is the viewing window facing the front corridor of the single cell, and its height is about to the adult's chest, which is used for monitoring, observing "Maruta" and measuring "Maruta" every day Pulse used.
Another small window is cut out on the wall facing the back corridor. It is 10 cm high and 20 cm wide. It is located under the wall and is about the height of an adult’s knee. This small cut-out window is mainly used for delivering meals every day.
In short, both are small windows.Therefore, in summer, "Maruta" suffers from eczema.Due to poor ventilation, colds are common in winter, which makes the experimental materials defective.The small window is also a ventilator that prevents these defects.
The ventilation device sometimes has the effect of effectively massacring the "Marutai" in custody.If you close the valve at one end of the ventilation system passing through the wall and put the poisonous gas in from the other end, the poisonous gas will enter the individual cells through the ventilation holes within ten seconds.
The ventilation device is also a pipe for injecting poisonous gas, and it has been used at least once in order to kill all "Maruta".That was the time of the "Maruta" riot in early June 1945.
However, according to the testimonies of the former military personnel, from the perspective of the special squad, there is an incomprehensible and strange thing in the special prison, that is, the communication transmission network that keeps the individual cells connected with each other.
For the personnel of Unit 731, although "Marutai" has a number, it has no name.It's just pure experimental material.
At first glance, the "Maruta" were bound hands and feet and imprisoned in a sealed space.During the day, they squatted on the floor to avoid the watchful eyes of the guards, recharging their energy; at night, they secretly began to fight in prison.
Pass codes from one cell to another, introduce yourself to each other, and report what's going on in the cell.
"Once, a clever Chinese 'Malutai' was escorted...the 'Malutai' in the cell soon knew the process of his detention, his experience and name, etc. Soon, this person When being selected as a test subject, all the 'Maruta' in each cell went on a hunger strike and silently protested....This is the so-called hunger strike. The reason for this kind of incident is that there is communication between the cells For the sake of the means of communication. After thinking of this, the special class staff will search the inside of the cell carefully whenever the 'Maluta' in the single cell dies, but they have not found any Condition."
This is the recollection of a former member of the army who once belonged to the special squad for a short period of time based on his own experience.
There was also such a thing: they sent sugar packets mixed with typhoid bacteria to the prison for experimentation, but all the "marutas" did not take them with their hands, because the experienced "marutas" Lu Tai" used signals to notify the cells: "The sugar packets are likely to be mixed with bacteria." Without thinking this way, it is impossible to understand the actions of the "Ma Lu Tai".
Even more astonishing is the fact that "items" come and go between the various cells. The contents of "items" vary.In order to rescue the sick "Maruta", they collected the dried fruits that were rationed during meals from various prison cells; used toilet paper to record the letters of the experiment, and passed them around in the prison; The shoes, as "consolation items", were sent to the single cells of the newly arrived former Eighth Route Army cadres.
"At the beginning, the special class was very nervous about these things that happened in the single cell, and they pulled out the 'Maruta' who they thought were the masterminds one by one for experiments and killed them. However, the new 'Maruta' Tai' took over the communication network from the dying 'Maruta', and the connection between them has never been interrupted... Soon, the special class staff seemed to give up, thinking that 'anyway, these guys are going to die soon, there is no It’s amazing’. However, no matter how much you think about it, how the individual cells are connected is still a mystery.” A former military personnel said.
The secret transmission of "things" between completely isolated cells is proof that the "Marutai" are still alive, and it is also proof of their indomitable fighting spirit.
It was in this situation in a solitary cell that the riot took place.
When and how did "Maruta" start the riot in the special prison?Little is known exactly about this.
From the "public trial documents" of the Khabarovsk Military Court, only the following statement can be found:
Answering the presiding judge's interrogation was a trainee non-commissioned officer (witness) Hotta who had worked in the Manager Section of Unit 731.
Question: Are the people who are used as experiments in prison obedient and patient with such experiments?Are there any cases where prisoners resisted?
Answer: In the summer of 1945, he invited me to play in his laboratory. When I got there after a lot of effort, he was very excited and very angry for some reason.I asked him why he was so angry.He told me that those held in prison had resisted.I saw the prison for the first time as I went through three floors to go to it.
Witness Hotta continued to testify:
Two men armed with rifles stood on the roof, watching the prison, and four or five men armed with rifles stood by the prison door.They were all members of the special class. At that time, calm had been restored in the prison.
Two or three days after this incident, Meguro told me that one of the experimenters got into a fight and hit the experimenter with a doorknob.
"Public trial documents" may have misprinted "beating" as "throwing and beating".In addition, "special class personnel" was also mistranslated.The correct one is "special class personnel".The presiding judge is questioning the testimony of the Hotta witness:
Question: What kind of treatment was done to these prisoners?
Answer: The prisoner who beat the experimenter left the cell and ran into the corridor. After he got the key, he opened the doors of several cells, and some prisoners ran out. He was just a brave man, and all of them were shot. .
Question: In other words, all those who resisted the experimenters were shot?Is this true?
Answer: Yes, it is a fact.
This concludes the testimonies of the Hotta witnesses regarding the "Maruta" riots.In the "public trial documents" of the military court in Khabarovsk, there is no further mention of the "Marutai" riot.Hotta's testimony was mainly heard from his friend Meguro, a military doctor.What Hotta himself saw with his own eyes was only "passing three floors" to the prison to witness the aftermath of the repression.
At that time, the riot had been suppressed.
However, there are several doubts in Hotta's testimony, such as the passage he himself said "going to prison through three floors".
Buildings 7 and 8 of the "Malutai" Special Prison, which are themselves built in the inner courtyard of the "Kou" building, are independent buildings, and it is impossible to enter through any building.Or the witness Hotta "went up to the third floor of the main building and saw the prison in the inner courtyard", perhaps a wrong translation.
There are several other questions hidden in Hotta's testimony:
(1) How did trainee non-commissioned officer Hotta know that the surveillance personnel armed with rifles were members of the "special squad"?On this day he saw the prison for the first time.
(2) Peace has been restored in the prison, but why is there such strict surveillance?Did trainee NCO Hotta see more scenes there?
(3) After "Malutai" started a quarrel, he "beat the experimenters with the handle of the door".Aren't all "Maruta" in handcuffs?Or did "Maruta" remove the handcuffs?
(4) Is the "prisoner who beat the experimenter" a Russian or a Chinese?I suspect that Hotta deliberately avoided the nationality of the prisoner in his testimony.
(5) "Maruta" "ran out of the cell, ran into the corridor, got the key, and opened several cells...", so where is the "key" in the corridor?
(6) Was the "Malutai" who just launched the rebellion shot dead?No, the method of killing is shooting or not?
However, taking the opportunity of writing this documentary, I found several former army personnel who participated in suppressing the rebellion and witnessed the situation at that time.
I just remember that it was a "clear morning" in early June 1945.In addition, the exact time of the "Marutai" rebellion is unknown. June is the rainy season in Japan, and it is already early summer in Northeast China.
Based on the situation discussed by the relevant personnel, the riot happened like this: starting at 8:30 in the morning, all ministries in the hospital assembled for early roll call.After the end, the 2,000 or hundreds of troops returned to their posts.Not long after he started working, in a cell at the left end of the single cell on the second floor of Building No. 7 of the Special Prison, a Russian "Maruta" began to say that he was not feeling well.Two Russians were held in that single cell, and one "Maruta" shouted to the guard, "The other person in the same room is in some abnormal condition."
For the personnel of Unit 731, in vivo experimentation is a daily business. Therefore, they are very sensitive to the abnormal physical reactions of "Marutai", and must record all kinds of abnormalities in the collection of experimental data.Therefore, the situation reflected by "Marutai" cannot be ignored.
Later, it occurred to people that it was a strange thing to say "something abnormal in the body" at that time, because no live experiments had been carried out on the two Russian "Marutai" in the solitary cell where the report was made.
However, it is an important task of the special class to ensure healthy and complete subjects.A special squad patrolling in Building 7 walked towards the single cell at the left end who reported the situation.
He looked through the peep window on the front of the single cell, and there was indeed a Russian "Maruta" lying on a wooden bed, moaning with handcuffed hands on his chest.Another Russian "maruta" in handcuffs watched over him, talking to him worriedly.This is a scene that special class personnel have seen hundreds, no, thousands of times in special prisons.
The member of the special class did not feel suspicious. As usual, he inserted the key into the lock of the iron door of the single cell nonchalantly, and opened the iron door.
In fact, the design and structure of the door locks of each single cell in the special prison are the same.
In the special prison, the consumption and replenishment will be carried out at the high rate of consuming 3 "Marutai" in two days (not including the speed of dissection).If the design and structure of the door locks of each individual cell are different, "Maruta" has to look for the keys one by one when entering and exiting, which takes a lot of time and is inefficient.Therefore, a master key was adopted in the ad hoc prison to open the iron door of any single cell.
If "Maruta" who has been included in the experimental schedule falls ill, the scheduled plans of each research laboratory will be disrupted.The special team opened the iron door and approached the moaning "Maruta".
At this moment, something unexpected happened. The Russian "Maruta" who was supposed to be sick suddenly jumped up like a spring and rushed towards the special class personnel. At the same time, another "Maruta" also hugged him. Special class personnel, it turns out that "being unwell" is a strategy.
The members of the special class were shocked by the sudden blow.In an instant, he was hit hard on the forehead by the iron lock used to attach the "Maruta" handcuffs.Both "Maruta" opened the handcuffs.
"How did you open the handcuffs? Then it became a big problem. The handcuffs that were supposed to be inaccessible were opened. ... Did two people work together to break the handcuffs? Or did they both own this kind of restraint device?" What about the knowledgeable 'Maruta'? Or is there something wrong with the handcuffs..." Said a former soldier.According to another military personnel, some people think that "the handcuffs are a relatively simple and inferior product."
Usually they regard "Maruta" as an insignificant person, and they think that the single cell is absolutely safe, but they were suddenly attacked in such a single cell.The member of the special class, whose mind was blank because of the attack on the forehead, at this moment, two Russian "marutas" took away the master key.
The special class personnel escaped from the single cell like a roll, ran into the corridor, passed through the iron door between the corridor of the single cell and the stairs, and quickly locked the door from the outside, panting.In this way, even if "Maruta" breaks through the first pass—the iron door of the single cell, it can prevent "Maruta" from escaping through the second pass.
As soon as the special class personnel went down the stairs, they ran into the special duty room of the "Kou" building to report a riot in the prison.
In fact, this is the second time that "Maruta" has snatched the master key.However, the details of the first incident are unknown.The special class was in a commotion like a hornet's nest.
After hearing the brief report from the special class staff, the person in charge on duty felt a little relieved when he knew that the iron gate between the single cell and the stairs had been closed.The heavily armed personnel immediately ran out of the special duty room, and almost at the same time, he hurriedly called the General Affairs Department on the first floor of the building to ask the security personnel for immediate reinforcements.
At this time, on the second floor of Building No. 7, the Russian "Maruta" who had seized the master key quickly opened the iron doors of the single cells one by one, shouting loudly and gesturing with his hands to urge the prisoners to "" Run outside, run away!"
"There was a riot in the 'Malutai' in Building 7, and the security personnel are required to provide emergency reinforcements immediately. Please come to the special squad as soon as possible after being fully armed." After the General Affairs Department received the emergency call, a tense atmosphere shrouded it.The General Affairs Department closest to the "Kou" building is located on the first and second floors of Building 1 of the main building and Building 63 (the auditorium).
On the first floor of Building No. 1 of the main building, there are the diagnosis and treatment department, the investigation department of the general affairs department, the printing department, the general affairs department, the photography department, the director's office, the management department, the personnel department, and the military police room. class, planning class, adjutant's room, captain's room, showroom, conference room, and peace room.
The "request for reinforcements of security personnel" put forward by the special class was conveyed by the adjutant's office to all classes and classes in the General Affairs Department.
However, in the Ministry of General Affairs, there are more clerical staff, female civilian staff and old men.The only department that can dispatch security personnel immediately and urgently is the printing department and photography department of the able-bodied civilian staff assigned to the department.
Especially in these two classes, there are many sumo wrestlers and baseball players.Immediately after hearing the order "All armed and out!", they ran out of the dark room and stopped the printing press.
"During normal operations, they take off their jackets and only wear shirts, trousers and slippers. Once they are dispatched urgently, they have to change into military uniforms, boots, and military caps. This is not common. So they Nervously ran into the corridor, and ran towards the stairway of the central passage of the "Kou" building... Only 8 civilian staff were mobilized from the General Affairs Department and the Equipment Department." This is a former unit that once ran to participate in the "emergency assembly" personnel memories.
Before going to the duty room of the special squad, the superior officer distributed 38 rifles and bullets to all the staff in front of the arsenal, and explained the situation with the floor plan of Building No. 7: "Currently, 'Marutai' has been broken by the iron door of the single cell. Entering the corridor, the momentum is menacing. However, the iron door leading to the stairs from the corridor has been firmly closed, and the special squad is under strict security. Even if 'Maruta' breaks through this iron door, he can only enter the inner courtyard. Therefore, the situation is not serious. People are so panicked. However, if the 'Maruta' are all incited, the situation will not be optimistic... You must rush to the inner courtyard immediately and closely monitor the movements of the 'Maruta'."
After explaining the above situation, order everyone to load the bullets. "Nervous is nervous, but it's not scary. This is a very good opportunity to see the situation in the cell of 'Maruta' who always wants to see it. Hey, go! Go! Everyone yelled at each other and immediately ran up to the second floor The stairs in the central aisle, then run down the stairs leading to the first floor, and turn left through the central aisle. Led by the special squad, they rushed into the inner courtyard, relying on Building No. 1, spread out in a line, ended The guns were aimed at the cells," said the former army personnel.
The civilian staff of the "reinforcement force" saw a two-story concrete building about 15 meters in front of them.There are seemingly very spacious balconies on the front of the first and second floors, which is the front corridor, and the outside of the corridor is surrounded by a trapezoidal protruding iron fence.Here you can see steel gates in the iron fence, and some "Marutai" in black Chinese robes walking back and forth in the balcony-like corridor.The Type 38 rifle was aimed at the "Marutai".With the movement of "Maruta", the muzzle of the gun slowly moved left and right.
At the left end of the building, a "Maruta" who was walking in front of the special disposal room suddenly grabbed the iron fence and started shouting at the gun-wielding Unit 731 personnel.This is a brown-haired, broad-chested, red-faced Russian man in his forties.His loud shouts resounded constantly through the inner courtyard, the sound of which could be interpreted as a protest or a speech.
The "Marutai" are locked in the second floor of Building No. 7 just like the explanation just now, and no further actions are possible.Seeing this situation, the civilian staff felt relieved. At the same time, they were overwhelmed by the fearless and dignified momentum of the Russian "Maruta" in front of the gun, but none of the civilian staff present knew Russian.
After a while, Ogawa, the Russian translator of the Investigation Section of the General Affairs Department, came to the inner courtyard with a loudspeaker.
"Xiaochuan, what is that guy shouting about?" Maybe that person is the one who beat up the special class staff and took away the master key.
"In short, he said, you tricked us into holding us in a place like this, where you repeatedly carried out cruel experiments and killed many people."
Ogawa responded to the civil servants who asked him. "Tell them: What are you shouting for! No matter how much you shout in this kind of place, you can't escape. Stop messing around! Go back to the single cell!"
Xiao Chuan spoke to the Russian "Maruta" in trembling unproficient Russian into the loudspeaker.He did not translate the Russian words.The Russians shook their fists and shouted.
"What are you talking about now?"
"He said, although you threatened us with guns, this kind of thing is not terrible. The Japanese are cowards, release us immediately! If we are used as guinea pigs to carry out cruel experiments, it is better to kill us arbitrarily Drop!" Xiao Chuan replied quickly.
"'Maluta' don't be arrogant!", another clerk said gruffly.
"Tell them: Go back to the single cell honestly! This will save your life. Stop shouting," another civil servant made a request to Xiaochuan.
During the conversation between the Russian and Ogawa, he waved his fist and slapped his chest in the black Chinese robe with the "Marutai number" sewn on it, walking back and forth from side to side.Other "Marutas" also encouraged the Russians.
Right now, there is a delicate atmosphere in the inner courtyard surrounding the special prison.Originally, "Maruta" was imprisoned at their gunpoints in a sealed space where they could not escape, but "Maruta" had the opposite attitude and overwhelmed the heavily armed team members.
The Russian spread his arms, pulled the iron fence, pointed at his chest, and shouted: "If you want to shoot, shoot here!" His shrugged shoulders, shouting with confidence and angry expression made the Unit 731 personnel felt restless.
"Okay, let this guy go to hell!"
Among the civilian staff who lined up facing the single cell, a young team member who was aiming at the front of the Russians couldn't stand the tense atmosphere and pulled the trigger.The sound of gunfire echoed on the high wall of the "Kou" building, and the Russian suddenly turned over. He wanted to grab the iron fence with one hand, but failed to catch it, and fell down.He did not move, and his high-pitched shouting ceased. "Maruta" is dead.Shooting at the Russian "Marutai" played a great role in suppressing the riots.
The Chinese "Marutai" who used to cooperate with the Russians to move left and right showed shocked expressions.
Some "Marutai" put their hands together and waved to the team members, as if to say, let's go back to the single cell immediately and don't shoot.Make a gesture of non-resistance.
"In retrospect, what the Russian said was the voice from the heart of people who were deprived of their freedom... However, I couldn't understand his anger at the time. My feeling was that 'Maruta' was not a human being in the first place. , how can we be angry with 'Maruta', how can we make them riot... However, before dying, in front of the gunpoint, the attitude of protesting loudly with chest up and stomping left us with a strong feeling Impressions... Although we gagged his mouth with bullets, we were completely overwhelmed by this deprived, bare-handed man. Everyone silently felt, 'There is no justice on our side'. Thinking back to that time It is still difficult to fall asleep at night," recalled a team member who was present at the time.
After the Russians were shot, a terrible scene unfolded in the inner courtyard of the special prison.
About an hour after the Maruta mutiny broke out, the tall ladders were moved into the inner courtyard surrounding the special prison.
The bodies of the shot dead Russians lay in the front corridor, and the other "Marutais" peeped back and forth through the cracks in the iron gate to see the scene in the inner courtyard, and then returned to their single cells.
There is no room for the "Maruta" to escape.Since he got the master key, he was freed from the iron gate that closed the entrance.However, even if you walk from the iron gate to the promenade, there are still iron fences and concrete walls around it. Through the iron fence, you can see the inner courtyard full of players holding 38 rifles.
No, now the armed men are not just standing in the yard. The news of the riot in "Marutai" spread like a shock wave throughout Unit 731. At this time, not only the General Affairs Department, but also other departments also sent security personnel to flock around the special prison.
There were also armed team members standing on the roof of the third floor of the "Kou" building.In the inner courtyard facing the back corridor of the prison, many armed personnel were scattered and deployed. "Maruta" has completely become a rat in the urn.In this enclosed space, there are about 30 "Maruta" in total.
An hour ago, "Maruta" was still an experimental material.However, they are now judged quite differently. "Dangerous prisoner who launched a rebellion" - this is the crime imposed on "Maruta".Perhaps the "Malutai" will prepare for a new rebellion in prison, and they should be dealt with decisively!Within an hour before the Russian "Marutai" was shot dead, the army leadership made a decision.
The tall ladder was moved to the right side of the stairs of Building 7, and a person holding a hose nozzle and wearing a gas mask climbed to the top of the ladder, and his upper body was already in the front corridor on the second floor of Building 7.
A "Maruta" ran from the single cell to the corridor, saw the unusual-looking army personnel approaching, hurriedly hid in the room, and closed the iron door.
The scene that followed was a picture of hell that those present would never forget.
The man opened the valve of the high-pressure bottle, and violently sprayed quick-acting poisonous gas from the nozzle aimed at the end of the ventilation device.The poisonous gas entered the ventilators, then passed through the ventilation holes of the single cells on the second floor of Building No. 7, entered each room, and then entered the first floor.
In just a few minutes, the entire "Marutai" who was detained in Building No. 7 all suffocated to death.It is said that cyanate gas may be used, but more details are unknown.The reason why high-pressure gas bottles and carrying hoses were deliberately used, and only used in Building No. 7, was probably because there was no need to kill all the prisoners held in Building 8, which is opposite the inner courtyard.
According to Hotta's witness, "... by this time, calm had been restored in the prison."It was that terrible silence after all the "Maruta" had been killed.
A former soldier said:
"'Maruta' launched the rebellion in June 1945. That was when the U.S. military launched a leapfrog attack in the Pacific Ocean, and the entire Japanese territory was included in the bombing range of Type 329 aircraft. Almost all major cities such as Tokyo were destroyed. From air raids to the decisive battle in Okinawa, the Shandan troops composed of female students were all wiped out... Everyone has already seen clearly that Japan is about to be defeated. After listening to the short-wave broadcast, the members of the investigation team of Unit 731 were quietly talking about the imminent war. It's over....At this moment, the 'Maruta' riot occurred, which was a huge shock to the troops. If 'Maruta' lived for another two months, it is estimated that the end of the war could be seen. … …No, they will all be killed before the war is over, and the result will be the same."
However, the nature of the death of "Maruta" at this time is different from the death due to multiple "experiments".From the moment the riot was launched, "Maruta" was no longer "Maruta".From the perspective of the personnel of Unit 731, "Maruta", who beat up the special class personnel and snatched the master key by clever means, has made a leap from pure experimental material to a person with hostile personality.Although they were knocked down by bullets, the Russian prisoners shouted for an hour, which terrified Unit 731 and shook their absolute rule.
"All the precious experimental materials are lost..." It is said that after the riot was suppressed, a senior leader said regretfully.However, this loss favors their immediate replenishment.
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