Chapter 12 Chapter IX The Bastard Son of the Japanese Army
"(Previously omitted) "Red Banner" recently published the documentary of Manchurian Unit 731, and I immediately asked a friend to find it, and read it with great interest..." In late July 1981, we received a letter from the former army personnel, The beginning of the letter reads like this.
At the end of the letter, only "Student KK" was written, and the address and name of the writer were concealed.The postmark of the delivery post office was deciphered with great difficulty, and it read "Kyoto Nishijin 7·25·81·12～18".Maybe my judgment is wrong. Judging from the letter itself, it is estimated that it was written by an elderly man.
The letter continued:
"...Especially the first release of the main map of Unit 731. Regarding this, I, as a relevant person of the original unit, would like to say a few words.
"After the war, more than 20 records and reports on Unit 731, including the "Special Force Seven-Three One" written by Hiroshi Akiyama, a former member of the unit, have been published in various newspapers. It makes people feel that all the secrets about Unit 731 have been published. , the main situation has been fully revealed, and some of the news is out of interest or inflammatory, but I think many people have been carefully tracking and making the content more accurate, and this effort is obvious."
"...In this sense, although some of our colleagues know about the existence of the 'Main Picture' published for the first time in this series, it has not been published in the society so far, precisely because of this picture. It is a precious document that has been circulated in the hands of some relevant personnel, constantly revised and copied, and has been cherished all the time, so this time Mr. Morimura got it and announced it to the world, which surprised me."
"For the relevant personnel of our original Unit 731, there is nothing more precious than this 'required map'. However, from Akiyama's work and other recently published works, an inaccurate sketch has been published. Therefore, the personnel of Unit 731 have remained silent and have not made a statement requesting revision, mainly considering that such statements will have a significant impact on society. It can be considered that the personnel of Unit 731 still maintain mutual friendship.'To figure' After the publication, the original 20 types of records and reports were supplemented by the original 731 troops, and the exaggerations were corrected, and reproduced in Mr. Morimura's serial articles. I think that, no matter how good or bad things are, as 731 The army is accurately assembled, and its true record should be left."
"Here, I would like to say something to the person who provided the 'required map'. Today, publishing this map does not betray the trust and friendship between the personnel of Unit 731. More than 30 years have passed since the war. The original 731 Among the troops, some have died, some have become monks, and some have gradually withdrawn from the front line of society and entered a period of reviewing the past. As Mr. Morimura said in his intention to write, this historical gap must be filled .”
"... Unit 731 still has a secret history that the world does not know, such as the relationship between Lieutenant General Ishii and the post-war occupation army; The lovely youth of young people and their voyages of life after the war to hide the hardships they experienced, and so on."
"I hope that the author, Mr. Morimura, will write these real records of Unit 731 and challenge the official history of Unit 731. I have to stop writing this in a hurry and write this letter anonymously. I am a little rude, please forgive me.
Dear Mr. KK"
Using the "Kyoto Nishijin" on the postmark of the post office as the only clue, I tried to find the person who wrote the anonymous letter, but to this day, these attempts have ended in vain.
(1) The relationship between Lieutenant General Ishii and the U.S. occupation forces;
(2) The true history of Unit 731;
(3) Tracks of special team members known as juvenile trainee technicians.
That's probably what I'm being hinted at writing.
Although I said that I was writing "The Headquarters of the Kwantung Army's Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department-A Documentary of Manchurian Unit 731", the parts (1) to (3) pointed out by Mr. KK are indeed the places where I have not written enough.
My intention is not to write the war record of a dispatched army or a unit of the Japanese Army, but to use Unit 731 as a symbol of war crimes to dissect the mechanism of militarism and war crimes.
However, what does Mr. KK's letter refer to as "...the young trainee technicians who joined the army at the age of 14 or 15, and the lovely youth of hundreds of young people"?
Several documents mention the fact that there are a group of teenagers called "young trainee technicians" in Unit 731.Reading the book "Special Forces 731" written by Akiyama, it can be roughly inferred that the "former army member Akiyama Hiroshi" mentioned in KK's letter may be the fourth batch of young trainee technicians (about 16 or 17 years old at the end of the war) .
There is an official publication "Fang You" that only a very small number of relevant personnel can see.
Each issue is typewritten, about 20 to 25 pages, and is a booklet whose cover is only painted in red and green.
I searched through any page of each issue, but I couldn't find the logo of the issuing unit, nor the bottom page where the person in charge of the issue and the location of the secretariat were not listed.This is to prevent the news media from conducting interviews.
Open the latest issue (No. 65), and the following reports immediately come into view:
Fangyou Club - This is a comrade-in-arms association established by the former 731 young trainee technicians, and "Fangyou" is its official publication.
The word "fang" in "fangyou" may be taken from the bungalows where the 731 troops were stationed at that time. Maybe the word "fangyou" is also a Chinese word for classmates. "BO" (kanji "室") means "room", and (in Japanese) "FUSA (kanji also written '室')" means a bunch of flowers or fruit from the same root.It can also be said to represent classmates and graduates of the same period.If it means the latter, it refers to the alumni reunion of the former teenage trainee technicians of Unit 731.
"Fangyou" was first published on November 15, 1957.Before the publication, the name of this association was solicited from members.They put forward "731", "Bungalow", "Refinement", "Miscellaneous Fungus Bitterness Club", "House Club", "Ming Soul", "Pingfang Friends Club", "Light", "Upward", " Friends" and other various plans, and finally decided as "Fang You Club" (according to the first issue of "Fang You").
Issue No. 64 of "Fang You" published in January this year (1981) published the following letter from a member:
"... I heard that some people seem to have put forward various criticisms of the practice of the 'House Friends Association', but we are not willing to look back and praise the past, but because we used to share weal and woe under the same roof in a foreign country when we were young. Partners, we meet once every few years, wish each other health, revisit old friendships, and further deepen friendship. Isn’t it possible to have such an opportunity?”
In the same issue, there is also a letter with the following content: "... Whenever I read the published memos, I immediately recall your activities and boyhood, and whenever I see you who are full of energy, I have great expectations for you who are full of enthusiasm, and I feel that only you can save Japan in the crisis in the future. The scene where Mr. Ishii and others are teaching us the basics of chemistry is like yesterday..."
The "Mr. Ishii" mentioned here probably refers to Lieutenant General Ishii Shiro, the commander of Unit 731, military doctor Lieutenant General Ishii Shiro. The content and tendency of readers' letters vary from person to person.
I also saw a sentence that surprised me from the "Showa generation": "Whether it was before the war, during the war or after the war, our Showa generation has been active as the core of the country to this day, and this is also due to the blessing of the bungalow spirit... …”
If we trace the root of the "House Friends Association" and its official publication "House Friends", then it will appear that in the first ten days of April 1942, when 107 teenagers aged only 14 or 15 came to the icy and snowy Harbin Railway Station from the inland of Japan scenario.
The young soldiers of Unit 731—they were called by people as soon as they were assembled.
The young soldiers participating in Unit 731 have two things in common:
First, the families they came from were not well-off; second, the teenagers were all studying in national schools (equivalent to today's primary schools), and they had excellent grades and smart minds when they were in school. They were all self-motivated, A person with a strong thirst for knowledge.
The Kwantung Army Command and the Ministry of Education of Unit 731 sent people all over Japan to mobilize those teenagers who wanted to study but had to give up because of their difficult family circumstances, saying: "Become a junior technician trainee in the army!"
For teenagers who were unable to go to school due to family poverty at that time, the military trainee technician was a good way to obtain qualifications and study.
This is different from entering a juvenile school. Young trainee technicians are guaranteed to obtain military civilian status. Although there are not many of them, they can still receive a monthly salary, and they don't have to worry about all issues such as food and lodging.There are also educational facilities (schools) in the army. At that time, the educational atmosphere of "serving the country and serving the public" enveloped the country's primary schools. Unit 731 was mobilized through school authorities, and many teenagers were drafted into the army.
From Aomori County in the north to Kagoshima County in the south, fourteen or fifteen-year-old teenagers who passed the examination came to Harbin from the mainland (Japan) alone.
After the teenagers arrived at Harbin Railway Station, they immediately went to the bungalows, assigned to the Ministry of Education of Unit 731.According to today's statement, they are still very naive children who have just graduated from middle school (there are two years of advanced subjects in elementary school, which is equivalent to the second grade of junior high school today).Of course, it is impossible for them to know what kind of special mission Unit 731 is.
In April 1942, 107 teenagers were enlisted.At that time, although the facilities of the army had been roughly completed, they were not yet ready to accept the boys because they doubted whether they would come to Beiman.
The teenagers are temporarily housed in a juvenile soldier's dormitory that was temporarily rebuilt from a large warehouse.Although it was early April, the night when I first arrived in Harbin was extremely cold. At night, in the dormitory transformed from a warehouse, the high ceilings seemed empty, and the cold wind was howling on the roof.
They were teenagers who had never met each other. When it was time to turn off the lights, they were all covered with quilts. Listening to the whistle of the night train passing through the nearby Bingfang Railway Station, they thought of their hometown, parents and brothers, and then thought of the imminent start. Army life, has been unable to sleep.
Listening to the whistling sound of the foreign cold wind outside the window, they turned over, and their hearts were impacted by loneliness and uneasiness.
This unit, composed of many military doctors, medical workers and researchers drawn from the interior of Japan, has been deeply troubled by the shortage of researchers since the day it was established as the "Kamo Unit".
What is especially serious is that the absolute number of backbone technicians who specialize in germ warfare is insufficient.
To make bacteria and conduct experiments, scholars who need theoretical guidance and research also need many researchers and assistants who assist scholars in sorting out experimental data and making various specimens.In Japan before the war, there were relatively few educational institutions that trained a large number of hygienic clinical inspection technicians.
Although a group of technicians with inspection skills were hastily transferred from hospitals and public health departments across Japan to be assigned to Unit 731 as military civilian personnel, but mistakes occurred because they were not used to the dangerous work of dealing with bacteria. , Many people died.Many technicians have also left the army.
Ishii Shiro attaches great importance to this situation, and intends to cultivate skilled technicians who not only master the technical secrets of bacterial warfare, but also have iron discipline in anti-espionage.Starting from this point, it is planned to train a large number of young trainee technicians—the backbone cadres trained by the 731 Unit from the young soldiers.
In fact, in 1938, there were the first batch of young soldiers in Unit 731.However, from the special Kwantung Army exercise in 1941 to the outbreak of the Pacific War on December 8 of the same year, many young soldiers moved to the south. They went to the front line before taking root in Unit 731 and participated in the epidemic prevention and water supply operations.Therefore, the training of technical personnel was interrupted by the expansion of the front.
The teenagers spent their first sleepless night in a dormitory converted from a warehouse.In fact, they are the first batch of young soldiers newly trained by Unit 731, that is to say, the 731 Boys' Squad was born.
In early spring, in the severe cold zone where the temperature at night is below -25°C, the rigorous training of the young soldiers began.
A day for a young soldier begins with the sound of the wake-up call at six o'clock in the morning.After waking up without washing my face, I gathered at the training ground next to the dormitory and started morning exercises.
As long as you want to sleep in or dawdle a little, you will immediately get the wooden gun or mouth of the squad leader.The total number of 107 young trainee technicians in the first period was organized into four classes after the enlistment ceremony, and each class was assigned a civilian officer promoted by a non-commissioned officer as the class leader.For these innocent teenagers, the monitor's reprimand is the most terrifying.As soon as they heard the wake-up call from the Education Headquarters, they rushed to jump out of bed.
After doing exercises and running for about 30 minutes, they returned to the juvenile soldiers' dormitory, washed their faces, and then the staff on duty brought breakfast (at the beginning, they went to the cafeteria in Building 63).Large aluminum containers filled with pork miso soup and white rice.This is the "famous product" of Unit 731 - a nutritious breakfast.Although there are sometimes pig hairs on the pork, in the eyes of the poor rural boy soldiers, this is a delicacy that he never even dreamed of.
After breakfast and a short rest, I started to study intensively in the classroom of the education team from nine o'clock.This is the daily lesson of the young soldiers.
They want to train the backbone technicians of Unit 731, and the learning content is advanced, including the following broad areas:
Mathematics (Army Professor Takagi)
linguistics
English (Army Interpreter Hano)
Chinese (Army Translator Kasuga)
Chemistry (Pharmacy Lieutenant Abe)
Physics (Army Professor Saito)
Geography (Army Associate Professor Horiuchi)
History (Army Associate Professor Horiuchi)
Natural History (Army Technician Yagisawa)
Mandarin and Chinese (Army, Army Technician)
Military Science (Army Civilian Longhouse)
Physiology (Military Lieutenant Shirai)
Bacteriology (Military Doctor Lieutenant Ito, including bacterial inspection, staining, culture medium production, sterilization and animal dissection, etc.)
"There is a very intense force-feeding education... During class, the Ministry of Education personnel with wooden guns stand behind the classroom and monitor the students. Anyone who wants to take a nap will be shot right away... However, the teenagers They have a sense of mission and thirst for knowledge that they want to be useful to the country. They have digested every word of the instructor with a very serious attitude, and have achieved excellent results. Facing the difficult course content, They are not afraid and have made amazing progress," said a former member of the army who once served as a squad leader when talking about his impression of the first batch of young soldiers.
What made the young soldiers feel confused was the timing of the chemistry class. Although they were all the tortoise shell characters (chemical symbols) that everyone saw for the first time, the instructor still gave lectures quickly.Therefore, whether they are going to the toilet or eating, the young soldiers take the time to study chemistry at their leisure.
The most difficult thing for young soldiers to deal with is the military training in the afternoon. Although they are all outstanding young men selected from all over Japan, each person's physical strength and motor nerves are different. "And the discipline of the army has the unique strictness of the army.
"Having said that, not only can you receive a monthly salary, but after the military education is over, those with excellent grades can go to Harbin Medical University... In the future, you can also open up a path to become a doctor, and you can also be a clinical examination technician. Free of accommodation fees and In the mid-term of military education, they can be employed unconditionally. In the hearts of the children, there is a deep feeling of "how can they be left behind when they come to such a good place?", recalled a former young soldier.
After the intense cramming education and military training, the evening is the free time for the teenagers.These young soldiers "as genuine personnel of Unit 731, will become the talents who will build the foundation of the king's land", but during their free time, they become children again.
In the evening of spring, after dinner, when I walked out of the education team and looked up at the boundless yellow plain, I felt a sense of homesickness in my heart.
During the days when he was reprimanded by the class monitor, he whistled nostalgia and nostalgia alone, feeling lonely all over his body, and tears streaming down his cheeks.Sometimes the word "escape" also flashed in the young soldier's mind, but when he thought of the poor life at home, he often cried and got into bed.
From the perspective of the superiors, it is indeed pitiful to compare the 107 bald-headed young players who have just joined the army with their own children.
After the instructors made an agreement, they said to the young soldiers: "Hey, XXX and XXX, come to my house today to help grow the vegetable garden!" Every family in the dormitory area of Dongxiang Village has a small vegetable garden, and the young soldiers are helping to plant this vegetable garden.
However, it takes about an hour to help plant such a small vegetable field. The purpose is to invite the teenagers to eat red bean paste glutinous rice balls and meals made by their wives and daughters at home after the work is done.
Lots of onigiri made with lots of adzuki beans and sugar and the warm family atmosphere greatly comforted the hearts of the teenagers.
The young soldier shouted, "Technician hall", and saluted politely.Their appearance has brought a breath of fresh air to Unit 731, and there has been a situation where some young people also want to work hard to become model seniors respected by young people.
However, one year later, when the young soldiers were educated in various departments of the army, they gradually recognized the dark true face of Unit 731.
For the first batch of young soldiers, "The days and nights of Unit 731 are continuous panic, and it is also the accumulation of Spartan training and learning" (formerly the language of young soldiers).
One of the things that amazed the teenagers was the level of content in the military practice.
Microscopes are naturally used for experimental training in bacteriology and immunology.What surprised the teenagers was the number and variety of microscopes lent to them.
The practice experiment is carried out in the practice room on the left side of the second floor of Building 63.In a large practice room, there is a long table-like experimental table near the window, on which there are more than 150 optical microscopes made by Olympus Company, each with a Bunsen burner.At that time, even in any university in Japan, it was impossible for everyone to have a microscope. No, in rural areas, many middle schools did not even have one.
In front of the microscope and the special laboratory bench, which looked black and bright under the reflection of sunlight, the teenagers sighed.
"Let us make full use of the microscope to observe, and teach us the basics of bacteria in the field... Our eyes are shining, and we are absorbing the knowledge of bacteriology by leaps and bounds. Even the straw (the glass used to take a small volume of liquid made measurement tools), and did not use the so-called crude straws, but formal straws, etc. The content of the educational practice was very well arranged,” recalled a former boy soldier.
Among the microscopes, some have such a function: when the bacterial specimen is placed and a light source is added, the surroundings of the bacteria become dark, and only the bacteria are floating with golden light flashing.This is a special microscope for looking closely at the shape and structure of bacteria, which appears to be a dark-field microscope.
Unit 731 was equipped with binocular microscopes, which were rare at the time, and a very sophisticated large chemical balance. It is said that even if a fly flies around the room, it can accurately detect the fluctuation of air pressure.In addition, there are many platinum utensils and evaporator utensils worth several thousand yen per set at current prices.Since the platinum evaporating vessel will not be oxidized, the bacteria will not die in the vessel when measuring the bacteria used in the experiment.
"Unit 731 has a lot of high-priced precious medicines that are not available in Japan. These medicines were transported from Germany by submarine."
Some young soldiers have heard of this situation.However, this is not just a "rumor", but a fact.
The research rooms of each department are equipped with white Western-style baths and toilets with flush toilets.This gives teenagers an exotic fantasy.
However, the only exception is the toilet in the dormitory of the young soldiers, which is not pumped.Therefore, in winter, the toilets in the young soldiers’ dormitory are frozen with urine and urine, piled up very high, and a pointed iron rod about two meters long has to be used to poke it open.Because of the freezing ice, it didn't smell bad when I poked it, but after the work was over, when I went into the room to warm up by the fireplace, the clothes gradually gave off a strong smell.After the ice shards of feces and feces splashed on the body melted, it emitted its original stench.
From the perspective of epidemic prevention, the entire Unit 731 uses toilets with flush toilets, except for the Ministry of Education.According to their description, this is "to let the young soldiers experience the concept of cleanliness and the relationship between defecation and epidemic prevention."
"Bai Qi, under the situation of the decisive battle of the Great East Asian War with brilliant results, I would like to know that you are in good health and doing your job well for the country. Although I often receive letters from you, but due to busy work, I am sorry for not being able to reply in time , I apologize.
In this corner of North Manchuria, where the severe winter is not over, in order to win the complete victory of the Great East Asian War, young people are stepping on the residual spring snow to exercise their bodies and minds wholeheartedly.Today, after class, in the sunset reflected by the white snow, they shouted crisply, shouted loudly with strong will, and practiced stabbing desperately.These young people were full of energy, gritted their teeth and rushed forward bravely, as if they would not retreat wherever they rushed.This is the heroic appearance of our young soldiers after a year of study. (omitted in the middle) In the spring final exam held in mid-March, Mr. XX got the grade of XX and was honorably promoted to the second grade.Now there are many younger brothers from his hometown. As an outstanding big brother, he struggles with them in a friendly way.Since being accepted into the army, Mr. X has grown rapidly into a very strong man.Please rest assured that the situation is as above. (omitted in the middle) The above is very simple, and I have reported to you the situation afterwards. We congratulate you in the distant northern Manchuria on your health and doing your job well for the country.
April 10, 1943
Respect
Kiyoji Nagaya, Instructor of the Boys Corps"
(The above is quoted from the original text)
Unit 731 regularly sends such letters to the hometowns of the young soldiers. ("Housemate" Issue 46)
"Best grades" - this is the comments received by the first batch of young soldiers during the examination, and the examination comments such as "generally good" and "excellent" are average.At that time, the examiner issued the "best" certificate to the first batch of young soldiers to commend the hard work of the first batch of young soldiers.
The height is about 1.30 meters... The young boys with red faces who are not tall grow up as the successors of the 731 demon army while sitting next to the squad leader's mouth.
After a year of basic study, the young soldiers of the first batch were all assigned to a certain department, class, or class of Unit 731, and transferred to the regular education team.Although the education is still continued in the education team building, while the basic education in the classroom is being carried out, the internship in the army has begun.
Some young soldiers were assigned to the topography squad or the aviation squad.In the two squads of Okamoto and Ishikawa who were in charge of pathological anatomy, in the squad that studied cholera, and in the squad Yoshimura who studied frostbite, there were young soldiers participating in the work.
Some former army personnel said: "Young soldiers should not understand the content and actual situation of the army." However, young soldiers are not restricted by departments and are assigned to the entire Unit 731. An "intelligence center" that collects intelligence from the entire force.In addition, some military personnel also let young soldiers participate in secret experiments, leaking top-secret matters.
The former young soldiers said: "In the morning, each department has a unique special education, and in the afternoon, it works... roughly like this. The people who work in the third department's medical department form the Nanlou class. According to our memory, no juvenile soldiers were assigned. The only ones who manage 'Maruta' are the special class and Yagi Sawa who is in charge of the farm."
The young soldiers assigned to various research rooms witnessed many unimaginable horror scenes while learning various specialized knowledge.The young soldiers assigned to the Okamoto squad attended the autopsies of several corpses every day, and also saw the scene of the female "Maruta" being dissected alive.Ishikawa and Okamoto classes have been cultivating.The Okamoto class also cultivated an inexplicable bug-like thing in a special culture medium.
Using a microscope, the shape of the protozoa looks like a pear, and there are several slender flagella.The veteran smiled and told the young soldier who was observing carefully with curiosity, "That's trichomonas vaginalis!"
It was probably used for experiments with "Maruta", who cultivated the protozoa that causes vaginitis in women.
From the old soldier's complex smile, the young soldiers had roughly deduced where the protozoa was parasitic.
The young soldiers working in the Yoshimura squad also saw the naked "Maruta" in handcuffs and shackles, wearing only a pair of shorts, thrown into an ultra-low temperature freezer. "Maruta" had bluish-black frostbite all over his skin, and died of suffocation due to necrosis of muscle tissue.The Yoshimura crew used a 16mm camera to film this scene from beginning to end.
In the vacuum laboratory, the young soldiers encountered a horrific scene. They put "Maruta" in a vacuum chamber where the air in the room could be sucked out with an air pump, and then the air in the room was slowly pumped out. Lose.
As the external air pressure gradually increased, the internal organs were squeezed out from all the "caves" of the human body such as the eye sockets, mouth, and anus of "Maruta".In the vacuum laboratory, "Maruta"'s eyeballs protruded, and her face was so fat that it was as big as a volleyball.Blood vessels all over the body swelled like earthworms, body parts elongated like rubber, and finally the intestines themselves snaked out like a living thing. "Five minutes after the experiment started...seven minutes...nine minutes...", the troops were outside the laboratory, observing with lens-like eyes, and took pictures of what they saw with an 8mm camera...
One day, a young soldier assigned to Building No. 1 inadvertently walked up the stairs while resting, and came to the roof of the "Kouzi Building".There was pigeon droppings everywhere, and there was a stench like a chicken coop.Just as the young soldier stretched his waist, he suddenly heard the sound of "cracking" metals colliding.The sound reflected from the wall of the "Kouzilou" aroused the interest of the young soldier.He looked down into the inner courtyard, and his heart beat harder.In the inner courtyard, two men, whose ankles are chained together, are wielding shovels for some kind of operation, and a civil servant is supervising their work.Two men in blackened prison uniforms with shaved heads.As soon as they move, they make the sound of dragging the chain.The young soldier turned pale as if he had done something bad, and quietly fled downstairs from the roof.What he witnessed was "Maruta" doing outdoor work.
"When I saw the girl 'Maruta' holding a baby in the inner courtyard and basking in the sun, my heart was greatly shocked... She was as old as my sister in my hometown, and she was a fair-skinned, short girl. 'Maruta'... When I was peeking on the roof, I was driven by an emotion: I really wanted to throw the candy in my pocket to the baby. The other 'Maruta' were all in handcuffs, Only the female 'Maruta' was uncuffed. She held the baby in her arms and was coaxing him. That scene is still deeply in my mind," said a former boy soldier who said he saw the female "Maruta" said when he was in the mood.
One day, another boy soldier attended the job of drawing blood from the horse.They attach a special syringe to one end of the pump and slowly draw blood from the horse's artery.As time passed, the horse's whole body began to tremble slightly.Further pumping, and the horse's legs collapsed, and at last it became almost like a skinny mummy.The scene of the army horse's belly heaving and silently dying, as cruel as a nightmare, remained in the mind of a boy from the countryside.The blood pump thus "developed" was soon used to draw blood from "Maruta".
The army strictly requires the young soldiers to "absolutely not disclose what they see and hear during the internship."However, this silent command could not restrain the curious young soldier.Young soldiers are different from ordinary army personnel. After the training, they return to the team building.After the evening education, as soon as they arrived at the dormitory, they talked about what they had seen and heard in the team that day.Driven by exuberant curiosity and terror, they exchanged information quickly, as if exchanging blood from the whole body with a blood pump.The time to turn off the lights was set at 10:00 p.m. However, in the room of the young soldiers, the young soldiers of each squad gathered together in small groups and talked until late at night.To keep the lights from showing, they pulled the lamp shades as low as possible.
Some young soldiers fell into the impact of the "Maruta" living body experiment, but never recovered, hiding in the dormitory, staring at the ceiling with a gloomy expression all night.Among the more introverted boy soldiers, some drank alcohol secretly made from high-purity alcohol used in experiments, trying to numb this terrible memory as much as possible.
The young soldiers have also become experimental subjects for germ warfare.One day, the first batch of young soldiers was summoned to the Yoshimura class laboratory.Yoshimura class is specialized in freezing experiments.There are several sinks in front of the teenagers, all of which are filled with water.This sink with the thermometer is connected to some wires.In a corner of the laboratory, an air compressor was running.
"Put your hands in the sink!"
Someone gave an order to the young soldiers who lined up.The young soldiers tremblingly put their hands into the cold water. As the water temperature dropped, they felt more and more pain on their skin.
"How do you feel now?"
"Yes, the skin tingles a little."
"What about now?"
"It's very cold and the skin hurts..."
Members of the Yoshimura squad recorded the "reports" of the young soldiers one by one on the paper used for sorting out materials.
If it is "Maruta", the experiment will continue; for the juvenile soldiers, it will stop at this stage.After the experiment, sweets such as yokan were "specially distributed" to the young soldiers.
Once, the first batch of young soldiers received an order to line up and gather at a corner of the airline airport.
"Walk neatly,... walk in unison!"
When the young soldiers were marching on the wide airport, a bomber suddenly appeared in the sky ahead. It was an aircraft of the aviation class.
Seeing that the bomber turned to fly at a low altitude and approached the young soldiers, it sprayed red mist from the tail, circled around, sprayed the young soldiers with red mist all over their heads, and then flew away.The shirts worn by the teenagers were stained with red spots.
After returning to the Ministry of Education, the young soldiers put all their jackets into the autoclave truck set up in the big tent, and the jackets and collars they brought back after sterilization were also deformed and could no longer be worn.This experiment is to use a kind of pigment that washes off.It is said that "this is a preparation for aerial spraying of Yersinia pestis after atomization".
Some juvenile soldiers have also experienced wonderful onset experiences.One day, someone in the laboratory persuaded young soldier C to eat the bean buns made by the laboratory.This kind of bean bag is easy to buy in the canteen in Building 63, but because this boy is at an age where he cannot overcome the temptation of sweetness.As soon as others persuaded, I ate one or two in the research room.
Unit 731 used a large amount of flour, small beans and granulated sugar as experimental materials, and high-pressure steam was available at any time. The troops made their own bean buns for night meals in each research room.
Two days after the young soldier C ate the bean buns, he developed a high fever, lost his appetite, and felt tired all over his body.He felt very strange and hurried to the consulting room.
The military doctor's face changed after he diagnosed young soldier C. He said that he should test the white blood cells immediately.According to the test results, the consultation room made a diagnosis of a significant decrease in white blood cells, and they immediately sent the young soldier C to the treatment department in Binjiang in a car from Unit 731.
Young soldier C couldn't figure out what was going on, so he was hospitalized.It was announced that he was suffering from typhoid fever.
According to the medical knowledge at that time, the onset of typhoid fever was equivalent to death. On the night that young soldier C was admitted to the hospital, he had a high fever of forty-three or four degrees, and fell into a state of encephalopathy (disorder of consciousness due to high fever).
Lying on the bed, the bed is slowly lifted from the bottom of the feet... The raised bed is almost vertical, the pillows fall off the bed, the ceiling slowly falls down, the body somersaults, a feeling of falling into the bottomless abyss A sense of terror filled C's body, which was a hallucination caused by a high fever.In addition to being terrified, he wanted to shout out loud but couldn't make a sound... From then on, boy C fell into a coma.
In fact, juvenile C was injected with a yellow liquid, which was a yellow transparent liquid in a 100cc syringe, before he developed a high fever.It is said that this is a vaccine developed by Unit 731 to treat typhoid fever, but the details are still unknown.
"The effect of the yellow injection is to cause a limited high fever in the human body... so that life can be barely maintained. Due to the high fever and the action of white blood cells in the human body, typhoid bacteria are completely eliminated. This is the effect of the injection. I have been in the In a state of coma, after a lot of hard work, I finally passed this hurdle," recalled the former boy soldier C.
After being hospitalized for four months and recovering, an unexpected "side effect" appeared on young soldier C.That is, the mind is clearer than before the illness.The military doctor told boy C that it was due to the high fever all over the body, which burned all the toxins in the brain and the bacteria in the body to death.
C said with a wry smile: "I can easily read difficult theoretical books and recite long chemical equations without any difficulty at all..."
在C少年兵即将出院的那一天，担任教育部长的西中佐来看望他。
“你偷吃豆包的结果，给大家都增添了麻烦，你这小子……”，西中佐高声笑着打了一下少年兵的头。
(不对……那豆包是他们骗我吃的。）
关于这次奇妙的生病体验，原少年兵C至今仍有些想不通。
第一期少年兵入伍后第三年下半年——1944年10月，发生了“少年兵宿舍里的造反”活动。这件事至今仍成为原少年兵们的话题。
“造反”的原因是由于在少年兵宿舍里横行霸道的T班长的暴力统治。T班长疯狂的暴力在他的同事中也引起了反感。
第一期少年兵们是作为731部队未来的骨干而入伍的，他们一直接受着严格的训练和紧张的填鸭式教育。
少年兵的一切举止，都经常处于班长的监视之下，一有点什么毛病，就以军纪为名打耳光或以木枪进行制裁，这巳是司空见惯的事情。
配属给教育部的雇员都是从那些擅长剌杀技术的刚强的下士官中提拔出来的，他们担任了少年队各班的班长。管教少年兵，就是班长的使命。在班长中有的人在发现少年兵有毛病（行动不合规矩、穿着不符合要求或成绩低劣等）时，首先打一耳光，然后耐心说理教育，像T班长那样进行教育的人也有。而T班长却只是进行彻头彻尾的严格管教。
早点名时，有的少年兵不知不觉打了一个小哈欠，就遭到T班长的训斥和毒打，甚至打得面部变了形。他发现在少年兵宿舍里第一期生和下级生（第二期以下到第四期）吵架，就用高统皮靴把他们踢得鼻青脸肿，甚至昏迷。以某少年兵对上级不礼貌为由，就让他脱掉裤子，用木枪枪托猛打屁股。这个少年兵流着眼泪，忍受着屈辱，像狗爬似地爬回床上。
T班长施加的暴力是很凶狠的。当用木枪把站着的少年兵打倒并在地上打滚，如果其他班长的话，则等待少年兵站起来，说体罚终究还是为了进行教育。
但是，T却走到摔倒在地的少年兵前面，再向他的侧腹打第二下，当他看到少年喘不过气来而弯起身体很痛苦时，再向他的脊梁骨捅第三下。
凡是挨过T毒打的原少年兵都一致认为：“当时再这样打下去，就被打死了……”
T班长为什么对自己班内的少年兵态度好，而对别班的少年兵却异常憎恨呢？有的少年兵被打掉了牙齿或用烧火棍被打伤，有的少年的眼珠子被打出来，一直流泪不止，T班长见面却说：“你要哭到什么时候！”接着用木枪毒打少年兵，直到嘴里流出鲜血为止。这些人都是别班的少年兵。
“你小子，这副眼神，干什么！”少年兵们稍稍流露出一点反抗的态度，T班长的眼睛就像暴虐者似地闪动着光芒。
T班长以刺杀术高超而闻名于731部队。一个正显年华、精通剑法的人却在制栽年仅十五六岁的少年兵们，而且T班长把自己置于“绝对服从上级”的安全圈内，为所欲为地虐待少年兵们，然而又何止如此呢！他越打人越觉得虐待行为是正当的，产生了一种“使命感”，因而促使他的行动变得更加凶狠。T班长的表情也变得心旷神怡。天真烂漫的少年兵边哭泣边咬着牙站了起来，可是，T班长又用烧火棍打他的脸和下颚，无情地进行毒打，直到两只胳膊感到疲劳才放下烧火棍。别班的少年兵们逐渐憎恨起T班长来了。
在伙房值班时，少年兵用力挠头，把头皮落在T班长的铝制餐具上，为他特制“头皮饭”，然后若无其事地把它送到T面前暗中叫好。有一个少年兵费尽心机从动物房拿出一试管的跳蚤，并把这些跳蚤撒在T班长床上的枕头下面。
“等了这家伙睡觉时，咱们把鼠疫菌放入他的口中，怎么样？”
“放了鼠疫菌，马上就会死掉，没劲，能否搞到点伤寒菌呢……”
从少年们日常的这些认真的交谈中，可以看出T班长平日的暴力统治是如何凶狠了。
“如果T整我，我就杀死这小子……”
有的少年兵悄悄的搞到一根铁棍私藏起来。T班长结婚了。过去，T班长每天都呆在少年兵宿舍里，直到深夜，管教少年们。结婚后他每天总是匆忙往宿舍跑，刚刚新婚，这虽说是很自然的事情，但是T班长的这种变化使少年们产生了一种反感。
“T这家伙……讨了老婆，就没了骨头……给他一顿惩罚吧！”
“现在精神有点松弛，该给他提提神了……”于是，以第一期少年兵为中心进行了周密的“策划”。其他班的班长也感到少年兵们的动向有点不正常，但是却一直视而不见。
有一天夜晚，T刚接班，少年兵宿舍里突然发生了骚动，家具倒翻的声音，大声吵骂和乱踩地板的声音，乱成一团，T班长闻讯后脸色都变了。
T班长离开办公室，拿着木枪，大声训斥着走进了少年兵宿舍。他刚进门的当儿，室内明亮的电灯突然熄灭。两名等待已久的第一期少年兵猛扑到T班长的头上。以这一行动为信号，藏在暗处的十几名少年兵默不作声地袭击了T班长。原来，少年兵宿舍内发生的这场骚乱，是把T班长引来的一个谋略。
对他平时暴力统治的愤恨，像洪水冲开水闸般地爆发出来。少年们在黑暗中压住T班长的两只手和脚，抱住他的脖子，竭尽全力踢他的侧腹，用木枪打他的下胯部，没头没脸地抡了约30分钟的铁拳。
T班长在黑暗中摸到枪架，抓了一支三八式步枪进行“应战”，但是少年兵们仍然聚众进行袭击，用木枪刺T班长的胸部和腹部。T班长满身是血，半死不活地逃出了少年兵宿舍。
一个原少年兵回忆说：“当天值班的司令高桥少佐听说发生骚动后骑着马赶来……第二天，宪兵传讯少年兵……虽然大闹了一场，但是，少年兵们异口同声回答只有一句话：'不知道是谁搞的'……当天晚上，有的第一期少年兵们不在少年兵宿舍，还后悔说：'怎么不让我也参加呢，真想让这家伙吃一两拳……'T班长的脸变成了紫颜色，肿得像个大西瓜，在部队内总是低着头走路。不久，T被撤销了少年队班长职务，调任石井四郎部队长的随身警卫。”
据说，在“应战”时，步枪上的菊花“纹章”被弄上伤痕，在保管武器上是重大的过失——这是731部队领导人给予T班长“降格处分”的理由。
“要以731为自豪！”
“今天……在这里看到少年兵朝气蓬勃的情景，感到很高兴。我想利用这个机会向大家讲讲部队真正的任务是什么，并说明一下建立少年兵的意义……”
战争结束13年以后的1958年8月17日，在东京多磨灵园附近石材店“岩木屋”内客厅里，一个高个子的老人被指名站起来致词。
这个高个子的老人就是石井四郎，作为原731部队的部队长，是曾经指挥过这支恶魔部队的人物。
这一天，为建立“房友会”，保持联系的22名原第一期少年兵们，从全国各地来到这里聚集一堂，出席“房友会”第一次全体会议。
“你还活着啊……”
“嗯，……你也变了样啦！简直认不出是谁啦，是XX君吧！”
原少年兵们互相握着手，一种感慨无限的情感涌上心头，有些说不出话来，相互凝视着对方的面孔虚脱似地流下了眼泪。石材店的内客厅又重新挤满了“战友”们。
又哭又笑的原少年兵们的那股激动的风暴平静下来以后，选议长、报告“房友会”成立经过、研究财政开支、审议会章草案……成立大会的议事程序即将结束的时候，议长介绍说：“现在请石井四郎先生讲话……”关于战后的石井四郎，原少年兵们听到过许多传闻。“听说正协助美军再次进行细菌战的研究”，“不，在美军的娱乐设施的地下室里原封不动地集中保存着731部队的资料，石井正在进行整理”，“朝鲜战争时，石井乘坐美军飞机亲临前线指挥了细菌战”，等等。这个传闻中的人物出席了“房友会”成立大会。
顷刻之间响起了一阵欢呼声，当原部队长石井站起来致词时，整个会场变得鸦雀无声，出席人员感到一种异乎寻常的紧张气氛。石井四郎谈到“建立731部队的动机”时说：
“……731部队的任务，简而言之，它是一个拯救日本国家的研究机关。我于1927年起用了5年的时间，作为密探潜入了意大利、德国、法国、俄国等，在当地调查了这些国家对日本的感情。各国的反响是要'杀光日本民族'，'日本民族是最坏的'，到处都充满了这种思想……”。
“……'控制世界的是白种人'，处于这种世界思潮之中，当时的日本被人们说是所谓'精神丰富，科学贫乏'。为了从这种危机中拯救日本而诞生的研究机关，就是石井部队。”
“……由于诸君曾经是731部队的人员，战后撤回国内以后遇到了许多麻烦，关于这一点，我感到实在抱歉。但是，目前毋宁反过来说，希望大家以曾在拯救国家的研究机关731部队里工作过而感到自豪。不久，时机一旦来临，我打算堂堂正正地向全世界发表这一观点。正像检察官所说的，石井部队并不是战犯。在这里，我只想说一句话，希望大家多加注意，防止被共产党所利用。”
虽然进行了3000人的残酷的活体实验，但是却又“希望大家以曾在石井部队工作过而感到自豪”。石井四郎丝毫没有反省之意，依然不把“马鲁太”当作人来看待，却认为731恶魔的所作所为是“为了救国”而使之正当化。
“……当初建立少年兵的意义，就是由于大家家庭经济困难，想念书而念不成书，所以把你们召到满洲来让你们读书，希望各位成为731部队的重要人才。”
“由于这种缘故，打算授予各位中等学校以上的资格，成绩优秀者，还让上大学。可是，谁知道文部省当局有意见，国家面临的形势也不允许，终于未能达到这一目的，实在令人遗憾……”（引自《房友》第二卷第六号）
但是，石井四郎的这一发言简直近乎托辞，关于这一点，将在后面加以叙述。
写731部队纪实，必然要碰到石井四郎这个人物。在原部队人员中，直到今天，还有许多人把过去的部队长叫做“石井阁下”。
731部队本身是在侵略战争这块土壤上疯狂般地开出的一朵。同时它又是以石井四郎这个具有特殊个性的领导人为媒介而合成的一个暴虐的医学研究机关。
“石井部队长有一种彻底的优越意识……这种意识是同惟我独尊的优秀人种意识以及当时日本人所拥有的'在亚洲各民族中日本人最优秀、最了不起'的排外的民族意识结合在一起的……731部队暴行的根子里存在着一种突出的优秀人种意识”，一个原部队人员这样说道。
石井四郎以恶魔的想法把科学和战争结合在一起，进行以“马鲁太”为对象的活体实验，并立意创建少年兵。他究竟是一个什么样的人物呢？
Notes:
Notes: