Chapter 14 Chapter 11 The Collapse of Unit 731
Unit 731 killed more than 3,000 living people as experimental materials for germ warfare, and committed demonic atrocities at will. However, the day when they collapsed and fled finally came.The failure of Japanese imperialism brought about the collapse of Unit 731, and the direct opportunity was that the Soviet Army declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945.
As early as the first year, Mariana was defeated (July and August), the Impal operation was suspended (July), and the Leyte naval battle was abandoned (December)... The Japanese army suffered successive defeats.Due to air strikes and naval gunfire, major cities in Japan were destroyed, material production dropped sharply, and the country was deserted. The citizens who were once intoxicated in the victory fantasy of "Long Live the Great Japanese Empire" began to hate war and complain.Grief and despair from hunger and the loss of loved ones hit the masses hard.
At that time, there was a popular song like this: "Nowadays, the world has changed, and things can be done without hindrance, and things depend on sympathy." Professional soldiers, high-ranking officials, and arms dealers blatantly used war to make a fortune, corrupt and depraved, but hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers on the front line But as a "meat bomb" died in the artillery fire.Under the slogan of "one machine fights one ship", many promising young people lost their lives in special offensive operations.
The Mussolini regime in Italy, which formed the Triple Alliance with Japan on the European front, has collapsed and surrendered unconditionally (September 1943); the rest of Germany was also severely hit on the Eastern Front. retreat.Fascism is gradually collapsing in the world.
In the summer of 1945, in mainland China, on the surface, the "Invincible 700,000 Kwantung Army" has been boasting of its majesty, but that is just an illusion.With the deterioration of the situation on the southern front, 20 main divisions of the Kwantung Army were transferred to various places in the south. Many military horses, vehicles, heavy artillery, heavy machine guns, aircraft and ammunition were also transferred to the south. Even the forts on the Soviet-Manchurian border were demolished Down, which shows the low level of its equipment.
Although the Kwantung Army claims to have 700,000 men, almost all of its elite soldiers were transferred to the southern front. Under the call of the so-called "Manchurian General Mobilization", civilians who participated in the Manchurian and Mongolian pioneering regiment were recruited locally to serve as soldiers, including Korean and Chinese troops. In the interior, it was difficult to achieve a rifle for every five people, and some of the troops were equipped with broadswords, sickles and hunting rifles for driving wild animals.As a last resort, in the absence of weapons and equipment, a bamboo spear unit was formed.The Kwantung Army has lost its majestic appearance.The only "modern weapons" held by the defeated Kwantung Army are various bacteria and poisons produced by Unit 731.
In March 1945, Ishii Shiro, who once again served as the commander of Unit 731, changed the code name of the unit from Unit 731 to Unit 25202.In May of the same year, he called together the army cadres and issued the famous "increasing production order". He said: "It is imperative to start a war between Japan and the Soviet Union...From today on, all forces of Unit 731 will be concentrated to increase the production of bacteria, fleas and Rats." He encouraged everyone to say that the experimental period is over, and that in the future, we should aim at the "X day" of germ warfare and continue to increase production.
Unit 731 has successfully developed the technology of drying and preserving Yersinia pestis—the technology of manufacturing dried bacteria, and even produced denatured bacteria that are 60 times more toxic than ordinary plague.The atomization of Yersinia pestis has also made great progress, and pottery bombs have also been completed, especially the large-scale breeding of rats with strong viability and a "flea with effective blood-sucking ability".
“An order was also issued on May 10 that in the next two months, Yersinia pestis should be the mainstay, and large-scale production of typhoid and cholera bacteria for use in wells and reservoirs, and anthrax bacteria for polluting rivers and pastures. ...The Karasawa team working on the first floor of the "Kou" building in the bacteria manufacturing plant increased its staff and carried out production 24 hours a day and night...As a result, nearly 20 kilograms of plague bacteria alone were produced...including stored bacteria and drying Including bacteria, it is estimated that it may reach 100 kilograms", this is the testimony of the former army personnel (Part 4).
On the eve of the end of the war, Unit 731 kept a large number of various bacteria as "usable". "If you spread them all in an ideal way, all human beings on the earth will die." . (formerly military personnel language)
The higher authorities issued an order to "increase production by 3 million" mice.In order to catch mice, a "special attack team" was organized. The troops loaded a large number of mousetraps on trucks and went around in Harbin and Xinjing, mobilizing residents, middle school students, and female students to catch mice. Needless to say, each detachment of Unit 731, regardless of the office or dormitory, is surrounded by wooden walls less than one meter high, and even sent night watchmen to frantically carry out rat production activities.The production increase index of plague fleas is set at "300 kilograms" (about one billion).There are 4,500 flea feeders in the Tanaka class.It is said that 100 million fleas were produced in just a few days.
"However, a billion live fleas that are ready to be used immediately is a very serious problem... They feel that these fleas are sprinkled with plague bacteria, and then they are all put in the Soviet army, in the Soviet cities... ...What serious consequences will that cause..." the former army personnel recalled.
However, the "Rhapsody of Bacteria, Rats, and Fleas" that swept through Unit 731 came to an end on August 9, 1945.
At dawn on August 9, the Soviet army announced the start of the war against Japan.
From 0:00 to 1:00 am on August 9, 1945, the Soviet army began to attack Manchuria and North Korea.Under the command of Marshal Vasilevsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Army, the 1st Front Army under the command of Marshal Melekov led from the eastern part of Manchuria and North Korea, and the 2nd Front Army led by General Burkoyev from the northern front, Marino From the western border, the Third Front Army led by Marshal Kevsky launched an offensive across the board with about 1.5 million Soviet troops.
On April 5, 1945, the Soviet government annulled the neutrality treaty with Japan.Prior to this, in February of the same year, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom held talks on the Crimea Peninsula (Yalta Conference) and confirmed: "Soviet troops will participate in the war against Japan within three months after Germany's surrender." Shortly thereafter In May of that year, the German army announced its unconditional surrender, leaving only the Japanese army still fighting against the Allied forces.
On the other hand, the information that "the Soviet army has assembled an unusually large force on the border between the Soviet Union and Manchuria" was continuously sent to the General Staff Headquarters. The Japanese government believed that it was only a matter of time before the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.
The General Command of the Kwantung Army also estimated that the Soviet Army was about to attack on a large scale, and deployed the main force to meet the enemy on the front line of Mudanjiang; since the end of the previous year, it has built a large-scale military base in the Tonghua area of Jilin Province. In the name, strategic equipment and secret documents were transferred to Tonghua.Following this, part of the equipment of Unit 731 was also transferred to Tonghua. Only ordinary officers and soldiers and Japanese citizens living in Northeast China did not know anything about it. The higher-level military authorities were well aware of the situation that the Soviet Union was about to enter the war.
The news that "the Soviet army has begun to attack" plunged the entire Northeast China into chaos.
On August 9, Soviet bombers appeared over Changchun and carried out air strikes.Many people at the time mistook it for a U.S. military plane, and the joke was well known.Since the citizens did not know the tense situation on the Soviet-Manchurian border at all, the Soviet attack was like a bolt from the blue.
The tactics adopted by the Soviet Union were based on thorough research and careful preparation in advance.The air force blew up railways, military installations, and airfields, and then, from midnight on August 9th to dawn on the 10th, the armored forces, guided by tanks, advanced furiously, although the terrain was different, they proudly Say, push forward at 50 kilometers per day.
At 1:00 midnight on August 10, the advance detachment of the Soviet First Far Eastern Front crossed the border from the Binhai Province area and began to attack the Harbin-Jilin line.According to the recollection of Marshal Malinovsky, the former Soviet Defense Minister, at 8:30 in the morning, he entered from the border to a depth of 20 kilometers and easily broke through the Japanese defensive position. At that time, almost no artillery support was needed.
On the day of the Soviet attack, what was the state of Unit 731?According to the unanimous confessions made by many former troops, on August 9, the commander of Shiro Ishii was not in the bungalow.Troops carry out their missions as usual.The planes of the Soviet Air Force have already started bombing all over Northeast China, but all the personnel of Unit 731 are still calm. This is a strange thing.However, there is a saying that the cadres of Unit 731 have all flown to the detachments and are commanding the transfer to Tonghua. The coded telegram sent by Commander Ishii from the Kwantung Army Command in Changchun to Unit 731 has been left intact because no one has decoded it. Put it in the army, which is why "Unit 731 remained calm" on August 9th.
The members of Unit 731 began to stir up trouble on the night of August 9.That night, several fighter jets that appeared over Harbin dropped flares.These are aircraft of the Soviet Air Force.
The sky in Harbin was illuminated brightly, the citizens were stunned, the streets were in chaos, and even the air raid sirens did not go off.
The personnel of Unit 731 and their families spent an uneasy night in the air-raid shelter, because some intelligence said: "Soviet troops are approaching Harbin."
In the early morning of the 10th, I received a telegram from the Kwantung Army Command to Commander Ishii: "Come and accept the order immediately."
However, Captain Ishii is not in the army, and his whereabouts are secret, and no one knows.The army cadres hurriedly used the plane to send Adjutant N to Changchun.
Adjutant N went to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army to see that the commander of the Kwantung Army, Otozo Yamada, and his staff had all flown to various places, but there was no responsible cadre there.Constantly receiving urgent telegrams from all over China, inquiring about telegrams from the Army Staff Headquarters... The Kwantung Army Command was in a commotion like a scene of a fire.
Adjutant N reported that he had come to receive orders. The commander of the Kwantung Army ordered: "The Soviet Army's offensive speed is extremely fast, and all units of the Kwantung Army have also begun to move southward. Unit 731 can act arbitrarily."
Arbitrary behavior is the Kwantung Army's "unique trick", which created the Nomenkan incident. From the Liutiao Lake incident to the attack on Fengtian, the Kwantung Army has been ignoring the instructions of its own government and expanding its aggression against China in one go.
However, in the early morning of August 10th, Unit 731 received a policy of "arbitrary" to "transfer to battle" as soon as possible. The so-called "transition to battle" is synonymous with fleeing and retreating.
Adjutant N returned to Unit 731 at noon on August 10, and after receiving the order to "act arbitrarily" and "transfer to battle", the high-level organs of Unit 731 suddenly became tense.
If the bungalows fall into the hands of the Soviet army, the devil's experiments on more than 3,000 "Marutai" will be fully exposed, and all members of Unit 731 will be held accountable for war criminals.
"Even if this situation does not arise, all personnel will inevitably be shot to death in the end..."
They held an emergency meeting around the adjutant.
After receiving the order of the Kwantung Army Command to "act arbitrarily", no one can accurately recall the serious chaos from the time when Adjutant N returned to Unit 731 at noon on August 10 to August 15.
It is believed that the actual evacuation work started on the night of the 10th, but the memory of the work content, procedure, time and place, etc. varies from person to person. "In short, living a chaotic life like a nightmare."Only this is consistent.
It is said that Shiro Ishii returned to Unit 731 on the night of August 10, but we don't know the exact situation about this.
The cadre meeting on the retreat operation was held again. At the meeting, the opinions of Commander Ishii, Major General Kikuchi (the first minister) and others were seriously divided, and the two sides had a heated argument.
Troop Commander Ishii's retreat plan: (1) Keeping the secret of "731" is the biggest problem; (2) For this reason, Xi Zhongzuo (Minister of Education) has been sent to Hailaer, Linkou, Sun Wu and other areas on the Soviet offensive line. The Mudanjiang detachment ordered the troops to destroy the evidence and all committed suicide; (3) similarly, ordered the family members and all the troops living in the Dongxiang dormitory to commit suicide; (4) killed the "Maru" currently in custody At the same time, the "Kou" office building was "completely" destroyed, and the army facilities were blasted by engineers; (5) After that, the entire army, including the young soldiers, went south to Tonghua under strict command.
The reason for the fierce debate between Commander Ishii and Minister Kikuchi lies in (2) and (3) of Ishii's plan.Major General Kikuchi thought: "There are many talented researchers in Unit 731. Instead of forcing them to commit suicide in vain, it is better to come up with a way to save the detachment. This is the prerequisite." He said angrily: "The commander of the unit should work hard to lead the unit The family members of the personnel should return to the country first." Many cadres have always been very dissatisfied with Commander Ishii's usual attitude of indulging in drinking and sex and working loose.
As a result, Troop Commander Ishii made a concession and concluded that "the evacuation of family members will begin immediately, and the troop commander will go to various places to find trains and command the retreat of the detachments." Troop Commander Ishii disappeared from Unit 731 again.
During this period, Shiro Ishii did three things: first, to send all kinds of materials accumulated by Unit 731 for the preparation of germ warfare, as well as a large amount of experimental data and bacterial strains, back to Japan for preparation; Passed to avoid being arrested by the Soviet army.To this end, Shiro Ishii made full use of the military aircraft of the 731 Air Force Squad to fly to Changchun, Shenyang and other cities.
The third thing that Ishii Shiro did was: the emergency evacuation of special class personnel.There is a small village called Kamo in Chiyoda Village. Most of the special team members are from this village, which is the Kamo place in Shibayama Town, Chiba Prefecture today.When Shiro Ishii founded the Bacterial Warfare Unit in 1933, he named the unit "Kamo Unit".The origin of this name is this village, and the special squad is truly the core backbone of Unit 731.
"After dealing with 'Maruta', all personnel should evacuate immediately..." This is the command issued by Commander Ishii to the special squad.That is, in Unit 731, priority was given to arranging special squad members from the same hometown to escape.
Three trains from Pingfang Station have entered the dedicated railway line of Unit 731. These trucks, loaded with special personnel and valuable materials, departed from Pingfang on the 11th.
It is said that as of August 10, the total number of "Marutai" detained has been less than 40. Regarding how to deal with the issue of "Marutai", relevant personnel have made various statements in the past, such as "using potassium cyanate to poison death", "all shot" and so on, some of which are still printed in writing.What is the truth?
According to my investigation, "Maruta" was killed with poisonous gas.It is said that after the prisoners rioted, the special cell ventilation system quickly injected poisonous gas into the gas pipeline.
"It's like watching the gorillas going crazy in the pen...", this is what a military member who witnessed the massacre of all the "Marutai" said.
In "Maruta", a few people were not killed by the poisonous gas. They knocked on the iron gate, let out terrifying roars, scratched their throats, and were in great pain.The staff of the special team slowly approached the "Maruta" who was in great pain, and aimed at their foreheads and pulled the trigger of the musket. "Constantly dragging the legs of the killed 'Maluta'" and throwing it into a big pit next to Building No. 7, pouring gasoline and heavy oil on it, and igniting it... As I remember, it was on the afternoon of the 11th thing.In order to burn it, the cremator of Unit 731 was stuffed with human head specimens, agar for cultivating bacteria, a large number of documents and utensils, etc. ...The body of 'Maruta' is not easy to burn, but the evacuation work is racing against time, and the special squad members who fled in a hurry burned half of the body and buried it in the ground before fleeing...Therefore, some corpses exposed their hands and feet from the soil It is difficult to play the role of covering up crimes.After seeing this situation, the army cadre ordered: 'Dig out the body and burn it completely...' The army personnel who were in charge of excavating the dead body of 'Malutai' were disgusted and excavated," recalled one army officer.
Unit 731 was eager to deal with not only "Marutai", but also many human specimens in the "showroom" on the second floor of Building 1 and the research classes of the first department.The human heads, wrists, torsos, legs, and various internal organs soaked in formalin solution in large and small containers are all prepared as a set according to the type and condition of infectious diseases.
There are more than 1,000 specimens, all of which are evidence of the brutal live experiments conducted by Unit 731.
Never let a specimen fall into the hands of the attacking Soviet army... According to the order of the superior, the truck was dispatched late at night on the 10th.
"From the evening of the 10th to late at night, it rained in the area of Harbin, and the container containing the formalin solution was loaded onto the truck in the rain. The truck carrying dozens and hundreds of human specimens set off from Unit 731 in the middle of the night. China sailed to the bank of the Songhua River and threw all the specimens into the Songhua River in the dark. Due to the rush to retreat, all the specimens could not be loaded on the truck,” the former army personnel recalled.
It is also an urgent matter to "deal with" various bacteria, a large number of rats and hundreds of millions of jumping saints that have been repeatedly increased in production.In addition, there is a huge amount of experimental data kept by the research teams of Unit 731.Among them, detailed records of bacterial warfare conducted in various parts of China, anatomical records, pathological records, various experimental records, and records of cultivating bacteria piled up like a mountain.During the two days on the 10th and 11th, they hastily dug many holes in the army garrison, put these materials in, poured heavy oil on them and burned them.Among the scholars transferred from the university research office to Unit 731, some felt sorry for burning these rare research materials and wanted to quietly bring them back to China; Take it back so that you can be famous in the society in the future.After this situation was discovered, some scholars were severely reprimanded by their superiors.However, at that time, no one knew what would happen to them tomorrow. Their real motivation was that they could not bear to turn precious pure academic materials into ashes.
The most urgent task is to destroy the equipment, etc., a large number of bacterial incubators, freezing equipment, microscopes, chemical balances and pottery bombs, etc.All these things will be destroyed.
The most difficult thing is to destroy building facilities.Especially the ad hoc cell built with special steel and nearly 50 centimeters thick concrete wall is so strong that an engineering team had to be dispatched to put explosives in more than a dozen places in the prison and blast it.
To carry out the blasting, deep holes were dug in the floors of the special cells and under the stairs, and personnel under the Ministry of Education were ordered to carry out this task.
The moment the army personnel walked into the single cell of the special prison with picks and shovels, they were all frightened and stood still.
The corpse of "Maruta" has been transported away, and the empty cell is filled with the smell of carbolic acid for disinfection. There are still traces of the "Maruta" hell that was closed until yesterday, and the damp cold wind passed through No. 7 The spacious corridor in front of the single cell on the second floor.The reason they froze in terror was because they found large letters written all over the walls of their solitary cells.In many places, big black and purple characters shine on the concrete walls that have peeled off: "Down with Japanese imperialism!" "Long live the Communist Party of China!"
Each character is about 20 cm square.There was no way to get pen and ink in the prison, and it was obvious at a glance that it was written in blood.I'm afraid they wrote it with their bloody palms and with incomparable hatred, avoiding the surveillance of the guards!These big characters written one stroke at a time have a kind of boundless power, which can naturally touch the souls of people standing in front of the wall.The black and purple handwriting, like a high-voltage current, impacted the brains of these 731 troops who were in a hurry to deal with the defeat, making them numb.
"When I saw the words on the wall, I was shocked. Maybe they tried their best to write it before they were killed through experiments! I don't know what is the Communist Party and what is 'ism', but I was shocked. It was an indescribable shock. I just felt that there are still people in the world who still maintain such beliefs at the last moment. They are not 'Malutai', but brave people." A member of the army recalled.
The blood books on the wall were left by the writers to continue to encourage the prisoners who were successively imprisoned to persevere to the end for national liberation and safeguarding human dignity.The troops stopped digging the blast hole and stayed silently in front of the wall for a while.
Due to the rapid attack of the Soviet army, the army hospital in Harbin was crowded with Japanese wounded soldiers withdrawn from the front line, and the fleeing people were also crowded and chaotic in the square in front of the railway station.
There was no longer a moment of hesitation, and all the rooms and corridors in the "Kou" building had been doused with heavy oil and set on fire.Amid the billowing black smoke, there was a loud bang that shook the entire building, and the walls of the ad hoc prison collapsed due to blasting by sappers.
On the night of August 11, Unit 731 fell into great chaos.The special train for retreat drove into the special line of trucks from the bungalow, and began to disperse the soldiers.
"All the staff get on the bus immediately! Each person is only allowed to bring two pieces of hand luggage, and no withdrawals are allowed."
On the afternoon of the 11th, the Dongcun dormitory posted such a "notice". "Soviet troops have entered the city of Harbin, and it seems that street fighting has begun." Rumors spread, and the entire dormitory was commotion.Everyone started to prepare food and pack luggage on the road.Although it was a bundle of luggage, almost all the furniture had to be left behind.In order to evacuate against time, many family members led their children to the bungalow station on foot and squeezed into the truck without boiling water for bathing and with the drawers of the cabinets open.
Hearing that they were retreating back to the country, cheers erupted in the juvenile barracks.For the young soldier, returning to the parents he saw in his dream is good news that has nothing to do with the progress of the war. The retail stores in Unit 731 opened, and the teenagers returned to the juvenile barracks pushing carts full of souvenirs to take home.
Clothes and sweets are the most popular things for teenagers.Rice, wheat, soy sauce, sugar, etc. were transported from the warehouse of the equipment department, and these things were spread on the bottom of the trucks driving into the special line, as food for the troops and their families on the way to retreat.Moved tatami mats from the dormitory to spread on the food.Although it is a truck, it has been transformed into a temporary bus with tatami mats.The food and materials loaded on the evacuation train were uneven. Some carriages were full of supplies, while others were empty. People who took these carriages suffered from food shortages.Vehicles and people were in disarray, and documents and supplies were scattered everywhere.While the large family of more than 2,500 people retreated in a panic, the buildings and equipment of Unit 731 caught fire.The explosion of gunpowder was deafening, and billowing smoke filled the sky.
"The adjoining 8372 Air Force was taken aback and quickly dispatched fire trucks. Our superiors pushed back and said: 'Please don't worry, this is a need for combat handling, please go back!'... The secrecy of 731 and the situation of starting to retreat even friendly forces cannot Tell," a former military member testified.
Except for a few special planes used by cadres such as Troop Commander Ishii, all the planes of the aviation class were destroyed.With a booming explosion, the power station with three Takuma-style boilers disappeared.The dormitories in the East Village also set fire to each other. Many mice escaped from the animal rooms to the surrounding plains, and millions of fleas escaped from the burning Tanaka class building.No one knew who was doing what, and the troops who were being ordered to work themselves fell into the whirlpool of confusion and wanting to escape.
Platinum medical utensils and evaporation utensils quietly "disappeared" from a corner of the laboratory, and hundreds of thousands of yen banknotes in the army safe were sewn into the pockets of the army personnel.In the chaos, everything of value was bundled up and put on the train, and some people used it as capital to open a hospital after the war.But many army personnel squeezed onto the train with nothing but clothes on.The trains are covered or uncovered wagons, not a passenger car.
"The Soviet army is approaching. Once captured, swallow this..." They distributed the vials containing the cyanate compound (poison) developed by the medicinal herb squad to the families of some of the troops.This is poison for suicide.Since it is easy for women to reveal the secrets of Unit 731 after they are arrested, their mouths should be silenced.Poison was distributed to some of the people in accordance with the "family suicide" plan proposed by the commander of the army, Shiro Ishii.This is the cause of many tragedies later.Although everyone has boarded the train, the train just doesn't start. "Harbin has fallen", "I heard that the Soviet army has also entered Changchun, where we are about to go", many suspicious rumors were heard among the troops and their families, which caused people's confusion and uneasiness.
On August 12, many Chinese farmers came from villages such as Santun and Situn where they had heard the news.They approached the Unit 731 facility cautiously.In the past, this wide land was surrounded by earthen walls, and there was a tall sign saying "Entry is strictly prohibited without the permission of the commander of the Kwantung Army". in the hands of the powerful Chinese.
After confirming their safety, the Chinese farmers first entered the Dongcun dormitory and began to grab furniture and other objects.If this kind of behavior was discovered a few days ago, they would have been shot immediately, but now, in the eyes of the retreating troops, they can no longer be provoked.During the retreat, the troops were covered with sweat and soot. Looking at the burning devil city, they were exhausted physically and mentally.
In the raging fire, the engineering team took a lot of effort to completely blow up the "Maruta" special prison. Some people were seriously injured on the head due to the flying concrete blocks when the gunpowder exploded.
"Strictly keep the secrets of the troops!"
From August 11th to 15th, there were actually 15 special trucks for the retreating Unit 731 personnel and their family members (each train consisted of 20 sections).
The trains departing directly from the special railway line of Unit 731 arrived at Pingfang Railway Station first, and then connected with the subsequent trains.Trains vary in formation and departure dates.When the train in front passed through Shenyang, the train departing from behind still stopped at Pingfang Railway Station.Therefore, in the memory of the former troops, the "experience of retreat" is different, and it is difficult to unify.From Pingfang Railway Station, go northward along the Labin Line, and at Binjiang Railway Station add a third truck for the relevant personnel of the medical department, and add three locomotives at the front, middle and end of the train. The special truck is like a big black snake. Continuously winding south from Harbin Railway Station.The General Headquarters of the Kwantung Army treated this train as a military train with special secrets. Many military police were deployed at the main stations passing by to ensure that these trains passed through first.Leaving the bungalow facilities that were burning like daylight, the large group of snakes slowly headed south. On the evening of August 15, many members of Unit 731 and their family members heard that the war was over before arriving in Shenyang and Changchun. "I heard that the U.S. Army has landed in Japan, and women have been raped", "The entire Japanese territory has been bombed everywhere, and family members have fled everywhere", "Changchun has been occupied by the Soviet army, and street fighting has begun", etc., published by the Emperor At the same time as the edict announcing the end of the war, various gossip spread in the train.As the Chinese driver who was driving the special train escaped quickly, the truck that was dispatched later was parked near Changchun for a whole day without moving. Sneak into Chinese villages secretly, raid chicken coops to steal chickens, and rush to cook meals.
However, when news of the end of the war was heard in a family-only van, mainly women, a tragedy happened among the family members.Frightened by gossip, women civilian and army wives committed suicide by eating the vials of cyanic acid compound they were issued.Also this happened:
On the evening of August 16, when the trucks "full" of family members stopped at Changchun Station, the adjutant informed each carriage and said, "Now, Commander Shiro Ishii wants to address everyone." The family members got off the station and stood on the platform , Shiro Ishii stood in front of them, walked around with the adjutant holding a candle, and spoke loudly to the family members of each truck.
"...Japan has lost the war, and now you are about to return home...But, no matter what the circumstances, you must strictly guard the secrets of Unit 731. If someone leaks military secrets, no matter how much they talk about, I, Ishii, will investigate the leak Confidential people, remember it!" Under the candlelight, Shiro Ishii's expression was covered with a strange shadow.In the eyes of the family members, it is simply a sinister image.The mother with the infant trembled with terror at the sudden appearance of the devil.
The group of trains retreated from Andong via Sinuiju and arrived at Busan at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula in mid-to-late August.Every station was attacked and plundered by Chinese and North Koreans.All the crew on some trains arrived in Busan suffering from hunger and fatigue.Many people died on the train.Some troops said: "It's useless to go back to Japan, it's better to stay here and be a bandit." So they got out of the car on the way.Some escaped slowly and became captives of the Soviet Army or the Chinese Eighth Route Army.With the different retreat time of the train, everyone's experience is also different.If the evacuation of Unit 731 personnel and their families and the misery they experienced in the shelter were all written, this part alone can be written as a thick documentary.The ships transporting the personnel of Unit 731 back to China arrived at ports such as Sasebo, Hakata, Maizuru, Tsuruga, Moji, Senzaki (Yamaguchi Prefecture) and Hagi between August 18 and 25, 1945.
"I would like to tell all the troops: I hope that you will strictly abide by the following three rules: (1) After returning to your hometown, you must also conceal the fact that you have participated in Unit 731, and you must conceal the experience of the army; (2) Do not hold any public office; (3) Communication between troops is strictly prohibited."
This is an order issued to the personnel of Unit 731 when the return ship arrived at the pier.The order issued at that time has been restraining the original troops for more than ten years after the war.Among the former military civilians, some of them could not apply for the old soldier's pension because they concealed their military experience, and ended their lives in poverty.
The teenage soldiers waited to accept the harsh course of life.They were only 14 to 18 years old when they retreated, but it was not recognized that they had graduated from higher education in national schools, and it was not easy to make a living with the clinical examination techniques they had mastered.During the chaotic period of defeat, the boy soldiers suffered all the bitterness as the illegitimate children of the Japanese army.
Among the former boy soldiers, there was a movement to recognize the academic qualifications of their trainee technicians.However, the cadres of Unit 731 headed by Shiro Ishii were afraid of being involved in their own war crimes, and turned a blind eye to the plight of the former young soldiers after the war.No one is willing to explain to the Ministry of Education the actual situation of receiving advanced education in Unit 731.The young soldier became an illegitimate child who was not "recognized" even after staying in Unit 731.Although it was advertised during the mobilization, Shiro Ishii never had the idea of obtaining formal qualifications for the boy soldiers.
According to legend, Shiro Ishii had been running a hotel in Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo in the early post-war period, when he was questioned by the U.S. Occupation Army in the winter of 1945.When the International Military Tribunal for the Far East was in session, the Soviet Union demanded to interrogate and punish the leaders of Manchurian Unit 731, Commander Shiro Ishii, and others.However, Shiro Ishii immediately flattered the "Allied Forces" headquarters and provided the relevant information of Unit 731, which was secretly brought back to China, to the US military in an attempt to protect himself.
The U.S. military authorities were overjoyed to receive a large amount of the latest germ warfare data in the world at that time, and quietly released Kitano Masaji (who served as the commander of Unit 731 from 1942 to 1945) who had been detained in a prisoner camp in Shanghai, China, back to Japan. Before the interrogation of Shiro Ishii by the "Allied Forces" headquarters, Ishii and Kitano had a secret meeting somewhere in Japan.This is a kind of "warmth" given by the US military authorities to cover up the crime, which gave Ishii and Kitano the opportunity to exchange information and negotiate throughout the day.Unify the caliber, strictly abide by the matters that should be kept secret, and prepare for the upcoming interrogation.As a result, the interrogation by the authorities of the "Allied Forces" General Headquarters was only a formality. "The whereabouts of Shiro Ishii and others are unknown, and the 731 troops are not enough to become war criminals."They conveyed this opinion to the Soviet side. Unit 731 conducted an unprecedented germ warfare in the history of the world, and killed and "consumed" more than 3,000 people, but it continued to survive in post-war Japan with almost no damage.Afterwards, Shiro Ishii obtained a dormitory related to the former Navy from the U.S. Army in the Yotsuya area of Tokyo, and transformed it into a comfort facility (brothel) for American soldiers. Troop information.
In addition, regarding the relationship between the leading cadres of Unit 731 and the U.S. occupation forces, there are many facts that are equivalent to secret history after the war. For example, Unit 731 stored a large amount of precious metals, which were secretly brought back to China after the war.It is also said that for a long period of time after the war, "stipends" were paid to some army personnel based on these precious metals.Due to space constraints, I will use another opportunity to illustrate the trajectory after the war.
在731部队溃败、战争结束以后，翌年即1946年6月底至9月底期间，在平房附近地区发生了严重的鼠疫，在义发源、东井子和二道村等村子发生鼠疫，造成103名村民死亡。这是从731部队逃出来的老鼠和跳蚤引起的鼠疫流行病。
Notes:
Notes: