Chapter 21 Section 20

When investigating the "Imperial Bank Incident", the U.S. General Command was so afraid that the investigative authorities would come into contact with the personnel retained in the bacterial field headed by Lieutenant General Ishii, so what exactly were they researching? Whether it is the technology of the 731st Unit or the 100th Unit, the upper echelons of the old Japanese military department have given high praise.The following facts prove this. Anyone who has experienced military life knows that there are so-called "departments" in the army.This is relative to "arms", such as technicians, accountants, veterinarians, health workers and so on.Different from "arms", the highest military rank of "departments" is lieutenant general.Especially in the eyes of professional soldiers of various "arms", "ministries" are considered inferior.It is not necessarily because of the above-mentioned reasons alone. During combat, the combat orders drafted by the staff are compiled as "combat order X number", and X is divided into A, B, C, D, etc. to indicate the degree of importance.Among them, A is the most important combat order. Leaving aside the "arms", it can be said that there is no order in the "departments" that is worthy of the first class.Even if there was, it can be said to be an extremely rare exception.

But only the bacterial army is special.It is said that it has had countless first-class orders, such as "combat order No. A". What, then, is the content of this first order of special importance?For example, instruct the backbone of the bacterial force who sneaked into a certain city or mountain village in advance to spread infectious germs on something or somewhere in order to check the progress of the experiment.Of course, this was only done in extreme secrecy.The location is not limited to the occupied area, but also sneaks into the enemy's area to spread.There are also quite a few famous battles that have used bacteria, for example, the Battle of Rehe is called the "Opium Battle".

After the germs spread, find an excuse to wage war on that area.Sometimes overt military actions are taken, and sometimes covert activities are also carried out.Each time it was classified as "combat order A" and so on.The purpose is to determine how effective germ warfare has been and to take various steps to understand its status.Sometimes the dead body is moved to be dissected in order to investigate whether the treatment or poison used has really achieved its purpose and how accurate it is. The vast majority of ordinary soldiers engaged in such campaigns do not know the purpose of the battle.Therefore, until today, there are probably many people who do not know the real purpose of this kind of war, and are just acting according to the superficial situation and the orders of their superiors.

It can be said that this also applies to the favorable treatment given by the US General Command to Lieutenant General Ishii, who is engaged in this special operation. Here are some excerpts of the confession made by Lieutenant General Takahashi, the head of the Kwantung Army’s bacterial troops who is very familiar with the whole picture of the preparations for bacterial warfare, in the Soviet trial court as follows: "Question: Have you reported to General Umezu, commander of the Kwantung Army, about the germ warfare conducted by the 100th Unit? "A: Reported. "Q: What was reported to Admiral Umezu?

"Answer: The 100th unit is working hard to complete the mission. The multiplication status of various equipment and bacteria is also progressing smoothly, etc... "Question: How did General Umezu answer? "Answer: He expressed his satisfaction and asked us to step up our efforts. "Question: What is the annual bacterial production rate for the 100th Unit? "Answer: 1,000 kilograms of anthrax, 500 kilograms of melioidosis, and 100 kilograms of dysentery. “Q: Is this productivity rate considered sufficient? "Answer: No, not enough. "Question: What task was the 100th Unit sent to Hung Yen Province?

"Answer: Investigate the location of the river, the reservoir, how many grazing lands there are, how many livestock there are, and how the livestock move with the seasons. "Q: What is the purpose of the investigation? "Answer: On this point, General Meijin talked to me like this: If the war against the Soviet Union begins and the Japanese army retreats to the Greater Khingan Mountains for defense, the 100th Army will at this time make all the livestock in the North Khingan River polluted with salt. In order to infect the enemy who uses these livestock with infectious disease, so as to weaken the enemy's combat effectiveness. The 100th Unit began to investigate in order to complete this mission.

"Question: After General Yamada became the commander of the Kwantung Army, did you submit a report on the operations of the 100th Unit? "Answer: I reported the overview in three separate sessions. "Q: How did Admiral Yamada react to the report? "Answer: He simply said: 'Continue with the original course.' So I think Commander Yamada and former Commander Umezu took the same course. "Q: Did you know that the 100th Unit did experiments on humans? "Answer: I have heard of it. But I have not heard of the cholera experiment. However, I should bear the responsibility.

"Question: Was the preparation for germ warfare aimed at the Soviet Union first? "Answer: Yes." (See "Japan Weekly", No. 456)