A plaque in front of the buildings of Unit 731, explaining the terror of this "Biological and chemical warfare research " center
Image details
Contributor:
Bert de Ruiter / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
DRRJJ4File size:
32 MB (1.6 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4089 x 2733 px | 34.6 x 23.1 cm | 13.6 x 9.1 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
8 January 2014Location:
Asia Peoples Republic of China Heilongjiang province Harbin Ha'erbin Pingfang DistrictMore information:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Unit 731 was based at the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (now Northeast China). It was officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army . Originally set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan, Unit 731 was taken over and commanded until the end of the war by General Shiro Ishii, an officer in the Kwantung Army. Between 3, 000 and 12, 000 men, women, and children from which around 600 every year were provided by the Kempeitai died during the human experimentation conducted by Unit 731 at the camp based in Pingfang alone, which does not include victims from other medical experimentation sites. Almost 70% of the victims who died in the Pingfang camp were Chinese, including both civilian and military. Close to 30% of the victims were Russian. Some others were South East Asians and Pacific Islanders, at the time colonies of the Empire of Japan, and a small number of the prisoners of war from the Allies of World War II (although many more Allied POWs were victims of Unit 731 at other sites) Many of the scientists involved in Unit 731 went on to prominent careers in post-war politics, academia, business, and medicine. Some were arrested by Soviet forces and tried at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials; others surrendered to the American Forces. It has been postulated that one reason the scientists were not tried was that the information and experience gained in the studies of the biological warfare was of a great value for the United States biological weapons development program.