Imperial Japan tested biological weapons & new poisons on Soviet prisoners, treasure trove of WWII declassified documents reveals
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That’s according to a new tranche of documents declassified and published by Russia’s FSB security agency on Friday. The papers, which chronicle the treatment of Red Army soldiers, as well as civilians, at the hands of the Axis power, chronicle how those who could not be pressed into laboring to support Tokyo’s war effort were transferred to ‘detachment 731’ under the control of the Kwantung Army.
During their internment in the special brigade’s research unit, which was initially planned to hold 150 people, including Soviet pilots who had crash-landed in Manchuria, “new chemical poisonous substances and bacteriological agents” were tested on the prisoners, including anthrax and bubonic plague.
Torturous medical experimentation is remembered as one of the most egregious breaches of human rights during World War II, with both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan subjecting captives to the cruel trials. The most infamous perpetrator, Dr. Josef Mengele, would stand in line waiting for new arrivals at Auschwitz concentration camp to select subjects - often children or twins - for his brutal and frequently fatal studies.In a startling confession recorded by post-war Soviet investigators, the deputy director of the camp, Kenji Yamagishi, admitted to sending around 40 people to their deaths. The experiments, the trove of materials say, were in aid of the development of a supposed “bacteriological bomb,” which could be filled with plague-infested fleas and detonated over a populated area.
Editor's Note: Bacteriological warfare (aka Biological Warfare) was also extensively used by the US on Korea and China, right after the end of WW2, during the so-called Korean War. It was later used in Cuba, and probably Vietnam and other nations subject to US imperialist assault. China Rising Sinoland editor Jeff Brown has published many articles on this still largely ignored or "submerged" topic of the first Cold War. Below his intro to the archives and Tom Powell's review of the literature:
Biological Warfare in Korea: A Review of the Literature
Note before starting: it is an honor to publish Tom Powell’s latest work on the US’s blatant use of germ warfare during the Korean War. He is a founding member of the Bioweapon Truth Commission (BWTC). You should access its Global Online Library (GOL) to learn more about how the Western empire conducts “business” at home and abroad (http://chinarising.puntopress.com/2018/06/25/bioweapon-truth-commission-and-global-online-library-bwtc-gol-www-bioweapontruth-com/).
I got to meet Tom, along with Jeff Kaye and Frank Scott in San Francisco, over Christmas holiday last year. Tom is an old Bay Area hand, so he showed me around and along with Jeff and Frank, we have all become good friends in the process. It is an honor to have interviewed all three of them on the China Rising Radio Sinoland Show. —Jeff Brown
Crosslinked with: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/UWDGQCCB2TZHFNZH78EW/full?target=10.1080/08854300.2019.1644588
See also Stuart McMillan, “Biowarfare over Cuban skies,” The Manatoban, Feb. 25, 1998 http://www.themanitoban.com/1997-1998/0225/feat.html
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