Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East

During the occupation of Japan after WWII, the US had an important decision to make. Should they hold those responsible for atrocities during the war accountable or should they take the information to advance national interest?

The researchers who worked at Unit 731, the biological and chemical warfare research and development unit, were given immunity in exchange for their research data. Unit 731 included factories filled with humans, tested with various diseases, as well as field tests on civilians of the Soviet Union and China. Imperial Japan had aspirations to develop operative tools of biological warfare, one that was prohibited after World War I. Using alive human captives, the Japanese scientists of the medical profession gathered data on the progression of the diseases until the "human guinea pigs" collapsed. Most of these scientists lived peacefully after WWII, with a few of them having to go through the Khabarovsk Trial, which was deemed by the West as communist propaganda.

Most of the horrors on Unit 731 had been hearsays and rumors until recently with the passing of the Freedom of Information Act. This book is based on documents found in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Russian archival documents, and translations of the Khabarovsk Trial to paint a complete picture of the cover-up of the atrocious act of Unit 731. Readers could expect to questions themselves with this evidence: Should war crimes be covered up in the name of national interest?

Unlike Nazi Germany's atrocities in WW2, Japan’s heinous wartime atrocities are not well discussed in the mainstream and even intentionally hidden to public. Japan's atrocities in WW2 included factories where various diseases were tested on human captives, as well as field tests on Soviet Union and Chinese civilians. Japan aspired to develop effective tools for biological warfare, which was prohibited after WWI. Using human captives, the medically trained Japanese scientists gathered data on progression of the diseases until the “human guinea pigs” died.

Keeping the information secret, the United States secured this data with a price tag, i.e., not prosecuting those responsible for the operations, such as Emperor Hirohito. The Soviet Union later joined in hiding information, since the secrets of successful biological warfare provided both superpowers massive new weapons of destruction.

What is Unit 731?

Unit 731 was created in 1936 by the authorization of Emperor Hirohito in Japanese-occupied Manchuria with the aim of developing biological weapons. It was led by Ishii Shiro and had a partner unit, Unit 100. Unit 731 was supported by Japanese universities and medical schools which supplied doctors and research staff. Organized under the alias of The Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army, Unit 731 operated as a covert chemical and bacteriological warfare research and development unit, conducting and responsible for some of the most atrocious war crimes of imperial Japan.

According to several former workers of Unit 731 and Unit 100, the laboratories were constructed for the purpose of manufacturing bacteriological weapons, which the Japanese Army would use against namely the Soviet Union, Mongolia, and China. While the units were not created with the sole purpose of preparing Japan for war against the USSR, there is evidence that proves the expected war was one of the major motivations.

Unit 731 Building, Pingfang, China

On August 9, 1945 the Soviet Union officially declared war on Japan, and the Red Army moved into Japanese-occupied Manchuria. In response to the Soviets’ declaration of war, the Japanese government in Tokyo ordered that all the research facilities in Manchuria be destroyed to erase all incriminating material. Unit 100, located just south of Changchun, and Unit 731, located in the cluster of villages known as Ping Fan, had carried out some of Japan’s most horrific war crimes during World War Two.

August 15, 1945 marks the day when the Pacific side of WWII ended when Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender and signed the peace agreement. This also meant an end to the ambitious projects of the Japanese biological warfare scientists that previously had the ability to perform a multitude of experiments on humans since the 1930s. However, and as shown in the post-war actions, the BW war criminals of the Japanese WWII era were allowed to walk free from their history, and most continued to work in medical positions. All of this was permitted by the United States, who took sole control once they occupied Japan in September 1945.

Tokyo War Crimes Trial without Ishii Shiro

Once in Tokyo, it is believed that Ishii hid the allegedly “destroyed” documents concerning BW tests and information — one location may have been his very own back yard. One final step to secure disappearance, he falsified his own death. This included a fake funeral with paid mourners, as well as newspaper announcements of his death. It is safe to say that a whole orchestra of people were on a mission to hide him. Ishii played dead until January 1946, and it was a reawakening that seemed not surprising to U.S. authorities. While being well-acknowledged as a major character in the Japanese offensive and defensive BW, the United States never arrested him but, instead, allowed him to stay at his private property.

Ishii’s fellow scientists were well recognized by the U.S. prior to the surrender, information which was gradually presented by the captured Japanese PWs. Additionally, the U.S. recognized many of 122 Japanese biology scientists in 1944 and in what kind of fields they were known to have worked or done research. Whatever reason may have dominated the decision the U.S. made not to capture the suspects of BW activity, it was deemed to be a weak one. Giving the suspects such as Ishii an opportunity to control the locations for interrogation enabled them to subsequently impact the outlines of interrogations. Even though interrogation documents and reports do display American dominance over questions asked, it is unmistakable that the Japanese BW scientists were given significantly much more allowance than their Nazi counterparts.

Ishii Shiro, Lead of Unit 731

When pressing charges upon those who were finally to be the defendants in the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, the initial intention and suggestion of the U.S. was to incorporate it solely with the jurisdiction of ‘Crimes against Peace’ and, as a shocking contrast to the Nuremberg trials, enable the Japanese government itself to participate in the trial by providing its own prosecutors.

Instead of the Americans joining forces with the Soviets to properly search the ruins of the death factories destroyed by the Japanese, the price for the knowledge of BW was too alluring for both sides, especially when the pressure brought by the Cold War continued to separate the two countries. It is apparent, though, that the Soviet Union was quite eager to communicate and made multiple suggestions on the topic, and it outlines a theory that it was the United States first lingered over the information and further used the fear of Soviets to entitle its sole acquisition of the BW information.

Price over Justice - Trading Immunity for BW Data

At some point in the first interrogations, received information was secured more tightly. In November 1945, the Secretary of War sent a message to the Deputy Chief of Staff concerning MacArthur stating that from there on, all BW information must be handled as “secret” and only be distributed to the Scientific Branch, G-2 and the War Department. It had been prompted by the Scientific Intelligence Mission, one that included the American Camp Detrick scientists who had been confronting the Japanese medical personnel.

Various U.S. officials wanted to keep all of the data received hidden and saw increasing potential in the BW network Ishii and his companions had created. Oncethe Tokyo War Crimes Trial became public knowledge, it appears a break from the interrogations was needed for the U.S. to form plans on how to proceed on the Japanese BW matter. Measures were taken to restrict any access to the suspects and, by the end of 1946, the Legal Section was at a good stage of collecting new data.

SWNCC took a few months to decide its formal response to MacArthur’s request regarding immunity, and its Subcommittee for the Far East provided backup about the issue on August 1, 1947. The task force strongly urged that written immunity be given, since the Japanese had continued to provide the information without it — a certain kind of gesture that was probably seen as something to be respected. It was also assured that IPS could not intervene in the immunity project because it had already assured (in December 1946 and again in June 1947) that no action should be taken to bring the accusations of BW into the Tokyo War Crimes Trial due to the lack of evidence that could have supported the witnesses’ statements. IPS additionally continued to maintain that the Soviets could be expected to bring their information first into the trial. Hence, it was concluded that the secrecy of the immunity project would continue, and if further charges were made by anyone, SCAP’s June 6th evaluation of all data received about the alleged use of BW would serve as a protective shield. The SWNCC did not react to the task force’s conclusions, but recounted that Ishii and the BW personnel should continue giving more information.

SCAP, Legal Section. War Crimes Br

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