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      • Unit 731 - Guide >
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        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
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        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
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        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
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        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
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        • Singapore World War II Timeline
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        • History of Singapore
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        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
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        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
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        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
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        • The End of Prince Konoe
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        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
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Failures and Corruption

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Bioweapons


In the 1930s, Ishii was climbing the military ladder quickly, receiving upgrades every 3 years. In the 1940s, however, his career seemingly started to decelerate. On November 28th, 1940, Ishii’s Unit attacked Jinhua with biological weapons.
​The Chinese Ministry of Health stated:
“At the time that the plague epidemics were continuing in Ningbo and its vicinity, three Japanese airplanes flew over Jinhua and dropped a large number of small granules the size of small shrimp eggs. These strange objects were gathered and examined at a local hospital.... They showed the physical characteristics of the bacteria that causes the plague. In any case, the plague did not break out in Jinhua and, as far as this town was concerned, the Japanese experiment in germ warfare ended in failure.”

The townspeople were likely to have stayed at home. Another theory was that the Chinese Ministry of Health released propaganda to boost the people’s confidence.
In the fall of 1941, Ishii’s Unit attempted to drop plague fleas from airplanes onto Changde, a city 1000 kilometers east of Shanghai. This attack also resulted in failure. It was apparent that the biological weapons program was not as promising as Ishii had proclaimed. 
After Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Roosevelt wanted revenge. However, it was difficult to realize due to the distance between the United States and Japan. The solution was to establish an airfield in China, and Zhejiang was selected. They also chose Doolittle, a pilot known for flying from coast to coast without refueling and who understood efficiency. The Doolittle Raid bombed Tokyo, Kobe, and Yokohama as well as an ammunition factory. The bombers were not successful in damaging the structure but they launched a Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to remove the Zhejiang airfields where Chinese civilians were fueling planes.
The
Ishii Shiro

The IJA’s China Expeditionary Force sent 180,000 men as well as a bacteriological warfare unit to launch a full-scale campaign in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi region, Operation Sei-go, also known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, from mid-May to early September 1942. They spread cholera, typhoid, plague, dysentery, glander, and anthrax in the region.
This bacteriological warfare operation was confirmed by Major General Kawashima Kiyoshi who worked at Unit 731 and who stated during the Khabarovsk Trial:

 “My unit could produce 300 kilos of plague bacteria, 1000 kilos of cholera bacteria, 800-900 kilos of typhoid, and 500-700 kilos of anthrax in a month. In 1942, General Ishii led 150 soldiers to disseminate plague, cholera, typhoid, and anthrax in the ZhejiangJiangxi War.” ​
​In another meeting in 1942, Ishii Shiro stated:
​“The bacteria weapons used in ZhejiangJiangxi War Zone were very effective, causing several fierce epidemics.”

Nanking Unit

In July 1942, Ishii joined Nanking Unit 1644 to distribute typhoid and paratyphoid germs from metal flasks to wells, swamps, and civilian houses. He then visited a local Chinese POW camp to hand out a holiday favor, special dumplings injected with typhoid or paratyphoid germs, after which the prisoners were released to spread the disease, causing an epidemic in the area. He also handed out candies with anthrax for children and left sweet cakes filled with typhoid and paratyphoid bacteria around fences and trees in Nanking. Since the Chinese were starving at the time, they ate anything in front of them.
After Nanking, Ishii disappeared from the limelight of biological warfare grounds from August 1942 to March 1, 1945 and was then transferred to Taiyuan where he assumed the position of Chief of Medicine, Department of the First Army. The rumor regarding his transfer was due to investigation of charges of corruption as well as failure to deliver ​biological weapons. 
Historian Fujii Shitsue’s theory of Ishii’s departure was that it allowed Ishii to focus completely on the development and applications of biological warfare. According to the 2nd Chief of Command of Unit 731, Major General Masaji Kitano, even though Ishii had physically left the Unit, he never lost control of it.

Picture
Unit 731 complex

Similar to most things about Ishii, there is an air of mystery to what exactly happened, here is a timeline of his movements during his disappearance. In August 1942, Ishii was appointed as Chief of the Medical Department of the 1st Army in Taiyuan, Shanxi, but Ishii did not take up an official post there. On November 20th, 1942, Ishii took an unknown identity in “Taiyuan Epidemic Prevention Training Class.” In December 1942, he inspected the Luan military hospital, and then went missing again. In March 1943, Ishii carried out some inspections in Shanxi in Luan hospital again. In April, he inspected Chunxian and was back in Taiyuan in July where he spoke. In September, he returned to Luan, and never returned to Shanxi where Major General Koudou took over Ishii’s position.​
The Japanese army general staff started losing confidence in the efficacy of biological weapons, which pressured Ishii’s Unit to come up with a new way of delivering a more reliable method of delivering biological weapons for the Japanese soldiers while creating devastating effects for the enemy. The Ishii Unit came up with a new approach, which was to pack the pathogens in bombs or shells and to be dropped by airplanes and artillery. However, packing the bombs with pathogens was not an easy task as it was hard to keep the pathogens alive for long periods of time. Moreover, there was the need to develop a bomb made of materials that could break upon impact using little or no explosives since explosives require heat which could kill the pathogens.


Related Book

Ishii Shiro: Josef Mengele of the East book cover
Get the book!

Guide: Ishi Shiro:
​Joseph Mengele of the East

The Japanese occupation of Manchuria promised many opportunities for young scientists who wanted to utilize their training and curiosity to advance Japanese military capabilities. Recently graduated medical student Ishii Shiro seized this occasion, and with funding from the War Ministry of Imperial Japan, founded Unit 731, a biological and chemical warfare research and development arm of the IJA. With consent and funding from the military and government, he recruited the brightest minds from Japan to conduct fatal human experimentation, develop bubonic plague bombs to unleash on nearby villages, and test biological and chemical weapons. 

Within a few years, he rapidly climbed the ranks, going from Captain to General for the Imperial Japanese Army. His impact and power overshadowed his European counterpart, Josef Mengele. After the war, he faked his death, but the CIA was able to locate him. However, he negotiated immunity and was never brought to justice in what came to be known as the elaborate American coverup of Japanese war crimes.

Ishii Shiro: Josef Mengele of the East is a biography based on declassified documents found in the National Archives and Records Administration. This book includes documents from the CIA, Far East Asia Command Center, U.S. Naval Operations, the Khabavosk War Crimes Trial, and precords that survived by chance in Tokyo. 

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Post-War

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  • Home
    • About >
      • FAQ's - Frequently Asked Questions
    • Support Us >
      • Projects you can support! >
        • Distributing Books
        • Presenting at 112th Annual Meeting of Pacific Coast Branch
        • Summer Research Relocation Fund
    • Contact
  • Stories
    • Videos >
      • Black Hearts (2021)
    • Blog
    • Podcast: Forgotten History
  • Internship
    • Summer 2023 Internship
    • Fall 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2022 Internship
    • Summer 2021 Internship
    • Fall 2020- Spring 2021 Internship
    • Summer 2020 Internship
    • Fall 2019 Internship
    • Summer 2019 Internship >
      • Public History Night
    • School Year 2018-2019 Internship
    • Summer 2018 Internship >
      • 2018 Summer Showcase + Fundraiser
    • Fall 2017 Internship
    • Summer 2017 Internship >
      • 2017 Summer Showcase & Fundraiser
  • Books
  • Archives
  • Resource Page
    • Supplementary Research Guides >
      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
        • History of the Rising Sun Flag
        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
      • Pinay Guerrilleras - Guide >
        • Japanese Occupation of the Philippine Islands: Pinays Answering the Call to Arms
        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
        • Filipina American Veterans: Recovering the Extraordinary Feats of the Ordinary Pinays
        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
      • Siamese Sovereignty - Guide >
        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
        • China During WWII
        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
    • Lesson Plans >
      • Reparations
      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
Contribute