A newly disclosed archive concerning the large-scale biological warfare crimes of Japan's notorious Unit 731 provides further confirmation that its atrocities were systematic, organized, and state-backed criminal acts.
The Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army in northeast China's Harbin on Saturday unveiled a handwritten confession by Tsunenori Kato, a commander of the Hailar branch of Unit 731.
Kato's confession provided detailed accounts of Unit 731's organizational structure, core missions, leadership system, experimental activities, plans for biological warfare against the Soviet Union and the operations of its regional branches. It clearly establishes the criminal nature of Unit 731's engagement in biological warfare, sabotage, and live human experimentation, according to researchers.
"We conducted a detailed review of the confession, and found that Tsunenori Kato documented, from his personal perspective, the organizational structure, personnel composition, and criminal activities of the Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army. He repeatedly described in detail practices including human experimentation and bacteriological research. The confession meticulously recorded the unit's leaders, Shiro Ishii and Masaji Kitano, as well as its eight internal departments -- each with clearly listed names," said Jin Shicheng, director of the Department of Publicity, Education and Exhibition at the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army.
The confession also disclosed the unit's operational quotas, including the scaling of white mouse breeding from 500 to 1,000 rodents and a monthly delivery of 300 mice, as well as preparations for flea cultivation -- revealing the full criminal chain of Unit 731, from research and development at headquarters to logistical support at branch units and eventual field deployment.
According to the confession, the different branches of Unit 731 were established as strongholds for waging bacteriological warfare against the Soviet Union. It confirms that the planning and implementation of such warfare were uniformly directed by the upper echelons of Japan's military.
"Notably, the confession recorded that in June 1945, Tokyo issued orders to halt bacteriological warfare plans. This clearly demonstrates that Unit 731's biological warfare operations were not the isolated actions of a single military unit, but rather a large-scale, top down organized state crime with directions from Tokyo," Jin said.
The original document of the confession is preserved at a regional branch of the Russian Federal Security Service and was declassified upon the Pushkin Scientific Library's application. In February this year, a photocopied version was donated to the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army.
Archival evidence reveals Japan's Unit 731 crimes as premeditated state-led atrocity
A program produced by China Global Television Network (CGTN) aired on Saturday presented the unerasable evidence of crimes committed by Yoshijiro Umezu, a top leader in Japan's wartime military during the invasion of China, exposing the history that must never be forgotten.
Umezu was a notorious name deeply involved in Japan's war of aggression against China. As Chief of the Army General Staff, he was closely linked to atrocities like the brutal policy of "Three Alls" - kill all, burn all, and loot all - and the inhuman experiments of Unit 731.
Umezu was dispatched to China in March 1934. His role spanned the entire course of Japan's aggression, from the invasion of northeast China to the collapse of the Pacific War.
In May 1935, Umezu presented then-acting chairman of the Beiping Military Council, He Yingqin, with an outrageous demand to expel Chinese forces from North China. He then redeployed Japanese troops south from northeast China, coercing He into signing the He–Umezu Agreement, effectively opening the door for Japan's full-scale military expansion into North China.
In 1938, Umezu became commander of the Japanese First Army. He enforced the savage "Three Alls" policy, inflicting immense suffering on the Chinese people.
Statistics show that during the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, as many as 7 million civilians in North China were killed under the "Three Alls" policy. Umezu became known among the Chinese as the "Demon of the Three Alls."
One of the most heinous units Japan deployed in China was Unit 731. When it was first established, the unit had no official designation. It was Umezu, then commander of the Kwantung Army, who granted it its code number and helped expand its operations. That's why he is widely regarded as the man behind Unit 731.
At least tens of thousands of Chinese, Soviet and Korean civilians, and Allied prisoners of war were used as live subjects in human experiments, dying in extreme pain and cruelty. This chapter of history remains an indelible scar on the conscience of human civilization.
"The Japanese biological warfare units expanded with the direct involvement of the Japanese government, the military high command, the Kwantung Army, and the medical community. This fully demonstrates that Japan's biological warfare was a premeditated, organized, and state-led crime, carried out from the top down," said Jin Chengmin, director of the Exhibition Hall of Crime Evidence of Japanese Army Unit 731.
As a loyal executor of Japan's expansionist militarist strategy, Umezu did not limit his crimes to China. In 1941, having previously taken part in the Russo-Japanese War, Umezu organized large-scale military exercises targeting the Soviet Union as a hypothetical enemy. He continued to train Kwantung Army forces and sent large numbers of elite troops to the Pacific Theater.
On the morning of September 2, 1945, the ceremony formally marking Japan's unconditional surrender was held on the deck of the USS Missouri.
After the ceremony and the final victory in the world's anti-fascist war, Umezu was put on trial at the Tokyo Tribunal, among the highest-ranking military officers. He was convicted as a Class-A war criminal and sentenced to life imprisonment in November 1948.
Although he escaped execution, justice was not denied forever. On January 8, 1949, Umezu died of rectal cancer in Sugamo Prison in Tokyo without ever admitting guilt.
After his death, Umezu's spirit tablet was enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine, alongside 14 Class-A war criminals. For years, despite strong opposition from Asian countries and criticism from the international community, some Japanese right-wing politicians have repeatedly visited the shrine.
This is far more than a so-called act of mourning. It is a blatant challenge to historical verdicts, a deep insult to the victims of aggression, and a dangerous attempt to rehabilitate militarist crimes.
"History and reality both prove that returning to militarism is a dead end. Completely breaking with militarism and sincerely pursuing peaceful development is a crucial precondition for Japan to gain the trust and understanding of the international community, especially its Asian neighbors, and is also the correct choice in the interests of the Japanese people," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a recent press briefing in Beijing.
CGTN program exposes undeniable history of Yoshijiro Umezu’s war crimes in China
