Newly unveiled document reveals details of WWII Japanese germ warfare unit

A document containing detailed information about military personnel from Unit 731, a Japanese germ warfare unit during World War II, was unveiled for the first time on Saturday in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. The reveal coincides with the 86th anniversary of the outbreak of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which will be commemorated tomorrow, July 7.

On December 2, 1940, the Japanese Kwantung Army established four detachments for Unit 731 in Northeast China. The largest of these was in Linkou County, Heilongjiang Province. The newly unveiled document detailed this detachment, revealing that its organizational structure and personnel configuration closely mirrored those of Unit 731. This detachment was a bacterial unit with independent combat capabilities.

After the end of World War II, this detachment did not manage to withdraw to Japan with the Unit 731 headquarters. Instead, its members returned to Japan individually and filled out personal information registration forms, which comprise of the roster made public this time.

The original roster document was previously stored in the National Archives of Japan. Following extensive negotiations with the Japanese side, it was brought back to China in 2022. After systematic organization and research, the document was officially opened to the public.

The 177-page document recorded the basic information of 140 members of the detachment and provided a detailed account of their activities from enlistment to their return home. Researchers have found evidence within the document that this detachment collaborated with Unit 731 to conduct plague experiments.

"The rat-catching operation recorded in the document can be corroborated by previous oral testimonies and historical materials," said Jin Shicheng, a researcher at the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army. "This further proves that the detachment collaborated with Unit 731 in conducting plague experiments and producing plague germ weapons."

This document is the most crucial archive discovered to date for studying the detachment in Linkou. It provides key evidence for a comprehensive understanding of the detachment's personnel composition and post-war transfers, which is significant for fully and accurately exposing the crimes of the Japanese Kwantung Army in bacteriological warfare. This document further proves that the human experiments and bacteriological warfare conducted by Unit 731 were not isolated incidents, but large-scale, organized state crimes sanctioned from the highest levels of the Japanese government.