Zhongma Fortress
Encyclopedia
Zhongma Fortress, or Unit Tōgō, was a biological warfare
research facility erected by the Japanese
Kwantung Army in Beiyinhe, outside of Harbin
, Manchukuo
during the Second Sino-Japanese War
.
, an Imperial Japanese Army senior researcher in biological and chemical warfare
, was assigned to establish a clandestine program to develop weapons of mass destruction
under the patronage of Army Minister Sadao Araki
.
Ishii built a medical research facility in Harbin shortly after the city came under Japanese control after the Manchurian Incident in 1932. This facility conducted legitimate medical research on vaccine
s and public health
. However, the facility was too close to a highly populated area to be able to conduct clandestine biological warfare research, so Ishii selected a second site about 100 kilometers to the south of Harbin at the village of Beiyinhe. The local inhabitants were forcibly evacuated and their village burnt down, and a large tract of land was fenced off.
and a moat
with drawbridge
surrounded the buildings within. There were hundreds of rooms and smaller surrounding laboratories, office buildings, barracks
and dining facilities, warehouses and munitions storage, crematoria, and the prison cell
s. Out of necessity, the Japanese were forced to use local Chinese labor for the construction; but due to secrecy, laborers had to wear a basket over their head to prevent them from seeing more than small sections of the facility, and had be escorted by the army guards. The prisoners brought to Zhongma included common criminals, captured bandits, anti-Japanese partisans, as well as political prisoner
s and people rounded up at random for suspicious behavior by the Kempeitai
.
or wheat
, with meat, fish and occasionally even alcohol – with the intent of starting experiments with the subjects in their usual state of health. In many cases, prisoners were drained of blood
over several days, with careful records kept on their deteriorating physical condition. Others were subject to experiments on nutrient
or water deprivation
. Prisoners who survived the experiments, but who were deemed too weak for further tests were executed. The facility was estimated to have held between 500-600 prisoners at any one time, with a capacity for over 1000.
. Some ten of the escapees were shot by guards; others were recaptured or died of exposure, but several managed to escape, and spread word of the crimes against humanity being conducted by Shiro and his subordinates. As a result of this publicity, Zhongma Fortress was closed down, and its activities transferred to a new site closer to Harbin called Pingfang
(Heibo), which came to be known as Unit 731
. The testimony of one of the escapees, Ziyang Wang, was collected by Xiao Han, deputy director of the Pingfang museum, in the 1980s. The graphic novel Maruta 454 (2010), by Paul-Yanic Laquerre, Song Yang and Pastor, depicts the escape of 12 Chinese prisoners from Unit Tōgō, based on Wang's testimony.
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
research facility erected by the Japanese
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
Kwantung Army in Beiyinhe, outside of Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
, Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
.
Background
Shirō IshiiShiro Ishii
was a Japanese microbiologist and the lieutenant general of Unit 731, a biological warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army responsible for human experimentation and war crimes during the Second Sino-Japanese War.-Early years:...
, an Imperial Japanese Army senior researcher in biological and chemical warfare
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
, was assigned to establish a clandestine program to develop weapons of mass destruction
Weapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
under the patronage of Army Minister Sadao Araki
Sadao Araki
Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before World War II. A charismatic leader and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the late Japanese Empire, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the politicized Japanese Army and served as...
.
Ishii built a medical research facility in Harbin shortly after the city came under Japanese control after the Manchurian Incident in 1932. This facility conducted legitimate medical research on vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s and public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
. However, the facility was too close to a highly populated area to be able to conduct clandestine biological warfare research, so Ishii selected a second site about 100 kilometers to the south of Harbin at the village of Beiyinhe. The local inhabitants were forcibly evacuated and their village burnt down, and a large tract of land was fenced off.
Description
The new facility had three metre high earthen walls topped with electrified barbed wireBarbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
and a moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
with drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
surrounded the buildings within. There were hundreds of rooms and smaller surrounding laboratories, office buildings, barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
and dining facilities, warehouses and munitions storage, crematoria, and the prison cell
Prison cell
A prison cell or holding cell or lock-up is a small room in a prison, or police station where a prisoner is held.Prison cells are usually about 6 by 8 feet in size with steel or brick walls and one solid or barred door that locks from the outside. Many modern prison cells are pre-cast. Solid doors...
s. Out of necessity, the Japanese were forced to use local Chinese labor for the construction; but due to secrecy, laborers had to wear a basket over their head to prevent them from seeing more than small sections of the facility, and had be escorted by the army guards. The prisoners brought to Zhongma included common criminals, captured bandits, anti-Japanese partisans, as well as political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s and people rounded up at random for suspicious behavior by the Kempeitai
Kempeitai
The was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945. It was not an English-style military police, but a French-style gendarmerie...
.
Human experimentation
A variety of bizarre medical experiments were conducted on the prisoners at Zhongma Fortress. Prisoners were usually well fed, on their usual diet of riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
or wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, with meat, fish and occasionally even alcohol – with the intent of starting experiments with the subjects in their usual state of health. In many cases, prisoners were drained of blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
over several days, with careful records kept on their deteriorating physical condition. Others were subject to experiments on nutrient
Starvation
Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy, nutrient and vitamin intake. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, death...
or water deprivation
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
. Prisoners who survived the experiments, but who were deemed too weak for further tests were executed. The facility was estimated to have held between 500-600 prisoners at any one time, with a capacity for over 1000.
Closure
In August 1934, at the time of the traditional summer festival, the prisoners were given a ration of special foods. One prisoner, named Li, managed to overpower his guard, seize the keys and free about forty of his fellow prisoners. Although their legs were shackled, their arms were free, and the prisoners were able to climb the outside walls. A heavy downpour had knocked out the facility's electricity, deactivating the searchlights and electric fenceElectric fence
An electric fence is a barrier that uses electric shocks to deter animals or people from crossing a boundary. The voltage of the shock may have effects ranging from uncomfortable, to painful or even lethal...
. Some ten of the escapees were shot by guards; others were recaptured or died of exposure, but several managed to escape, and spread word of the crimes against humanity being conducted by Shiro and his subordinates. As a result of this publicity, Zhongma Fortress was closed down, and its activities transferred to a new site closer to Harbin called Pingfang
Pingfang
Pingfang District is a district in the outskirts of Harbin, China . It was the headquarters of the Japanese Biological Warfare Unit 731 during the Japanese invasion of China and World War II. It had an airport, railway and dungeons...
(Heibo), which came to be known as Unit 731
Unit 731
was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese...
. The testimony of one of the escapees, Ziyang Wang, was collected by Xiao Han, deputy director of the Pingfang museum, in the 1980s. The graphic novel Maruta 454 (2010), by Paul-Yanic Laquerre, Song Yang and Pastor, depicts the escape of 12 Chinese prisoners from Unit Tōgō, based on Wang's testimony.