- Zhongma Fortress
Zhongma Fortress was a
biological warfare research facility erected by the JapaneseKwantung Army inBeiyinhe , outside ofHarbin ,Manchukuo during theSecond Sino-Japanese War .Background
Shirō Ishii Imperial Japanese Army senior researcher in biological andchemical warfare was assigned to establish a clandestine program to developweapons of mass destruction under the patronage of Army MinisterSadao 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 legitimatemedical research onvaccine s andpublic 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 meter high earthen walls topped with electrified
barbed wire and amoat withdrawbridge 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 theprison 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 commoncriminal s, captured bandits, anti-Japanese partisans, as well aspolitical prisoner s and people rounded up at random for suspicious behavior by theKempeitai .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
rice orwheat , 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 ofblood 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.Closure
In August 1936, 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 fence . 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 thecrimes 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 calledPingfang (Heibo), which came to be known asUnit 731 .References
*cite book
last = Gold
first = Hal
year = 2004
title = Unit 731 Testimony
publisher = Tuttle
id = ISBN 0804835659
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