MOSCOW, 18 Sep. The Japanese military in the 1930s — 1945 killed 37 million Chinese, including with the use of bacteriological weapons, and, despite the documents already collected in this regard, it is necessary to strenuously search for historical materials containing new facts of the genocide that the Kwantung Army was perpetrating, said RIA Novosti researcher at Wuhan University, former director of the Institute of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, prominent Chinese historian Wu Enyuan. Saturday marks the 90th anniversary of the «Mukden incident» — a provocation on the South Manchurian railway organized by the Japanese military, and used by Tokyo as a pretext for the Kwantung Army's invasion of northeastern China. According to many Chinese historians, it is the date of September 18, 1931 that should be considered the day the Second World War began.
Historian: US laboratories can use the experience of the Japanese «death squad» Wu Enyuan took part in the international scientific and practical forum «The Khabarovsk Process: Historical Significance and Contemporary Challenges», which was held in Khabarovsk on September 6-7. RIA Novosti was one of the organizers of the forum. It was during the Khabarovsk trial, which took place on December 25-30, 1949, that it became known about the sinister plans of militarist Japan as an ally of Germany to wage a war against the USSR. On it, for the first time, the world learned about the impending bacteriological war, which was averted by the rapid advance of the Red Army during the Far Eastern campaign in August 1945. The Khabarovsk trial put a legal end to the Second World War. The holding of this forum in Khabarovsk was of great importance, said Wu Enyuan. «Firstly, thanks to him, generations who did not encounter World War II, especially young people, learned that Japanese war criminals during World War II were developing bacteriological weapons, which they planned to use against China, the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Korea and others. regions and peoples, and about other egregious crimes of that time, «- said the agency's interlocutor.
“Secondly, the forum in Khabarovsk became a call for vigilance for all people who value peace: to prevent a repetition of the war crimes of the Japanese militarists with the use of bacteriological weapons. Third, it is necessary to further expose the criminal activities of the Japanese fascists to develop such weapons. this is the meaning of the forum on the Khabarovsk process, «added Wu Enyuan.
The main bases of the Japanese military, where the development of bacteriological weapons was carried out, were located in China, and it was he who was the main object of bacteriological warfare, which caused enormous damage to the Chinese army and people, the historian noted. war, «Wu Enyuan said.
The UK is ready to work with other countries to assess Japan's war crimes According to him, to date, the State Library of China has released the «Database on Japanese developments in the field of bacteriological weapons», «Dossier on bacteriological warfare deployed by the Japanese army against China» and other documents. They, among other things, contain information about the degree of damage suffered by China during the years of anti-Japanese resistance.
«These documents truly reflect the state of affairs in Chinese society during the years of the anti-Japanese war and have the highest historical and scientific value in the sense of studying and exposing the activities of the Japanese in preparing for bacteriological warfare,» Wu Enyuan said.
Also in China, materials are published on the preparation of the Japanese for bacteriological warfare, he added. «For example, the Zhongguo Wenshi Chubanshe edition has published a collection» Documents of the Mingguo period on the preparation of bacteriological warfare by the Japanese invaders in Yiwu, «and so on,» the agency's source said.
The historian spoke about the contribution of counterintelligence to the defeat of Japan in 1945. In addition, a museum of Detachment 731 of the Kwantung Army, a unit in which Japanese bacteriological weapons were developed and tested, was created in Harbin, the agency's source added. «On its territory there are 27 objects with a total area of 248 thousand square meters. This is the largest base in world history on the development and manufacture of bacteriological weapons, conducting experiments. Visiting this museum, you can see how Japanese militarism violated the norms of international law, how they carried out experiments on frostbite, infecting them with various pathogens, how they were poisoned with poisons, «said Wu Enyuan. According to the available incomplete data, at the base where Detachment 731 conducted experiments, about 3 thousand people died, including citizens of China, the USSR and others countries, the historian added. There are many cases when, after the use of bacteriological weapons by the Japanese in China, the population of entire villages was killed, Wu Enyuan stressed.
«At the hands of the Japanese fascists in China, 37 million military and civilians were killed. It really was an act of genocide. At the Khabarovsk trial, only a small part of these crimes was made public. This work must be strengthened, new historical materials must be found,» he added historian.
Detachment 731 conducted experiments on infecting people not only with plague bacteria, but also anthrax, cholera, typhus and other microbes. Most of the infected died in terrible agony. Those who recovered were retested and eventually killed too. Internal organs were cut out from living people to see how the infection spreads throughout the body. The Japanese military conducted other inhuman experiments on people that inevitably led to their death. The Chinese, Koreans, and Russians were used as test subjects. Among others, Soviet prisoners of war from among the prisoners of the Hogoin concentration camp, which belonged to the Japanese intelligence services and was located near the location of detachment 731 in the Harbin region, were used there.
The historian explained the development of bioweapons by Japan during the Second World War Immediately after the defeat of the Kwantung Army in August 1945, to which the main contribution was made by the Red Army, the United States formed a special group to search Germany). In the hands of this group were, in particular, the leaders of Detachment 731 Shiro Ishii and Masaji Kitano. The United States sheltered them and other criminals from retaliation in exchange for the results of inhuman experiments. Washington has repeatedly refused Moscow's requests to extradite Ishii and other criminals for trial in the USSR. Subsequently, Ishii worked both in Japan and in the United States. Died in Japan in 1959. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Tribunal), held in 1946-1948, condemned the crimes of the Japanese military against peace, but, unlike the Nuremberg Tribunal, covered up the crimes of the Japanese military against humanity, thereby giving the possibility of hiding a number of developers of bacteriological weapons, led by Ishii. And only the Khabarovsk trial, held on December 25-30, 1949, put a legal end to the Second World War, allowing the Nuremberg principles to triumph — a number of Japanese war criminals who were directly involved in the development, testing and the use of bacteriological weapons were convicted.