Unit 731: Firsthand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program

by Hal Gold

America’s decision not to prosecute Ishii and his men was not the final word on the matter, however. In July 1948, the Soviet army newspaper Red Star carried an article by a Col. Galkin, special correspondent on the newspaper for Japanese biological warfare. According to the article, the Japanese were preparing to use biological warfare on a large scale, and they had a huge bacteriological center in Manchuria. Galkin’s piece did not state that Japanese biological warfare was intended for use against his country, and instead specifically pointed out that it was for use against China, the United States, and Britain. The Red Star article also did not mention Soviet citizens as victims of human experimentation. Still more surprising, the Soviet article did not mention the imperial order which had allegedly led to the establishment of the labs. There was only mention of Prince Mikasa acting as the emperor’s representative.