The Horrifying And Lethal Experiments Of Unit 731

Updated September 23, 2021 328.7K views 13 items

In World War II, Japan created a top-secret project named Unit 731. Officially called the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army, Unit 731 carried out human experiments on unwilling subjects.

Japan committed many horrors throughout WWII, but arguably the most gruesome acts occurred in Unit 731. Located in the Pingfang district of what is now China, most of the test subjects for Unit 731 were Chinese.

By the end of WWII, as surrender became imminent, the Japanese involved with Unit 731 attempted to destroy all evidence of the acts they committed. Unlike their German counterparts, the scientists running Unit 731 were never punished for their human experimentation. It would be many years before witnesses started speaking out about the unit, and only now does the public understand what really went on there.

People Were Vivisected
Photo: U.S. Army / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
In order to investigate the internal effects of a newly developed injection, Unit 731 performed live dissections on thousands of test subjects without the use of anesthetic. None of the victims survived.

Scholars and former unit members estimate that about 3,000 people perished in this and other medical experiments performed by Unit 731.
Victims Were Infected With The Bubonic Plague
Photo: Margaret Parsons / Pixnio / Public Domain
The unit studied anthrax, cholera, and other pathogens by infecting victims. One such experimentation was with the bubonic plague, which the Japanese exploited using infected fleas and various delivery systems.

The weapons they developed were used to infect Chinese cities, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
Unnecessary Amputations Were Performed
Victims' limbs were sometimes removed in order for doctors to observe the range of effects and "learn the limits of the human body." Severed limbs were at times reattached to other parts of the person's body.

As in the other experiments, all subjects were alive and no anesthetic was used.
Victims Were Put Into High-Pressure Chambers
Photo: Bukvoed / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
To test the effects of intense pressure on the human body, Unit 731 would lock people into large pressure chambers. Pressure would gradually increase until the subject perished.
Some Subjects Were Injected With Seawater
Photo: Wellcome Images / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0
Doctors of Unit 731 would inject seawater into subjects to test whether or not the seawater could be used as a substitute for saline solution. These seawater injections proved to be fatal. Experimenters continued the tests with different substances, such as animal fluids.

Air was even injected into some subjects in order to induce embolisms which the doctors would then study.
The Frostbite Experiments Actually Yielded Results
Photo: Wellcome Images / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0
Modern medical knowledge prescribes that frostbite should be treated not by rubbing, but by immersing the affected area in water between 100 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit. This discovery was a result of Unit 731's experiments.

Subjects were left outside in the elements or dunked in cold water to induce the condition, after which doctors would test various treatments, some of which proved to be fatal.
Women Were Forcefully Impregnated
Photo: 松岡明芳 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Several experiments at Unit 731 sought to discover how diseases were passed from mother to child during pregnancy. To investigate, doctors infected women with diseases and then forcefully impregnated them.

Women at the facility were victims of frequent abuse at the hands of the guards and staff.
They Used Human Babies As Test Subjects
Newborns resulting from the forceful impregnation of interred women were subjected to the same type of experimentation as their parents. Some even passed directly following their birth. None of the test subjects at Unit 731 survived.
Weapons Were Tested On Live Human Subjects
Photo: 松岡明芳 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Many biological weapons were tested at Unit 731. Live subjects served as targets for flamethrowers, grenades, and other explosives. The sharpness of bayonets and swords was also tested using live prisoners.
Human Test Subjects Were Forced To Copulate With Each Other For The Study Of STIs
Photo: MtBell / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
As syphilis was a large problem in the Japanese army, which forced women into submission, Unit 731 carried out experiments in an effort to learn how to alleviate the effects of the disease. After a prisoner was infected with syphilis, they were forced to copulate with an uninfected prisoner so researchers could study how it spread. Victims were then vivisected as the infection progressed.

People Were Exposed To Large Doses Of X-Ray Radiation
Photo: 松岡明芳 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Scientists tested various levels of radiation on human subjects in order to investigate the effects of radiation exposure over time. Each case proved lethal.
Centrifuges Spun Test Subjects Around Until They Perished
Photo: NASA / PICRYL / Public Domain
Similar to the G-force training undergone by pilots and astronauts, Unit 731 subjected their victims to tests in which the subjects were spun with increasing force until it took their lives. This experiment was designed to test the effects of intense force upon the human body.
One Experiment Starved People
In order to test precisely how long a human could survive without food or water, Unit 731 starved its subjects until they perished.