20. Dr. Ishii Murdered Thousands in a Variety of Gruesome Ways
During Dr. Ishii’s evil experiments, thousands were killed with a host of deadly pathogens, ranging from the bubonic plague to botulism, to which prisoners were exposed in a variety of ways. Victims were injected with bacteria, had it added to their food and drink, or it was smeared on their clothes. To test the effectiveness of aerial dispersal of diseases, bombs full of gangrene or other deadly bacteria were exploded over prisoners. Ishii and Unit 731 subjected prisoners to other atrocities as well. Victims were starved, exposed to extremes of temperatures, bombarded with X-rays, killed in giant centrifuges, boiled alive, or even dissected alive.
Thanks to the thousands of test subjects killed in the camps of Unit 731, plus the hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians outside who were exposed to the plague, Ishii brought biological warfare to new heights – or lows. By 1945, even as Japan was reeling on her last legs, she still had a horrific last card to play: weaponized deadly pathogens. Ishii and Unit 731 had encased the bubonic plague, botulism, anthrax, smallpox, cholera, and other diseases into bombs that were routinely dropped on Chinese soldiers and civilians.