Officially named in October 1939 in Beiping, the Beizhi Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department (commonly known as "Unit A 1855") was the second germ warfare unit established in China by the Japanese invasion of China after the 731st Unit of Manchuria of the Kwantung Army. It mainly develops and produces bacteria and protozoa such as plague, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, kala-azar, malaria, etc., and raises a large number of rats and fleas. It has 13 offices and divisions (known by the Japanese army as "Chuzhangshou"), distributed in Tianjin, Tanggu, Qingdao, Zhangjiakou, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Xinxiang and other places.
In fact, the epidemic prevention and water supply department was originally derived from the epidemic prevention water supply class established by the North China Dispatch Army of the Japanese Army in the divisions and regiments under its jurisdiction. In February 1938, the 14th Division of the Japanese Army occupied the Xinxiang area was equipped with an epidemic prevention water supply class. "The epidemic prevention water supply class is ostensibly to prevent epidemics and check water quality, but in essence it is to spread bacteria." (Confession by Lin Maomei, former commander of the epidemic prevention and water supply squad of the 59th Division of the Japanese Army)
In June 1938, there was a cholera epidemic on the outskirts of Xinxiang. The Japanese troops stationed at the city walls forbade peasants from epidemic villages to enter Xinxiang City. At least seven people died of illness in Mengying Village. The blacksmith Meng Delin's family of four was infected, and his wife and children fell ill and died. Zhuzhao, Nangao Village, Baliying and many other villages have died of illness.
"In early October 1938, the Japanese army that invaded northern Henan was attacked by the Chinese army, suffering heavy casualties, but indiscriminately spread cholera and malaria germs in the areas on both sides of the Daoqing Railway, and many people were infected. ("Zhu De, Peng Dehuai Report on the Crimes of the Japanese Army in The Indiscriminate Use of Cholera and Malaria Bacteria in Northern Henan Province")
The Xinxiang Branch of the Zhengzhou Branch of the Ministry of Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply established by the Japanese army in the "Riot Zhang Park" on the south bank of the Xinxiang Wei River has set up research supporting departments such as "Physical Chemistry Laboratory", "Inspection Room", and "Washing and Sterilization Room", and the staffing is 44 people, including Long Fumio (transferred from The Peiping Army Hospital to Xinxiang on March 14, 1941), Seto Feng (transferred from the 101st Infantry Regiment to Xinxiang on December 20, 1941) and other Japanese officers. At the same time, the Japanese Army Xinxiang Military Station was also deployed here.
Regarding the biochemical bacteriological research conducted by the Japanese army in Xinxiang, the research report "Isolated A Paratyphoid Fungus Durezo Strain" published by the Army Medical Officer of the 1855th Unit of the Japanese Army, "Isolated from Xinxiang, Henan Province, North Branch", confirmed this.
The article said: On August 15, 1939, a Japanese Kato was found to be ill in Shingo, and after checking his excrement, this typhoid fever variant was detected.
While stepping up the development and cultivation of bacteria and viruses, the Japanese army actively used the "achievements" obtained in actual combat to achieve the expectation of "outnumbering the enemy" and "winning with speed" and the long-term deterrent to the anti-Japanese forces north of the Yellow River.
In May 1940, under the technical guidance of unit 1855, the 35th Search Wing Of the 35th Search Wing of the 35th Division's Harada Kumayoshi's unit, Miyao Yumiro Nakasa, led a team to fight the Red Gun Society in Yasho, Yanjin County, "firing poison gas bombs, weakening the resistance of the Red Gun Society, and after entering the village, killing forty or fifty civilians." (Bacteriological Warfare and Poison Gas Warfare, ed. , ed. , Confession by Ogawa Nagayoshi)
The initiator of the Japanese germ warfare against China, Shiro Ishii, commander of the 731st Unit of the Kwantung Army, also expanded the area of the "experiment" to the anti-Japanese area of north China.
"In April 1941, I sent 6 planes to drop 400 kilograms of plague bacteria in Xinxiang, Huaxian, Junxian and Hequ, Baode, Xingxian and Lanxian in the Luyu Border District of Jinji and Hebei. Half a month later, it received a report from the General Headquarters of the Japanese Army in North China that a total of 350,000 people were infected with plague, and as many as 15.5% died. More than 60,000 people. (Confession by Shiro Ishii, former commander of the 731st Unit)
According to the records of the Ministry of Health of the Second Field Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, "(In 1942) in Xinxiang, the Japanese army was also found spreading typhoid fever, causing dozens of deaths. ”
On May 9, 1942, the Xinhua Daily and on May 10, 1942, the Liberation Daily both reported: "On April 29, more than 1,000 enemy troops attacked the Area of Xuying and Wudao. Our army confronted the enemy, and at noon, the enemy unleashed poison gas, but because our army was prepared, the losses were minimal. ”
From October 1943 to August 1945, the Taiyuan Branch of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department, a unit directly under the North China Dispatch Army, killed many Chinese in the name of providing relief to the Xinxiang area during the Japanese army's "operation in Henan." I assist in this, believing that killing one more Chinese will be a happiness for everyone in Japan", "Slaughtering the living, replacing guinea pigs, experimenting, etc., this is the real situation of the Emperor's army, and it is also my true face wearing the mask of the 'angel in white'" (November 23, 1954, Kyoko Nakajima's pen confession, the original is stored in the Central Archives. ）
Kyoko Nakajima, who was dressed in white and was a nurse, was working in the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department of the Northern Branch of the Japanese Army in Taiyuan. Transformed after undergoing the operation of slaughtering the living, she became a female demon with Chinese blood on her hands, and an executioner who was in cahoots with Shiro Ishii and Chinese lives.
When evil and evil superimpose to form a vicious circle of environment, most of the Chinese and Xinxiang people who were good and had not yet awakened with a sense of resistance lived every day on the brink of death.
In the autumn of 1943, cholera occurred at the old railway station in Xinxiang, Zhongtong Township (now Zhongtong Street), Baoan Street (now Minzhu Road), Beiguan, etc., and Tokutaro Yamaguchi, a Japanese resident of Zhongtong Township East Street, fell ill on September 2 and died on September 5. The excrement is examined and the results are determined to be true cholera. There are three or four sick households in the western section of Baoan Street, and the Japanese army will use ropes to stand guard near the residences of infected households, prohibiting casual entry and exit. In September, a railway quarantine was imposed, and quarantine was forcibly detained for those who did not have a "Hu liela( cholera)" injection certificate and a travel certificate. From August 3 to 11 alone, 95,513 people were forcibly injected with the "Tiger Liela" vaccine at Yiqian (present-day North of Xitou Road, Dongguan Street), Xinmin Street (present-day Xinhua Street), Bell and Drum Tower (the intersection of the West End of Pomegranate Garden and the East End of Jiangzhuang Street), the North Gate, the West Street of the City, and Cross Street, and so on, and the number of people involved was unimaginable. The impact spanned until 1946, and cholera still occurred in the Beiguan Textile Factory, the refugee camp and other places, as well as in the area of Hehe and Chenbao.