Abandoned bunker used for horror experiments on humans in WW2 finally found

A notorious underground bunker where Japanese scientists performed horrific experiments on human subjects during World War 2 has finally been located. The facility is near Anda in the Heilongjiang province in north-east China, and is known to have been used for several years by Unit 731 – a branch of the Japanese Imperial Army that carried out some of the most brutal experiments on people between 1935 and 1945.

While some of the horrifying work carried out by Unit 731 members is known, the discovery of this underground laboratory could lead to new evidence about war crimes, a report published in China’s archaeological journal Northern Cultural Relics in May said.

Researchers from the Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology wrote this finding also “highlights the ongoing legacy of Unit 731’s atrocities and their impact on global efforts to prevent biological warfare”.

Historical records show among the experiments carried out at the Anda site were infecting prisoners with deadly diseases such as plague microbes and testing new biological weapons.

Members of this Unit, also known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department, were also reported to conduct frostbite and air pressure experiments on their victims, mainly prisoners from China and the then-Korea.

Some of the captives also had healthy limbs and organs removed as part of various experiments.

Speaking about an “extremely cruel” experiment conducted by Unit 731, the group’s former commander of the Lin Kou branch, Sakaki Hayao, said during his testimony to the Shenyang special military tribunal in 1956 he saw people being tied to wooden poles and exposed to anthrax through bombs detonated at close range and filled with bacteria.

Data found during these horrific experiments was later shared with US authorities and transferred to the US Army research centre at Fort Detrick in exchange for war crimes immunity, declassified documents revealed in the 1990s.

The archaeologists who found the bunker launched the investigation in 2019, using various techniques including geophysical prospecting, drilling and excavation.

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The underground facility, which hasn’t been entered yet, consists of tunnels and chambers linked to each other, each with different purposes.

The South China Morning Post reported a cluster of bunkers at the centre of the site located 1.5 metres below the surface caught the attention of researchers.

Built in a U-shaped structure long about 33 metres and wide 20.6 metres, the cluster runs from east to west with a room on each side and also includes a 5-metre x 3.8-metre room in its northeast corner and a circular room measuring 3 metres in diameter at its southeastern end.

There, archaeologists believe, human subjects were taken for observation and dissection after being exposed to viruses or chemical agents.

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The facility near Anda was built in 1941 and included not just laboratories but also observation and dissection rooms, holding cells, barracks and garages – all located underground to maintain secrecy and be shelved against air raids.

While many atrocities committed by Unit 731 are yet to be discovered, Japan revealed the names of thousands of the group’s members in 2018.

Katsuo Nishiyama, a professor at Shiga University of Medical Science, said at the time: “This is the first time an official document showing the real names of almost all members of Unit 731 has been disclosed. The list is important evidence that supports testimony by those involved. Its discovery will be a major step toward unveiling concealed facts.”

To hide the atrocities committed, members of the Unit killed every patient at the laboratories in the final moments of the second world conflict.

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