Shir Ishii

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. In 1932, he began his preliminary experiments in biological warfare as a secret project for the Japanese military at Zhongma Fortress. In 1936, Unit 731 was formed. Ishii built a huge compound - more than 150 buildings over six square kilometers - outside the city of Harbin, China. The research was secret, and the cover story was that Unit 731 was engaged in water-purification work. The film Men Behind the Sun (Hong Kong, 1988, directed by Mou Tun Fei) includes a scene in which Ishii demonstrates to his fellow soldiers a machine he has invented to purify urine into drinking water. From 1940, Ishii was appointed Chief of the Biological Warfare Section of the Kwantung Army, holding the post simultaneously with that of the Bacteriological Department of the Army Medical Academy.