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Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II.<br/><br/>

It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Unit 731 was the code name of an Imperial Japanese Army unit officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army. It was initially set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.
Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. Military operation during the Vietnam War; lasting from 1962 until 1971. It was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called 'Operation Trail Dust'. Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the NLF (Viet Cong) of vegetation cover and food. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971.
Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Unit 731 was the code name of an Imperial Japanese Army unit officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army. It was initially set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.
Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. Military operation during the Vietnam War; lasting from 1962 until 1971. It was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called 'Operation Trail Dust'. Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the NLF (Viet Cong) of vegetation cover and food. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971.
Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Unit 731 was the code name of an Imperial Japanese Army unit officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army. It was initially set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.
Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. Military operation during the Vietnam War; lasting from 1962 until 1971. It was part of the overall herbicidal warfare program during the war called 'Operation Trail Dust'. Ranch Hand involved spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the NLF (Viet Cong) of vegetation cover and food. Areas of Laos and Cambodia were also sprayed to a lesser extent. Nearly 20,000 sorties were flown between 1961 and 1971.
Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Unit 731 was the code name of an Imperial Japanese Army unit officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army. It was initially set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.
Unit 731 was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Unit 731 was the code name of an Imperial Japanese Army unit officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army. It was initially set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Empire of Japan to develop weapons of mass destruction for potential use against Chinese, and possibly Soviet forces.
The Battle of Shanghai (1937), known in Chinese as the Battle of Songhu, was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army of the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the entire war.<br/><br/>

According to historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Kentaro Awaya, gas weapons, such as tear gas, were used only sporadically in 1937 but in early 1938, the Imperial Japanese Army began full-scale use of sneeze and nausea gas (red), and from mid-1939, used mustard gas (yellow) against both Kuomintang and Communist Chinese troops.<br/><br/>

According to historians Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Seiya Matsuno, the chemical weapons were authorized by specific orders given by Emperor Hirohito himself, transmitted by the chief of staff of the army. For example, the Emperor authorized the use of toxic gas on 375 separate occasions during the Battle of Wuhan from August to October 1938.<br/><br/>

They were also profusely used during the invasion of Changde. Those orders were transmitted either by prince Kotohito Kan'in or general Hajime Sugiyama. The Imperial Japanese Army used mustard gas and the US-developed (CWS-1918) blister agent Lewisite against Chinese troops and guerrillas. Experiments involving chemical weapons were conducted on live prisoners (Unit 731 and Unit 516).