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Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up

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Sheldon Harris, Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up (Second Edition) (Routledge, 2002)

During the time of the Great Depression in America, and up through the end of World War II, the Japanese medical corps, operating through the imperialist Kwantung Army, conducted thousands of biological warfare experiments on live human subjects. These subjects were primarily Chinese peasants convicted of petty crimes, but also included, as WW2 wore on, prisoners of war and non-criminal Chinese. For over forty years, these facts were kept an almost complete secret from the general public; glancing references would surface now and again, or a slick TV documentary would pop up for a British of Korean version of the TV magazines that are those countries parallels to something like 20-20 in America. No one treated the subject in depth; no one knew how to get enough proof. Even the Chinese government, when it attempted a full-length film documentary, was unable to come up with enough information (their aborted attempt was made into a fictional film, the notorious Men Behind the Sun).

Then came Williams and Wallace and their book Unit 731. Seven years later, Sheldon Harris expanded greatly on Williams and Wallaces knowledge with the definitive text on Unit 731s war crimes, Factories of Death. Another seven years has gone by since, and Harris and Routledge have released a second edition of Factories of Death that contains the updated information from documents that have been declassified since. As time goes on, the book gets even more horrifying.

Unlike Williams and Wallace or Hal Gold (whose book Unit 731: Testimony is a brilliant, if anecdotal, complement to this work), Harris keeps his feet rooted firmly on the ground, keeping any conjecture to the most logical conclusions to be drawn from the facts at hand. Gold, for example, speculates in Unit 731: Testimony that both MacArthur and Truman were fully aware of the America cover-up of Unit 731s activities; Harris refrains from even hinting at such a thing until all the evidence is completely laid out, and even then, he only glancingly makes reference to then-President Truman at all. Because of this loathness to speculate, when Harris does let the cork out and start ranting (which happens only very briefly, at the end of the penultimate chapter), some of the teeth are taken out of his vituperation; hes just not willing to go where he needs to go. One might cynically think that the stronger language that haunts the last third of the penultimate chapter is there simply because ranting sells and scholarship doesnt. (That said, those reviewers who have noted the books dryness are right, to an extent, but anyone who considers this painfully dry should try reading any other book Routledge has ever released. This is a John Grisham novel in comparison, going by readability. I was surprised, and pleased, at how quickly the book flew by, given its imprint.)

That same failing is Harris greatest sin here; not one of commission, but of omission. Other books on Unit 731 have raised a number of questioning specters that Harris doesnt touch on at all, including a few for which there is smoking-gun evidence (use of American biological warfare in North Korea in the 1950s that has Ishii Shiros stamp on it, the biological munitions plant at Hiroshima that led to Americas bombing of that city in 1945, etc.). It could reasonably be concluded that Harris didnt think the evidence was sufficient to warrant mentioning them in the text, but even the casual Unit 731 scholar is sure to have heard the allegations; better, if youre writing the definitive piece of scholarship, to address them rather than leave them
twisting in the wind.

Still, an excellent piece of work, one that history buffs are well advised to seek out. Schoolchildren (for this material is definitely in need of dissemination) could do with an abridged version; those who seek this out because they loved Men Behind the Sun should probably stick with the film unless theyre used to reading nonfiction. (The notion of Ishii as a two-dimensional villain will be shattered within the first few pages. Prepare yourselves.) ****

When I read this book, I was struck by the difference in histories of the German death camps and the Japanese.

What is striking is the apathy toward the Japanese biological and chemical warfare testing by the allies. Is it because the victims were Chinese? Or was it related to an occidental acceptance or oriental suffering? Or was it just money, exhaustion, and the interest by the allies in the field?

In any event, the very dryness of this book makes it more compelling. And the cooperation after the war between the US government and the Japanese authorities is shattering.

What is even more depressing is the see no evil attitude after the war by the Japanese. Almost no information made it to the Japanese people, and they appear to care less.

At least they moved on to making transistors.

Author Sheldon Harris has done acredible job in compiling the history of Japan's Biological Warfare Research in World War II. Using a wealth of primary sources, he has pieced together a comprehensive history of the horrors Japanese Army Doctors and Scientific Researchers inflicted upon thousands of people. Using many declassified reports and journals, he has masterfully pieced together the wide-reaching impact Japan's Biological Warfare Research had on Chinese, Russians, Manchurians, and possibly western POWs such as the American, British and Dutch. This is a must-have book for any scholar of World War Two.

There are enough citations, footnotes and other references here to keep those with a rabid interest in this subject busy for years. On the down side, portions of the book tended to drag on a bit.

"F[a]ctories of Death" is a most important contribution to our knowledge about the use of biological warfare by the Imperial Japanese Army during the period, 1932-45.The active participation of Japanese physicans in the implementation and execution of the use of pathogens for mass destruction is useful for understanding what we Americans may be facing in the near future. The lack of prosecution of ANY Japanese physicans of Unit 731 for war crimes is particularly disturbing.

The author provides an invaluable history of Japanese Germ Warfare in China. His flawless documentation is to be commended as well as his authoritative recitation of the relentless pursuit of the Japanese military towards developing bacterial weapons of war. The race for a delivery system to spray China with Anthrax and other unspeakable plagues is horrible but fascinating. This is recommended reading for anyone who wants the real truth about germ warfare during WW2, and the continuing search by many countries to develop a germ warfare system today.

I read about this book in a recent newspaper article. I purchased it since the topic was so intriguing. I found the book to be equally intriguing. Factories of Death reads like a novel! The way the author recites the history of the death camps is fascinating, and actually I would have enjoyed an even more in-depth treatment of this subject. I certainly hope the author will be able to write a follow-up to this masterful book.

This is "the other" good book on Unit 731 and the bacteriological warfare research and development secret Japanese program (focused mainly in occupied Manchuria and Northern China, mainly in the 30's) that included (or rather consisted of) large-scale laboratory experimentation on humans doomed to die (sometimes after being vivisected, with a little anesthesia as an option that could be easily dispensed with).

How many men, women and children died directly in lab experimentation? Difficult to answer: probably between five and fifteen thousand. How many during field testing on unaware civilian communities? The best guess is to double the previous range. How many died in real combat? We can safely double once more the range, noting by the way that some hundreds if not thousands of them were Japanese soldiers.

Who ordered and lavishly funded this program? The highest military brass, militarist extreme right-wing Japanese politicians and bureaucrats, perhaps the Imperial House, even the Showa Emperor Hirohito himself.
Who did the dirty job? The almost totality of the brightest physicians and biological experts of the country's elite Universities (but they didn't think that the job was dirty at all, just a very well-paid one).
Who was in command of the operation? A named Ishii, Shiro, a noted bacteriologist and a junior Lt. Col. when it all began, who ended his military career (but not his extravagant way of life) with militaty distinctions awarded by the Emperor himself, as the only Lt. General ever to come out from the Medical Corps.

How many of these men were brought on trial on war-crime charges? NIL, zero. Why? It's one of the most interesting questions on this bloody, mind-boggling business, and the book answers it well and directly enough.
Has the Japanese Government acknowledged that these events ever took place? NIL, no. Why? They can't care less about some thousand "human beings" (so to speak: during the Manchurian and Chinese "incidents" they were routinely spoken of as "logs" or, in one of the facilities, "experimental material") of clearly inferior races.

Has any US government acknowledged that these events ever took place? NIL, no. Why? They had to protect at all costs (and there were high costs involved, indeed) all the "medical" data that the Japanese war criminals intelligently traded for immunity from prosecution and living well paid lives on Government and private funding (I recommend you to read my review on the competing book "Unit 731: Testimony" by Hal Gold, so I can dispense with some long explanations).

If you started reading this, it means that the above data were to some extent known to you, unlike many of your countrymen. Turning therefore to this particular book ("Factories of Death") it will remain, probably forever, the "definitive" historical reference on the whole subject. It's written by a qualified historian, and it's rather thicker than the competition (some 385 pages of a much larger format). The story is well told, even if sometimes it seems twice-told: there is some amount of repetition, not as a cut-and paste affair, but trying to keep the reader on track with repeated contextual information. Every possible detail has been meticulously researched as far as possible and then more. The writing is fluid, but it's not a page-turner either, partly by the monstrosities it implies, partly for all the painstaking historical detail (probably TOO MUCH detail for non professional readers). One gets accustomed to skipping the end-of-chapter notes, with let's say 84 of them in small type, that give the references to the most abstruse documents and sources, even for the seasoned historian. Yes, there are some more pictures than in Hal Gold shorter and simpler book, but this really doesn't count as an advantage.

A honest, serious, rather balanced book it is, the scholarly work of a dedicated professional historian. A book that almost commends itself. If you want all the damned available details about this history, please don't hesitate to buy this very good book (by the way, signature-sewn rather than mass-market paperback, and with a 250-year life acid-free paper). If you, on the other hand, aren't very fond of abstruse bibliographical notes, and want a straightforward summary account, then Hal Gold's is your book, easier on your pocket and on your brain, but surely not on your heart.

Although some readers might find this book boring and tedious due to too many facts, I believe the author wrote this book not for entertainment but for a more noble purpose. Since this is
one of the very few books and articles on this grim subject, the
more facts it contain the better it is to a serious researcher.
The author covered sufficiently the unethical reasons of the US
government's cover-up and permitted those Japenese, including
Emporior Hirohito, responsible to avoid prosecution as war
criminals. However, why China, under Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong,both hated the Japanese with a passion, acted similarly was not explained adequately. I hope more research will be done to clarify this dificiency.
I read somewhere that "Justice is not only a matter of punishment.
Justice can also be served by having the moral courage to accept
responsibility and make recompense when a great wrong has been done, however long ago and far away the event." I sincerely
hope this is so.

ose Japanese, including
Emporior Hirohito, responsible to avoid[rpsecution as war criminals in exchange for information from the Japanese program.
However, why China, under Chiang Kai-Shek and Moa Zedong, both
hated the Japanese with a passion, acted similarly was not explain adequately. I hope more research will be done to clarify this dificiency.

Harris' book is a necessary complement to the others which have been written over the years, i.e. it provides solid facts and data that were lacking in the other works. Although as a scientific piece of paper it is excellent, I have been disappointed in the treatment of such a horrible matter in such a scientifically detached way, much like the lukewarm attitude from journalists and reviewers when they talk about the deal made by the allied authorities with these criminals. In fact, they are worse than criminals since they treated their human victims much worse than people treat rats in their labs these days.
The pardon of these brutes and exchange for data on human experimentation was and is a dastardly act that should merit the strongest of condemnation. Saying it was a "Dark chapter in medical history.." simply does not cut it!! May the 10,000 victims of this horrible act eventually find the justice and peace they have waited so long for.