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

Author - Sheldon Harris ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Routledge was reviewed on 4-Nov-2008.

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1) Paperback Book Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Routledge. 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.¤

2) Paperback Book Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Routledge. You may believe you know all there is to know about the Japanese biological warfare program in WWII, chances are you don´t. Sheldon Harris´ book lays out all the detail of a massive bio research and employment operation conducted by the Japanese in Manchuria, China during WWII. Good stimulus for thought, particularly about ethics in time of war. Following the war, the American Government, made the conscious decision not to pursue war crime charges against those most responsible for this program in favor of exploiting the intelligence potential of the Japanese research. At the time, tensions were very high with the Soviet Union. The Chemical Warfare Service leadership was directly involved in that decision; you can decide for yourself whether that was the right call. The book bogs down a bit at the end, delving deeply in the U.S. government´s investigation of the Japanese efforts, some may find this interesting, others will want to skip lightly through these chapters.¤

3) Paperback Book Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Routledge. I read this book because, frankly, my knowledge of this subject is weak. I know some about the Japanese Unit 731, but not much compared to the reading I have done on the Nazi´s similar nefarious efforts.

The book does impart a good amount of information, but is not that well-written. If it were not for some references to 1990´s events, I would swear this was a book out of the 1950´s. Not that folks did not write great stuff in the 1950´s, but the book´s organization and style are, well, old-fashioned (??). Its not a good enough book to be 5 stars, and the writing quality takes it down to 3 stars. That said, I would suggest it to readers who have a definite interest in the Japanese BW efforts, and the U.S. giving them a Cold War "pass".¤

4) Paperback Book Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Routledge. Dr. Harris´ monumental work raises so many questions! Who in KMT China and Yenan, US War Dept, Surgeon General´s Office knew what and when? So many "spook" organizations active before, during, after the war in China, Asia, I wish some scholar(s) would complete the picture, especially re Nanking Unit, "field" use of BW, hard-drug industry interconnections, trade between "Free" and "Occupied" China, "Golden Lily". Cross-referencing between Dr. Harris´ book, other serious books, certain names keep turning up!
¤

5) Paperback Book Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Routledge. 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.¤

6) Paperback Book Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Routledge. Factories of Death details the activities of these scientists and the subsequent US cover-up. It investigates sensitive topics like who knew of the experiments in the upper echelons of the Japanese military and political establishments, the question of whether or not Allied POWs were subjected to such tests, and the nature of the deal that was brokered with US authorities after the war. This new edition has been completely updated, and contains an entirely new chapter detailing the numerous revelations that have surfaced since the book´s initial publication in 1994.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 2-Dec-2008, 04159321499780415932141, 790-470-470-490-590-800-8

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