Japanese war criminal confessions renew Chinese anger

The publication of confessions by Japanese war criminals has renewed Chinese anger over the World War II atrocities and led to fresh calls for efforts to defend peace.

China to date has published the full texts of confessions by 13 convicted Japanese war criminals.

They are: Suzuki Keiku, Fujita Shigeru, Kamisaka Katsu, Nosuke Sasaki, Tsutomu Nagashima, Kenjiro Funaki, Shintaro Uno, Hideo Sakakibara, Juntaro Tominaga, Hiroshi Jono, Keiji Saganaka, Shuichi Kikuchi and Hiroyuki Nagatomi.

JAPANESE ATROCITIES

In a 56-page confession, Hideo Sakakibara, former head of the Linkou Branch of the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Detachment of the Kwantung Army, said, "According to the mission of the Linkou Branch, I prepared for germ warfare during my term of office. I ordered Section Supervisor of the First Section Major Nishiya to do the bacteria preservation and cultivation work."

Sakakibara detailed how, in April 1945, he took part in a "killing experiment" in Heilongjiang Province in which four Chinese people were tied to poles buried in the ground.

"A light bomber flew over the proving ground, dropping from 150 meters pottery bombs which exploded 50 meters above the ground," he continued. "Wearing a full set of protective clothing, I watched the whole process of this extremely cruel atrocity from five to six hundred meters away. The bombs were filled with anthrax bacteria, which the Chinese inhaled through their respiratory tracts, causing incurable pulmonary anthrax or cutaneous anthrax where the pieces broke their skin."

Fujita Shigeru said he told officers, "Killing people is a quick way to get soldiers accustomed to the battlefield, as it can test their courage. For this purpose, it is better to use captives."

In June 1945, they "maltreated and killed captives in Jinan", and "over 600 captives of the Jinan Internment Camp who had been forced to build battle positions were bayoneted to death in soldier training."

In Kamisaka Katsu and Shintaro Uno's confessions, they admitted that their troops used poison gas on both Chinese soldiers and civilians.

Hiroshi Jono meanwhile said he "used the security forces to cover the collection of 150,000 tons of grain and about 200,000 tons of iron in the whole province for the Japanese army."

"I saw more than 10 gas shells dropped on the position of the PLA and explode," he wrote.

Hiroyuki Nagatomi confessed that he personally killed 61 Chinese people and ordered the killing of another 207.

When serving as instructor of the Security Team in Huoxian County, Nagatomi set up a brothel served by Chinese sex slaves "in order to indulge the Security Team members with women and prevent [the women's] escape," "and I could satisfy my own animal desire too."