Background
ShirÅ Ishii, an Imperial Japanese Army senior researcher in biological and chemical warfare, was assigned to establish a clandestine program to develop weapons of mass destruction under the patronage of Army Minister Sadao Araki.
Ishii built a medical research facility in Harbin shortly after the city came under Japanese control after the Manchurian Incident in 1932. This facility conducted legitimate medical research on vaccines and public health. However, the facility was too close to a highly populated area to be able to conduct clandestine biological warfare research, so Ishii selected a second site about 100 kilometers to the south of Harbin at the village of Beiyinhe. The local inhabitants were forcibly evacuated and their village burnt down, and a large tract of land was fenced off.
Read more about this topic: Zhongma Fortress
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