Termination of Unit 731
In 1945, Unit 731 knew that the army of the Soviet Union would launch an invasion against Manchuria, so Unit 731 leaders decided to destroy all evidence of human experimentation in China. All of the remaining human subjects were killed, and the plague infested animal subjects were set free (which led to deaths of an additional 30,000 people).Shirō Ishii told each member of Unit 731 "to take the secret to the grave." After the dismantling of the research facilities, Unit 731 was officially disbanded.
"Incineration pits and traces of explosives left by Japanese invaders destroying evidence have been found at the remains of Japan's notorious Unit 731 headquarters in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.They directly suggest the Japanese army attempted to destroy evidence of crimes before retreat."-Li Chenqi, a researcher with the Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.