Zhongma Fortress

Zhongma Fortress was a prison fortress built by Shirō Ishii and his men for experimenting in biological warfare.

Additional recommended knowledge

Daily Sensitivity Test

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

Weighing the right way

Description

The fortress had three metre high walls topped with electrified barbed wire and a moat with drawbridge surrounded the buildings within. There were hundreds of rooms and smaller surrounding labs, office buildings, living and dining facilities, warehouses and munitions storage, crematoria, and the infamous prisons.

Location

Zhongma Fortress was outside Harbin as it was a major railroad hub for the whole region, a fact that Ishii would put to great use.The rail system became the transport of death for thousands of convicts destined for Ishii's units. The first laboratory of the Togo unit proved to be too public, though, so Ishii continued legitimate medical studies there and prepared for a more secret location for his bio-war experiments. Ishii organized his secret group, the Togo Unit, to conduct these secret experiments. The Togo Unit made its headquarters in the Chinese village of Bei-inho (or Beiyinhe), 100 Km south of Harbin. The local inhabitants were forcibly evacuated and their village burnt down. Immediately a 100-room living quarters building and several smaller labs were constructed while work began on the true facility.

Life at Zhongma Fortress

The road outside was closed to all traffic not related to the facility and when trains traveled nearby, their shades all had to be drawn. Local Chinese workers who were required to enter the facility had to wear a basket over their head and be escorted by the army guards. Inside, life habits remained the same. For more information see Unit 731.

The Jailbreak

In 1936 when prisoners were taken outside for experiments, and a lot of the prisoners escaped, overpowering the guards. Word of Ishii Shiro 's ghastly experiments got out by aid of Chinese resistance forces. Due to the jailbreak, the fortress was abandoned.