Planned operation against the United States during World War II
Operation PX
|
---|
|
Planned
| December 1944
|
---|
Planned by
| Jisabur? Ozawa
aided by
Shir? Ishii
|
---|
Objective
| Spreading weaponized bubonic plague and other pathogens on US West Coast
|
---|
Outcome
| Cancelled in March 1945
|
---|
Operation PX
, also known as
Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night
, was a planned Japanese military attack on civilians in the
United States
using
biological weapons
, devised during
World War II
. The proposal was for
Imperial Japanese Navy
submarines to launch
seaplanes
that would deliver
weaponized
bubonic plague
, developed by
Unit 731
of the
Imperial Japanese Army
, to the
West Coast of the United States
. The operation was abandoned shortly after its planning was finalized in March 1945 due to the strong opposition of General
Yoshijir? Umezu
, Chief of the
Army General Staff
.
Overview
[
edit
]
Operation PX was proposed in December 1944 by the Japanese Naval General Staff, led by Vice-Admiral
Jisabur? Ozawa
. The name for the operation came from the Japanese use of the code name PX for
Pestis bacillus
-infected fleas. In planning the operation, the navy partnered with Lieutenant-General
Shir? Ishii
of
Unit 731
, who had extensive experience on weaponizing pathogenic bacteria and human vulnerability to biological and chemical warfare.
[1]
The plan for the attack involved
Seiran
aircraft launched by
submarine aircraft carriers
upon the West Coast of the United States?specifically, the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The planes would spread weaponized
bubonic plague
,
cholera
,
typhus
,
dengue fever
, and other pathogens in a biological terror attack upon the population. The submarine crews would infect themselves and run ashore in a suicide mission.
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Planning for Operation PX was finalized on March 26, 1945, but shelved shortly thereafter due to the strong opposition of Chief of General Staff
Yoshijir? Umezu
. Umezu later explained his decision as such: "If bacteriological warfare is conducted, it will grow from the dimension of war between Japan and America to an endless battle of humanity against bacteria. Japan will earn the derision of the world."
[6]
A final planned use of the biological weapons came just after the
surrender of Japan
, as
Shir? Ishii
planned to stage suicide germ attacks against U.S. occupation troops in Japan. This planned attack never took place either, due to opposition from Yoshijir? Umezu and
Torashir? Kawabe
, who did not want Ishii to die in a suicide attack, and asked him to instead "wait for [the] next opportunity calmly".
[7]
After the war, Operation PX was first discussed in an interview by former captain Eno Yoshio, who was heavily involved with planning for the attack, in an interview with
Sankei
on August 14, 1977. According to Yoshio, "This is the first time I have said anything about Operation PX, because it involved the rules of war and international law. The plan was not put into actual operation, but I felt that just the fact that it was formulated would caused [
sic
] international misunderstanding. I never even leaked anything to the staff of the war history archives at the Japanese Defense Agency, and I don't feel comfortable talking about it even now. But at the time, Japan was losing badly, and any means to win would have been all right."
[8]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Working, Russell (June 5, 2001).
"The trial of Unit 731"
.
Japan Times
. Retrieved
August 6,
2015
.
- ^
Garrett, Benjamin C. and John Hart.
Historical Dictionary of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare
, page 159.
- ^
Geoghegan, John.
Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II
, pages 189?191.
- ^
Gold, Hal. Unit 731 Testimony: Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program, pages 89?92
- ^
Kristoff, Nicholas D. (March 17, 1995).
"Unmasking Horror -- A special report.; Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
August 6,
2015
.
- ^
Felton, Mark.
The Devil's Doctors: Japanese Human Experiments on Allied Prisoners of War
, Chapter 10
- ^
"Unit 731 planned germ warfare against U.S. forces after end of war"
.
Asian Political News
. Jul 24, 2006. Archived from
the original
on December 1, 2016
. Retrieved
August 7,
2015
.
- ^
Gold, page 89