World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseShunji Sato was born in Japan in 1896 and studied to become a medical doctor. In the 1930s, he joined the Japanese Army, and in Jan 1941 he was assigned to China to join the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Japanese Southern China Area Army. In Aug 1941, he was promoted to the rank of colonel. Between Nov 1941 and 1943, he was the head of Unit 8604 within the same department based at the Zhongshan Medical University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, southern China. During the war, Unit 8604 conducted secret research on diseases, using Chinese civilians as test subjects. About 100 officers, 200 researchers, and 500 non-commissioned officers and soldiers were under Sato's command at Unit 8604. In Mar 1944, he was made the Chief of Medical Service of Japanese 5th Army. In Jun 1945, he was promoted to the rank of major general. He was captured by Soviet forces in northeast China when WW2 ended. Tried at the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials, he was found guilty of human experimentation in Dec 1949 and was sentenced to 20 years forced labor in a camp in Ivanovo Oblast in Eastern Europe. In 1956, after only 7 years into his prison term, he was released and repatrioted back to Japan as a part of the actions taken by the Soviet Union as the Soviet Union attempted to improve its relations with Japan. Sato passed away in Japan in 1977.

Shunji Sato Timeline