was a Japanese physician during the first half of the 20th century, a major general in the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, and a convicted war criminal.

Biography

Satō was a native of the city of

Toyohashi is a Cities of Japan, city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefec ...

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

. From January 1941 he was a department head within the

Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department The Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department was a department of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1936 to the dissolution of the Army in 1945. While its public mission was to prevent the spread of disease and monitor water supply, seve ...

under the

Japanese Central China Area Army The was an area army of the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. History On November 7, 1937 Japanese Central China Area Army (CCAA) was organized as a reinforcement expeditionary army by combining the Shanghai Expedit ...

. While the public mission of this department was to prevent the spread of disease and monitor water supply, it was also assigned the mission of manufacturing and testing

biological weapons Biological agents, also known as biological weapons or bioweapons, are pathogens used as weapons. In addition to these living or replicating pathogens, toxins and biotoxins are also included among the bio-agents. More than 1,200 different kin ...

. In August, he was promoted to colonel and from November 1941 commanded

Unit 8604 Unit Nami 8604 (), officially the South China Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department (), was a disease research unit under the South China Area Army of the Imperial Japanese Army. This unit extensively and secretly researched biolo ...

of the

Japanese Southern China Area Army The was a field army of the Imperial Japanese Army during Second Sino-Japanese War. History The Japanese South China Area Army was formed on February 9, 1940 under the control of the China Expeditionary Army. It was transferred to direct control ...

, a biological warfare unit that operated in southern China. From March 1944, he was reassigned as Chief of Medical Service of the IJA 5th Army based in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

. He was promoted to major general in June 1945. Captured by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Soviet invasion of Manchuria The Soviet invasion of Manchuria, formally known as the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation or simply the Manchurian Operation () and sometimes Operation August Storm, began on 9 August 1945 with the Soviet Union, Soviet invasion of the Emp ...

, he was accused of

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s and sentenced to 20 years' incarceration in the

Khabarovsk War Crime Trials The Khabarovsk war crimes trials were the Soviet hearings of twelve Japanese Kwantung Army officers and medical staff charged with the manufacture and use of biological weapons, and human experimentation, during World War II. The war crimes tri ...

. However, in 1956, with the restoration of diplomatic relations between Japan and the Soviet Union, he was repatriated to Japan. He died in 1977.

References

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External links

* * {{Use mdy dates, date=September 2020 1896 births 1977 deaths Military personnel from Aichi Prefecture Imperial Japanese Army generals of World War II Japanese military doctors Japanese biological weapons program Foreign Gulag detainees Siberian internees Members of the Kwantung Army Japanese people convicted of war crimes Scientists from Aichi Prefecture