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Cultivating smallpox, plague: S'pore was a major biological warfare centre during WWII
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Unit 731's Singapore branch, known as OKA 9420, was set up just days after the Japanese Occupation started on Feb 15, 1942.
PHOTO: LIM SHAO BIN
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SINGAPORE - Singapore was one of five major biological warfare centres operated by the Japanese during World War II (WWII).
Laboratories here set up by Japan's biological warfare Unit 731 not only bred rat fleas and used them to spread the bubonic plague to enemies, but also cultivated smallpox virus, malaria parasite and tetanus bacteria.
