Japan's Unit 731 used balloons, bombs in WWII germ warfare

HARBIN - The notorious Japanese chemical warfare unit known as Unit 731 used ceramic containers and balloons as biological bombs to attack Chinese civilians and animals, according to a Chinese museum.

Some of the ceramic bombs and a 3-meter-tall white balloon are on display at the Museum of Evidence of War Crimes by Japanese Army Unit 731 in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

Unit 731 produced about 2,000 ceramic bombs from 1937 to 1942, a staff member at the museum said on Monday, which was a key date in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).