Unit 1855 was a unit for human experimentation that belonged to the central Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the North China Army of the Imperial Japanese Army, stationed in Beijing between 1938 and 1945.
[1] The unit was located in a facility not far from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, and had a staff of about 2000 men.
[3] According to the testimony of the Korean Choi Hyung Shi, who worked as an interpreter with Unit 1855 between 1942 and 1943, the Unit conducted experiments with plague, cholera and typhus on Chinese and Korean immigrants to China: It has been estimated, that Unit 1855 killed about 1000 people between 1938 and 1945.
[5] The unit evacuated the facilities in Beijing during the Japanese defeat in 1945, and the Chinese entered the building, which was not destroyed and was still standing as of 1996.
Unit 1855 had a branch in Chinan, which was a combination of prison and experiment center.