Unit 731, WWII Japanese Biological Warfare Testing Site, May Have Been Unearthed

TOKYO — Japan is excavating the site of a former medical school that may reveal grisly secrets from World War II.

The investigation begins Monday afternoon at the former school linked to Unit 731, a germ and biological warfare outfit during the war. Shadowy experiments conducted by the unit on war prisoners have never been officially acknowledged by the government but have been documented by historians and participants.

It is the first government probe of the Tokyo site, and follows a former nurse's revelation that she helped bury body parts there as American forces began occupying the capital at the end of the war.