“Then, after I was back in Japan, I was sent on a mission to Nagasaki,” Harlan remembers. “As soon as we came over the city, I immediately realized that what I had seen in the harbor at Hungnam was the same thing: the result of an atomic explosion. I knew it didn’t make any sense, but I couldn’t deny what my eyes saw. I was hesitant about making a report about my suspicions, but I did my duty and noted it. I never heard a word back. But a little checking on my own turned up the fact that just after I left, the Russians had made Hungnam and the’ area around it totally off-limits to foreigners.”
Harlan’s story might have been lost to history if it wasn’t for a story he read in this paper eight weeks ago that prompted him to call this reporter. On the 12th of March, the Tribune ran a special story, about the 1st Marine Division and the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir.
As Marines were evacuated from Hungnam, several recalled discovering a strange installation on the hillside of the valley. They were in no position to investigate further, but the report prompted Major Harlan, now retired from military service, to remember his own brief visit to the same town.
“I don’t know if there was an atomic explosion at Hungnam near the end of the Second World War,” Harlan says, his eyes looking out of the water of San Francisco Bay, “but what I saw points to it. Lord knows what the Japanese were working on there. I just thank my lucky stars that if they did succeed in making the bomb, they never had a chance to use it against us and we got them first.”
Lake got to the end of the article, then looked up. “You’ve got to be joking with me. How come no one’s ever heard of this?”
“Ah, now who’s the one with the outrageous story?” Harmon asked. “Except I didn’t make this up,” she added, pointing at the computer screen. “I do agree that this story seems too outrageous given the last fifty years of reconstructive historical perspective, but it’s not so far Out if you simply look at the facts.”
Harmon leaned close and spoke in a low voice. “I’ve thought about this ever since I read the article. I found it when I was doing some research on the Black Ocean Society. Although not as publicly notorious as some of the other societies during the war, the Black Ocean covertly wielded tremendous technological and industrial power. The valley that Hungnam is at the mouth of was indeed, as Major Harlan notes in the article, one of the manufacturing linchpins of the Japanese Empire and very few people know about that. It was developed in the thirties by a member of the Black Ocean Society. I was cross-referencing on Hungnam when I found this article.
“At first, I didn’t really believe it, but I did allow myself to consider it as a possibility and the more I think about it now — given what you’ve told me is presently going on the more I believe it might be true. consider the facts. The way history is perceived now, every major power except Japan tried to develop atomic weapons during World War II. The German attempt is well documented along with the Allied commando assault into Norway to destroy their source of heavy water.
“The British and French deferred to the Americans because we were the ones with the industrial and scientific capability to get the job done and they were too busy fighting the war to work on the project. But even so they were spying on our efforts so they could develop their own programs as soon as they were capable.
“The Russians weren’t scientifically capable because of the war but they had a strong espionage interest in the Manhattan Project. Yet we all believe the Japanese didn’t even consider making a bomb. That’s a bunch of bull,” she added without much rancor. “Anyone with even the most basic understanding of history would know that they would have most certainly been interested in such a weapon’s potential and they would also have had no hesitation about using it.
“People always like to think that one side or the other is better in a war. What they forget is that people are basically the same everywhere. Generals are the same. Armies are the same. And scientists are the same. There is no moral high ground in war.”
Lake remained silent, watching her. From her initial reaction in the office, her mood had certainly changed.
“Let me explain where I’m coming from,” she said. “You asked me what my area of expertise was and I wasn’t specific. I’m currently writing a book on Unit 731. Have you ever heard of it?” She didn’t wait for an answer, even though Lake indicated negatively.
“After conquering Manchuria in the thirties the Japanese set-up Unit 731 at Pingfang ostensibly to operate a water purification plant for Japanese troops occupying China. But that was a cover for the real purpose of the unit, which was to test biological warfare weapons.”
That clicked something in Lake’s head as he remembered the red glass jar in the van on the Golden Gate, with Japanese characters written on it. Were the ghosts of World War II weapons programs rising again to threaten the new world order across the Pacific?
“The ultimate aim was to build a bomb that could win the war; to a certain extent the article refers to an atomic bomb. But a biological bomb was much more within the means of what the Japanese could actually accomplish quickly. They developed at least a half-dozen variants of porcelain bombs to carry various plagues. Of course, to develop and then make sure their various plagues worked, they had to test them on the intended victims: human beings.”
Lake remained still, allowing Harmon to talk under the quiet hum of the library activity. “To find the most lethal variant of each disease, the scientists of Unit 731 had to deliberately infect prisoners, then dissect them while alive, without anesthesia, to withdraw the culture to begin their new batch. Thousands of people were killed in such a manner.” Harmon shook her head. “So you can see why I do not find the idea of the Japanese military and secret societies working on an atomic bomb so farfetched.
“Of course,” she added with a grim smile, “the Allies were also working on biological and chemical weapons. Particularly after the losses they took seizing the first islands from the Japanese. In the hopes of reducing their own casualties, the Allies tested blistering agents on Australian soldiers who volunteered.”
Lake wanted to keep things on track. He knew academics had a tendency to go off on their own specialized tangents, although he might have to get back to her on the Unit 731 thing. “But the article says there were reports the Japanese actually detonated a bomb in Hungnam. I find it very difficult to believe that such a thing could be kept secret for the past fifty years.”
“Consider the situation,” Harmon said, swiveling in her seat to look directly at him. “The project is said to have been conducted at Hungnam, which is on the Korean peninsula. During the war, that area of the world received very little scrutiny from Allied forces. Hungnam faced the Sea of Japan, which until the very end of the war was totally controlled by the Japanese. It was also out of range of Allied bombers until the last year. Even then, despite the fact that there were tremendous amounts of industry in that valley, it was never attacked by Allied bombers because intelligence failed to designate it as a target. The Japanese managed to keep the entire place shrouded in secrecy.
“When the war ended, it was the Russians, not the Western Allies, who took over North Korea. In fact, while the Russians formally declared war on the ninth of August, it’s widely known that Russian forces, particularly paratroop forces, were already seizing key Japanese installations several weeks prior to that date in an attempt to capture both buildings and material intact.