Unit 9420

1°16′50″N 103°50′01″E / 1.2804193815803302°N 103.83364452468112°E / 1.2804193815803302; 103.83364452468112

Unit Oka 9420
岡9420部隊
南方軍防疫給水部
Singapore Headquarters of Unit 9420
Active1942-1945
Country Japan
Garrison/HQKing Edward VII College of Medicine, Singapore
Engagements

Unit Oka 9420 (Japanese: 岡9420部隊, Hepburn: Oka 9420 Butai), also known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group (南方軍防疫供水部, Nanpōgun Bōeki Kyūsui-bu), was a disease research unit within the Japanese army. Founded in Nanjing, China in 1942 and headquartered in Japanese-occupied Singapore,[1]: 25–27  the unit had branches in Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, and Burma, and participated in bacteriological weapons attacks in northern Burma, Yunnan, China, and Papua New Guinea.[2] With a suitable, tropical climate suitable bed for the breeding of rat fleas, Malaya was the largest rat flea farms outside of Japan and China during World War II. The unit left Singapore in mid-1945 and dissolved in 1946.[2]

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