Japanese soldier butchered civilians "like animals": confession

Using poison gas against captives, bayoneting people for training purposes and burning civilians alive -- a Japanese war criminal confession published on Thursday reveals how Chinese people were treated "like animals" by Japanese invaders in World War II.

Goro Nakamura from the Aichi Prefecture, who joined the war of aggression in 1942, wrote in a confession that they "used Chinese people to test the effectiveness" of poison gas. At one point, a Chinese war captive "became unconscious five minutes later" after he was pushed into a room full of "Type-98" poison gas cannisters.

Goro said he "felt it was like using animals for experiments."

The confession, which was written in 1954, is part of the State Archives Administration's efforts to commemorate the 70th anniversary of China's victory in WWII.

He also wrote that while at a village in north China's Hebei Province, after finding a tunnel under an old woman's house, he "dragged her to the entrance, pushed her into the hole, ... filling it with straw, I lit it myself with a match and burnt the old woman alive."

The Japanese soldier also confessed to raping Chinese women. Endi