The Imperial Japanese Army tested cyanide gas on Australian and Dutch East Indies prisoners of war in 1944 in Indonesia's Kai Islands, according to a document recently uncovered by a Japanese researcher.
Yoshiaki Yoshimi, a professor at Chuo University and an expert on modern Japanese history, discovered the document in the Australian national archives in Canberra. He said it is the first piece of evidence to detail Japan's experiments on an Australian POW.
Some historians say the Japanese army had planned to use cyanide gas as a last resort in fighting against the Allies.