POW camp bunk

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The Koje prisoner-of-war camp was located during the Korean War on the island known in modern parlance as Geojedo , off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula about forty kilometers as the crow flies from Pusan .

Were accommodated in the “UN prisoner of war camp No. 1 ”Thousands of North Korean and Chinese soldiers who fell into the hands of UN forces under the command of the US military. A number of civilians were also interned. A transfer of the soldiers captured in the Battle of the Busan Perimeter to Okinawa or elsewhere was rejected as too expensive. The soldiers of the US 27th Infantry Regiment were initially used as guards .

camp

The camp existed from November 27, 1950 until after the armistice was signed on July 27, 1953 . By the end of 1950 there were 135,000 prisoners in Pusan, 6,000 of them wounded. These were gradually moved to Koje, where the camp arose from an initial tent city. Almost 16,000 prisoners remained in Pusan, primarily in the hospital and women. At the peak, 173,000 prisoners were housed in bunk, including around 150,000 North Koreans (including around 3,000 recruits younger than 17 years), 20,000 Chinese and 3,000 women.

At the beginning of February 1953 there were 47,250 North Korean prisoners in the camp. Around 35,000 North Koreans were liberated to South Korea on June 18, 1953, the remaining approx. 9,000 were repatriated by rail at the beginning of August.

In the vicinity of the 385 km² area, a settlement quickly developed that eventually had 8,000 inhabitants. The black market through the poorly guarded fence flourished.

Initially, until September 1951, the commanders changed frequently, almost monthly, until Maurice J. Fitzgerald took over. The layout of the camp was such that internally there were only a few larger blocks or departments ( compounds ). Guards only stood around the outer fence. The individual created departments, each with a gate, had a size of 100  acres (0.4 km²) and were supposed to accommodate 700–1200 prisoners of war. In the first winter, most of the inmates were only housed in 50-man tents. They slept on straw mats on the floor. As the war went on, the occupancy increased significantly without adjusting the number of guards. The camp had been overcrowded by about five times since the end of 1951, and the conditions were miserable, which was also criticized in the reports of the ICRC .

Repatriation and "re-education"

From February 1952, at the suggestion of U. Alexis Johnson (Deputy Secretary of State for East Asia), it was planned to check whether the prisoners would be willing to return home, without making any concrete promises to those who wanted to stay in the “free South” . This screening began on April 11, 1952. By April 19, over 106,000 prisoners had been interviewed by armed interrogation teams in 22 sections of the camp. The latter were usually handcuffed and beaten during the "hearing"; they were supposed to fight on the South Korean side from then on. General Yount, in charge of the entire prisoner-of-war system, ordered that the prisoners who did not want to return home should be transferred. An ICRC reporter found that around half of those convinced by being beaten changed their minds and did not want to serve the Rhee Syng-man dictatorship .

Since January 1952, the prisoners were exposed to targeted anti-communist propaganda, and English courses were also offered.

Riots

This led to the first riots on February 18, 1952. The 6500 inmates of Compound 62 unanimously demanded their repatriation to North Korea. Guards of the 27th Infantry tried to free a South Korean comrade. Around 1,500 prisoners had brought him under their control, of whom 75 were killed and 139 injured during the liberation. The Americans mourned one dead and 22 wounded. On the 20th, Brigadier General Francis Dodd , who had little experience in Asia, was appointed the new commandant with his predecessor Colonel Maurice J. Fitzgerald as deputy. Fitzgerald planned the unrealized Operation Spreadout, according to which a total of 82,000 prisoners of war and civilian internees should be distributed to other camps.

On March 13, 1952, stones were thrown at the guards in the area of Compound 76 . They shot back sharply and killed twelve, according to other sources 22, inmates. There were also 26 wounded. The camp's guards were then increased by the American 38th Infantry Regiment . At the same time, South Koreans were increasingly used as guards; many were characterized by their particular readiness to use violence in their anti-communist anger.

As of July 1952, the first 27,000 "civilians," in sixteen groups, were extradited to the South Korean regime. In American documents, those willing to return (to North Korea) were referred to as “diehard communists”. In October 1952, around 38,000 inmates were reclassified as civilians, 7,000 of whom insisted on their return home. However, they were all handed over to the dictator. This happened mainly because Commander Boatner wanted the camp to be emptied by non-soldiers. Koreans born in the south who wanted to be repatriated to the north were transferred to the camp on Pongnam Island.

In the compound 95 occurred on April 13 to a further incident, died in the three prisoners and were sixty injured. An American officer stopped an attempt to break out with a machine gun mounted on his jeep.

On April 29, Lieutenant Colonel Wilbur Raven was briefly taken hostage during a dispute over cigarette allocation.

An open letter, signed by 6,223 prisoners, which was smuggled out of the camp on May 23 and denounced the hair-raising conditions, was read on the radio on June 8, 1952.

massacre

On August 15, 1951, American NCOs broke into a block with civilian internees who were celebrating their National Day. There were also rapes of women incarcerated here. 125 prisoners were injured or killed that day.

Compound 76

Commander Dodd was taken hostage on May 7th by the 6,500 North Korean prisoners of Compound 76 . It was reasonable for Brigadier General Charles Colson to only use tear gas and other non-lethal agents. After Colson had admitted in writing that the guards had been mistreated and that this would not happen again, Dodd was released on the 10th.

After the following investigation, those officers who had complied with Articles 13 and 42 of the Geneva Convention , i.e. both Dodd and Colson, were initially acquitted. By order of Clark, however, he was demoted to colonel by another tribunal and retired as soon as possible. Yount also received a warning.

General James A. Van Fleet forbade all reporting, while at the same time weapons of war were used against the "hard core" in the area of Compounds 76, 77 and 78. The further violent advance against the "Communists" in and around Compound 76 was ordered by the American Generals Matthew Ridgway and his successor Mark W. Clark, who was taking office at exactly this time, as well as the "Bull" Boatner, who was briefly appointed camp commander on the 13th . Col. Harold Taylor was the deputy of the latter. The 187 Airborne RTC (regimental combat group ), which was quickly requested from Japan, was to take over the guarding of Compounds 76, 77, 78, 80 and a women's camp. There was also a British squad for Compound 66.

Boatner ordered the relocation of the prisoners guarded by the 187 RTC on June 10, using “maximum force” . The Korean block elder , Taejwa Lee Hak-Ku, and his political officer Hong Chol refused to do so, so that when the Americans penetrated, brawls broke out. After two hours, tanks were sent into the area. The unarmed prisoners were not only used with simple infantry weapons; those who defended themselves with homemade percussion instruments were also killed with machine guns and flamethrowers. 43 dead and 139 wounded were officially counted on the Koreans' side. One American was stabbed and thirteen injured.

During the searches of Compound 76 , which was finally evacuated , more makeshift weapons were found, more corpses were discovered in other areas, US propaganda spoke of "murdered anti-communists", tunnels and plans to take over the camp on June 20.

The events were kept secret for several months.

More incidents

There were still numerous deaths. According to official American reports, 128 prisoners were killed in August alone, and 97 in September. a. stated: "Shot while trying to escape," "loitering" or "singing communist songs". The number of "suicides," almost always by hanging, rose rapidly. In October, 26 prisoners were injured and 75 killed during transfers. Contemporary newspaper reports describe the camp as "pacified," which was mainly due to the 20 M46 tanks (5 with flamethrowers) and another 50 armored vehicles deployed by Boatner . Throughout the camp, the inmates were now housed in smaller blocks of 500–1000 men each, making them easier to control. The communist propaganda posters that were common up to now have been removed.

On October 1, 1952, 56 Chinese prisoners of war were shot and 120 wounded in Cheju camp while dancing and singing to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of the mainland .

The Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett counted around 3000 dead or injured prisoners by the end of 1952, based on official information and agency reports.

Museum use

Panoramic painting in the Historic Park

The South Korean Ministry of Culture set up a museum park on parts of the site, which, embellished and belittled by propaganda, is supposed to represent the “reality of life” of those held here.

literature

  • Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; Beijing [1953]; (Contemporary report by Australian journalists who were allowed to visit the camp on behalf of the UN)
  • Hay, Trevor; Inside Korea; Eureka Street, Vol. 4 (1994), No. 5, pp. 16-19 (ISSN 1036-1758)
  • Kim, Monica; Other Panmunjom: Mutiny or Revolution on Koje Island ?; Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Volume 17 | Issue 17 | Number 1
  • Roskey, William; Bunk Island: The 1952 Korean Hostage Crisis; Arlington 1994; Land Warfare Papers, No. 19.
Daily newspapers

Archival material

National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
  • Office of the Provost Marshal, GHQ Far East Command; Korean Recap , April 1, 1954. RG 554, stack area 290. Records of GHQ, FEC, SCAP and UNC, Office of Provost Marshal, Statistical Reports Relating to Enemy Prisoners of War, 1950-1953, Box 1
Hoover Institution

Papers of General Haydon L. Boatner

ICRC
  • Hoffmann, Georg: Report confidential concernant l'incident au compound no. 7 de UN POW Branch Camp 3A, Cheju-Do du 1er October 1952; B AG 210 056-012 (08/02 / 1952–13 / 04/1953)
  • Burckhardt, Nicolas; Hoffmann, Georg: Note au CICR relative aux evasions en masse from the PG Nordcoréens dits anticommunistes; B AG 210 056-025 (06/01 / 1953–16 / 01/1956)
photos

American guard's photo album .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ POW Release to Start At Peace Site Within Week . In: The Examiner (Tasmania) , July 29, 1953, p. 1. Retrieved February 26, 2018. 
  2. ↑ Have Modernized Prison Camps On Koje Island . In: The Examiner (Tasmania) , Feb. 4, 1953, p. 2. Retrieved February 26, 2018. 
  3. ↑ Malkin, Lawrence; Murderers of Koje-do! MHQ — The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Vol. 1 (1993), No. 3.
  4. ↑ Frédérique Bieri visited the camp several times, his reports are archived as: 1) 2.-28. Dec. 1950: B AG 210 056-021 (01/16/1951-12/05/1952); 2) with Dr. Bessero, May 29 to June 9, 1951: B AG 210 056-021 (01/16/1951-12/05/1952); 3) 17th-19th July 1951: B AG 210 056-021 (01/16/1951-12/05/1952); 4) Aug. 28 to Sept. 2 or 9, 1951 with others; 5) 4th-16th Jan. 1952: B AG 210 056-021 (01/16/1951-12/05/1952); 6) 8.-9. and 19.-21. Feb. 1952: B AG 210 056-01 (05/01/1951-18 / 08/1953).
  5. ↑ Syllabuses included “How War Came to Korea”, “Democracy and Totalitarianism” and “Facts About the United States”. Education of Prisoners of War on Koje Island, Korea; Educational Record 36 (April 1955), pp. 157-73.
  6. ↑ Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; P. 131.
  7. ↑ “Koje Island is a living hell…” Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; S. 1. “… Not a day, not a night but the sacrifice of some of our comrades occurs. The American guards, armed to the teeth, are repeatedly committing acts of violence and barbarity against our comrades. They drag them out and kill them either in public or in secret with machine-guns and carbines. They drive our comrades by the thousand into gas chambers and torture rooms. Many patriots are loaded into iron barred cages of police cars and taken to the seashore where they are shot and their corpses cast into the sea. "
  8. ↑ Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; 138, citing an ICRC report.
  9. ↑ Engl. “Senior colonel,” corresponding to the western rank of brigardier. en: Senior colonel
  10. ↑ Collier’s printed photos of the orgy of violence in the Sept. 6, 1952 issue and the Saturday Evening Post on Nov. 1, 1952. An article (with illus.) In Life on May 26, 1952 served as a cover-up by the US military .
  11. ↑ Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; Pp. 119-23, 131
  12. ↑ Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; P. 121.
  13. ↑ Burchett, Wilfred; Winnington, Alan; Bunk unscreened; “Author's note”.