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As another bitterly cold Korean winter congealed operations on the ground, repatriation of prisoners of war (POWs) became the most intractable issue at P’anmunjŏm. The initial assumption by the negotiators was that they would follow the revised Geneva Convention of 1949, which required any “detaining authority” that held POWs to return all of them to their homelands as rapidly as possible when a war ended. This “all for all” policy of a complete—even forced—exchange of prisoners was certainly favoured by the U.S. military, which was alarmed by early reports from Korea of atrocities against allied POWs. The South Korean government, on the other hand, was adamantly opposed to complete and involuntary repatriation, since it knew that thousands of detainees in the South were actually South Korean citizens who had been forced to fight with the KPA. Indeed, the North Koreans knew that they had much to answer for regarding their impressment, murder, and kidnapping of South Koreans. The Chinese army leaders, meanwhile, knew that some of their soldiers, impressed from the ranks of the Nationalist army, would refuse repatriation if it was not made mandatory.
Both sides agreed to exchange the names of POWs and the numbers held in various categories. The results of the tally shocked all the participants. The U.S. armed forces were carrying 11, 500 men as missing in action (MIA), but the communists reported only 3, 198 Americans in their custody (as well as 1, 219 other UNC POWs, mostly Britons and Turks). The accounting for the South Koreans was even worse: of an estimated 88, 000 MIAs, only 7, 142 names were listed. The numbers fed the fears of the allies that the murder rate of POWs had been even worse than they suspected. In truth, most of the MIAs had died in battle, but perhaps 15, 000 (all but 2, 000 of them South Koreans) had died in communist hands from torture, execution, starvation, and medical mistreatment.
Dpaa Famweb Korean Conflict Home Page
The communists, too, found little comfort in the numbers. Early unofficial estimates of POWs in UNC custody had been either too low, around 90, 000, or too high, around 170, 000. Now the official list produced 95, 531 North Koreans, 20, 700 Chinese, and 16, 243 South Koreans, for a total of 132, 474. The UNC reported that the 40, 000 “missing” men were South Koreans who had already passed loyalty investigations and would not be counted as potential repatriates. Against this background, Truman ruled in January 1952 that no POW in UNC custody would be forced to return to North Korea or China against his will. Koreans choosing to go north would be exchanged on a “one for one” formula until all 12, 000 allied POWs had been returned. Such a process, however, would require extensive screening of individuals about their preferences, a condition that soon created open warfare in the camps.
The communists had taken steps in 1951 to infiltrate political officers into the UNC POW camps, and now orders came from P’yŏngyang to obstruct the screening process without regard for loss of life. The goal was to make the POWs so obnoxious that the UNC would use force if necessary to send every one of them back to communist control. And so, beginning in December 1951, a series of revolts broke out “inside the wire, ” culminating in pitched battles between armed prisoners and entire guard battalions in which hundreds of POWs and a small number of UNC troops lost their lives. Finally, in May 1952, General Mark W. Clark, who had just replaced Ridgway as UNC commander, ordered the execution of Operation BREAKUP, which over the following months crushed the revolt with tanks, gas, and bullets. By the end of the year, all the Chinese had been sent to Cheju Island, repatriate and nonrepatriate POWs segregated, refugees resettled, some of the communist intelligence network disrupted, and camp administration improved. Vigilantism and gang warfare never ceased entirely, however.
The POW revolt was only one aspect of the “other war” raging behind UNC lines. Another was waged by communist partisans and stay-behind units of the KPA, who, based in South Korea’s mountainous southern provinces, plagued the UNC lines of communication, rear-area camps, and Korean towns. In the autumn of 1951 Van Fleet ordered Major General Paik Sun-yup, one of the ROKA’s most effective officers, to break the back of guerrilla activity. From December 1951 to March 1952, ROK security forces killed 11, 090 partisans and sympathizers and captured 9, 916 more—a ratio suggesting something close to a “scorched earth, no-quarter” policy. Previous ROKA counterguerrilla operations had resulted in the war’s worst atrocity by a UNC unit, the execution of 800 to 1, 000 villagers at Kŏch’ang in February 1951.Throughout the war in Korea, U.S. and United Nations (UN) troops were taken as Prisoners of War (POW) by the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) or Chinese Communist Forces (CCF). There were many camp and holding points littered across North Korea; different camps became more populated at different times of the conflict.
National Museum Of The United States Air Force™ > Display - Korean War Pow List title=Prisoners Of War > National Museum Of The United States Air Force™ > Display style=width:100%;text-align:center; onerror=this.onerror=null;this.src='https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSgnHzHAlzh-QsVGz-2jdJ4q3NTAV5ZRF7CiRMnMqfpgke8wcQldYVXegFSOmcpHXPRCoY&usqp=CAU'; />
Amazon.com: Name, Rank, And Serial Number: Exploiting Korean War Pows At Home And Abroad: 9780195183481: Young, Charles S.: Books
The Korean War began with the sudden advance of the NKPA through the unprepared South in July of 1950. U.S. forces sent to South Korea during this period were organized into the “Pusan Perimeter, ” a defensive formation around the critical harbor at Pusan, South Korea. Men captured during this period were marched north by stages through Seoul and Pyongyang to the Manpo Camp on the South bank of the Yalu River in North Korea.
Following the Inchon Landings and breakout from the Pusan Perimeter in September of 1950, U.S. and UN forces turned the tide of the conflict and began themselves pushing into North Korea. As the NKPA retreated farther north, they were forced to evacuate their prisoners with them. In late October of 1950, over 800 POWs left Manpo for village camps closer to the Chinese border near Chungung, known as the Apex Camps. This movements became known as the “Tiger Death March, ” so called for the brutal treatment that the prisoners suffered at the hands of the North Korean colonel who was in charge, himself nicknamed “The Tiger.” Many prisoners died during this 100-mile march through difficult terrain. The “Tiger Group” stayed at the Apex camps until October of 1951, when they were moved to more permanent camps further south on the banks of the Yalu River. At that point, less than half of the prisoners who had left Manpo a year earlier were still alive.
By November of 1950, U.S. and UN forces had advanced precipitously close to the North Korean border with China. It was then that the CCF launched a large-scale surprise attack against UN troops near Unsan, Kunu-ri, and the Chosin Reservoir. Overwhelmed, U.S. forces in North Korea were forced on a withdrawal southward. POWs taken by the CCF during this period were marched to holding villages in the Pukchin-Tarigol Valley and Kanggye. The winter season made life for prisoners even more desperate. These men were gradually marched to newly completed permanent camps on the banks of the Yalu River. The first of these camps, known as Camp 5, began taking on POWs in January of 1951. Camp 1 opened in April of that year, and Camp 3 that summer. Specialized camps were eventually erected in this area, Camp 4 for sergeants and Camp 2 for officers and aviators.
The Korean War Prisoner Who Never Came Home
Following the CCF’s intervention, the communists used their renewed momentum to push back into South Korea, capturing Seoul for a second time in Spring of 1951. Men were captured at Hoengsoong, Chorwon, Kumhwa, and in the mountains east of Chunchon. These POWs were marched to large holding camps near Suan, North Korea, known as the “Bean Camp” and the “Mining Camp.” Some of the men held here were sent to specialized interrogation camps at “Pak’s Palace” and “Pike’s Peak.” Most who were deemed fit enough to travel were forced to march north to Camp 1 and Camp 5.
In July of 1951, UN had dissolved the communist offensive and brought the conflict to a tense stalemate in the center of the peninsula, roughly along the modern-day Demilitarized Zone. Fewer men were captured at this time, as the two sides battled for incremental gains in territory to improve their position in ongoing negotiations to end the war. UN troops who were taken POW at this time were taken through Suan to Camp 1 or Camp 5.
Though held in many different places, American POWs in North Korea suffered through similarly harsh treatment. They received little to no food or water and were often forced to trek long distances through severe weather. Those who collapsed or could not continue on these marches were killed by guards. Those who died along march routes were often given isolated burials at unrecorded locations, if buried at all. Disease ran rampant at the camps, with many prisoners succumbing to malaria and beriberi due to the inadequate medical treatment they received. Those who died
Our Missing > Korean War > Maps - Korean War Pow List title=Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency > Our Missing > Korean War > Maps style=width:100%;text-align:center; onerror=this.onerror=null;this.src='https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSuJGYa_LK40fMNy3I7Q4ERK1rIosCWhJ2UhFr3S10LthKmO4AYe2a46n8pGgtg6NbTdTw&usqp=CAU'; />
Korean War Educator: Marty O'brien's Casualty Book
Following the CCF’s intervention, the communists used their renewed momentum to push back into South Korea, capturing Seoul for a second time in Spring of 1951. Men were captured at Hoengsoong, Chorwon, Kumhwa, and in the mountains east of Chunchon. These POWs were marched to large holding camps near Suan, North Korea, known as the “Bean Camp” and the “Mining Camp.” Some of the men held here were sent to specialized interrogation camps at “Pak’s Palace” and “Pike’s Peak.” Most who were deemed fit enough to travel were forced to march north to Camp 1 and Camp 5.
In July of 1951, UN had dissolved the communist offensive and brought the conflict to a tense stalemate in the center of the peninsula, roughly along the modern-day Demilitarized Zone. Fewer men were captured at this time, as the two sides battled for incremental gains in territory to improve their position in ongoing negotiations to end the war. UN troops who were taken POW at this time were taken through Suan to Camp 1 or Camp 5.
Though held in many different places, American POWs in North Korea suffered through similarly harsh treatment. They received little to no food or water and were often forced to trek long distances through severe weather. Those who collapsed or could not continue on these marches were killed by guards. Those who died along march routes were often given isolated burials at unrecorded locations, if buried at all. Disease ran rampant at the camps, with many prisoners succumbing to malaria and beriberi due to the inadequate medical treatment they received. Those who died
Our Missing > Korean War > Maps - Korean War Pow List title=Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency > Our Missing > Korean War > Maps style=width:100%;text-align:center; onerror=this.onerror=null;this.src='https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSuJGYa_LK40fMNy3I7Q4ERK1rIosCWhJ2UhFr3S10LthKmO4AYe2a46n8pGgtg6NbTdTw&usqp=CAU'; />
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