Korea - 50 years ago this week, Jan. 10-16

[Brooke Rowe <global-national-security@pacbell.net>]

Korea - 50 years ago this week, Jan. 10-16

(EXCERPT) Dogfights down 16 U.N. aircraft over Korea, by Jim Caldwell

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 9, 2002) -- U.N. air forces
suffered their worst seven days of combat ending Jan. 11 by losing 16
planes in dogfights, U.N. commanders reported 50 years ago this week
in Korea.

Jan. 11-13, 1952 -- The U .N. command reports that its fighter pilots
downed five enemy planes near Kunchon and Sariwon near the front Jan.
11. On Jan. 13, the U.N. headquarters reports that the planes shot
down that week includes three U.S. F-86 Sabrejets and 13 others downed
by enemy groundfire Officials call it the worst seven days of aerial
combat in the war. Big air battles take place Jan. 15-16 as UN
aircraft attack railroads in upper North Korea. There is no immediate
word on losses for either side. Jan. 10-16

Jan. 14-16 -- At Panmunjom the communists refuse to agree to a ban on
building airfields in North Korea as a part of the truce settlement.
On Jan. 14, Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, tells a Senate committee that the airfields issue is the only
obstacle to a peace settlement. The communists disagree with the UN
position that prisoners who do not want to be returned to the north
will not be forced to. The reds claim such a stand is interference in
their internal affairs and is against the Geneva Convention. The UN
reply is that since the communists do not follow the Geneva
Convention, they have no right to explain it to anyone. Peking Radio
claims Jan. 14 that 68 U.N. aircraft in five formations had flown over
Manchuria as far as Mukden yesterday. Without saying the aircraft
attacked any targets in Manchuria, the announcer says it is one of
"repeated aggressive provocations." On Jan. 15, in the subcommittee on
prisoner exchange, the communists charge that U.N. planes had bombed
prisoner camp No. 8 near Pyongyang. A spokesman at the U.N
headquarters in Tokyo confirms Jan. 16 that UN plans were in the area
when the alleged bombing took place. However, pilots couldn't tell if
they attacked a prisoner camp because the communists do not mark the
buildings with large "PW" or "PC" signs visible from the air as
required by the Geneva Convention. Also on Jan. 16 the communists at
Panmunjom say the bombing killed 16 U.N. prisoners, including one
American, injured 12 seriously and slightly injured 52 others. The
same day the reds claim the U.N. plans to ship 20,000 communist
prisoners to Taiwan to be part of Chiang Kai Shek's army. They will
"fight to the death" to keep from enlarging the army of "the deadly
enemy of the Chinese people." Jan. 11-15 -- Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei Y. Vishinsky, even after other Soviet plans for disarmament and
peace have been voted down in the U.N., offers a plan to control
atomic weapons to the General Assembly's Political and Security
Committee in Paris. He says the Soviets will agree to "strict
international control" of atomic energy when the UN bans atomic
weapons. They also agree to international inspections of atomic energy
sites. However, the agency to conduct inspections would be under the
Security Council where Russia has a veto. But those were only two
proposals made in a 2 1/2-hour speech in which he railed against
Western "atom mongers," "hydrogen mongers" and "death mongers." Among
the other five points he wants the UN to condemn the "aggressive" NATO
organization; a one-third reduction of Big Five military power; and
ask the Big Five to "conclude a peace pact." U.S. Delegate Ernest
Gross replies that Americans will "not sit up all night laughing" at
the proposals.

Jan. 15 -- The U.S. House of Representatives approves a 10 percent
military pay raise by a 269-89 vote and sends it to the Senate.
Provisions of the bill would give a $7.50 a month raise for privates
and $114.68 for four-star generals and admirals. The raise applies to
quarters and allowances but not to combat pay.

Jan. 16 -- The Defense Department puts the U.S. casualty count in
Korea through Jan. 11 at 104,383, including 17,948 dead and 10,970
missing. The Associated Press reports that based on published reports
by nations, the total UN casualties is 414,945. The United States has
estimate the communist casualties at more than an estimated 1.5
million. (Editor's note: Jim Caldwell is a senior writer for the
TRADOC News Service.)

http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/Jan2002/a20020109koreajan10-16.html

---------------------------
   Brooke Rowe
   Associate Librarian
   The American War Library
   http://www.americanwarlibrary.com