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A KPA and/or KPAFAC order of battle
question. Reports of a downed Yak whose pilot's body was recovered, spring
of 1951, said his id card gave his unit as "813 Nan King Army Corps" or
"813 NKA Corps" in two reports that differ in other respects also, one or
both are probably garbled.
One author on the related air incident used the
first source only, interpreted Nan King as Nanking, and concluded it was a
Chinese pilot, but Nan King was the contemporary Navy letter-phonetic for
"NK", like November Kilo would be now, so I think it meant "North
Korean". OTOH the opening battle of the
Sino-Japanese War around Shanghai in 1937 is known as "813" in China, so perhaps
it could be a Chinese unit's *name*, but still I think it probably refers to a
North Korean unit.
But I wonder if "NKA Corps" stood for North Korean
Army Corps, or North Korean Air Corps, though neither, obviously, is the correct
Korean name. Was there any large unit of either
the KPA (including say rear area military districts, etc.) or the KPAFAC
numbered 813?
To Ed Evanhoe: I remember back a ways you mentioned
a forthcoming book on NK OOB. Can we still look forward to it soon?
Joe |