Korean Atrocity!: Forgotten War Crimes, 1950-1953 FROM THE PUBLISHER
Recently declassified records on the Korean War have brought to
light widespread and systemic war crimes committed by North Koreans and
Chinese against troops serving under the United Nations command, according
to this study. After examining over 1,600 cases, Philip Chinnery recounts
his searing findings in this tragic three-part narrative. Part one covers
the first year of the war, when most of the battlefield war crimes, death
marches, and atrocities took place. The second part deals with the horrors
prisoners faced at the hands of their captors, including starvation, slave
labor, and medical experimentation. Part three delves into the prisoners'
repatriation at war's end and the disturbing evidence that some of the 7,956
American and 100 British serviceman considered missing in action may have
been left behind at the close of the war. In one of many examples, he sites
a formerly confidential U.S. Government document that discusses a B-29
crew's release by the Chinese two years after the war ended and how the crew
was ordered to keep quiet about the prisoners still under communist control.
Had there been a clear victor in Korea instead of a truce, the author
believes that war crime trials would have followed.
About the Author:
Philip Chinnery is the author of several books on aviation and
military history. He lives in Berkshire, England.
FROM THE CRITICS
Internet Book Watch
Korean Atrocity!: Forgotten War Crimes 1950-1953 came about when Philip Chinnery, acting in his capacity of Historian for the National Ex-prisoners of War Association was conducting some research at the Public Records Office and came across newly de-classified files on the Korean War. He discovered these files contained investigations into 1,615 atrocities and war crimes perpetrated against troops serving with the United Nations command in Korea. 10,233 of these victims of war crimes by the North Koreans and the Communist Chinese were American. Much of the material is horrific and leave no doubt that had American pursued the conflict to a clear win instead of a truce there would have been an Asian style Nuremberg trial for many North Korean and Chinese soldiers and their superiors. Korean Atrocity! surveys a sampling of these war crimes as they occurred in the first part of the war when the opposing sides fought themselves to a standstill; the treatment of prisoners of war in North Korea and China; and the eventual repatriation of prisoners that left 100 British servicemen and 7,956 American military personnel unaccounted for. The role of the American government regarding these missing men is, itself, a part of the scandal kept from the American public to this very day. Korean Atrocity! is very highly recommended reading for military buffs in general, and students of American military involvement in the Korean War in particular.
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