ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 1457 29 September 1950
FIELD REPORT (ADVATIS - 0912) 26 September 1950
1. PERSONAL DETAILS:| PW NAME: | KIM Yong Hwan (金永煥) (김영환) |
| PW NO: | 63 NK 5080 |
| RANK: | Sgt (中士) |
| AGE: | 22 |
| DUTY: | Sqd Ldr |
| UNIT: | 849th Unit, Engineer Co 4th Plt, 4th Sqd |
| EDUCATION: | Primary School (6 yrs) |
| OCCUPATION: | Farmer |
| PLACE OF CAPTURE: | YAKMOK (若木), 4km NW of WAEGWAN (1130-1450) |
| DATE OF CAPTURE: | 19 Sep 50 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH: | P’YONGAN NAMDO, KANGSO GUN, YUCH’AMYONI RI, SAMHAK DONG #87 (平安南道 江西郡 芿次面二里 三鶴洞 八七番地) |
| HOME ADDRESS: | Same as above |
| INTERROGATOR: | KAJIWARA (FEAF) |
PW did not appear to be too intelligent and seemed to have a very poor memory. He claims he surrendered on his own initiative.
3. TACTICAL INFORMATION:Chronology:
| 19 Jul 50: | Inducted into the NKPA at PYONGYANG. No training while in PYONGYANG. |
| o/a 3 Aug 50: | Departed PYONGYANG by truck. Passed through KAESONG (開城) 18 Aug 50. The PW’s engineer Co could only travel during the night, because of daylight air attacks. |
| o/a 6 Aug 50: | Passed through SEOUL. |
| o/a 2 Sep 50: | Engineer Co arrived by truck at a mountain called KUMOSAN (金烏山). Here the engineer Co received combat training. At that time the Arty Bn and HMG Plt of the 849th Unit joined them. PW became a Sgt (Sqd ldr). |
| o/2 19 Sep 50: | Moved to YAKMOK (若木), 4 km NW of WAEGWAN. At YAKMOK, the Engineer Co’s objective was to lay AT mines in the path of attacking UN tanks. Here PW and 6 others deserted and surrendered with Safe Pass to UN troops. |
Organization & Strength:
849th Unit: Consisted of an Arty Bn, strength unknown, heavy machine-gun Plt with an original strenghth of about 15 men, Engr Co with an original strength of 120 men and an AT platoon, strength unknown. PW does not know the present strength of the 849th Unit, but he knows 80 men from the Engineer Co have been captured.
Equipment:
Engineer Company: 4 or 5 x PPsh (M1943) submachine guns in each platoon. 4 x trucks (Soviet make GAZ-51) but only two (2) remaining 19 Sep 50. The Engineer Company used three types of mines:
1. Anti-personnel, fragmentation mine. The mine looks like a grenade and is mounted on a wooden stake. The mine is detonated by a trip wire, 5 m long.
2. Anti-personnel mine constructed within a wooden box. Mine was buried. Detonated by the weight of a man.
3. AT mine: Charge contained in a wooden box and detonated by pressure of 80 kgm. PW states that since the mines were mounted in wooden boxes they could not be detected by a mine detector. The PW’s company had 3 x VIM-203 mine detectors.
Other Units:
On 19 Sep 50 PW observed about 50 US and Soviet jeeps traveling NK on the WAEGWAN to KUNCH’ON Road about 16 km NK of WAEGWAN. He saw 2 NKPA tanks moving in the same direction in the same area as the jeeps. On 16 Sep 50, he saw about 1500 NKPA troops moving north in the vicinity of KUMOSAN, 16 km NW of WAEGWAN. Did not know what unit but appeared to be infantry. Some of these troops had no rifles and most of them looked like South Koreans. PW believed they were replacements.
Personalities:
Engineer CO: KIM Hyon Jin (김형진), Lt.
Morale & Propaganda:
Morale was low, since the majority in his company were drafted and had no will to fight. PW saw UN propaganda leaflets and decided to surrender.
For the Commanding Officer:
WEELDREYER
Executive
