ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 4380
FIELD REPORT (ADVATIS 0093) 28 October 1950
| PW NAME: | KIM Ki Man (金基萬) (김기만) |
| RANK: | Pvt (戰士) |
| AGE: | 31 |
| DUTY: | Cook |
| UNIT: | 4th Division, 18th Regiment, Medical Unit |
| EDUCATION: | Completed 5th grade of elementary school |
| OCCUPATION: | Farmer, candy vendor, sawmill worker |
| PLACE OF CAPTURE: | TAEJON (大田) |
| DATE OF CAPTURE: | 27 Sep 50 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH: | MANCHURIA, CHIRINSHENG, YENCHI-HSIEN, LUNGCHING SHIH LEIFENG FUNG (滿洲 吉林省 延吉縣 龍井市 來豊洞) |
| HOME ADDRESS: | MANCHURIA, CHIRINSHENG, YENCHI-HSIEN, LUNNGCHING SHIH PEISHIHCHU TA TUNG HU #11 (滿洲 吉林省 延吉縣 龍井市 新區 大通路 11) |
| INTERROGATOR: | KAWASHIMA (FEAF) |
PW was in good health and appeared willing to give information. He responded readily to all questions and was cooperative, but his observance of details, memory, judgement of distances, measurements, and direction was poor. PW was poorly educated and was not intelligent. He frequently made conflicting statements. Reliability poor.
CHRONOLOGY:
PW was born in YENCHI-HSIEN, CHIRIN-SHEN, MACHURIA, located approximately 32 km N of YUNGXI.
Mar 37 - Completed 5th grade of HAIHSING Primary School. (海星小學校)
Apr 37 to Sep 37 - Worked as house boy at hotel
Oct 37 - Mar 40 - Odd jobs.
Apr 40 to Aug 42 - Worked at KOMATSU Sawmill in LUNG-CHING, MANCHURIA.
May 44 - Aug 46 - Operated electric saw at TA HSING (大興) Sawmill in HA-ERH-PIN (哈爾賓).
Sep 46 to Aug 48 - Candy vendor in Harbin.
Sep 48 - Jun 49 - Operated saw at sawmill in P’O-LI, MANCHURIA (勃利).
28 Jun 49 - Departed P’O-LI, MANCHURIA for CH’ONGJIN, North KOREA.
HA-ERH-PIH AIRFIELD (哈爾賓飛行場) in HA-ERH-PIN MACHURIA
OBSERVATION: PW entered this airfield three times in the early part of Feb 46 while working as a member of a group of Korean day laborers hired by the Russian Occupation Army to remove food, clothing, electric motors, sewing machines, drugs and paper form the airfield warehouses located 800 m from the southern boundary of the airfield. All goods stored in about 20 or 30 warehouses were leaded on 2 ton trucks driven by Russian soldiers and taken to the SUNGHUA River (松花江), to be shipped to an unknown destination by Russian river craft (hearsay).
Airfield warehouses were destroyed Chinese residents of HARBIN in April 46. Wooden trusses and boards taken from the warehouses were sold as firewood on the streets.
LOCATION: The above airfield was located in the SANHS (Fanji unk) district on level terrain, approximately 4 km NE of the Harbin Central RR Station, 6 km NE of a multi-spar steel truss bridge (over 1.2 km long and 8 m wide) and 2.6 km N of SUNHAJAW River (See sketch).
DIMENSIONS: Shape was roughly oval, covering an area estimated at 2.8 km x 2 km.
RUNWAY and SURFACE: ■■ runways, taxi strips, perimeter tracks or apron strips were observed. Surface was hard red-colored adobe, sparsely covered with tufts of grass 1½ cm high. Soil did not turn muddy even when it rained. Drainage system unk.
ACCESS: The airfield was approached from the direction of the HARBIN CENTRAL RR Station by the TAHMALU ROAD. No other means of access were observed.
SECURITY: 12 m (?) high barbed wire fence around airfield.
No Aircraft Dispersal Points observed. No obstructions observed. No technical facilities were observed. Defense Installations and Practice were not observed by PW. Supply - unknown.
METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS: Strong nor the west winds prevailed during the months of July to December. Snow fell from the middle of September to the end of January. In the winter months snow piled to a depth of 40 cm. Very little snow in February. Thawing season began middle of March. Minimum temperature from July to December was -30°C. Maximum temperature from July to December was 0°C. Thermometer dropped to -40°C in January and rose to -30°C in February.
Prevailing wind during the period January to April was a mild east wind. Warm south winds blow from May to June, the warmest season of the year.
The SUNGHUA River remained frozen from the beginning of October to the middle of March. Depth of ice was 1 m, enabling trucks to pass over the river without fear of breaking through the surface. From April to September stern-paddle river craft cruised up the river to KIAMUSZE and back. Rainy season lasted from June to July.
CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT: No construction or improvement activities were observed.
ADMINISTRATION: The airfield was administered by the Japanese Army up to August. In Feb 46 PW observed a few Russian soldiers walking around the brick buildings of the airfield. PW believed that as of June 48, the airfield was under the administration of the CCF.
AIRCRAFT: None observed.
LEGEND TO AREA SKETCH OF HARBIN AIRFIELD:
Point #1 - TAMALU (大馬路) asphalt road, 6 m wide, connected the Harbin Airfield with the HARBIN Central Station. A streetcar Line passed through the center of this road.
Point #2 - Post Office, 3-story brick building painted white, flattop roof, located 1200 m from Central RR Station.
Point #3 - HARBIN Peoples Bank (哈爾賓人民銀行) four-story white-brick building with flat roof, located 600 m from Point #2. Further details unknown.
Point #4 - NANKWAN Road asphalt road from where it branched off from TAMALU to a distance of approximately 200 m, and from that point onward dirt, 4 m wide. This road was lined on both sides with willow trees 3m high, 3 m apart.
Point #5 - Dirt road 4 m wide.
Point #6 - Peoples Theater (人民劇場) two story brick building, arched roof.
Point #7 - People School (人民學校).
Point #8 - Dirt road 5 m wide.
DESCRIPTION ON DISTRICTS:
TAOWAI (道外) DISTRICT - Chinese and Korean residential, shopping and restaurant districts.
NANKWAN DISTRICT - Russian merchants district.
TAOLI DISTRICT - Chinese merchants district.
LIU JUNG - Korean red light district.
LEGEND TO AREA SKETCH OF HARBIN AIRFIELD:
Point A - One-story brick building, flat roof, dimensions unk.
Point B - Two-story brick building, bagled roof, dimensions unk.
Point C - One-story brick building, flat roof, dimensions unk.
Point D - Gasoline drum cans, number unknown. Stored in the open air.
For the Commanding Officer:
WEELDREYER
HARBIN As of June 1948
