ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 4082 19 March 1951
FIELD REPORT (164 MISDI 1699) 14 March 1951
| PW NAME: | KIM, Pyong Nam (金炳南) (김병남) (NKA) |
| RANK: | Pvt |
| ORGANIZATION: | III Corps, 69th Brigade, 1st Bn, HMG Co, 2d Plat, 1st Sqd |
| DUTIES: | Machinegun Crew |
| EDUCATION: | Industrial School (2 years) |
| AGE: | 30 |
| OCCUPATION: | Rice Mill Owner |
| ADDRESS: | CH’UNGCH’ONG NAMDO, CH’ONGYANG GUN, TAECHON MYON, CHAKCHON NI, #115 (忠淸南道 靑陽郡 大川面 作前里 115) |
| DATE & PLACE OF CAPTURE: | 060800 I Mar 51 at CHUMUNJIN (DS8594) by ROK Forces. |
| INTERROGATOR: | TMO |
PW was cooperative; fairly alert and observant.
Information believed reliable.
a. Chronology:
Conscripted by NKA at P’YONGYANG 10 Oct 50, with 1,400 others and assigned to 680th Naval Unit for training. Because of rapid advance of UN Forces, unit retreated northward to CHASONG (CA0493) same date.
Route taken to CHASONG:
| DATE | PLACE | MODE OF TRAVEL | PLACE | ARRIVED |
| 10 Oct 50 | P’YONGYANG | Marched | SUNCH’ON (YD5368) | 12 Oct 50 |
| 14 Oct 50 | SUNCH’ON | Marched | KAECHON (YD5596) | date unk |
| Date unk | KAECHON | Marched | KANGGYE (BA9738) | date unk |
| Date unk | KANGGYE | Marched | CHASONG(CA0393) | date unk |
At KANGGYE, 680th Naval Unit received basic training for 20 days prior to entering MANCHURIA by way of LIN CHIANG, MANCHURIA. From LIN CHIANG unit marched northward to CHINKA PHA (phonetic). 680th Naval Unit was in CHINKA PHA for approximately 15 days.
680th Unit marched to HUCH’ANG (CA3886), KOREA. Unit trained for week and was deactivated.
Troops of 680th Naval Unit were integrated into 69th NK Brigade and 24th Inf Unit.
10 Dec 50, 69th Brigade departed for PUKCH’ON (DV4155) by way of SAMSU (DA1822), KAPSAN (DA4149), PONGSAN (DA2918), arriving 20 Dec 50.
At PUKCH’ON 69th Brigade was ordered to advance southward:
| DATE | PLACE | MODE OF TRAVEL | PLACE | ARRIVED |
| 22 Dec 50 | PUKCH’ON | Marched | HAMHUNG (CV7516) | 28 Dec 50 |
| 28 Dec 50 | HAMHUNG | Marched | YONGHUNG (CV4978) | 1 Jan 51 |
| 10 Jan 51 | YONGHUNG | Marched | WONSAN (CU6535) | 12 Jan 51 |
| 12 Jan 51 | WONSAN | Marched | KOSONG (DT4170) | date unk |
| Date unk | KOSONG | Marched | YANGYANG | date unk |
| Date unk | YANGYANG | Marched | MUNAM (DT5939) | date unk |
| Date unk | MUNAM | Marched | KANGNUNG (DS9576) | date unk |
At KANGNUNG, 69th Brigade entered combat against ROK Forces. After battle of KANGNUNG, 69th Brigade was forced to retreat to CHUNUNJIN (DS8594). From CHUMUNJIN, 69th Brigade retreated to INGU RI (DT7804).
5 Mar 51, PW deserted his unit and walked to CHUMUNJIN to surrender to ROK Forces.
b. Location and Activities of Unit: (As of 5 Mar 51)
69th Brigade Hq 5 Mar 51, was in village of MALGONG NI (DT7307).
1st, 5th, and 6th Bn were in vicinity of KAPPA-WI tunnels 8 km N of CHUMUNJIN and 3 km W of main highway. 1st, 5th, and 6th Bn were preparing defensive positions around the KAPPA-WI Tunnel.
5 Mar 51, 3d Bn was in village of KWANGJIN NI (DT8002) reorganizing. Before deserting his unit, PW heard (rumor among troops) 3d Bn was moving southward toward KAPPA-WI Tunnel.
24th Inf Unit was rumored to be guarding seacoast from 38th Parallel northward to WONSAN.
PW was told the following by his commanding officer:
(1) 15th NK Div was in INJE (DT2813)
(2) Undetermined number of CCF troops were in INJE.
(3) Undetermined number of CCF troops were in YONGHUNG (BV 8710) area.
(4) There were defensive positions consisting of trenches and bunkers built in 4 parallel lines N of YONGHUNG (BV8710).
c. T/O & E and Strength of Units: (5 Mar 51)
III Corps: 24th Inf Unit, 69th Brigade, and other units.
69th Brigade: 1st, 3d, 5th, and 6th Inf Bn, and 1 Engineer Bn.
2d Bn had been deactivated 1 Feb 51. Troops were integrated into 1st, 3d, 5th, and 6th Bn as replacements. 69th Brigade has never had 4th Bn because of superstition (#4 meant bad luck).
1st Bn: 1st, 2d, 3d Rifle Co, HMG Co.
HMG CO: 1st, 2d, and 3d HMG Plat.
Each Plat: 1 Off and 9 EM.
| 2d Plat, HMG Co | Original (1 Mar 51) | Present (5 Mar 51) |
| EM | 8 | 7 |
| Off | 1 | 1 |
| Equipment and ammo: | ||
| HMG (Maxim) | 1 (7,500 rd ea) | 1 (7,500 rd ea) |
| SMG PPsh | 2 (200 rd ea) | 2 (200 rd ea) |
| Rifles, M1891/30 | 2 (140 rd ea) | 2 (140 rd ea) |
| Grenades | 3 per man | 3 per man |
| Whistle | 1 | 1 |
| HMG Co | ||
| EM | 26 | 25 |
| Off | 4 | 4 |
| Equipment and ammo: | ||
| Telephone | 1 | 1 |
| Other weapons mentioned above. | ||
| 1st Bn | ||
| EM and Officers | 300 | 300 |
| 69th Brigade | ||
| EM and Off | 3,500 | 2,000 |
| Estimated Casualties: | ||
| KIA: Unk | ||
| WIA: 300 | ||
| Non-battle casualties: 200 (typhus) | ||
| Desertions: Unk | ||
| Total losses: Approx 1,500 | ||
d. Personalities:
LIM, Ch’ol (임철), Brigade CO, 69th Brigade.
e. Food, Ammo, and Other Supplies:
Approximately 50% of 69th Brigade’s food supplies come from YANGYANG. In YANGYANG, NKA has established a system by which each farmer is to give 50% of his food supply to NKA. The remaining 50% are confiscated from villages that the unit passes through.
69th Brigade ammo dump is at Mt MALGONG NI (DT7307). (Hearsay)
The brigade had more than sufficient small arms ammo.
f. Armor, Artillery and Aircraft:
PW heard that 69th Brigade had approximately 13 76mm Russian howitzers.
Prior to crossing 38th Parallel PW observed 3 howitzers. Believes that 69th Brigade, at the most, has about 5 howitzers (hearsay).
Had never seen howitzers in use and heard there was no ammo available for the howitzers.
g. UN PW:
Dec 50, PW saw approximately 1,000 US PW guarded by North Korean Internal Police Force.
In this group of prisoners PW noticed several women and children. Heard prisoners were to be interned in MANCHURIA.
1 Feb 51, PW saw 2 ROK PW shot by 69th Brigade Headquarters Security Troops.
Heard that when 1 or 2 prisoners were taken, they were usually shot because of lack of men to evacuate them to the rear.
When large groups of PW were taken, they were sent to the rear under guard of Security Troops and turned over to CCF for internment.
h. Medical:
First known case of typhus fever in 69th Brigade was 1 Feb 51. 1 Feb 51 to 5 Mar 51, approximately 200 troops were ill from typhus (or a typhus-like disease).
There has been no counter-measure of inoculation against typhus because of lack of medical and sanitary facilities.
69th Brigade medical supply consists of limited amounts of mercurochrome. Bandages were not issued; wounded troops were bandaged with pieces of blanket or clothing.
i. Psychological Warfare:
PW deserted unit because he was disgusted with military life and wanted to return home.
Had never seen propaganda leaflets but believed that he would be treated well if he surrendered.
As mentioned under T/O & E, number four (#4) is regarded by Orientals to be an ominous number. This stems from the Chinese (also Korean and Japanese) character, (死). This character means “death”. The Chinese (also Korean and Japanese) character (四) means “four” (#4), and is pronounced exactly the same as (死), the character for “death”.
For the AC of S, G-2:
HONG
