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보/고/서

ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO 4397

FIELD REPORT (ADVATIS FWD 0006)　4 November 1950

Information is fairly reliable. PW was cooperative, but his judgement was poor.

The town of ARZORE overlooked the port of ARZORE and was surrounded by rolling hills (100m-150m) on all sides. The level lands between the hills were all swamps. The soil in this region was not fertile, and very moist. Color of the soil was blank in rainy seasons and turned yellow and hard in the dry season. The only industries that are profitable in that area are the fisheries. The trees in that region were not tall, the tallest tree measured only about 7m. Most of the trees were white birch.

The group freezes in this area from about the 20 Sep til the latter part of Jun. It freezes to a depth of about one meter. It begins snowing from mid-Sep until the late part of Apr. Average depth of snow is about 1½ meters.

Rainy season is from early part of Jun to early part of Sep. Although this is considered the rainy season it doesn’t rain continuously. Sun shines 10 days each month. Average depth -1cm. Natural vegetation – white birch, ordinarily grows on the hillsides. Cultivated vegetation – cabbages and Irish potatoes.

The port of ARZORE freezes from about Dec to Feb. The thickness of the ice measures about 2m, and in mid-Jan laborers go out fishing on trucks over the sea covered with thick ice.

There was no railroad at KIVROSKY, food and clothing were shipped on transports from VLADIVOSTOK to PETROPAVLOVSK. There were about 2 or 3 transport ships (7000 to 8000 T) passed off shore at KIVROSKY each day however, they seldom entered the part. Actually, there are only about 10 ships that bring supplies to KIVROSKY. Aside from that, ships come in to be loaded with fish to be taken to PETROPAVLOSK. There were roads built in KIVROSKY, they were mostly gravel. The width varies depending on location, ordinarily it was about 8m wide.

Telephone lines were strung on poles along side the road. There were electric power lines also in KIVROSKY. There were five trucks in the entire town. The population of KIVROSKY is about 3,000.

KLYUCHI – Nov 47 – Jun 48

There were no railway lines in KLYUCHI. There were approx. 20 (US Made) trucks in KLYUCHI and there were used to haul timber. Telephone lines were strung on poles 50 feet apart along the dirt road, across the town of KLYUCHI. KLYUCHI had its own electrical power. This power probably come from a hydro electric plant that was built on a river in KLYUCHI, PW believes.

UST KAMCHATKA – Jan 48 – Sep 48

UST KAMCHATKA, a port city in the east coast of the KAMCHATKA peninsula, has a population of about 3,000. In this west area, the only means of transportation was probably by steamship that enters the port about twice a day. There are no airports in this area, chiefly because the area is almost all swamp land. Roads lead to all parts of UST KAMCHATKA both the rural areas (dirt road) and urban area (gravel roads). However these roads seem to be only used by pedestrians since in the entire town of UST KAMCHATKA, there are about 15 vehicles. This area is very backward, and farming is carried on by primitive methods. Like in KOREA, oxen are the common means of transportation. This town with electric lights deriving its power from a thermo-electric power plant located in the central section of UST KAMCHATKA. Telephone lines (3) were strung on poles alongside the dirt roads. Telephones were installed only in offices of some factories end in police stations. There were radios in almost every home, made of cardboard and there were practically all AO radios.

On Wednesday and Saturday there were direct broadcasts from MOSCOW, and PW once had the broadcast interpreted to him by a Russian, it was all about industrial output. PW states, these Russian almost always hear about, commodity prices, industrial output or supplies that are being sent to this area.

ARZORE – (Phonetic) – Oct 48 – Sep 49

ARZORE, a natural port city has a population of about 1200. These people residing in this area are practically all laborers, either a fisherman or fish factory worker. This small town also has electric lights, the power coming from a generator places in a steel factory. This steel factory being located in the northeast sector of ARZORE. There were telephone lines (4), however telephones were installed only in office buildings, stores and police station. Like in any region in KAMCHATKA, there were no RR. PW believes, RR cannot be built in this area, because the surface of the land is too swampy and soft. There were no plans made to build RR in this area as late as Oct 49. For transporting much needed items such as medicine, mail etc., there was an airfield about 200-300 meter east of ARZORE. Dirt roads of very poor in quality were in ARZORE. These roads were very lumpy, and in rainy season, they were not passible. This type of road would be better classified as a trail, since just by the frequent passing of vehicles, this had been considered a road. Specifically a few French, and natives of KAMCHATKA. PW and all other laborers received similar treatment here as in other places mentioned.

PW observed the ARZORE Airfield when he and 150 others sent to the airfield to repair roads o/a the 24 Sep 49.

Location – The Arzore Airfield was located about 150m east of Arzore town, KANCHATKA. ARZORE (not in map) is about 12 km SE of TYMLAT (on map). The land in the vicinity of the airfield was flat, and there were no special roads built, leading to this airfield.

Area – The Arzore airfield was 200m x 700m. This airfield had been recently built when PW was in ARZORE. There were no installations, or hangers built in that area as of Sep 49. On the latter part of Sep 49 about 30 Russian soldiers built a barracks on the eastern side of the airfield. And each day, thereafter they brought in materials.

PW saw the iron foundry, while working in a fish packing plant about 100 meters north of this steel factory. PW believes this to be an iron foundry, because the door to this factory was wide open, and he saw a lathe in the interior. Furthermore he based his opinion on the smoke stack of this foundry which emitted dark smoke.

Location – The ARZORE iron foundry was located on the southern part of ARZORE. It was built about 700 meters east of the sea. There was a gravel road running in the back of this iron foundry. The door to this factory faced the port.

Area – the ARZORE iron foundry covered the ground area of about 15m x 10m. There was a barted wire entanglement laid around this building. This building was wooden construction, with gable type sheet iron roof. Approx 20 Russian worked there. This foundry produced miscellaneous items, such as, small parts of vehicles, chains, nuts and bolts, and other necessary iron materials.

Within this building, there was one boiler about 3 meters in height and diameter (?). And also, there was an oil-run generator delivering electric power to all of ARZORE.

PW saw this saw mill on the above mentioned period when he worked in it with nine (9) other men.

Location – Arzore saw mill was located in the outskirt of Arzore. The front side of the building faced the sea or the port of ARZORE, and measured about 60m from the sea. There was a gravel road built in the back of this building.

Area – The Arzore Saw Mill covered a vast area. There was a spacious flat land extending for miles in the southern side of this saw mill, and numerous piles of lumber from Sep to Oct of each year. The saw mill measured 20m x 10m and was a wooden constructed, gable type wooden shingle roofed building. There were two disc saws in the interior, and processed about 30 logs a day. The disc saws were operated by electricity, which was derived from the generator in the iron foundry, about 400m north of this place. There was only one saw in the entire area. There were nine workers in the mill, two Russian Supervisors and 7 Korean workers speaking these roads were used by pedestrians, because in the entire town of ARZORE there were 5 vehicles. Radios were in almost all homes that had electricity. These radios are made of cardboard and frequently had trouble. They could hear on Wednesdays & Saturdays, broadcasts from MOSCOW and also for 30 minutes they heard NK broadcasts. These broadcasts almost always were propaganda broadcasts. On ordinary days there were Russian broadcasts from KHABAROVSK.

The population of KIVROSKY is estimated to be approx. 3,000. About 1,000 men were Korean laborers sent from NK to this location to do fishing. Russian laborers were estimated to be about 1,000 (including Russian women). Most of them were minority groups such as UZBEXS, Turkmen etc. The remainder were Germans, French and Japanese (200-300). They were all laborers, and supervised by Great Russians.

Radios were mostly owned by the Russians. There were Russian interpreters at the side of each radio, explaining the propaganda broadcasted. PW believes the radios to be distributed to them by the government, chiefly for the reason to have PW and follow laborers influenced by false broadcast, propaganda and communist ideologies.

UST KAMCHATKA – Jun 48 – Sep 48

The population of UST KAMCHATKA is estimated to be 3,000 Russians are pre-dominant with about 1,200 to 1,300 laborers (men & women) and there were close to 1,000 Koreans. The remaining laborers were of French and Germans. These people were all hired laborers, but they were deceived by the Russians. Common laborers were paid from 600 to 700 Rubles per month. It was impossible to make a go with only this amount. Therefore, in order to save at least, a portion of his salary, PW and many others, were no shoes to work, and were ragged el thing, patched and repatched. For food, PW and all laborers were told at first that it was free, however, when they came to the working camp, they were charged for every gram of food they ate. The laborers were deceived by the Russians in KAMCHATKA on transportation fees. PW and numerous other Korean laborers were charged for transportation from NK to PETROPAVLOVSK. Due to this reason, it was impossible to save at all. The Russian supervisors and the Great Russians were paid from 1500 to 1800 rubles – almost three times more than Korean laborers. The Koreans were promised a raise in pay after each year, however, that was simply lies – since PW stayed for two years but the pay was the same always. On the other hand Russians were increased in wages every six months. PW knows none of the French or German laborers. The working conditions were very poor. They worked from early in the morning til late at night. And during times when fish are caught in great abundance, they worked continuously, hence resting only two hours and loss in 24 hours. There were very few occasions when work was a lack. Still then, they worked 8 to 10 hr a day doing odd jobs. Similar to working conditions, the living conditions, the living conditions were even worse. They slept on wooden planks in a rundown shack, no heating systems. Only means of obtaining warmth during winter was, either a member of the shack built stove fires (no fire wood) or cuddle all close together and produce heat from their bodies.

ARZORE (Phonetic) – Oct 48 – Sep 49

The estimated population of ARZORE is 1,200. Out of that, Russians were about 600, Koreans – 200, Germans – 100; the rest were.

Raw Material – The lumber came from the area of UST KAMCHATKA. They are cut down from the side of the mountains in UST KAMCHATKA, then, they are floated down the river to the sea. As they float in the sea, they are bound together into rafts to the size of 10 meters wide, and 3 meters high (1m floats above the surface of the sea, 2m is below the water surface). Thereon the rafts were pulled by tugboats (7,000 T) to the saw mill area. These logs were hauled from the sea by men. There were no cranes or similar facilities to haul them in. It took the laborers over two days to haul a log raft ashore.

On May 1947, PW and 2,000 Koreans want to KAMCHATKA on a Russian cargo ship. At that time, many North Koreans were out of work, and PW was one of them. They were promised by Russian officials extravagant terms. They were told that food, clothing and shelter will be given the Koreans free. And they were told many other things, that convinced PW and 2,000 other money hungry Koreans to go to KAMCHATKA for 1 year contracts. When they got there, and had the first taste of the opposite treatment many had the intention to run away and hide. But for evident reasons did not. After one year was over, PW and 2,000 Koreans were told that there were no ships going to Korea. They were told to stay in KAMCHATKA for another year, then something would be furnished at the end of the year. Regretfully PW and 2,000 Koreans stayed and labored for one more year.

In the latter part of September, PW and 1,300 Koreans returned on a Russian cargo (jam packed) to Korea. About 700 Koreans still remained in KAMCHATKA since their contracts didn’t expire at that time.

For the Commanding Officer:

ARZORE AIRFIELD