Posted on May 7, 2018
War Behind The Wire: Koje-do Prison Camp | HistoryNet
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On May 7, 1952, in Korea, Communist POWs at Koje-do rioted against their American captors.
http://www.koreanwaronline.com/arms/KojeDoRiots.htm
http://www.koreanwaronline.com/arms/KojeDoRiots.htm
War Behind The Wire: Koje-do Prison Camp | HistoryNet
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Military History
American History
World History
Korean War
POW/MIA
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The Battle For Koje Aka Kojo Prison Camp (1952)
Koje Island, Korea. Top view of Koje Prisoner of War Camp. North Korean communist prisoners seen through barbed wire. British troops put on gas masks and mov...
Thank you sharing SGT (Join to see) that on May 7, 1952 North Korean Communist POWs at Koje-do Prison Camp rioted against their American captors.
Image: 1952-05-07 Some of the weapons seized in compound 76.j
The Battle For Koje Aka Kojo Prison Camp (1952)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iMqFezpHmk
Background from koreanwaronline.com/arms/KojeDoRiots.htm
"Sequence of Riots at KOJE-DO
Enemy treatment of our POWs was a little different
Enemy treatment of "Politically Incorrect" civilians was also a little different
In most cases the preferred enemy treatment of helpless opposition was simply murder
January 1951, the UNC decided to isolate captured personnel on Koje-do, an island off the southern coast of Korea.
Col. Hartley F. Dame, the first camp commander, had to build dams and store rain water to service the 118,000 natives, 100,000 refugees, and 150,000 prisoners.
by the end of the month over 50,000 POW's were moved from the mainland to Koje-do.
Four enclosures, each subdivided into eight compounds, were built.
Originally intended to hold 700-1,200 men apiece, the compounds were soon jammed to five times their capacity.
The space between the compounds soon had to be used to confine the prisoners too, with only barbed wire separating each compound from the next, permitting free communications between all the prisoners.
With the number of security personnel limited and usually of inferior caliber, proper control was difficult at the outset and later became impossible.
Outbreaks of dissension and open resistance were desultory until the negotiations at Kaesong got under way.
September 1951 fifteen prisoners were murdered by a self-appointed people's court. Three more were killed when rioting broke out on the 19th in Compound 78.
The camp commander was not permitted by his superiors in Washington to institute effective disciplinary control.
December, 1951, rival factions - Communist and anti-Communist - vied for control of the compounds.
A large-scale rock fight between compounds on 18 December was followed by riots and demonstrations. Fourteen deaths and twenty-four other casualties resulted.
February, 1952, Compound 62 refused UN access for prisoner interrogation (screening).
February 18: 3rd Btn 27th Infantry moved in and were attacked by over a thousand prisoners, armed with improvised weapons.
The 27th opened fire, killing fifty-five prisoners immediately, 22 more dying at the hospital, with over 140 other casualties. The 27th lost 1 killed and 38 wounded.
March 13, 1952. An anti-Communist detail and their ROK guards, while passing a hostile compound, were stoned. Without orders the guards retaliated with gunfire.
12 prisoners were killed and 26 were wounded while 1 ROK civilian and 1 U.S. officer, who tried to stop the shooting, were injured.
May 7, 1952. General Dodd, the camp commandant, lured to the unlocked gate of Compound 76 on pretense of discussions to ease camp tensions, was violently set on and captured.
Rather than forcing a military solution which would have cost the General's life as well as that of untold numbers of the prisoners, replacement commandant General Colson and the reinforced 38th Infantry Regiment sat and watched as the communists put General Dodd on trial on criminal charges for abuse of prisoners, a farce unequalled in modern military history.
May 9, after comic-opera negotiations, with real lives at stake, General Dodd was released.
Subsequently, both Generals Dodd and Colson were reduced in rank to Colonel.
Brig. Gen. Haydon L. Boatner, assistant division commander of the 2d Division, was appointed new commander of Koje-do.
June 4, 1952. 38th Regiment infantry, supported by two tanks, quickly smashed through Compound 85 and Compound 96, rescuing 85 anti-communist POWs, without casualties.
June 10, 1952. Paratroopers of the 187th Airborne RCT moved into Compound 76 without firing a shot. Using only concussion grenades, tear gas, bayonets, and fists, they drove or dragged the prisoners out of the trenches they had built within the compound. As a half-dozen Patton tanks rolled in resistance collapsed.
Colonel Lee was captured and dragged by the seat of his pants out of the compound.
During the two-and-a-half-hour battle, 31 prisoners were killed, many by the Communists themselves, and 139 were wounded.
One U.S. Paratrooper was speared to death and 14 were injured.
Leaders of Compounds 78 and 77 swiftly agreed to do whatever Boatner wanted.
In Compound 77 the bodies of sixteen murdered men were found.
FYI LTC Bill Koski CW5 (Join to see) MSG Brad Sand SGM Steve Wettstein SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SP5 Mark Kuzinski SrA Christopher Wright PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO1 John Miller SP5 Robert Ruck SPC (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill SN Greg Wright Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey TSgt Joe C. Cpl Joshua Caldwell SGT Michael Thorin SP5 Dave (Shotgun) Shockley
Image: 1952-05-07 Some of the weapons seized in compound 76.j
The Battle For Koje Aka Kojo Prison Camp (1952)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iMqFezpHmk
Background from koreanwaronline.com/arms/KojeDoRiots.htm
"Sequence of Riots at KOJE-DO
Enemy treatment of our POWs was a little different
Enemy treatment of "Politically Incorrect" civilians was also a little different
In most cases the preferred enemy treatment of helpless opposition was simply murder
January 1951, the UNC decided to isolate captured personnel on Koje-do, an island off the southern coast of Korea.
Col. Hartley F. Dame, the first camp commander, had to build dams and store rain water to service the 118,000 natives, 100,000 refugees, and 150,000 prisoners.
by the end of the month over 50,000 POW's were moved from the mainland to Koje-do.
Four enclosures, each subdivided into eight compounds, were built.
Originally intended to hold 700-1,200 men apiece, the compounds were soon jammed to five times their capacity.
The space between the compounds soon had to be used to confine the prisoners too, with only barbed wire separating each compound from the next, permitting free communications between all the prisoners.
With the number of security personnel limited and usually of inferior caliber, proper control was difficult at the outset and later became impossible.
Outbreaks of dissension and open resistance were desultory until the negotiations at Kaesong got under way.
September 1951 fifteen prisoners were murdered by a self-appointed people's court. Three more were killed when rioting broke out on the 19th in Compound 78.
The camp commander was not permitted by his superiors in Washington to institute effective disciplinary control.
December, 1951, rival factions - Communist and anti-Communist - vied for control of the compounds.
A large-scale rock fight between compounds on 18 December was followed by riots and demonstrations. Fourteen deaths and twenty-four other casualties resulted.
February, 1952, Compound 62 refused UN access for prisoner interrogation (screening).
February 18: 3rd Btn 27th Infantry moved in and were attacked by over a thousand prisoners, armed with improvised weapons.
The 27th opened fire, killing fifty-five prisoners immediately, 22 more dying at the hospital, with over 140 other casualties. The 27th lost 1 killed and 38 wounded.
March 13, 1952. An anti-Communist detail and their ROK guards, while passing a hostile compound, were stoned. Without orders the guards retaliated with gunfire.
12 prisoners were killed and 26 were wounded while 1 ROK civilian and 1 U.S. officer, who tried to stop the shooting, were injured.
May 7, 1952. General Dodd, the camp commandant, lured to the unlocked gate of Compound 76 on pretense of discussions to ease camp tensions, was violently set on and captured.
Rather than forcing a military solution which would have cost the General's life as well as that of untold numbers of the prisoners, replacement commandant General Colson and the reinforced 38th Infantry Regiment sat and watched as the communists put General Dodd on trial on criminal charges for abuse of prisoners, a farce unequalled in modern military history.
May 9, after comic-opera negotiations, with real lives at stake, General Dodd was released.
Subsequently, both Generals Dodd and Colson were reduced in rank to Colonel.
Brig. Gen. Haydon L. Boatner, assistant division commander of the 2d Division, was appointed new commander of Koje-do.
June 4, 1952. 38th Regiment infantry, supported by two tanks, quickly smashed through Compound 85 and Compound 96, rescuing 85 anti-communist POWs, without casualties.
June 10, 1952. Paratroopers of the 187th Airborne RCT moved into Compound 76 without firing a shot. Using only concussion grenades, tear gas, bayonets, and fists, they drove or dragged the prisoners out of the trenches they had built within the compound. As a half-dozen Patton tanks rolled in resistance collapsed.
Colonel Lee was captured and dragged by the seat of his pants out of the compound.
During the two-and-a-half-hour battle, 31 prisoners were killed, many by the Communists themselves, and 139 were wounded.
One U.S. Paratrooper was speared to death and 14 were injured.
Leaders of Compounds 78 and 77 swiftly agreed to do whatever Boatner wanted.
In Compound 77 the bodies of sixteen murdered men were found.
FYI LTC Bill Koski CW5 (Join to see) MSG Brad Sand SGM Steve Wettstein SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SP5 Mark Kuzinski SrA Christopher Wright PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO1 John Miller SP5 Robert Ruck SPC (Join to see) PO3 Steven Sherrill SN Greg Wright Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey TSgt Joe C. Cpl Joshua Caldwell SGT Michael Thorin SP5 Dave (Shotgun) Shockley
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SGT (Join to see)
The existence of such a horrible POW camp and its history is a very real look at an ugly part of our past. Some of the descriptions of the camps, what happened and what was allowed to happen, paints an unacceptable breach of our own values. Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
I agree but not entirely sure comparing values from now to values from then is an apples to apples thing. Lot of animosity towards Asians coming out of WWII, even if they weren't Japanese.
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SGT (Join to see)
Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen - I agree. They also were not prepared to put 150,000 POW anywhere.
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
Something I thought of after posting is adding Communist to the mix. This was the height of McCarthyism, so combine that with hatred of Asians and you got what you see. Not sure anyone can be prepared for 150,000 POWs, even today.
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