Korean War. Results and consequences

Statistics

Number of troops (persons):

Southern coalition (the so-called "UN troops"):

South Korea - 590 911

USA - 302,483 to 480,000

UK - 14,198

Philippines - 7000

Canada - 6146 to 26,791

Turkey - 5190

Netherlands - 3972

Australia - 2282

New Zealand - 1389

Thailand - 1294

Ethiopia - 1271

Greece - 1263

France - 1119

Columbia - 1068

Belgium - 900

Luxembourg - 44

Total: 933,845 to 1,100,000.

Northern Coalition (approximate data)

North Korea - 260,000

China - 780,000

USSR - up to 26,000, mostly pilots, anti-aircraft gunners and military advisers

Total: about 1,060,000

Losses (including killed and wounded):

Southern coalition

from 1,271,000 to 1,818,000

northern coalition

1,858,000 to 3,822,000 Chinese and North Koreans

315 citizens of the USSR who died from wounds and diseases (including 168 officers)

War in the air

The Korean War was the last armed conflict in which piston aircraft such as the F-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, A-1 Skyrader, as well as the Supermarine Seafire, Fairy Firefly aircraft used from aircraft carriers, played a prominent role. "and Hawker "Sea Fury", owned by the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. They began to be replaced by the jet F-80 Shooting Star, F-84 Thunderjet, F9F Panther. Piston aircraft of the northern coalition included the Yak-9 and La-9.

In the autumn of 1950, the Soviet 64th Fighter Air Corps, armed with new MiG-15 aircraft, entered the war. Despite secrecy measures (the use of Chinese identification marks and military uniform), Western pilots knew about this, but the UN did not take any diplomatic steps so as not to aggravate already tense relations with the USSR. The MiG-15 was the most modern Soviet aircraft and surpassed the American F-80s and F-84s, not to mention the old piston machines. Even after the Americans sent the newest F-86 Saber aircraft to Korea, Soviet aircraft continued to maintain an advantage over the Yalu River, since the MiG-15 had a larger practical ceiling, good acceleration characteristics, rate of climb and armament (3 guns versus 6 machine guns), although the speed was almost the same. The UN troops were outnumbered and this soon allowed them to level the air for the remainder of the war - a determining factor in the successful initial push north and counter Chinese forces. Chinese troops were also equipped with jet aircraft, but the quality of their pilots' training left much to be desired.

Among other factors that helped the southern coalition maintain parity in the air was a successful radar system (because of which the world's first radar warning systems began to be installed on MiGs), better stability and handling at high speeds and altitudes, as well as the use of special suits by pilots. direct technical comparison MiG-15 and F-86 is inappropriate, due to the fact that the main targets of the former were B-29 heavy bombers (according to American data, 16 B-29s were lost from the actions of enemy fighters, according to Soviet data, 69 of these aircraft were shot down), and the targets of the latter - MiG-15s themselves. The American side claimed that 792 MiGs and 108 other aircraft were shot down (although only 379 American air victories were documented), with the loss of only 78 F-86s. The Soviet side claimed 1106 air victories and 335 MiGs shot down. China's official statistics show 231 aircraft shot down in air combat (mostly MiG-15s) and 168 other losses. The number of North Korean air force casualties remains unknown. According to some estimates, she lost about 200 aircraft in the first stage of the war and about 70 after joining the fighting China. Since each side cites its own statistics, it is difficult to judge the real state of affairs. The best aces of the war are the Soviet pilot Evgeny Pepelyaev and the American Joseph McConnell. The total losses in the war of South Korean aviation and UN forces (combat and non-combat) amounted to 3046 aircraft of all types.

Throughout the conflict, the US Army carried out massive carpet bombing, mostly incendiary bombing, throughout North Korea, including civilian settlements. Despite the fact that the conflict did not last long, significantly more napalm was dropped on the DPRK than, for example, on Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Tens of thousands of gallons of napalm were dropped every day on North Korean cities.

In May and June 1953, the US Air Force pursued the goal of destroying several key irrigation facilities and hydroelectric dams in order to cause significant damage to agriculture and industry in the north of the peninsula. The dams on the rivers Kusongan, Toksangan and Pudzhongan were destroyed and vast expanses of land were flooded, which caused severe starvation among the civilian population.

Consequences of the war

The Korean War was the first armed conflict of the Cold War and was the forerunner of many subsequent conflicts. She created a model of local war, when two superpowers are fighting in a limited area without the use of nuclear weapons. The Korean War added fuel to the fire of the Cold War, which at that time was more associated with the confrontation between the USSR and some European countries.

Korea

According to American estimates, about 600,000 Korean soldiers died in the war. About a million people died on the South Korean side, 85% of whom were civilians. Soviet sources speak of the death of 11.1% of the population of North Korea, which is about 1.1 million people. In total, including South and North Korea, about 2.5 million people died. More than 80% of the industrial and transport infrastructure of both states, three-quarters of government institutions, and about half of the entire housing stock were destroyed.

At the end of the war, the peninsula remained divided into zones of influence of the USSR and the USA. American troops remained in South Korea as a peacekeeping contingent, and the demilitarized zone is still riddled with mines and weapons caches.

USA

The US originally announced 54,246 deaths in the Korean War. In 1993, this number was divided by the National Defense Committee into 33,686 combat deaths, 2,830 non-combat casualties, and 17,730 non-Korean theater casualties during the same period. There were also 8142 missing persons. US losses were less than during the Vietnam campaign, however, it should be taken into account that the Korean War lasted 3 years against the 8-year war in Vietnam. For servicemen who went through the Korean War, the Americans issued a special medal "For the Defense of Korea".

The ensuing disregard for the memory of this war in favor of the Vietnam War, World War I and World War II led to the name of the Korean War. Forgotten war or the Unknown War. On July 27, 1995, the Korean War Veterans Memorial was opened in Washington DC.

As a result of the Korean War, the insufficient preparedness of the American military machine for combat operations became obvious, and after the war the US military budget was increased to $50 billion, the size of the army and air force was doubled, and American military bases were opened in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of Asia.

It also launched a number of projects on technical re-equipment the US Army, during which the military received such weapons as M16 rifles, M79 40-mm grenade launchers, F-4 Phantom aircraft.

The war also changed America's view of the Third World, especially in Indochina. Until the 1950s, the United States was very critical of French attempts to restore its influence there by suppressing local resistance However, after the Korean War, the United States began to help France in the fight against the Viet Minh and other national communist local parties, providing up to 80% of the French military budget in Vietnam.

The Korean War also marked the beginning of attempts at racial equalization in the US military, which included many black Americans. On July 26, 1948, President Truman signed an executive order making black soldiers serve in the army on the same terms as white soldiers. And, if at the beginning of the war there were still units only for blacks, by the end of the war they were abolished, and their personnel joined the general units. The last black-only special military unit was the 24th Infantry Regiment. It was disbanded on October 1, 1951.

The United States still maintains a large military contingent in South Korea in order to maintain the status quo on the peninsula.

People's Republic of China

According to official Chinese statistics, the Chinese army lost 390,000 men in the Korean War. Of these: 110.4 thousand killed in battle; 21.6 thousand died from wounds; 13,000 died of disease; 25.6 thousand captured or missing; and 260,000 wounded in battle. According to some sources, both Western and Eastern, from 500,000 to 1 million Chinese soldiers were killed in battle, died of disease, starvation, and accidents. Independent evaluations say that China lost almost a million people in this war. Mao Zedong's only healthy son, Mao Anying, also died in the fighting on the Korean peninsula.

After the war, Soviet-Chinese relations seriously deteriorated. Although China's decision to enter the war was largely dictated by its own strategic considerations (primarily the desire to maintain a buffer zone on the Korean Peninsula), many in the Chinese leadership suspected that the USSR deliberately used the Chinese as "cannon fodder" to achieve its own geopolitical goals. Dissatisfaction was also caused by the fact that military assistance, contrary to China's expectations, was not provided on a gratuitous basis. A paradoxical situation arose: China had to use loans from the USSR, initially received for the development of the economy, in order to pay for the supply of Soviet weapons. The Korean War made a significant contribution to the growth of anti-Soviet sentiments in the leadership of the PRC, and became one of the prerequisites for the Soviet-Chinese conflict. However, the fact that China, relying solely on its own forces, essentially entered the war with the United States and inflicted serious defeats on American troops, spoke of the growing power of the state and was a harbinger of what would soon political sense China will have to be reckoned with.

Another consequence of the war was the failure of plans for the final unification of China under the rule of the CCP. In 1950, the country's leadership was actively preparing to occupy the island of Taiwan, the last stronghold of the Kuomintang forces. The American administration at that time treated the Kuomintang without much sympathy and was not going to provide its troops with direct military assistance. However, due to the outbreak of the Korean War, the planned landing on Taiwan had to be cancelled. After the end of hostilities, the United States revised its strategy in the region and unequivocally declared its readiness to defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by communist armies.

Republic of China

After the end of the war, 14 thousand prisoners of war from the Chinese army decided not to return to China, but to go to Taiwan (only 7.11 thousand Chinese prisoners returned to China). The first batch of these POWs arrived in Taiwan on January 23, 1954. In the official Kuomintang propaganda, they began to be called "anti-communist volunteers." January 23 in Taiwan has since become known as " world day Freedom."

The Korean War had other long-term effects as well. By the beginning of the conflict in Korea, the United States had actually turned its back on the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek, which by that time had taken refuge on the island of Taiwan, and had no plans to interfere in the Chinese civil war. After the war, it became obvious to the United States that in order to counter communism globally, it was necessary to support anti-communist Taiwan in every possible way. It is believed that it was the dispatch of the American squadron to the Taiwan Strait that saved the Kuomintang government from an invasion by PRC forces and a possible defeat. Anti-communist sentiment in the West, sharply intensified as a result of the Korean War, played a significant role in the fact that, until the early 1970s, most capitalist states did not recognize the Chinese state and maintained diplomatic relations only with Taiwan.

Japan

Japan was politically influenced both by the defeat of South Korea in the first months of the war (this threatened its political security), and by the left movement that had begun in Japan itself in support of the northern coalition. In addition, after the arrival of the American army units on the Korean Peninsula, the security of Japan became doubly problematic. Under US supervision, Japan created an internal police force, which then developed into the Japan Self-Defense Force. The signing of the peace treaty with Japan (better known as the San Francisco Treaty) hastened Japan's integration into the international community.

AT economic terms Japan benefited greatly from the war. Throughout the conflict, Japan was the main rear base of the southern coalition. Supplies to the US forces were organized through special supply structures that allowed the Japanese to trade effectively with the Pentagon. About 3.5 billion dollars was spent by the Americans on the purchase of Japanese goods throughout the war. The zaibatsu, which at the beginning of the war had aroused the distrust of the US military, began to actively trade with them - Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo were among those zaibatsu that prospered from trade with the Americans. Industrial growth in Japan between March 1950 and March 1951 was 50%. By 1952, production had reached pre-war levels, doubling in three years. By becoming an independent country after the San Francisco treaty, Japan also got rid of some unnecessary expenses.

Europe

The outbreak of the Korean War convinced Western leaders that the communist regimes posed a serious threat to them. The US tried to convince them (including the FRG) of the need to strengthen their defenses. However, the armament of Germany was perceived ambiguously by the leaders of other European states. Later, rising tensions in Korea and China's entry into the war forced them to reconsider their position. To contain the emerging German army, the French government proposed the creation of a European Defense Committee, a supranational organization under the auspices of NATO.

The end of the Korean War marked the decline of the communist threat and thus the need for such an organization. The French Parliament has postponed the ratification of the agreement on the establishment of the European Defense Committee indefinitely. The reason for this was the fears of de Gaulle's party about the loss of France's sovereignty. The creation of a European Defense Committee was never ratified, and the initiative failed in a vote in August 1954.

USSR

For the USSR, the war was politically unsuccessful. The main goal - the unification of the Korean Peninsula under the regime of Kim Il Sung - was not achieved. The borders of both parts of Korea remained virtually unchanged. Further, relations with communist China seriously deteriorated, and the countries of the capitalist bloc, on the contrary, rallied even more: the Korean War accelerated the conclusion of a peace treaty between the United States and Japan, the warming of Germany's relations with other Western countries, the creation of the military-political blocs ANZUS (1951) and SEATO (1954 ). However, there were some pluses in the war: the authority of the Soviet state, which showed its readiness to come to the aid of a developing state, has seriously increased in third world countries, many of which, after the Korean War, embarked on a socialist path of development and chose the Soviet Union as their patron. The conflict also showed the world high quality Soviet military equipment.

Economically, the war has become a heavy burden for National economy The USSR, which has not yet recovered from the Second World War. Military spending has risen sharply. However, with all these costs, about 30,000 Soviet servicemen who participated in the conflict in one way or another received invaluable experience in waging local wars, several newest species weapons, in particular the MiG-15 combat aircraft. In addition, many samples of American military equipment were captured, which allowed Soviet engineers and scientists to apply American experience in the development of new types of weapons.

Today, North Korea, which possesses nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, is considered by Washington to be an "evil empire." The Americans are deploying missile defense systems on the Pacific coast, sending B-2 bombers to South Korea. And against this background of information, there is an excellent reason to recall the war that 60 years ago was already blazing on the Korean Peninsula. This article provides facts thatinYou may not have known about the Korean War.

A Korean girl with her brother on her back wearily walks past an American M-26 tank.
June 9, 1951

1. Origin of the 38th parallel

In 1896, the governments of Japan and Russian Empire signed an agreement on Korea, according to which the zone of influence of each side was limited to the 38th parallel. True, after Russo-Japanese War In 1910, the Japanese took over the entire Korean Peninsula. After the end of World War II, the American State Department, when dividing spheres of influence with Moscow, without further ado, returned to the 38th parallel again without further ado. It was the crossing of this conditional line by North Korean troops in 1950 that led to the war. Today, it is the 38th parallel that is the border between the two Korean states.

2. For Americans, this is not a war.

Officially, the Korean War was little more than a police operation, as President Harry Truman never even bothered to ask Congress for permission to formally declare war.

3. The threat of the use of nuclear weapons

By 1950, the history of nuclear weapons was only five years old. And the parties that had it had plans to use it in future local conflicts - such as, for example, the war in Korea. Thus, in the United States, the Joint Chiefs of Staff developed a plan for delivering nuclear strikes against China in the event of a full-scale intervention of this country in the Korean conflict. There was also a plan of attack. Soviet Union, however, he was rejected due to the opposition of the European allies, who feared the escalation of the situation in Europe. In any case, the American plans were to use nuclear weapons only in the event of "final military defeat."

4 North Koreans Capture An American General

A month after the start of fighting on August 25, 1950, during a skirmish in the Tajon area, Major General William Den, commander of the 24th Infantry Division, was shell-shocked while assisting wounded soldiers. The general was sent to the mountains, where he spent 36 days. Here he was given all possible medical care since he was injured. During the offensive, he was repulsed by South Korean soldiers, but during the evacuation to the rear he was again captured by the enemy. He remained in captivity until the end of the war.

5. Participation of women

About 86,300 Korean War veterans are women. This is approximately 7% of all veterans of this conflict.

6. There were partisan units in the American army during the war

With the outbreak of the Korean War, the American command had the idea of ​​organizing a partisan movement behind enemy lines. Unofficially, from the "rangers" and other special forces, a secret army unit No. 8240 was formed. All instructors are experienced guerrilla war during the Second World War and were transferred behind the front line to organize resistance units. At the same time, they were without documents and were formally dismissed from the ranks of the armed forces. Only in 1952 did soldiers and officers officially become part of the American Army's Psychological Warfare Center. By that time, they managed to prepare about 38 thousand partisans.

7. Use of dogs

During the Korean War, the US Army used about 1,500 specially trained dogs.

8. Drugs at War

In the Western press of that period, there are references that the first venous injections of amphetamine date back to the Korean War. Some soldiers made a mixture of amphetamine and heroin before the injection. A large number of participants in the military conflict returned to their homeland as drug addicts.

In the sky over Korea

It is well known that Soviet pilots participated in combat operations in Korea as part of air regiments based in China. Less well known is that Soviet pilots had direct encounters with the Americans on several occasions. So, in battles in the skies of Korea, as well as over the waters of the Yellow and Japan Seas, 13 pilots of naval aviation were killed. The first such case was noted on November 18, 1952, when four MiG-15s flew from Vladivostok to the Sea of ​​Japan. The task of the group was to monitor the strike force of the aircraft carriers Oriskani and Princeton. In the maneuvering area of ​​American ships, Soviet aircraft were suddenly attacked by four Panther carrier-based fighters from the Oriskany aircraft carrier. The plane of Senior Lieutenant Pakhomkin Vladimir Ivanovich was the first to be shot down. The pilot tried to reach the airfield, but the plane crashed into the sea and the pilot died. By this time, the Americans had brought 8 more vehicles to the battle area: 4 Panthers and 4 Banshees. As a result of a fierce battle in the face of the enemy's numerical superiority, two more MiG-15 pilots of Captain Nikolai Mikhailovich Belyakov and Senior Lieutenant Alexander Ivanovich Vandaev were shot down, since Soviet pilots were forbidden to open fire outside the combat zone, the pilots – died. Only Senior Lieutenant Pushkarev returned to the airfield. On the American side, one Panther fighter was damaged. Immediately after the battle, the commander of the fighter corps, General Mironenko, sent a fighter regiment to the battle area. But the aircraft carrier, without waiting for an answer, gave full speed and disappeared.

And on July 27, 1953, a transport Il-14 of the Pacific Fleet Air Force was shot down in the sky over the Yellow Sea in the territorial waters of China. The crew and all passengers died, a total of 25 people, whose remains were buried in the capital of Primorye – Vladivostok.

However, the Soviet pilots also had successes, which, unfortunately, have not yet been declassified to this day. The most famous was only the case of July 29, 1953 - formally after the end of the Korean War. On that day, an American RB-50 reconnaissance aircraft from the 55th US Air Force reconnaissance wing in the Vladivostok region was intercepted by a pair of MiG-17 fighters from 88 IAP. As a result of an attack by a pair of Rybakov - Yablonovsky, the plane was shot down. From the Japanese Misawa airfield, 4 aircraft of the American rescue squadron took off on alert towards the scene of the incident. Toward evening, American planes sent to search for the downed reconnaissance aircraft noticed two groups of three or four people in the water. The presence of 12 fishing boats was also recorded nearby.

Throughout the day, American ships searched for pilots, covering an area of ​​3,300 square miles. But, despite all efforts, out of 11 crew members and 6 electronic intelligence specialists, only one was found - co-pilot John Roche.

10. The Korean War is still not over

On July 27, 1953, American Lieutenant General William Garrison and North Korean General Nam Il signed an armistice agreement in Panmenchzhon. Then it was sealed with their signatures by the Commander-in-Chief of the People's Army of North Korea Kim Il Sung, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Army Peng Dehuai and the Commander-in-Chief of the UN Forces Clark.

The document stated that the truce is valid until "the signing of the final peace treaty." Thus, the conflict has not formally ended for more than sixty years.

The most tragic event in Korean history in the 20th century was the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. It was the first clash between the countries that won World War II without the use of nuclear weapons. Despite this, the losses from this encounter on the small Korean peninsula were enormous. The result of this war was the result that we are seeing to this day - Korea is divided into two states hostile to each other.

From the beginning of the 20th century until 1945, Korea was a Japanese colony. After the end of the war and the defeat of the Land of the Rising Sun, Korea was divided along the 38th parallel. North Korea fell under the influence of the Soviet Union, and the south of the peninsula fell under the influence of the United States. Both sides had plans for the peaceful reunification of the country, but at the same time both camps did not hide the fact that they were preparing for active hostilities.

To briefly describe the Korean War, it can be divided into four stages.

The first period lasted from June 25 to mid-September 1950. Each side of the conflict insists that hostilities were initiated by the enemy. One way or another, the North Korean army quickly moved south of the peninsula with swift blows.

The command of the North Korean army believed that it would advance 10 kilometers daily. The South Korean armed forces were simply not able to repel the iron tank wedges of the "neighbors", so US President Truman on the second day of the war signed an order to support the South Korean army. However, this did not greatly affect the offensive - by mid-September 1950, most of the South Korean territories were under the control of the Korean army.

The second period of hostilities was characterized by the active participation of UN troops. The second stage lasted from September 16 to October 24, 1950. American troops carried out for the most part not an offensive, but the capture of large strategic points by landing. As a result, large KPA groupings remained behind the "advancing" lines, cut off from leadership and supplies, and continued to resist, including as partisan detachments. One way or another, but soon the UN troops and the South Koreans liberated their territories, and took up positions already in the northern part of the peninsula - from where a direct path to China opened.

Since October 25, volunteers from China have joined the fighting, in fact, Chinese military personnel. This third period of action is characterized by an abundance of large and bloody operations. The nature of the fierceness of the fighting can be characterized by the fact that as a result of the indirect intervention of the USSR, Soviet pilots and anti-aircraft gunners destroyed 569 American aircraft in less than a month - and this is according to reports Western media. But by June, the situation became a stalemate - the North Koreans had an advantage in manpower, and the opponents outnumbered them in the amount of equipment. An offensive by either side would lead to a senseless massacre, the expansion of the conflict into Chinese territory, and with increasing probability led to the Third World War.
Thus, General D. MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the UN coalition, who insisted on expanding hostilities, was removed from his post, and the USSR representative to the UN proposed a ceasefire and disengagement of troops away from the 38th parallel.
This fourth and last period war lasted from June 30, 1951 to July 27, 1953. Peace negotiations were constantly interrupted. The joint army of the UN and South Korea during this time managed to carry out four attacks on northern territory. The northern side launched three successful counteroffensives. Both the offensives and counter-offensives on both sides were so devastating that, as a result, both belligerents came to the final conclusion that a truce was needed.
A ceasefire agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. However, it did not bring the long-awaited peace. And today, the DPRK and the Republic of Korea are not ready to recognize each other, and consider the entire peninsula to be their territory. Formally, the war continues to this day, because the treaty ending the war was never signed.

Beginning of negotiations. Realizing the impossibility of the “no alternative to victory” once declared by MacArthur in the Korean conflict, the Americans began to probe the possibilities of a compromise solution to the situation. Negotiations began with the involvement of all interested parties, including not only the Koreans, who professed different theories of development, but also the USSR and the PRC. However, getting out of the trap was harder than getting into it. In Moscow, they perfectly understood their benefit, the Americans, mired in the conflict, were losing people, money, and authority several times faster than their geopolitical opponent. Requirements were formulated that could not be the basis for a compromise.

Cessation of fighting. The negotiations dragged on for almost 2 years and were completed when both Moscow and Washington changed sovereignty. Eisenhower, who replaced Truman, being a competent military specialist, correctly assessed possible consequences continuation of the war as devastating to the United States. The White House decided to make concessions. In Moscow, the group that led after Stalin's death, in turn, considered it necessary to curtail the conflict. The least acceptable demands that offended the Americans were removed. On July 27, 1953, the fire was ceased, the troops were disengaged, and the war ended where it began, at the 38th parallel, which has become the current border between the two Korean states. Together with it, the permanent air war ended, which did not promise victory for either side.

General results of the conflict. The overall outcome of the conflict looked sad. According to terrible and far from accurate estimates, the people of both Koreas lost about 8-9 million people, over 80% of whom were civilians. The losses of the Chinese "volunteers" were considered more accurate, but the information was immediately classified. The "limited war" cost the Americans 54,000 dead, excluding those people who were lost by the contingents of other members of the UN mission. Since the USSR did not formally participate in the conflict, not only information about losses, but even mention of the 64th Corps and its combat activities did not exist for a long time. They started talking about them quite late, and reliable information appeared only in the late 1980s. However, even today the figures regarding our dead float in the range from 200 to 1500 thousand people.

Encryption error. Classifying the fact of Soviet participation in the war turned out to be a serious mistake. The Americans, realizing what was happening, used the silence of the enemy to their advantage. Their information policy made it possible in the eyes of the world to turn a failure in the air into a serious propaganda victory with important. When comparing the assessments of military-political competitors, the role of the "air factor" is always especially high. This makes sense: aviation concentrates everything that the people who created it are proud of. The plane is a bunch of intellect and the most high technology, the latest scientific discoveries, finally, just the concept embedded in it by the creators. He is the embodiment of the power of the country that created him. Those who serve in aviation personify the image of a nation or a national conglomerate, they are its best representatives. According to US data, military pilots have the highest "intelligence quotient" on average. The Americans still have certain reasons to put pilots on top of the pedestal.

And having silenced the participation of Soviet aviation in the Korean conflict, which everyone in the world knew about without exception, the Soviet leadership gave up the propaganda field to the Americans without a fight. Those, having felt impunity in the information space, "frolic" to glory. According to the work of American researchers, a lurid figure for the ratio of losses began to roam. Some out of cunning, while others out of ignorance circulated data on 802 downed MiGs and 56 Sabers, limiting all military statistics to this information.

Crazy numbers. This figure was wormed into domestic research in this form, sometimes more politely - in this case, it was about 792 MiGs for 78 "sabers". This is a lie, and a blatant one. Firstly, it is already clear to everyone that in the Chinese Air Force and the 64th Corps, MiGs were the only type of aircraft, except for Korean piston machines. Whereas in the US Air Force, quite modern materiel was subdivided, as they said, into 40 types, not counting British cars. With them, there were more varieties. At the same time, we remember that Sabers for MiGs were not the main object of hunting. Obviously, other aircraft, which the 64th Corps actually hunted for, also suffered losses. But only the most competent Westerners remember this, recognizing the death of more than 200 aircraft. But little is known about this information. And in the eyes of the majority, Russians look like "stupid people on coffins." Which is not entirely true. Just look at the official report on the actions of the US Air Force in Korea, where it is written in English in white that they destroyed 184,808 enemy soldiers. The inexperienced like exact numbers. They alarm the interested amateur. It is incomprehensible to him how the Yankees managed to count all those killed by them with an accuracy of up to 8 people. The guess suggests itself: "they lie and do not blush."

Soviet casualty data. According to Soviet data, losses in aviation look completely different over the years: November 1950-December 1951 - 564 aircraft were shot down, 71 were lost. In 1952, 394 were shot down, losses - 172 cars. In 1953, the enemy lost - 139, the 64th Corps - 92. In total, in 4 years, the Americans, that is, the UN, lost 1097 aircraft, not counting those that were shot down by Chinese and Korean pilots, as well as anti-aircraft gunners. According to the stories of our eyewitnesses, such a figure is more in line with the truth. However, there is no guarantee of accuracy in these calculations either, partly for objective reasons. After all, it happens that half of the wing of the enemy is torn off, the plane is on fire, but it still makes it to the airfield. But they can directly exaggerate, with official papers in the 20th century. this happens all the time. And no one has canceled and will not cancel the Suvorov principle in military history.

“And why feel sorry for them, adversaries.” Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov is worthy of all respect and worship, but there was, they say, such an episode in his biography. The prince of Italy compiled a report to the sovereign on the past battle together with the adjutant. And take that one, and ask: “Are we not writing a lot of killed enemies, Alexander Vasilyevich?” To which the truly brilliant commander replied: “Why feel sorry for them, adversaries” ?! Was it or not, but there is a saying among historians: "He's lying like an eyewitness." And there is no great fault of a person in that where the memoirist's memory failed, he did not see something, but thought of it. It's not about that. To find out the truth, it is desirable to find some piece of information that is neutral and essentially independent.

rescue statistics. For the Korean conflict, such a “nuance” was the number of sorties made by helicopters of the Air Force rescue service, of which, according to her report, there were about 2,500. Rescue Service It's American pride. Each pilot, leaving on a mission, had a miniature radio beacon in his pocket. When in trouble, the guy pressed the button, and his people knew where to look for him. Helicopters flew in, pulled their own from the most remote and dangerous places. This means that the number of flights approximately corresponds to the number of pilots who ended up on the ground against their will, and mostly alive, since those who were unlucky did not use the beacon, and these usually account for at least 10% of the total number of downed pilots, often more.

True, this figure is still not accurate due to the fact that it is not known how many times the rescuers flew to Busan for beer, denoting the departure in the reporting as a raid on the communist rear. But in any case, these 2,500,000 flights put American casualties closer to Soviet estimates than to the glib American accounts of 56-78 Sabers. There are other ways to justifiably disbelieve Americans, but we won't go into it just yet.

Sutyagin's 21 wins. One thing is clear, the 64th Corps in Korea fought fiercely and came out of the fight with honor, in no way inferior to those who considered themselves kings of the air. They have nothing to hide, but they can be proud. In any case, the most productive pilot of that war bore the Russian surname Sutyagin and had 21 victories. You can believe this, this was followed strictly in the USSR. Sutyagin's American rival, the already mentioned McDonnell, was well behind with his 16 points.

In terms of military experience, Korea brought closer the estimates of aviation power, which in the Soviet Union was finally considered a decisive factor. The geostrategic outcome forced the West to recognize the USSR as a militarily comparable superpower. Although the methods of achieving this parity did not yet guarantee equality of opportunity, the balance of power became more distinct. The cause of world peace was not harmed by the presence of a force comparable to that of the United States.

In which the USSR, China and the USA were involved, was Korean War (1950-1953).

Causes of the Korean War

Until 1945, Korea was under Japanese rule for 40 years. The inhabitants of the Korean peninsula dreamed of creating a national state. The agreements of the countries of the "Big Three" provided for the liberation of Korea from Japanese rule by the forces of the USSR and the USA, pushing the enemy from the north and south. The boundary of the advance of Soviet troops from the north and American troops from the south was to be the 38th parallel. In August 1945, with the entry of Soviet troops into the territory of the Korean Peninsula, a pro-communist government was created, headed by Kim Il Sung On September 6, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed in the north of the peninsula. In the south, the American military authorities achieved the creation of a government headed by a professor Lee Seungman pro-American. Both governments claimed power over all of Korea. In 1948-1949. Soviet and American troops left the Korean Peninsula.

Lee Seung Man

Course of the Korean War

June 25, 1950 North Korean troops crossed the demarcation line (38th parallel). On June 27, at a meeting of the UN Security Council, in the absence of a representative of the USSR, a resolution was adopted on rendering assistance to South Korea as a victim of aggression and on sending US troops to Korea under the command of General D. MacArthur and under the UN flag. On June 28, the North Korean Red Army captured the capital of South Korea, Seoul.

By mid-August, almost the entire peninsula was in the hands of the DPRK army, but then the American troops managed to stop the enemy’s advance. The counteroffensive of the American troops began on September 15, at the same time, an American landing force landed near Seoul, the North Korean troops in the south of the peninsula were under the threat of encirclement and fled. By October 8, 1950, American troops reached the 38th parallel and continued their offensive against Pyongyang (the capital of the DPRK). The North Korean armed forces were defeated, and only the decision of the Chinese Communist government to send troops under the guise of volunteers in October 1950 saved the North Korean regime from defeat. The USSR limited itself to providing assistance to military aviation. In battles with the Chinese army of 270,000, American troops retreated. material from the site

In January 1951, Chinese and North Korean troops entered Seoul. The American General MacArthur seriously proposed the use of nuclear weapons. In March 1951, the American army recaptured Seoul, the front line stabilized along the 38th parallel. Only after the inauguration of the new US President (Republican Dwight Eisenhower) and the death of Stalin, the leadership of the USSR and the USA decided to end the hopeless military conflict. July 27, 1953 a truce was concluded, a demilitarized zone was established in the region of the 38th parallel. The war that cost the lives of 4 million Koreans and 1 million Chinese is over. However, a peace treaty between the DPRK and South Korea was only signed on May 29, 2013, although tensions remain to this day.

During the Korean War, the world was close to the transition of the confrontation between the USSR and the USA from the state of the "cold war" to the state of a full-scale military conflict, but the mutual threat of the use of nuclear weapons and colossal casualties among the citizens of the USA and the USSR did not give the local military conflict to escalate into a third world war.

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