"The Korean War: Secret Soviet Involvement" Topic

"As in no other air war in recent history, the Korean War was fought by opposing combatants who had no stake whatsoever in the territory in dispute. When the North invaded the South, Americans entered the battle openly and with heavy commitment. The Soviets elected to go undercover with limited aid in material and especially in manpower. For whatever reason, neither side expressed a specific goal or objective, other than to fight one another and to hopefully bring the whole sad affair to an end. Unfortunately, the war never officially ended. In spite of over a half century of negotiation, neither side has surrendered or agreed on a formal truce to end the armed conflict. Instead, both sides signed a tenuous cease-fire agreement and technically the combatants remain in a state-of-war.

By the end of October 1950, the Korean and Chinese aviation assets had been combined into a single Unified Air Army (OVA) to protect a limited number of rear area resources. Short of equipment and lacking combat experience, they were unable to overcome UN air superiority and fulfill even this limited role. It soon became clear that unless the Soviet Union became involved, the Americans and their Allies would dominate the skies over Korea.

In November 1950, Lt. Colonel Alexandr Pavlovich Smorchkov was flying a MiG-15 when the commander of the Moscow Air Defense, General Colonel K. Moscalenko, informed him that he was to initiate "Polikarpov Po-2 in Flight," a top-secret deployment. Without delay, Smorchkov's regiment boarded a secret night train to travel to the Far East to fight in the Korean War. Days later, the Soviet 64th IAK (Istrebitel'niy Aviatsionniy Korpus or Independent Fighter Aviation Corps), arrived at their destination, greeted by tropical downpours so heavy that ducks were swimming on their airfield…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Worst. Kept. Secret. Ever.

And those of us old enough to remember, denial of Soviet involvement in that war by the Establishment lasted into the 70's.

If anyone mentioned the subject, they were immediately labeled as Right Wing nut jobs, lumped in with the then buggaboo of the Left, the John Birch Society, and generally nullified.

An uncle who fought in the Philippines until VJ Day, was also around to fight the Communist Huks after the Japanese left the game. He told me, now many years ago, how his unit, the Philippine Scouts, actually took Russian prisoners and were told to keep quiet about it.

I cannot, of course, personally testify to the story, but it seems perfectly plausible.

I think that under the Truman Administration, and for years afterward, serious efforts were made to cover up the evidence of Soviet involvement in so many conflicts around the world, and perhaps even within the US. Possibly the fear was that given the already wide national distrust of Russia generally--the era of "Red Scare"--more evidence of their full efforts to subvert the West risked war, a legitimate enough concern.

If anyone knows of a serious work that explores this somewhat schizophrenic period in the US concerning perceived and actual Soviet threats, please post a link to it here.

Oh, and by "perceived" I don't mean to imply "imagined." The very fact that actual Soviet efforts--such as their direct involvement in Korea--were kept secret, speaks to
efforts to limit the public's awareness.

TVAG

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand