thomo the lost posted this in 
May 7th, 2007
There was a book review recently in the Korea Times about a couple of authors who had published recently. The review was titled Masters Return With Bitter History and covered a couple of areas of Korean History.
What particularly interested me was a photo from World War II that served as an inspiration for Jo JungRae, an author, for his latest book, “Oh God.” The photo shows a Korean soldier in German uniform on a Normandy beach in 1944. The photo itself had been previously featured in “D-Day” by Stephen Ambrose. Apparently an American soldier from the war had told Ambrose that he had met four Koreans wearing German uniforms when his unit participated in action against German troops on the beaches of Normandy.
It seems that the Koreans had been conscripted into the Japanese Army but after being captured by the Russians at the Battle of Nomonhan in the Russo-Japanese War (part II, the 1940′s one, not the 1904-05 one). They were pressed into service in the Russian Army. Captured by the Germans in a battle near Moscow, the Koreans were then pressed into service in the Wehrmacht. They were then captured by the Americans whilst they were engaged working on the Atlantic Wall. The Americans (mercifully) did not press them into service but rather held them as prisoners of war.
It seems that these poor souls never made it back home to Korea as apparently the Koreans were exchanged with the Soviets for American POWs liberated by the Red Army. This I find a little suspicious as at that time the Red Army and the US Army were on the same side and no POW exchanges should have been necessary. I could accept that they were returned to the Soviet’s however as at that time there was a largish Korean Diaspora under Soviet control and they therefore would have seemed like a Soviet problem to deal with.
The picture itself can be viewed at the WW2 Multimedia Database == World War II Multimedia Database, the homepage of the Database being here at http://www.worldwar2database.com/. The book itself is written in Korean so I cannot read into it, however, the idea behind the book was appealing, doubly so as I have been doing some research into the Battle of Nomonhan anyway. I will post an article about that later when I get the research finished.
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I have never heard about the Koreans. However, I do know that the Soviets did have a number of U.S. servicemen held for the duration of the war. My college professor/advisor used to fly for the Army Air Core in World War II. The U.S. used to build plans, then fly them to Russia, via Alaska to Kamchatcha, from where Soviet pilots would fly them to Soviet air bases in the west. A number of U.S. pilots crashed or flew off course. These men were routinely in prisioned by the Soviets, without any public outcry from the U.S. government.
Fascinating post. I wonder how the soldiers who only knew Korean were given orders?
One issue though: Japan didn’t start conscripting Koreans into their armed forces until 1944. If those soldiers were captured by the Russians in 1940, they were probably volunteers.
I could suppose that as all of Korea and a chunk of Manchuria was under Japanese control before the Battle of Nomonhan the Japanese may have required non-combatants (cooks, porters, drivers etc) and pressed the Koreans into those roles rather than a combat role. Of course, the Koreans may have volunteered as you suggested James as there were quite a number of Quislings in Korea at the time (hmm, as they likely joined before Germany invaded Norway, can you have a quisling at that time?).
Interesting, but I also found this article on the photo:
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.history.war.world-war-ii/2008-02/msg00421.html
Apperantly, he was from Tibet and lived happily ever after in the US
Hi there! Coud you be kind enough to give me an information about korean
soldiers being used by the japanese imperial army during their campaign in the Philippine Islands during word war 2. As far as I can remember my grand dad used to tell me that he has known of a common soldier of the japanese army by the name of “kim” and “park”. Surely, those names aren’t japanese at all. I was wondering that these doubts might find light. Afterall, Korea is just near Japan. And Korea has been under Japanese rule for some 45 or 43 years maybe? I’m not so sure. I was quite doubtful that the japanese army might have used KOrean soldiers , maybe most of them abducted fisherman from the coastal regions near Dokdo or maybe Pusan.
I’m not sure about what happened in the Philippines Eddie but I do know that Korean soldiers were used in the Japanese Army as concentration camp guards in S.E. Asia. It is not so suprising as Korea had been under Japanese rule for 40 years by this stage and certainly the “Righteous Army” in Korea was gone.
Kim and Park are definitely not Japanese names.
One other thing to remember is that there is (and was) a huge diaspora of Koreans in Japan so maybe the soldiers came from that group.
I, myself is Korean American and in my family photo album, there’s a photo of my granduncle (my paternal grand mother’s younger brother) in Japanese Army uniform. The photo was taken right before he was sent out to God knows where. When I was young, I didn’t think too much of it but, as I got older, it was pretty shocking see the image. I heard from my grandparents that lot of Korean men (young and old) were drafted to fight for Japanese cause, some willingly and definitely most not willingly. And during the Japanese annexation of Korea, Koreans eventually had to change their last name to Japanese style last name. Otherwise you weren’t able to go to school or work in decent institution. My family’s last name is Kim and in Japanese, they pronounce it Kane and they would add one more character. For my family’s case they added mountain character which would pronounce Kaneyama. And of course they had to adapt Japanese first name as well. So even if there weren’t that many Kims and Lees and Parks in the list of Japanese soldiers, most likely there were quiet a lot of Korean men in Japanese army using Japanese style last names.
Thanks for the comment Kim Taesoo-ssi. The Japanese occupation of Korea and then the Second World War is still a difficult and vexing period of history – but history it is. It still is something that offers up raw emotion and can be difficult to discuss and talk about.
I am grateful for the insight into the lastnames – that will make some of the reading in the future a little easier to understand.
To Omar – #4 above. The link http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.history.war.world-war-ii/2008-02/msg00421.html which shows the soldier notes that his name was
which is defintely not Tibet
There were references to Tibetans elsewhere in that piece and following the discussions on that topic on that link provide some interesting suggestions as well.
Dear Thomo the lost and Permalink. How Glad I am to find you!!! I’ve been fascinated by the story of the Korean soldiers catured at Normandy for several years.
When I read that one of the men lived in the US and NEVER TOLD ANYONE ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES, I was geatly disappointed.
One can only imaging the deprivation and horrors this man expeienced and survived, a virtually unique vantage point on history, and alas, the story died with him.
A couple of points: I believe at Tarawa about a hundred prisoners were taken, but they turned out to be Koreans who were used as a slave labor force. So there were Koreans in Japanese military service before 1944, mainly as forced laborers (not to mention the thousands of Korean girls and women forced to act as “comfort women” for Japanese troops).
My assumption was that the Koreans captured in Normandy were pressed into service roles (cooks, porters, drivers etc)with the Japanese Army, and then simply captured by the Russians.
As I recall, in the footnote in Ambrose’s book on D-Day, these fellows were a bit of a mystery to the American intelligence officers who interviewed them but did not know what language they spoke for a period of about 3 days. At some point the Koreans must have been debriefed or interviewed, and an intelligence report must be in an archive somewhere.
Do you know where one would find the archives of intelligence interviews from D-Day?
As it happens I live in Bethesda, Maryland, just a few miles from the National Archives in Washington DC and the main center in suburban Maryland.
If there is someting I can look up for you, let me know.
Best regards,
John Ciccone
Hi John, Thanks for the kind offer to look stuff up the National Archives in Washington – as I am in Australia now it is kind of a long trip for me to make
Seems that not only did Koreans end up in Wehrmacht service, but I have heard recently a tale of some Mongolians also ending up in Wehrmacht service, to be captured by the Allies in Western Europe. At this stage I have little more than a note from a member, TA152, of the World War II Forums concerning a location in the US known as Camp Swift. If I find out more you can be sure I will post it here.
Cheers,
And to Sikander Mleccha with his comment at World War II Forums, where he said:
I suggest you read what I actually wrote and note that it says that the Americans were merciful in not pressing them into service in a fourth army but then the “poor souls” were sent back to the USSR – possibly to join the large Korean Diaspora in Central Asia.
At no time did I suggest that the sending of these folks back to the USSR was in any way merciful.
Ethnic Koreans have lived in China, Japan and the old Soviet Union (Eastern Siberia) for centuries. Most Koreans that served in the Japanese Army, especially in the Pacific, aginst the Allies, were laborers or srvants to Japanese officers, including Korean women who were known as “comforts.” When I was stationed in Korea in 1964, I became acquainted with a Korean Professor who taught in the U of Maryland college program. During WWII he was a grad student in Germany and did not return to Korean until after the war. I remmeber him telling about several fello Koreans being in Germany. It is quite possible thant some displaced Koreans, as well as Chinese and Jamanese could have served as volunteers in the German or Soviet Army. I also know for a fact that during WWII Korean officers in the HJapanese Army ran some of the POW camps in Korea and in other locations that housed Allied prisioners. AA few of these individuals later become high ranking officers in the ROK Army. While in Korean my unit kept a bio book on the ROK which held all of gthe details of the training and past assignments of ROK senior officers.
HEY JAMES
IF U DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THAT, JUST SHUT UP
ARE U KOREAN OR JAPANESE? XX XXX, XX XXXX XXX XXXX XX XXX
Note from Thomo: I edited the last sentence out as it was nothing but pure invective and whilst I believe strongly that we should be able to express an opinion, it’s my blog here and I will not accept invective.
I am presuming the reader who posted the comment above me is Korean – although I wonder why that reader can not at least stand by his convictions and identify himself rather than just use an even faker name than most Internet handles. In any case, it seems the reader was angry about the comment that not all Korean soldiers in the Japanese Army were pressed into service and that some prior to 1944 may have been volunteers. That reader did not do any research of course, just yelled loudly as so many folks do on the Internet. I did some research and whilst I can’t comment on the veracity of James’ claim, I can offer the following:
It would seem that some of these pressed into labour were perhaps used as camp guards and would therefore have been in uniform perhaps appearing similar to Japanese soldiers so it could appear as though they had volunteered for the army.
It needs to be remembered too that not every Korean resisted the Japanese occupation. Some Koreans accepted the occupation and worked with the Japanese. There were reprisals and “issues” that the Koreans themselves had to deal with from the time of the Japanese occupation until and during Syngman Rhee’s presidency. This is hard for some Koreans to accept, that not 100% of the population resisted the Japanese occupation. Certainly there were Korean Quislings (in the same way that there were Norwegian Quislings, including Quisling himself, and Danish Quislings and Quislings in just about every occupied country).
So, relax the invective, it serves no purpose, and if you believe the position presented by someone is incorrect, then lay out your reasons for that belief, preferably with some references that we can all view and use to form or reform our own opinions. Issue invective and nothing is served. Present a contribution to discussion and we all benefit.
Hi. If this guy is really a Korean, it seems for me highly improbable he comes from Nomonhan. First, after the incident was over, there was the prisoners exchange between Russians and Japanese. I don’t know about any prisoners left, though met mentions that some japanese prisoners were unwilling to return fearing harsh treatment. By the way, Koreans in the Japanese army MUST be named in the Japanese style (given that the same Chinese characters for names may be read “Korean” or “Japanese”), so they cannot be easily identified (and, again, force laborers and support personnel could kept Korean names). I found an interesting mention about border incidents of 1936. Then Japanese captured 12 Mongolians on a border post and the Mongolian later captured about the same Japanese who said they went across the border by accident. They were exchanged but “private first class Hanyuan Koninenu of Korean nationality refused to return. The Mongolian governement allowed him to stay”. Actually the name sounds half-Chinese half-Japanese and definitly no Korean. Anyway, it’s ABSOLUTELY impossible that any Korean “acquired” from Manchuria served in the Red Army. Because even “Russian” Koreans, who lived in Russia since the end of the XIX c., were forcefully re-settled from the Far East to the Central Asia in 1937 and were NOT conscripted during the WWII. Some of them did manage to join the Red Army voluntarily but they were accepted with suspicion and often sent back (though one Korean even got the Hero of the Soviet Union). So there were very few Koreans in the Red Army, perhaps less than 1000 (of 170 000 resettled).
Thomo,
I am currently during research on Soviet Koreans. By the 1940′s, there were perhaps 500,000 Koreans mostly from Hamgyong and Pyong’an provinces in the north who had migrated to Manchuria. This man was probably one of those recruited. There are tons of articles on this, academic articles, if you send me an email, I can send you some examples.
A request if you don’t mind, can you contact John Ciccone for me and ask him if he would contact me, I need help with research from library of Congress and am willing to reimburse for it.
Sincerely,
Jonny
Hello, Thomo
I am a Korean-American. I live in the Dallas area. I am currently attending a theological seminary. If you need any information regarding Koreans in general, maybe I can help you.
I enjoyed reading your comments. I think they are very accurate and represent your keen insight.
I also enjoyed John Ciccone’s comment.
It is refreshing to see that you look into these matters without prejudice.
By the way, if I may, thousands of Koreans ended up in Khazakhstan during Stalin’s forced resettlement. Their descendants are called “Koryo-In”, a term for some Korean descendants living outside the Korean Peninsula. They do very well and are considered model citizens of that country.
Hi, Im from the Philippines. My Grandparents used to tell me stories of the Japanese occupation here. It was well known that most of the officers were Japanese and some soldiers were Japanese as well. But it was also known that the conscripts were mostly Korean. Being so, there were communication problems of orders leading to bungled implementation and often times misinterpreted by the subordinates. As they told me, the atrocities here were caused mostly by the Koreans. Maybe because there were ordered by their superiors. It was not made clear to me.
The people did live in fear that when a Korean platoon would come to town, they knew there would be trouble. They committed crimes like throwing babies in the air and bayonetting them. They also frequently raped the women. When they were being lead by Japanese officers or if the platoon was mostly Japanese, they felt safer as the Japanese officers did not tolerate these incidents.
Again, these are stories told to me by my Grandparents.
Noy is a troll. There has been a lot of fabrication lately to direct the cruelty of the Imperial Japanese Army on to the Koreans.
The Soviet-Japanese war was fought in 1939 which the Soviets won.
My dad was in a Japanese concerntraion camp in Hong Kong as a child and had much the same to say about the Korean guards (who I think where there from the begining, but I will ask him). It’s a sad truth that they had probably been brought up under cruelty from the Japanese occupiers….and it breeds on itself.
However as to why they were “repatriated” to Russia and why there needed to be an exchange of prisoners, perhaps one of the darker spots of US history after the war. One of my professors talked about how they were rounded up and shipped east, probably to be executed. His comments as I remember (and he was close to tears as he said this)…”Of course we knew what would happen to them, but we obeyed orders”…..The US and British Governments knew, just look at the name of the operation —”Keelhaul”. He said he latter found out some GI’s had left the door to a church open where they had rounded up the Russian army volunteers and some had escaped….”So I didn’t murder as many as I thought I had”. He was telling this story as an explanation of Regular German Army attorcities during the Holocost. ….”We knew there would be punishment for disobeying orders, and the German army was more extreme”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Keelhaul
Ian
I tend to agree with Noy that most of the atrocities commuted here in the Philippines were Korean conscripts. My Grandpa and my mom who lives in the southern parts of the Philippines used to tell me of cruelties inflicted by the Japanese Army on Filipinos. She tells me specifically that they were Korean conscripts – cruel, uneducated – the Japanese Officers were more humane ( although some of them were also cruel )based on her experiences.
Just stating the facts of witnesses who were actually there.
Manny “stating facts of witnesses..” is called HEARSAY and slightly above garbage in terms of worth…XXXXX
Thomo notes: As I mentioned before, I believe in the ability to express an opinion but I will not stand invective and will censor it – be polite or be quiet
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