opinion

Breaking through enemy siege with a subtle manoeuvre

One day in December 1938, the main force of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army led by General Kim Il Sung climbed a hill, which commanded a panoramic view of the thick forests of Nanpaizi.

The campfires built by the Japanese imperialists were encircling the surrounding areas.

When all the soldiers were gazing at the burning campfires with a strained look, the President said that the unit should make effective use of the enemy’s weak points in order to get out of the enemy siege without losing the soldiers. And he noted that now the enemy encircled them and threatened them with a large number of campfires, but it was tantamount to showing them a breach. He added that as the enemy by the campfires cannot see a long distance, they must stealthily slip out of the enemy encirclement through the space between campfires.

After a while, the unit dispersed in different directions and sneaked out of the enemy siege between campfires in a single line.

The enemy, who came to know belatedly that the guerrilla unit had already stolen away from their tight siege without a battle, were really stunned by the mysterious tactics of the guerrilla army.

To rescue a Soviet pilot

In his reminiscences With the Century President Kim Il Sung said they continued to hold high the banner of defence of the Soviet Union for the sake of the greater cause, recalling, “All the battles we fought in the Soviet-Manchurian border areas were carried out on our own initiative to assist the Soviet Union, even though we knew that these battles were tactically disadvantageous to us.”

Here is a good illustration of the guerrilla army soldiers’ enthusiasm for defending the Soviet Union.

It happened in the winter of 1934 when a Soviet pilot, whose aircraft had been swept away in a gale during training, had crash-landed in Hulin, Manchuria. 

Pak Kwang Son played a leading role in the rescue operation. Right at that time he was working not far from Hulin with Yu Yang’s Chinese anti-Japanese army unit as an operative from the liaison office of the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army. 

The day the Soviet plane crashed on the shore of the Ussuri River, more than 50 stout young Koreans had just joined Yu Yang’s unit. It was an eventful day.

As soon as he saw the crash, Pak Kwang Son dashed into the liaison office and appealed to his comrades-in-arms to rescue the Soviet pilot. In the meantime the Japanese were swarming to capture the pilot as well. 

The small force of guerrillas fought a life-and-death battle against 100-odd enemy troops who were firing machine-guns and even small-calibre artillery pieces. The soldiers of Yu Yang’s unit, who had been on their way to attack an enemy convoy, joined the guerrillas in the battle. 

The Soviet pilot was standing by his plane helplessly, unable to distinguish friend from foe. Pak Kwang Son shouted at him in Korean to come on over quickly and not to be afraid, but the pilot, not comprehending, fired his pistol at the guerrillas instead, taking them for the enemy. 

To Pak Kwang Son’s relief the perplexing situation was straightened out by a Korean who had been working with the Chinese soldiers of Yu Yang’s anti-Japanese unit. The man shouted to the pilot in fluent Russian to come towards them, saying they were the revolutionary army. Only then did the Soviet pilot begin to crawl towards them to be rescued.

The efforts of the guerrillas to ensure the safety of the Soviet pilot and to bring him back to health were valiant indeed. 

In those days they themselves were nearly starving for want of even maize gruel. However, for the Soviet pilot they attacked the enemy’s convoy and obtained flour, with which they made bread for him, and hunted wild boar to provide him with meat. And in the midst of the cold winter they went fishing in the Ussuri, breaking the ice. 

The pilot, after being badly bruised and having narrowly escaped the disgrace of being taken captive, returned safely to his country under the escort of the guerrillas.