China and the Dispatch of the Soviet Air Force: The Formation of the Chinese–Soviet–Korean Alliance in the Early Stage of the Korean War

An early version of this article was translated by Yang Jingxia and Douglas A. Stiffler, Juniata College. Yafeng Xia, Long Island University, molded the article to its final form.

Abstract

China's entry into the Korean War, together with the involvement of the Soviet Air Force, constituted not only the base of Chinese and Soviet joint assistance to North Korea but also the formation of the Sino-Soviet–North Korean triangular alliance. Recently declassified Russian Defense Ministry archives show that Stalin wavered on dispatching the Soviet Air Force for fear of a direct confrontation with the US/UN forces. It was 12 days after Chinese troops entered the war that Stalin finally allowed the Soviet Air Force to provide air cover. New documents that shed light on this enormously significant historical process demonstrate that the Sino-Soviet–North Korean triangular relationship was extremely delicate and weak.

Key Words:

• Sino-Soviet Alliance
• North Korea
• Soviet Air Force

Notes

An early version of this article was translated by Yang Jingxia and Douglas A. Stiffler, Juniata College. Yafeng Xia, Long Island University, molded the article to its final form.

¹The earliest research on this topic was based mainly on oral history materials. See Jon Halliday, ‘Air Operations in Korea: The Soviet Side of the Story’, in William J. Williams (ed.), A Revolutionary War: Korea and the Transformation of the Postwar World (Chicago: Imprint Publications 1993), 149–70. Later, Russian scholars sporadically made some archival materials public. See A.S. Orlov, ‘Sovetskaia aviatsiia v Koreiskoi vaine 1950–1953gg.’, Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 4 (1998), 121–46. See also Shen Zhihua, ‘The Soviet Air Force during the War to Resist America and Aid Korea’, Zhonggong Dangshi Yanjiu[Studies of CCP History], 2 (2002), 69–74; Zhang Xiaoming, Red Wings over the Yalu: China, the Soviet Union and the Air War in Korea (Texas A&M UP 2002).

²In fact, the US CIA inferred as early as 27 Nov. 1950 that ‘if the UN air force attacks targets in Manchuria’, the Soviets would very much likely participate in the war secretly. See N[ational] A[rchives, College Park, MD], Fiche 22 Item 100 NIE 2/2. On 30 July 1952, the CIA further concluded based on ‘numerous indications’ that the Soviets participated extensively in ‘enemy air operation’. See H[arry] S. T[ruman] L[ibrary, Independence, MO,] Harry S. Truman Papers, PSF Intelligence File NIE-55/1.

³Concerning the Soviet leaders' estimate of the prewar US position, see Shen Zhihua, Mao Zedong Sidalin yu Chaoxian Zhanzheng[Mao, Stalin and the Korean War] (Guangzhou: Guangdong Renmin Chubanshe 2003), 147–58.

⁴TsAMORF(Tsentral'nyi Arkhiv Ministerstva Oborony Rossiiskoi Federatsii), f.16, op.3139, d.17, p.37.

⁵AVPRF(Arkhiv Vneshnei Politiki Rossiiskoi Federatsii) (ed.), Khronologiia osnovnykh sobytii kanuna i nachal'nogo perioda koreiskoi voiny ianvar' 1949–oktiabr'1950gg., 35–7.

⁶Zhongyang wenxian yanjiushi (ed.), J[ianguo] Y[ilai] M[ao] Z[edong] W[engao][Mao Zedong's Manuscripts since the Founding of the PRC] 15 vols. (Beijing: Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe 1987–1999), 1: 428.

⁷See B.T. Kulik, ‘SShA i Taivan' protiv KNR 1949–1952 Novye arkhivnye materialy’, Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 5 (1995), 32–3; Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi (ed.), Jianguo Yilai Liu Shaoqi Wengao[Liu Shaoqi's Manuscripts since the Founding of the PRC] 4 vols. (Beijing: Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe 2005), 1: 472; Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji (eds.), Mao Zedong Zhuan 1949–1976[A Biography of Mao Zedong] (Beijing Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe 2003), 49; V.P. Naboka, ‘Sovetskie letchiki-istrebiteli v Kitae v 1950 godu’, Voprosy istorii 3 (2002), 139–41.

⁹Ibid., 85. For China's response and arrangements made, see Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi (ed.), J[ianguo] Y[ilai] Z[hou] E[nlai] W[engao][Zhou Enlai's Manucripts since the Founding of the PRC][henceforth JYZEW](Beijing Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe 2008), 3: 61–9, 90–1.

⁸APRF (Arkhiv Prezidenta Rossiiskoi Federatsii), f.45, op.1, d.334, p.79.

¹⁰See A.M. Ledovskii, ‘Stalin Mao Tszedun i koreickaia voina 1950–1953 godov’, Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 5 (2005), 100–1; Alexandre Y. Mansourov, ‘Stalin, Mao, Kim and China's Decision to Enter the Korean War Sept.16–Oct.15 1950: New Evidence from the Russian Archives’, Cold War International History Project Bulletins 6–7 (Washington DC: Winter 1995–96), 105.

¹¹TsAMORF, f.5, op.918795, d.122, pp.193–4.

¹²APRF, f.45, op.1, d.334, p.82.

¹³TsAMORF, f.5, op.918795, d.122, pp.303–5.

¹⁴Ibid., 352–5.

¹⁵AVPRF, f.0102, op.6, p.21, d.47, pp.29–40.

¹⁶Ibid., d.48, pp.109–69.

¹⁷AVPRF, f.45, op.1, d.334, pp.88–9, 90.

¹⁸TaAMORF, f.16, op.3139, d.16, pp.1–2; APRF, f.45, op.1, d.334, pp.88–9; Naboka, ‘Sovetskie letchiki-istrebiteli’, 141.

¹⁹AVPRF, Khronologiia osnovnykh sobytii kanuna … 45, 47.

²⁰See Shen, Mao Zedong Sidalin yu Chaoxian Zhanzheng, 169–76.

²¹TsAMORF, f.5, op.918795, d.122, pp.621–3.

²²Ibid., 666–9.

²³Cited from Pang Xianzhi and Li Jie, ‘Mao Zedong, and Resisting America and Aiding Korea’, Dang de Wenxian[Party Historical Documents] 5 (2000), 39.

²⁴ JYZEW, 3: 247–51.

²⁵APRF, f.45, op.1, d.347, pp.5–6, 10–11.

²⁶Ibid., 12–13.

²⁷See Shen Zhihua, ‘Sino-North Korean Conflict and its Resolution during the Korean War’, Cold War International History Project, Bulletins 14/15 (Winter 2003–Spring 2004), 9–24.

²⁸TsAMORF, f.16, op.3139, d.16, pp.1–2, 4–5.

²⁹Ibid., 170–1.

³⁰ Vneshniaia politika Sovetskogo Soiuza Dokumenty i materialy 1950 god (Moskva: GPL 1953), 214–16; I.F. Stone, Chaoxian Zhanzheng Neimu[The Hidden History of the Korean War], trans. Nan Zuoming etc. (Hangzhou: Zhejiang Renmin Chubanshe 1989), 131.

³¹See Shen, Mao Zedong, Sidalin yu Chaoxian Zhanzheng, 143–6.

³²TsAMORF, f.16, op.3139, d.17, pp.156–7, 158, 159–60, 161–2, 163–4.

³³APRF, f.45, op.1, d.331, pp.123–6; A.V. Torkunov, Zagadochnaia voina: koreiskii konflikt 1950–1953 godov (Moskova RPE 2000), 106–8.

³⁴Shen Zhihua (ed.), Chaoxian Zhanzheng Eguo Danganguan de Jiemi Wenjian[The Korean War: Declassified Documents from the Russian Archives] (Taipei Institute of Modern History Academia Sinica 2003), 542–5.

³⁵ JYZEW, 3: 311–12.

³⁶APRF, f.45, op.1, d.331, pp.133–5; Torkunov, Zagadochnaia voina, 109–11.

³⁷APRF, f.45, op.1, d.331, p.131; Torkunov, Zagadochnaia voina, 109.

³⁸TsAMORF, f.5, op. 918795, d.125, pp.86–8.

³⁹Ibid., 89–91.

⁴⁰APRF, f.45, op.1, d.347, pp.41–5, 46–9.

⁴¹APRF, f.45, op.1, d.334, pp.97–8.

⁴²See Shen, Mao Zedong Sidalin yu Chaoxian Zhanzheng, 179–90.

⁴³ JYMZW, 1: 540.

⁴⁴TsAMORF, f.5, op.918795, d.121, pp.705–6.

⁴⁵RGASPI (Rossiiskii Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Sotsial'noi i Politicheskoi Istorii), f.558, op.11, d.334, pp.126–8; Shen, Chaoxian Zhanzheng Eguo Danganguan de Jiemi Wenjian, 588–90.

⁴⁶Pang and Li, ‘Mao Zedong and Resisting America/Aiding Korea’, 3–4; RGASPI, f.558, op.11, d.334, p.132; TsAMORF, f.5, op. 918795, d.121, pp.711–13.

⁴⁷Shi Zhe, Zai Lishi Juren Shengbian: Shi Zhe Huiyilu[Together with Historical Giants: A Memoir of Shi Zhe] (Beijing: Zhongyang Wenxian Chubanshe 1991), 495–8; Mansourov, ‘Stalin, Mao, Kim’, 94–107; RGASPI, f.558, op.11, d.334, pp.134–5. See also Shen, Mao Zedong Sidalin yu Chaoxian Zhanzheng, 192–7.

⁴⁸APRF, f.3, op.65, d.827, pp.81–2. Due to the rapid deterioration of the Korean situation, this task was not executed.

⁴⁹TsAMORF, f.16, op.3139, d.17, pp.185–6.

⁵⁰TsAMORF f.16, op.3139, d.16, pp.102–3. Also see Shen Zhihua, ‘More on Stalin, Mao Zedong and the Korean War’, Shixue Jikan[Collected Papers of History Studies], 1 (2007), 62–5.

⁵¹APRF, f.3, op.65, d.827, pp.86–7, 84–5.

⁵² Foreign Relations of the United States 1950 (Washington DC: Government Printing Office 1976), 7: 877–8.

⁵³Pang and Li, ‘Mao Zedong, and Resisting America and Aiding Korea’, 13–14.

⁵⁴RGASPI, f.558, op.11, d.334, pp.140–3.

⁵⁵Pang and Li, ‘Mao Zedong, and Resisting America and Aiding Korea’, 5–6; JYMZW 1: 552–3.

⁵⁶RGASPI, f.558, op.11, d.334, p.145.

⁵⁷APRF, f.45, op.1, d.347, p.77 and d.335 pp.1–2.

⁵⁸Pang and Li, ‘Mao Zedong, and Resisting America and Aiding Korea’, 6–8, 10; JYMZW, 1: 564.

⁵⁹ JYZEW, 3: 404–5.

⁶⁰See Shi, Zai Lishi Juren Shenbian, p.502; Pang and Li, ‘Mao Zedong, and Resisting America and Aiding Korea’, 9, 14; Li Ping et al., Zhou Enlai nianpu, 1949–1976[A Chronology of Zhou Enlai] (Beijing: Zhongyang Wenxian and Renmin Chubanshe 1997), 1: 86–7.

⁶¹Pang and Li, ‘Mao Zedong, and Resisting America and Aiding Korea’, 11.

⁶²See AVPRF, f.0100, op.50a, d.1, p.423; B.T. Kulik, Sovetsko-kitaiskii rackol: prichiny i posledctviia (Moskva IDV RAN 2000), 95; Zhongyang Wenxian Yanjiushi (ed.), Zhou Enlai Xuanji[Selected Works of Zhou Enlai] (Beijing Renmin Chubanshe 1980) 2: 302.

⁶³ JYZEW 3: 427.

⁶⁴APRF, f.45, op.1, d.335, pp.71–2.

⁶⁵Shen Zhihua, ‘From Xibaipo to Moscow: Mao Zedong Declared “Lean-to-one-side” Policy’, Zhonggong dangshi yanjiu 5 (2009), 14–33.

⁶⁶For details, see Shen Zhihua, ‘The Soviet Factor in Decision-making in the War to Resist America and Aid Korea’, Dangdai zhongguo shi yanjiu[Contemporary China History Study] 1 (2000), 28–39; Shen, ‘Sino-North Korean Conflict’.