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{{Short description|
{{pp-move-indef|small=yes}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Hill 303
| image = Hill303.png|alt=Several rows of dead bodies lie side by side with bullet wounds to the back
| caption = Bodies of massacre victims gathered near Waegwan,
| location = Hill 303, [[Waegwan]], [[First Republic of
| coordinates = {{Coord|36.0124|N|128.4115|E|region:KR-47_type:event|display=inline,title}}
| target = [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[prisoners of war]]
| date = {{Start date and age|1950|08|17|mf=yes}}
| time = 14:00
| timezone = [[Korea Standard Time|KST]]
| type =
| fatalities = 42 prisoners executed
| publisher =
| injuries = 4–5 prisoners wounded
| perps = [[Korean People's Army|North Korean army]] soldiers
| motive =
}}
{{Campaignbox Pusan Perimeter}}
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The '''Hill 303 massacre''' ({{Lang-ko|303 고지 학살 사건}}) was a [[war crime]] that took place during the opening days of the [[Korean War]] on August 17, 1950, on a hill above [[Waegwan]], [[First Republic of Korea|Republic of Korea]]. Forty-one [[United States Army]] (US) [[prisoners of war]] were murdered by troops of the [[North Korean People's Army]] (KPA) during one of the engagements of the [[Battle of Pusan Perimeter]].
Operating near [[Daegu|Taegu]] during the [[Battle of Taegu]], elements of the US 2nd Battalion, [[5th Cavalry Regiment]], [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|1st Cavalry Division]], were surrounded by KPA troops crossing the [[Nakdong River]] at Hill 303. Most of the US troops were able to escape, but one platoon of mortar operators misidentified KPA troops as [[Republic of Korea Army]] (ROK) reinforcements and was captured. KPA troops held the Americans on the hill and initially tried to move them across the river and out of the battle, but they were unable to do so because of a heavy counterattack. US forces eventually broke the KPA advance, routing the force. As the KPA began to retreat, one of their officers ordered the prisoners to be shot so they would not slow them down.
The massacre provoked a response from both sides in the conflict. US commanders broadcast radio messages and dropped leaflets demanding the senior North Korean commanders be held responsible for the atrocity. The KPA commanders, concerned about the way their soldiers were treating prisoners of war, laid out stricter guidelines for handling enemy captives. Memorials were later constructed on Hill 303 by troops at nearby [[Camp Carroll, South Korea|Camp Carroll]] to honor the victims of the massacre.
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=== Military geography ===
Hill 303 forms an elongated oval {{Convert|2|mi}} long on a northeast–southwest axis with
== Massacre ==
The exact details of the massacre are
=== North Korean advance ===
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=== Execution ===
[[File:Hill 303 Survivors.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Hill 303 survivors 17 August 1950]]
At 14:00 on August 17, a UN air strike took place, attacking the hill with [[napalm]], bombs, rockets and machine guns.{{Sfn|Alexander|2003|p=143}} At this time, a KPA officer said that US soldiers were closing in on them and they could not continue to hold the prisoners.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}} The officer ordered the men executed, and the KPA then fired into the Americans in the gully.{{Sfn|Millett|2010|p=161}} One of the KPA who was later captured said all or most of the 50 guards participated,{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}}{{Sfn|Chinnery|2001|p=25}} but some of the survivors said only a group of 14 KPA guards, directed by their [[non-commissioned officers]], fired into them with [[PPSh-41]] "burp guns".{{Sfn|Walker|1950}}{{Sfn|McCarthy|1954|p=4}} Before all the KPA soldiers left the area, some returned to the ravine and shot survivors of the initial massacre.{{Sfn|Walker|1950}}{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}} Only four{{Sfn|Bell|1950}}{{Sfn|McCarthy|1954|p=4}} or five{{Sfn|Walker|1950}}{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=16}}{{Sfn|Alexander|2003|p=144}} of the men in this group survived, by hiding under the dead bodies of others.{{Sfn|Bell|1950}} In all, 41 US prisoners were killed in the ravine.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=349}} The bulk of these men—26 in all—were from the mortar platoon but prisoners captured elsewhere were also among them.{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=17}}
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=== North Korean response ===
Historians agree there is no evidence that the KPA High Command sanctioned the shooting of prisoners during the early phase of the war.{{Sfn|Fehrenbach|2001|p=136}} The Hill 303 massacre and similar atrocities are believed to have been conducted by "uncontrolled small units, by vindictive individuals, or because of unfavorable and increasingly desperate situations confronting the captors."{{Sfn|Alexander|2003|p=144}}{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=350}} [[T. R. Fehrenbach]], a military historian, wrote in his analysis of the event that KPA troops committing these events were likely accustomed to torture and execution of prisoners due to decades of rule by oppressive armies of the [[Empire of Japan]] up
On July 28, 1950, General Lee Yong Ho, commander of the KPA 3rd Division, had transmitted an order pertaining to the treatment of prisoners of war, signed by [[Choe Yong-gon (army commander)|Choi Yong-kun]], Commander-in-Chief, and [[Kim Chaek]], Commander of the KPA Advanced General Headquarters, which stated killing prisoners of war was "strictly prohibited
[[File:Hill 303 Memorial.jpg|thumb|alt=Soldiers lay roses at a large monument|U.S. and ROK soldiers lay roses at the foot of the memorial established on Hill 303.]]
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=== Monument ===
The story quickly gained media attention in the United States, and
== See also ==
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* {{Cite book
| last = Appleman
| first = Roy E.
| year = 1998
| title = South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu: United States Army in the Korean War
| publisher = [[Department of the Army]]
| isbn = 978-0-16-001918-0
| url
| access-date = December 22, 2010
| archive-date = November 2, 2013
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131102112322/http://www.history.army.mil/books/korea/20-2-1/toc.htm
| url-status = dead
}} {{PD-notice}}
* {{Cite magazine
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| first = Hank
| date = September 4, 1950
| title = What the
| magazine
| volume = 29
| issue = 10
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|publisher = [[Eighth United States Army]]
|url = http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/20090619-tribute-PFCLucas.asp
|access-date
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120327145823/http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/20090619-tribute-PFCLucas.asp
|archive-date = March 27, 2012
|url-status = dead
}}
* {{Cite news
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| first = Franklin
| date = August 22, 2003
| title = Army honors three Koreans with Good Neighbor awards
| work = Stars and Stripes
| url = http://www.stripes.com/news/army-honors-three-koreans-with-good-neighbor-awards-1.10701
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|first = Megan
|date = June 24, 2010
|title = US, Korean Soldiers remembered at Hill 303
|publisher = [[Eighth United States Army]]
|url = http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/19thESCnewsletter%20-%20June%2024,%202010.pdf
|access-date
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120327145830/http://8tharmy.korea.army.mil/19thESCnewsletter%20-%20June%2024,%202010.pdf
|archive-date = March 27, 2012
|url-status = dead
}}
{{Refend}}
== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline}}
{{Portal bar|North Korea|South Korea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill 303 Massacre}}
[[Category:Battle of Pusan Perimeter]]▼
[[Category:1950 in South Korea]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:August 1950 events in Asia]]▼
▲[[Category:Battle of Pusan Perimeter]]
[[Category:Korean War prisoner of war massacres]]
[[Category:Massacres committed by North Korea]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1950]]▼
[[Category:Military scandals]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:War crimes in South Korea]]
[[Category:North Korea–United States relations]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:August 1950 events in Asia]]
▲[[Category:Massacres in 1950]]
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