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| title = Hill 303 massacre
| 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]]
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| time = 14:00
| timezone = [[Korea Standard Time|KST]]
| type =
| fatalities = 42 prisoners executed
| publisher =
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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". He directed individual units' [[Political commissar|Cultural Sections]] to inform the division's troops of the rule.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=350}}
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=== Monument ===
The story quickly gained media attention in the United States, and the survivors' accounts received a great deal of coverage{{Sfn|Ecker|2004|p=15}} including prominent magazines such as ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''{{Sfn|Bell|1950}} and ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]''.{{Sfn|Walker|1950}} In the years following the Korean War, the US Army established a permanent garrison in Waegwan, [[Camp Carroll, South Korea|Camp Carroll]], which is located near the base of Hill 303. The incident was largely forgotten until Second Lieutenant David Kangas read about the incident in the Korean War history book ''South to the Nakdong, North to the Yalu''
== See also ==
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* {{Commons category inline}}
{{Portal bar|North Korea|South Korea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill 303 Massacre}}
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[[Category:August 1950 events in Asia]]
[[Category:Battle of Pusan Perimeter]]
[[Category:Korean War
[[Category:Massacres committed by North Korea]]
[[Category:Massacres in 1950]]
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[[Category:History of North Gyeongsang Province]]
[[Category:North Korea–United States relations]]
[[Category:War crimes in South Korea]]
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