Portal:North Korea/Selected article/8
The Hill 303 massacre (Korean: 303 고지 학살 사건) was a war crime that took place during the Korean War on August 17, 1950 on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea. Forty-one captured United States Army prisoners of war were shot and killed by members of the North Korea army during one of the smaller engagements of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter.
Operating near Taegu during the Battle of Taegu, elements of the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division were surrounded by North Korean troops crossing the Naktong River at Hill 303. Most of the U.S. troops were able to escape but one platoon of mortar operators misidentified North Korean troops as South Korean army reinforcements and was captured. North Korean 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 heavy counterattack. American forces eventually broke the North Korean advance, routing the force. As the North Koreans began to retreat one of their officers ordered the prisoners to be shot so they would not slow the North Koreans down. (Full article...)