U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 5 (of 5): Operations in West KoreaUnited States. Marine Corps
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 5 (of 5): Operations in West Korea
United States. Marine Corps
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
According to ... reports, the North Korean Ministry of Industry’s
underground offices were destroyed and a direct hit on another
shelter was said to have killed 400 to 500 Communist officials.
Off the air for two days, Radio Pyongyang finally announced
that the ‘brutal’ strikes had destroyed 1,500 buildings and had
inflicted 7,000 casualties.[236]
[236] Futrell, _USAF, Korea_, p. 482.
Of the far-reaching effect of the leaflets, the UN commander later
wrote:
The warning leaflets, coupled with the bombing, hurt North Korean
civilian morale badly. The very audacity of the United Nations
in warning the Communists where bombers would strike hurt morale
because it emphasized to the North Koreans just how complete was
UN mastery of the air. Contrarily, it made them see even more
clearly that the Communists were ineffectual in their efforts to
ward off our air blows....
As a result of the warnings, the bombings, the failure of
the Communists to provide protection, and the refusal of the
Communists to permit evacuation of the clearly defined target
areas, civilian resentment was channeled away from the UNC
bombers and towards the Communist rulers.[237]
[237] Clark, _Danube to Yalu_, p. 209. “I told you so” leaflets
were dropped after the raid to impress the inhabitants
with the importance of believing the warning leaflets.
USAF, _Ops in Korea_, No. 127, pp. 36, 37.
The record set by the 1,254 sorties flown in this 11 July operation was
to last only seven weeks. On 29 August, 1,403 sorties were employed in
a new strike against the Capital. The massed raids against military
targets in Pyongyang, known as the “All United Nations Air Effort”
turned out to be the largest one-day air assault during the entire
three years of the Korean War. Again attacking at four-hour intervals
three times during daylight, Allied aircraft blasted a list of targets
that “read like a guide to public offices in Pyongyang and included
such points of interest as the Ministry of Rail Transportation, the
Munitions Bureau, Radio Pyongyang, plus many factories, warehouses,
and troop billets.”[238] Of the 45 military targets in the city, 31
received moderate-to-severe damage according to post-strike photographs.
[238] Futrell, _USAF, Korea_, p. 489.
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