Where were you on June 28 and 29, 1950?
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Kharkov is an Ukrainian city where the Soviet engineers developed their T-34 tanks. While Kharkov was occupied by German troops during World War II, Soviets moved their tank factory to an Ural-mountain city of Chelyabinsk, where they mass-produced those T-34 tanks. With those tanks, Soviets scored a decisive victory over the German army at the Kursk (south of Moscow) tank battle of 1943. From there, Germans started losing the war. Here is my photo with one of the Kursk veterans. Stalin initially gave 200 of those T-34 tanks to Kim Il-Sung in 1948. They showed up in Seoul in the morning of June 29, 1950. I once went out with a Russian young lady whose grandmother worked at the tank factory in Chelyabinsk during World War II. It was an out-door factory. Soviets did not have enough time and resources to construct the factory buildings.
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T-34 Tank in Seoul, June 29, 1950.
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- On June 28, 1950. North Korean troops with their T-34 tanks were
assembling on the northern suburb of Seoul, in preparation for their
entry to the city during the dark hours of June 28-29. The
(south) Korean government abandoned the city and moved to Suwon.
The Seoul radio station was
manned by the chief announcer named Yoon Young-Ro and Col. Kim Hyun-Soo
who was the chief public relations officer of the army.
Since there were no good news to tell, these two people had to make up stories, and played one of the Sousa marches between those incoherent stories. Like to hear that music?
It was the National Fencibles March by John Philip Sousa.
Both Mr. Yoon and Col. Kim were gunned down by the North Korean troops who came to the radio station in the early morning of June 29, 1950.