By: Richard Downes

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY INFORMATION Jul 51 - Apr 52

1. "In December it was known that transit camps for prisoners of war captured by Communists in Korea had been established in Komsomolsk on the river Amur, Magadan on Bogaeva Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk, Chita and Irkutsk. Through those transit camps were passing not only Korean P.O.W.s but also American P.O.W.S

2. "Since July 1951, according to new information, several transports of Korean P.O.W.s have passed through the ports of Bukhta (near Vladivostok). Okhotsk and Magadan. Each ship has contained 1,000 or more prisoners. Between the end of November 1951 and April 1952 transports of P.O.W.s were sent by rail from the Poset railway junction on the Chinese-Soviet frontier. Some were directed to Chita in Eastern Siberia and some to Molotov, European Soviet Russia, East of Ural Mountains.

3. Those P.O.W.s who arrived by ship in the ports of Bukhta, Okhotsk and Magadan were then transported by train, or by trucks or by motor driven barges, to Vaikaren on the Chukotsk Sea, to Ust Maisk on (he river Aldan and to Yakutsk on the river Lena.

4. "P.O.W.s shipped to Valkeran were sent to a network of camps in the Nizhni Kolymsk region on the East Siberian Sea, to be employed building roads, electric power plants and airfields. Their number varies considerably due to high mortality and to transfer to other camps on the Chukotski Peninsula. All these camps are under supervision of MVD and are entirely isolated. There were about 12,000 Korean P.O.Ws in April 1952 in the Nizhno Kolymsk camp network. The camps were under the charge of (fnu) Sorotchuk, a major of MVD and (fnu) Chimbo, a civilian Party functionary, probably an employee of MGB. Chimbo was in charge of education and political indoctrination.

5. P.O.W. camps of Koreans in the Yakutsk A.S.S.R. are situated between Ust Maisk and Yakutsk. Prisoners there are employed in building new shafts for coal mines, earth works and dams. The camps are situated 50 to 200 kilometers from each other and contain 500 to 1,000 prisoners each. They are guarded by soldiers of the MVD. The camps and inmates are under the supervision of the Ministry of Coal Production or the Ministry of Forests. The Chief of all camps in this region was /in April 1952/ a civilian functionary (fnu) Andreev. The commandant of the MVD units assigned to guard the camps was Col. (fnu) Vassitevsky. The prisoners are doing very heavy physical work and are living under primitive conditions. In one of the camps in this region, called AMGA, about 300 P.O.W.s died in February and April 1952 as a result of various illnesses and overwork. Over 400 of them were placed in very crude barracks for the sick.

6. Information about non-Asiatic P.O.W.s was received on 30 April 1952 from the Gubakha railway station in the Komi-Permvak National District, in Northwestern Siberia. According to this Information, about 300 P.O.W.s were transported bv rail from Chita to Molotov in February 1952. The prisoners were clothed in Soviet-type cotton padded tunics with no distinctive marks. They were first transported from the railway station to the MVD prison and then sent bv rail in a train consisting of 9 wagons, to Molotov on 5 April 1952. The train was heavily guarded bv a railway guard of the MVD.

7. There were previous transports of P.O.W.s from Chita between August and November 1951. These were directed to Kotlas on the Northern Dvina and to Lalsk, southeast of Kotlas, both in the Archangelsk Oblast. The total number of P.O.W.s transported in this direction amounted to about 6,000 at the end of 1951. Their fate is not known.

8. In March this year transports of P.O.W.s passed through from Khabarovsk to Chita and from Chita to Molotov roughly every fortnight They were in small groups of up to 50 persons. According to latest information, dated 30 June 1952, the prisoners, after arriving in Chita, were first sent to the local MVD prisons, and then, after a sufficient number of them had been assembled, were sent further, to Molotov. It is most probable that P.O.W.s are undergoing some sort of investigation and selection process while in the MVD prison in Chita. Some of them are retained in prison in Chita for a long time, while others are sent directly by rail to Molotov and other industrial regions in the Ural Mountains.

9. "From December 1951 up to the end of April 1952, several railway transports of American and European (probably British) P.O.W.S were seen passing at intervals of 10 to 20 days through the Komi-Permyak National District in Northwestern Siberia. These transports were directed to Molotov, Gubakha (Notheast of Molotov), Kudymnar (Northwest of Molotov), and Chenmos on the Kama River north of Molotov. The prisoners were clad in cotton-padded gray tunics and pants and wore civilian caps, so-called "Sibirki". They had no military insignia. They spoke among themselves in English, and they knew no other languages, except a few words of Russian. During the journey they remained locked in heavily guarded wagons and were not allowed to leave them. They received their meals from MVD gurads. Each wagon had small windows on two levels. Each window was barred and covered by opaque glass.

10. "According to information gathered between April 1 and 20, a certain number of American P.O.W. officers, among whom was a group referred to as the "American General Staff, were kept at that time in the Command of the Military District of Molotov. Some of the P.O.W.s were accommodated in the building of the MVD in Molotov, having been completely isolated from the outside world.

11. In the town of Gubakha and in the industrial regions of Kudymnar and Chermos there were three isolated camps and one interrogation prison for American P.O.W.s from Korea, according to information dated February and April 1952. Prisoners kept in the three labor camps were employed on the construction of a new railway line. In one of these camps, called GAYSK, about 200 Americans were kept They were employed in workshops assembling rails and doing various technical jobs. These camps were completely isolated from any civilian camps located in neighborhood. Political control was carried out by the local Party organization .headed by (fhu) Edovin, a delegate from the Obkom of the KomiPermyak National District AJI these camps were under the charge of (fnu) Kalypin, a Soviet officer of unknown rank who was sent from Moiotov in February 1952.

12. In some camps situated near the Gubakha railway, which are called "Zapretchdelankr, (Russian term difficult to translate - means Isolated plots") about 150 Americans were kept, probably soldiers and N.C.O.s. An interesting thing was that from these camps one to three P O.W.s were taken every few days by officers of the MVD for transportation to Gubakha or Moiotov. They never returned to their camps and their camps and their fate remained unknown. According to supposition of persons acquainted with the MVD methods these P.O.W.s had been observed in the camps by specially assigned agents of MVD, who knew the English language and thus were able to find out those who were very hostile to the Communist regime and ideology and those who could be considered sympathetic. Those belonging to the first group were most probably sent either to prison or to especially hard labor camps for extermination; the others were probably sent to special political courses in Moiotov.