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In a Dilemma: How Did Moscow Make the Decision of the Soviet Air Force to Enter the Korean War?

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In a Dilemma: How Did Moscow Make the Decision of the Soviet Air Force to Enter the Korean War? University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School March 2020 In A Dilemma: How Did Moscow Make The Decision Of The Soviet Air Force To Enter The Korean War? Shiyao Zhang University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Scholar Commons Citation Zhang, Shiyao, "In A Dilemma: How Did Moscow Make The Decision Of The Soviet Air Force To Enter The Korean War?" (2020). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/8318 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. In A Dilemma: How Did Moscow Make The Decision Of The Soviet Air Force To Enter The Korean War? by Shiyao Zhang A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History College of Science and Arts University of South Florida Major Professor: Cornelis Boterbloem, Ph.D. Golfo Alexopoulos, Ph.D John M. Belohlavek Date of Approval: March 16, 2020 Key Words: Political History, Cold War, Mao Zedong, Stalin. Copyright © 2020, Shiyao Zhang TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. i Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Soviet Air Force aid to China and North Korea Before The War ....................................... 5 Stalin’s Attitude When the United States Just Joined the Korean War. .............................. 9 Before Battle of Inchon and the Hesitant Moscow authorities ......................................... 21 After the Battle of Inchon ................................................................................................. 28 Chinese Volunteers And Soviet Air Force Entered The War ............................................ 44 The U.S. Effort to Oppose Escalation ............................................................................... 51 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 54 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 56 i ABSTRACT When China sent troops into North Korea to fight the UN forces in 1950, the Soviet Union's secret air cover for Chinese troops became critical support. However, the Soviet Union's determination to provide support was not easy. China and the Soviet Union's decision on this issue changed many times, and it was not resolved until the Chinese leader decided to send troops to North Korea on October 13, 1950. At the same time, the United States was aware of the secret involvement of the Soviet Union and made corresponding choices. ii INTRODUCTION The fighting of the air forces of the communist countries with the United Nations Air Force in the Korean War (1950-1953) has always been a focus of military historians. In their official history, the U.S. military has long ago publicized the high kill ratio victory of North Korean air combat and the maintenance of air dominance.1 At the same time, the Chinese military likes to publicize how the young People's Liberation Army Air Force bravely fought against the former air overlord, the US Air Force, without falling behind.2 In this battle for North-Korean airspace domination, there is a "secret" that both sides know but do not care to write much about, and that is the participation of the Soviet Air Force. The Soviet Air Force was no stranger to China. As early as the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the Soviet Union and the Guomindang government reached an agreement that sent some Soviet fighter planes to help China resist the Japanese army.3 In 1949, when the Communist Party of China won a victory in the civil war, the Soviet Air Force firmed up its presence in China through the mutual assistance agreement between China and the Soviet Union.4 Soviet military advisors were to train the newly established People's Liberation Army Air Force and assist China in defending against bombing 1 Jacob Neufeld. F-15 Origins and Development 1964-1972. (Office of Air Force History, 1974.), 3-4. 2 Xiaoming Zhang. Red Wings over the Yalu : China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War in Korea. (United States: Texas A & M University Press, 2002.) 208 3 Pingping Gao, and Yaru Li. “Sino-Japanese Air Force’s Deadly Fight for Air Control during the Anti-Japanese War,”（抗战时期 中日空军争夺制空权的殊死搏斗） Military Historical Research,（军事历史研究） no. 02 (1996): 117–30. 4 Zhihua Shen. Mao Zedong, Stalin, and the Korean War.(毛泽东，斯大林与朝鲜战争) 2nd ed. (Guangzhou: Guangdong People’s Publishing House, 2003.) 145-149. 1 by the Taiwan-based Guomindang Air Force. Nevertheless, sending the Soviet Air Force directly to North Korea to fight Americans was still a very risky proposition. The confrontation between the two superpowers might have escalated into a new world war. So when and how did Stalin make this risky decision, and when did the Soviet Air Force participate in the war? It seems that American historians have not done much research on this issue. Dr. Zhang Xiaoming's Red Wings Over Yalu gave a detailed introduction to the Soviet Air Force's assistance to the People's Liberation Army Air Force, Zhang did not cover political details in the book but focused on military analysis.5 For example, in Chapter 4, Zhang introduced in detail how the Soviet Air Force helped the newborn PRC withstand bombing from the Guomindang Air Force and train the Chinese Air Force, but skipped negotiations and diplomatic games between Beijing, Pyongyang and Moscow.6 Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, and the Korean War by Sergei Goncharov, John W. Lewis, and Xue Litai is a Western political and historical work that studies the game between Mao Zedong and Stalin when he sent troops to aid them in their conflict during the civil war. The book does not specifically write a separate chapter of the Soviet Air Force's secret warfare.7 Chinese Cold-War historians, such as Shen Zhihua and other historians in Center for Cold War International History Studies(CCWIHS), have conducted a more in-depth study of this topic, but many of their works have not been published in the Western world. Among them, the History of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea（抗美援朝战争史） 5 Zhang. Red Wings over the Yalu 6 Ibid. “From Defending China to Intervention Korea”. 78-98 7 Sergej N Goncarov, John W Lewis, and Litai Xue. “China Enters The Korean War” Uncertain Partners. (Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press, 1994.)168-202 2 compiled by the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences is seen as the most authoritative work in China. The book also mentions that the Chinese leaders consulted with the Soviet leaders on the issue of troops and Soviet air support.8 Several other books published in English by the Chinese scholars such as , Mao, Stalin and the Korean War: Trilateral Communist Relations in the 1950s , A Short History of Sino-Soviet Relations, 1917–1991 and Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 1945–1959: A New History all mention the secret involvement of the Soviet Air Force in the Korean War.9 Among them, Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 1945–1959: A New History is provides the most detailed writing on this subject. In Chapter 3, Shen Zhihua and Xia Yafeng introduced and analyzed in detail the game between China, the Soviet Union, and the DPRK on secret warfare and other military assistance.10 Mao, Stalin and the Korean War also conducted a very detailed record and analysis of Sino-Soviet relations, but the part about the Soviet Air Force secretly participating in the war is scattered across Chapters VII and VIII.11 Shen Zhihua also published an article in 2010 on Strategic Studies entitled “China and the Dispatch of the Soviet Air Force: The Formation of the Chinese--Soviet--Korean Alliance in the Early Stage of the Korean War”, as the name implies, the main content of this article is about the Soviet Union sending air forces into the Korean battlefield.12 A special article on the secret participation of the 8 Chinese Academy of Military Sciences Military History Research Department. The History of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea（抗美援朝战争史） (Beijing: Military science press, 2000.)166-169 9 Zhihua Shen. A Short History of Sino-Soviet Relations, 1917-1991. China Connections. (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.); Zhihua, Shen, and Neil Silver. Mao, Stalin and the Korean War. Cold War History Series. (London: Routledge Ltd, 2012.) 10 Zhihua Shen, and Yafeng Xia. “Differences and Cooperation during the Korean War”in Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 1945–1959. Harvard Cold War Studies Book Series. (US: Lexington Books, 2015.)69-99. 11 Shen,and Silver. “North Korea crosses the 38th Parallel” and “China desides:’whatever the sacrifice necessary’” in Mao, Stalin and the Korean War. 133-177. 12 Zhihua Shen. “China and the Dispatch of the Soviet Air Force: The Formation of the Chinese-Soviet-Korean Alliance in the Early Stage of the Korean War,” Journal of Strategic Studies 33, 33, no. 2 (April 1, 2010):
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