DF35011 CHINESE / NORTH KOREAN ARMY CORPSES (3PC)

The People's Republic of China (PRC), which was established in 1949, did not officially participate in the 1950-1953 Korean War. In contrast, the war was attended by hundreds of thousands of Chinese "volunteers" who intervened on the North Korean side since October 1950. Of course, the phrase "volunteers" is a euphemism that covered the interference of the Chinese communist dictator Mao Zedong in the conflict in the Korean, and who feared locating US troops in North Korea. Moreover, he saw the peninsula as a traditional Chinese sphere of influence and did not intend to allow the US to enter it. Officially, the Chinese troops fighting in Korea were called the Chinese People's Volunteers and initially numbered around 200,000. people, but with time this number grew significantly, perhaps exceeding 1 million soldiers. However, these are only estimates. It is worth adding, however, that the composition and combat value of Chinese troops was very different - some of them consisted of veterans of the war with Japan (1937-1945) and the civil war (1946-1949), and some of "volunteers" torn from factories or offices who have only undergone basic military training. Initially, the Chinese troops consisted mainly of infantry units, only later reinforced with more numerous artillery and tank units.