During the Fatherland Liberation War (1950–1953), the Korean people created miracles unprecedented in world history of war.

Torpedo Boats Sink Heavy Cruiser

In July 1950, the second torpedo boat flotilla of the Korean People’s Army Navy had to confront on the East Sea of Korea off Jumunjin a US naval task force led by USS Baltimore , a heavy cruiser with a displacement of 17 300 tons, and consisting of a light cruiser with a displacement of 14 000 tons, a destroyer with a 3 500-ton displacement and other vessels. The enemy fleet had a total of 170 artillery pieces and 3 500-strong crew.

The KPA Navy flotilla had only four torpedo boats—each with a displacement of 17 tons and armed with two torpedoes, a 12.7mm-calibre anti-aircraft machine gun and a 7-strong crew.

Despite such mind-boggling disparity in numerical and technical terms, the torpedo boat flotilla dashed head-on towards the enemy warships that opened fire strong enough to crush the former. The brave seamen of the flotilla closed in on the heavy cruiser and fired three torpedoes to it. With a series of enormous explosions, the Baltimore was scuttled, and the light cruiser was also damaged by torpedo attacks. At the loss of their flagship, the enemy warships ran away in a hurry.

It was a miracle of the miracles unheard of in world history of naval battles that a group of 17-ton torpedo boats sank down a 17 300-ton heavy cruiser.

Miracle in the Air

When the Fatherland Liberation War broke out, the KPA Air Force was young. The average flight hours of its airmen were no more than 40 hours—an amateur level—and their aircraft were all driven by propellers.

On the contrary, the US Air Force boasted of being the strongest in the world in the light of hardware. Many of its airmen took part in WWII and had more than 1 000 flight hours. So they bragged even though they might be killed on the ground, they could never be in the air.

On June 29, four days after the war broke out, a two-aircraft flight of the KPA Air Force found two B-29s. B-29 was a US heavy bomber armed with a 9-ton load of bombs and eight machine guns and with the hull length three times as long as an ordinary fighter. The US advertised it as the “lion in the air” or “air fortress” that had never been shot down during WWII.

The KPA airmen, however, unhesitatingly started to attack the enemy aircraft. Although putting up a barrage of machine gun fire, one of the enemy bombers could not avoid the deadly shots of the KPA aircraft. The B-29 exploded in a ball of fire.

Afterwards, a KPA interceptor flight shot down F-80, a jet of the US Air Force.

It was the first time in world history of air force that propeller-driven aircraft intercepted B-29 heavy bomber and F-80 jet.

Han Su Yong