The Korean War: The Untold Truth

Chapter 92
Sure enough. "I knew we were on the right track when the Communists tried to sabotage this film, which is an excellent exposé of the Soviets. The Japanese film industry loves it because it allows the actors and technicians to come back to life after a long layoff. Old business. Audiences loved it because it was a really good movie. We released it simultaneously in 20 Japanese theaters, and it went on for weeks, breaking records. It ended up being played in over 700 theaters, and it caused There was a great deal of outrage and anti-Soviet sentiment. When we ramped up the screenings, the CIA took $10.4 of the proceeds and passed them on to the U.S. government.”

A more traditional covert operation is underway at the behest of the NSA.Created at the same time as the CIA, the National Security Agency is the agency responsible for breaking codes and intercepting communications in the United States.During the early months of the Korean War, NSA technicians had difficulty intercepting North Korean and Chinese telegrams.Most of the telegraph traffic between the Chinese headquarters in "Manchuria" and the Beijing headquarters was carried out by a telephone cable across the Yellow Sea. Just put this request to the CIA: Is there a way for the CIA to sabotage this cable to force the Chinese to use radio communications so they can listen?
Tofte picked up on this inquiry in one of his morning telegrams (“Opening letters early in the morning is happiest because you get weird things”) and began to think about it.As it happened, he happened to know a thing or two about the cable in question, because before the war, he had a vacation house on the northeast coast of China. "The point where this cable enters the sea is about 600 yards away from my garden fence. Coincidentally, this cable belongs to a Danish company, the Great Northern Telegraph Company." After careful research, Toft managed to mark the It shows the direction of this cable crossing the Yellow Sea and the depth it is easy to find.His sources even suggested that tearing apart the severed ends of the cable would be the most powerful method of sabotage.

A few days later, several "North Korean fishing boats" rendezvoused in the Yellow Sea.The cable was dragged up to the sea surface by the grapple and cut off, and the fishing boat dragged the severed head to the opposite direction.Before long, NSA listeners were tapping and deciphering radio communications between Chinese forces in North Korea and "Manchuria" and the Ministry of Defense in Beijing.

(Radio interception capabilities and their effects are one of the U.S. government's closely guarded secrets. As such, it is difficult for outsiders to accurately assess the role of Tofte's Cable Break operation. But an early intercepted message caused Tofte's concern. Attention also made him very happy. "Headquarters in Beijing warned field commanders that 5 enemy guerrillas were scattered across the front line. We actually had only 1 there, not more than that.")
But no other action by the CIA was more significant in the Korean War than the action taken against the Norwegian ship that was carrying medical personnel and supplies to China.

No one in Tokyo, including Hans Toft, was optimistic about Operation TP-Shawl.The ship was flying the flag of a neutral country that the United States dared not offend on the high seas for obvious diplomatic reasons.Toft discussed the matter with the Navy, who politely said there was nothing they could do, not even with unmarked, secret ships.Nor did the Air Force want to risk a covert bombing where it would be self-explanatory to the international community.In the end, Tofte persuaded the two services to keep watch on the cargo ship as it headed north.An American destroyer tracked the cargo ship just beyond the horizon and kept reporting its position by radio to Toft in Tokyo.

Tofte understood that the fact that CIA headquarters had authorized him to spend $100 million on Operation TP-Shawl without approval was a sign that Washington was taking the matter seriously.In Tofter's view, the "generosity" of the CIA, which has always been tight on cash, showed that stopping the ship "must have been an act of killing first."

The station chiefs of the CIA's East Asia stations gathered here in Tokyo Toft to plan a way to stop the ship.At one point, the ship seemed to be entering Hong Kong for resupply. Al Cox, station chief of the Hong Kong station, received explosives and other special equipment from the Atsugi base and rushed back to Hong Kong. In Toft's words: "If necessary, , preparing a sabotage campaign right under the noses of the British authorities." But the ship didn't stop, it continued northward.

Toft knew the clock was ticking.All he could get from Far East Air Force was a promise to bomb the ship if it came into a North Korean port, even though it was flying the Norwegian flag.But this is unlikely, since the United Nations forces control the waters beyond North Korea, and if the ship docks in "Manchuria" or a more logical destination in southern China, the Far East Air Force will be helpless.

Scanning the map, Tofter saw only one possible interception point.He boarded one of his "civil air transport team" planes and flew to Taiwan to meet Chiang Kai-shek.At the beginning of World War II, he had met Chiang Kai-shek when he was fighting guerrillas on the Burma Road.Al Cox, head of the Hong Kong station, accompanied Toft.Fortunately, Chiang Kai-shek still remembered Toft.Nor did he hesitate when the Dane-American spy king asked him to assist in this daring plot.He summoned Wang, the coast guard commander of the Chinese Kuomintang, and said, "Mr. Toft will give you whatever you want."

Shortly thereafter, a group of KMT gunboats carrying Al Cox and other CIA spies to sea intercepted the freighter just north of Taiwan, guided by U.S. Navy communications.The Americans stayed below decks in what Toft called "an extremely sophisticated act of piracy under the command of the CIA."Taiwanese boarding officers took over command of the freighter, placed the Norwegian crew in solitary confinement, and methodically transferred the cargo to their own ship.Toft told the Taiwanese to remove the medical supplies as trophies.He never heard again about the nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel, nor did he think about their fate.Now the empty freighter and its crew are allowed to sail on, knowing only that they have been robbed by Asian pirates on the high seas. Operation "TP-Shawl" was a great success.

In Tofter's view, "this action justified the entire CIA budget for the next three to five years. By delaying the enemy's spring offensive by three months, the move saved some 7.5 Americans." by the time the Chinese came, General Matthew Ridgway had time to organize his artillery positions. The Chinese were swept by the artillery by the thousands as they attacked."

Toft returned the $100 million. "I don't need a dime, Chiang Kai-shek has taken care of everything." Some years later, he happened to be eating at the Indian Club, a private luncheon institution for senior shipping executives in Manhattan.Two maritime lawyers are discussing a case involving mysterious events in the Far East.As they talked, Toft realized that one of the boats was the same one he had robbed in 1951.He suppressed a laugh and said nothing.

Hans Toft's exploits in Asia and other spies around the world brought new respect for the CIA in Washington.The Korean War thus marked the growth of the CIA into one of the most powerful agencies in the US government.Incomplete statistics show that the CIA has developed rapidly within three years. In 1949, the CIA's "Bureau of Policy Coordination" (synonymous with clandestine activities) had a total of 302 people, a budget of $470 million, and seven foreign stations.By 7, the strength of the "Policy Coordination Bureau" had grown to 1952 direct employees, plus 2 "overseas contract personnel" (a group that included everything from deep-seated spies to lackeys), The budget is 812 million US dollars, and there are 3 foreign stations.

Another factor in the CIA's growth was the dominance and power play of General Walter Biddle Smith.The glorious victory of China's military intervention gave Smith the opportunity and even made MacArthur reluctantly accept the role of the CIA in the national security system.With the support of President Truman, Smith visited MacArthur in January 1951.What exactly happened between them remains a secret, but MacArthur has never interfered with CIA activities in his area since then.

(End of this chapter)