CMH PUB 21–2: KOREA—1951-1953 (11 Oct 1996)

KOREA 1951-1953—1950 (11 Oct 1996)

United States Army. Center of Military History
Korea
1951-1953
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140
TATUT
MERCATOR RGIKCT
WASH. DC
Soipon
Guam
KOREA
1951–1953
by
John Miller, jr.
Owen J. Curroll, Major, U.S. Army
and
Margaret E. Tackley
Center of Military History
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 56–60005
Facsimile Reprint, 1989, 1997
CMH PUB 21–2
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402
FOREWORD
To the 1997 Edition
The fiftieth anniversary of the Korean War gives both the Army and the nation an opportunity to honor those veterans who served in that bitter conflict. This volume, a companion
to a similar work treating the first six months of the war, was prepared shortly after the war
ended. Despite the passage of time, it still provides a valuable summary of more than two
long years of combat through its text, photographs, and maps. Keeping this material in print
for the commemorative period provides a new generation of soldiers with the opportunity to
better understand that struggle and the sacrifices made by so many for a cause that was central to the international security policies of the United States. I am thus pleased to release this
new printing of a classic photographic collection.
Since the source of every photograph is noted at the back of this book, it is the Center of
Military History’s hope that various commands and offices throughout the Army will find
this work useful also as a catalog of available photographs as they develop their own projects
commemorating the anniversary of the war. Finally, I am mindful of the fact that as we honor
those who served in the Korean conflict, we are also recognizing by extension those soldiers
who continue to serve in Korea today, doing their own part in preserving freedom in a significant part of the world.
Washington, D.C. JOHN W. MOUNTCASTLE
11 Oct 1996 Brigadier General, USA
Chief of Military History
Foreword
In Korea the American soldier, with his Korean and United Nations
allies, fought with bravery and skill against his communist foe and met
the test in accordance with the best traditions of the service. His valor
and determination defeated the communist aggression and stabilized the
battle along the present demilitarized zone. The location of this line
largely above the 38th parallel is historic evidence that in Korea
aggression did not pay.
MAXWELL D. TAYLOR
General, United States Army
Chief of Staff
Preface
This volume records briefly, by text and photograph, the Korean
conflict from January 1951 to the cessation of hostilities in July 1953.
Like its predecessor, Korea 1950, it attempts to provide an accurate
outline of events in order to show the U.S. Army veteran of the Korean
conflict how the part he played was related to the larger plans and
operations of th United Nations forces. For this reason Korea 1952–1953
focuses on the o rations of the United States Army but summarizes the
achievements of the sister services and of the other United Nations troops
in order to make clear the contributions of all to the successful resistance
against armed aggression. It does not purport to be a final history. Fuller,
more detailed histories of all phases of the Korean conflict are now being
prepared by this Office. Two of these have already appeared in print:
Captain Russell A. Gugeler’s Combat Actions in Korea and Captain John G.
Westover’s Combat Support in Korea, both published by Combat Forces
Press in Washington, D. C.
The text, which is based upon records and reports of the Far East
Command, the United Nations Command, and the Eighth Army, was
written by Dr. John Miller, jr., and Maj. Owen J. Carroll, using, in part,
drafts prepared by Capt. Robert K. Sawyer and 1st Lt. Walter K.
Lukens, Jr.
The photographic sections of this volume were prepared by Miss
Margaret E. Tackley.
The maps appearing with the text were prepared under the supervision of Mr. Wsevolod Aglaimoff. Those inside the front and back covers
are from Army Map Service.
A. C. SMITH
Major General, U.S. Army
Chief of Military History
Contents
1 JANUARY–21 APRIL 1951
Chapter Page
I. THE ENEMY HIGH TIDE: 1–24 January 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
II. ATTACK AND COUNTERATTACK: 25 January–28 February
1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
III. CROSSING THE 38TH PARALLEL: 1 March–21 April 1951 . . . . . . . . 21
Illustrations
Section

l–24 JANUARY 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
25 JANUARY–28 FEBRUARY 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
1 MARCH–21 APRIL 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
22 APRIL–12 NOVEMBER 1951
Chapter
IV. THE ENEMY STRIKES BACK: 22 April–19 May 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
V. THE UNITED NATIONS RESUME THE ADVANCE: 20 May–
24 June 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
VI. LULL AND FLARE-UP: 25 June–12 November 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Illustrations
Section
22 APRIL–19 MAY 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
20 MAY–24 JUNE 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
25 JUNE–12 NOVEMBER 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
12 NOVEMBER 1951–30 JUNE 1952
Chapter
VII. STALEMATE: 12 November 1951–30 June 1952 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
VIII. SUPPORT AND SERVICE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Illustrations
Section
12 NOVEMBER 1951–30 JUNE 1952 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
1 JULY 1952-27 JULY 1953
Chapter Page
IX. OUTPOST BATTLES: 1 July-31 December 1952 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
X. THE LAST BATTLE: 1 January-27 July 1953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Illustrations
Section
1 JULY–31 DECEMBER 1952 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
1 JANUARY–27 JULY 1953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
LIST OF PICTORIAL SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Maps
No.
Enemy Offensive, January 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
United Nations Offensive, 25 January–28 February 1951. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
United Nations Offensive, 1 March–21 April 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Enemy Offensive, 22 April–19 May 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
United Nations Offensive, 20 May–24 June 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
United Nations Front, 25 June–12 November 1951 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Last Battle, 1 January–27 July 1953 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
1 JANUARY–21 APRIL 1951
2
MAP
1
3
CHAPTER I
The Enemy High Tide
1–24 January 1951
As the first day of 1951 dawned in Korea,
weary soldiers of the United Nations braced
themselves to withstand the expected onslaught of North Korean and Chinese
armies. The outlook for the United Nations,
though not hopeless, was far from promising, for the unpredictable history of the
fighting in Korea seemed only to be repeating itself. Since the initial North Korean
invasion across the 38th parallel into the
Republic of Korea on 25 June 1950, the
months had been filled with bitter reverses,
gallant defenses, spectacular advances,
sudden blows, and more withdrawals for
the U.N. forces.
When United States forces were ordered
to Korea in July 1950, the enemy’s advance
had forced them to withdraw to a relatively
small perimeter in the vicinity of Pusan at
the southeast tip of the Korean peninsula.
Here, as several of the United Nations other
than the United States sent in reinforcements, the beleaguered troops made a
gallant and successful stand throughout the
latter part of the grim summer of 1950.
Then, on 15 September, when General of
the Army Douglas MacArthur’s forces
made their spectacular amphibious envelopment at Inch’on, on Korea’s west
coast about halfway between the 37th and
38th parallels, the tide of war turned
abruptly in favor of the United Nations.
The South Korean capital city of Seoul was
recaptured; the troops broke out of the
Pusan perimeter. As the North Koreans
fled northward, the U.N. forces crossed the
38th parallel in hot pursuit. They scored a
series of victories until late November 1950,
when they launched an offensive directed
toward seizing the line of the Yalu River,
the boundary between North Korea and
Manchuria, and ending the conflict.
But now the tide of war changed once
again. Some Chinese Communist “volunteer” troops had appeared at the front in
October, and in late November more
“volunteer” forces, crossing over from
Manchuria, struck in strength. They halted
the U.N. advance, then forced a withdrawal.
The two principal ground commands in
Korea, the U.S. Eighth Army and the U.S.
X Corps, had been physically separated
from each other when the Chinese struck.
The Eighth Army was in the western portion of the Korean peninsula, the X Corps
in the east, with towering mountains between. Both had been operating directly
under the United Nations Command in
Tokyo, which was led by General MacArthur, who in turn received orders from
President Truman and the U.S. Joint Chiefs
4
of Staff in Washington acting as executive
agents for the United Nations Security
Council.
December 1950 was a period of withdrawal and reorganization. The Eighth
Army and attached Republic of Korea
(ROK) forces withdrew rapidly to the
south with Chinese forces in pursuit. The
X Corps, valiantly resisting the enemy in
the bitter cold of the northeastern mountains, made its way to Hungnam on the
northeast coast. From there U.N. naval
forces took it safely off in one of the greatest
sea evacuations in all history. The corps
was brought to the vicinity of Pusan for
reorganization.
Meanwhile, in mid-December, the U.N.
commanders selected a defense line for the
Eighth Army. Lying generally along the
38th parallel, it started from the flats of the
Han River delta south of the parallel, ran
northeastward along the Imjin River, then
bent eastward through steep mountains to
the Sea of Japan. By the end of 1950,
enemy forces estimated at nearly half a
million men were poised in the snowcovered mountains along the 38th parallel.
On 30 December, General MacArthur
warned the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff that
the Chinese Communist forces could, if they
desired to make the effort, drive the United
Nations forces out of Korea. The United
States Government, though anxious to
avoid a full-scale war in Korea, was also
determined to resist the Chinese-North
Korean aggressors. Therefore, MacArthur
was ordered to defend his positions, to retire, if forced, through a series of defense
lines as far as the old 1950 perimeter
around Pusan, to inflict as much damage
on the enemy as possible, and to maintain
his units intact. Though no one wished to
evacuate Korea, MacArthur was authorized to withdraw his troops to Japan if that
drastic measure proved necessary to avoid
severe losses. At this time, his forces for
Korean operations included the U.S.
Eighth Army with attached troops from
nine other United Nations, the Army of
the Republic of Korea, the Far East Air
Forces, and the Far East Naval Forces.
To Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, who
replaced the late Gen. Walton H. Walker
as commander of the U.S. Eighth Army on
26 December, MacArthur passed on the
orders to defend positions, inflict maximum
damage on the enemy, and maintain major
units intact. Within this framework he
vested Ridgway with complete authority to
plan and execute operations in Korea and
ceased the close supervision he had formerly
exercised over the Eighth Army and the X
Corps. He assigned the X Corps to the
Eighth Army so that for the first time since
the X Corps landed at Inch’on the Eighth
Army commander controlled all U.N.
ground troops in Korea. By now fifteen of
the United Nations-the United States,
Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, India, South Africa, France,
Greece, the Netherlands, the Philippines,
Thailand, Turkey, Belgium, and Swedenhad troops in Korea.
Ridgway commanded about 365,000
men. The largest single contingent was the
Army of the Republic of Korea, which was
under his control but not part of the Eighth
Army. The next largest was the Eighth
Army, to which certain U.S. Air Force,
U.S. Marine Corps, and several United
Nations units, including Koreans, were attached. The U.N. command estimated that
about 486,000 enemy troops, or twenty-one
Chinese and twelve North Korean divisions, were committed to the Korean front
and that reserves totaling over one million
men were stationed near the Yalu, in Manchuria, or on the way to Manchuria.
5
In establishing the defense line along the
38th parallel in late December, General
Ridgway concentrated the bulk of his
Eighth Army forces in the relatively flat
central and west sectors because it was obvious that the enemy was concentrating
strong forces above Seoul. Maj. Gen. Frank
W. Milburn’s I Corps held the left (west)
sector south of the Imjin River; on the right
(east) of the I Corps, Maj. Gen. John B.
Coulter’s IX Corps held the center.1
Because it was believed that the mountainous
land in the east could be more easily held
than the western portion of the peninsula, a
seventy-mile mountain front was first assigned to the weakened ROK II Corps and
the newly committed, inexperienced ROK
III Corps. Shortly afterward these were reinforced by the ROK I Corps with the
crack ROK Capital Division. The U.S. X
Corps, under Maj. Gen. Edward M.
Almond, was reorganizing in the vicinity
of Pusan. The 1st Marine Division, until
recently a part of the X Corps, was held in
army reserve.
At daybreak on 1 January 195 1, after a
night of incessant mortar and artillery
bombardment all along the line, enemy
soldiers struck southward through minefields and barbed wire in great force. They
attacked along the entire front but directed
their major effort against the U.S. I and IX
Corps in the west and center. Seven
Chinese Communist armies and two North
Korean corps penetrated deeply toward
Seoul and the rail and road center of
Wonju, in the central sector.’ The only
units escaping the fury of the attack were
the U.S. 25th Division and the Turkish
Brigade on the extreme left and the ROK
Capital Division on the east coast.
As the offensive gained momentum General Ridgway reluctantly ordered the U.N.
forces to pull back to a line which ran along
the south bank of the frozen Han River to
Yangp’yong, thence to the Sea of Japan
through Hong’chon and Chumunjin. This
line included a crescent-shaped bridgehead
around Seoul which was intended to delay
the enemy armies and deny them the Han
River bridges. Co-ordinating their move
with the retiring ROK forces in the east, the
I and IX Corps pulled back to the Seoul
bridgehead line. The U.S. X Corps (the 2d
and 7th Infantry Divisions) re-entered the
fight on 2 January; next day it assumed
control of three additional ROK divisions
in a new corps zone on the central front between the U.S. IX and the ROK III Corps.
U.N. forces now presented a stronger, more
solid front than they had in the tragic
month of November 1950 when the Chinese
had struck the widely separated Eighth
Army and X Corps.
With three enemy armies comprising a
total of nine divisions astride the northern
approaches to Seoul, and a division from
each of two adjacent armies in position to
exploit successes, the South Korean capital
was imminently threatened. The enemy,
evidently sure that he would not be seriously opposed, followed up successes much
faster than before. And though the Eighth
Army fought hard, it could not check the
advance.
In the belief that standing in place would
invite destruction, General Ridgway decided to withdraw instead of holding his
present line. Withdrawal offered the chance
to preserve the U.N. forces and to capitalize
on the fact that the enemy’s logistical capabilities did not match his tactical abilities. 1
The I Corps consisted of the U.S. 25th Infantry Division,
the Republic of Korea (ROK) 1st Infantry Division, the
Turkish Brigade, the 29th British Infantry Brigade; the
IX Corps included the U.S. 1st Cavalry and 24th Infantry Divisions, the ROK 6th Infantry Division, the 27th
British Commonwealth Brigade, and the Greek and Philippine Battalions. 2
A Chinese army is equivalent in strength to a U.S. corps.
6
This weakness had been noted in China
when the Communists’ attacks against the
Nationalist forces had invariably slowed
down, then stalled after the first blow,
presumably while the attacking units were
resupplied and reinforced. The Chinese attacks against the American forces in November had followed the same pattern.
Lacking complete motorized transport, and
using pack horses, ox carts, and human
backs to bring up supply, the enemy had
outrun his supply lines and was forced to
pause above the 38th parallel before continuing the attack.
Ridgway’s decision to roll with the punch
accorded with MacArthur’s orders to maintain his nits intact and to achieve “maximum punishment, maximum delay.” U.N.
forces would damage the enemy as much as
possible while withdrawing to carefully selected defensive positions. When the attack
stalled, the U.N. troops could strike back
before the enemy’s supplies and reinforcements came up.
As the enemy intensified his attacks and
began crossing the ice of the Han River
both east and west of Seoul, it became clear
that the capital city bridgehead could not
be held. Ridgway ordered another withdrawal south to a line in the vicinity of the
37th parallel. This line ran from P’yongt’aek on the Seoul-Taejon highway east
through Ansong, northeast to Wonju, thence
in a curving, irregular fashion to the east
coast town of Samch’ok. The U.S. I and IX
Corps were first to occupy intermediate
positions in front of Suwon, about sixteen
miles south of Seoul, to cover the removal
of great stocks of supplies. Movement to the
new line began on 3 January, with bumperto-bumper columns of vehicles jamming the
roads.
With the advancing enemy hard on their
heels, the U.N. troops had no time to save
nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel and 23,000
gallons of napalm at Kimpo Airfield west
of Seoul. These were burned in a great
holocaust, as were barracks, hangars, and
other military installations.
On 4 January South Korean government
officials and the U.N. troops pulled out of
Seoul as the points of enemy columns
entered it from the north. Incendiaries set
to work, and office buildings, hotels, and
shacks burned. Smoke swirled through the
streets as civilians who had waited until the
end in the hope that the capital might be
saved stumbled along in a haze of windwhipped embers. When the civil police left,
bands of looters ranged the city. All during
the day columns of U.N. jeeps, trucks, staff
cars, and soldiers poured south over two
engineer bridges that spanned the Han.
Refugees clogged the single footbridge that
was spared them. That night huge clouds
of black smoke billowed up into the bleak
winter sky as Seoul changed hands for the
third time in a little more than six months.
Once Seoul was evacuated, its port of
Inch’on was abandoned. Port troops and
thousands of civilians were brought safely
out, their withdrawal covered by carrierbased U.S. Marine aircraft and by gunfire
from U.S., Canadian, Australian, and
Dutch warships. Docks, quays, and cranes
were destroyed, all stores that could not be
taken were burned, and the last two LST’s
were floated off the mud flats as Chinese
troops swarmed into the port area.
Endless streams of refugees from Seoul
and North Korea flooded the roads and
railways leading south. Some of the refugees
carried only small bundles, others dragged
rude carts loaded with household possessions, and still others had only the clothes
on their backs. Many died of exposure and
starvation. Families became separated, as
children wandered and their frantic par-
7
ents sought them among the milling
throngs. Crying babies were taken from the
backs of their dead mothers. Many old
people gave up hope and squatted beside
the roads waiting for death. Civil assistance authorities did their best to help, and
provided food, clothing, and shelter of a
sort for a large number, but there were too
many to care for them all and great numbers of innocent victims perished.
The shifting masses endangered military
operations. Refugees had always presented
a problem, but now the homeless wanderers
trying to reach Pusan, which was already
jammed, clogged vital highways and railroads. Finally control points were established at key road and rail junctions to
channel the people into the southwest
provinces.
At the front the U.S. I and IX Corps fell
back to their intermediate positions on the
P’yongt’aek-Samch’ok line after the supplies at Suwon had been removed and the
airfield installations were burned. Osan,
where the U.S. 24th Division had begun its
heroic delaying action almost six months
before, was abandoned. But now the
Chinese attacks in the west tapered off, the
enemy pushed light forces south of Seoul
but did not follow up in force. As the U.N.
units withdrew farther south, contact with
the enemy diminished sharply. Consequently, on 7 January, even before the I
and IX Corps had occupied their new positions, the U.S. 27th Infantry (the “Wolfhound” regiment) of the 25th Division, reinforced with field artillery, tanks, engineers, and two air force liaison parties,
pushed north from P’yongt’aek toward
Osan without finding an enemy soldier. A
IX Corps patrol went as far as Ich’on, east
of Suwon, and met only scattered enemy
detachments. Local patrols along the western front made no contact.
But the central and eastern fronts saw
heavy fighting. The North Korean II corps,
in late December, had driven through the
eastern mountains to place large numbers
of enemy soldiers behind U.N. lines, and as
the January offensive continued enemy
guerrilla activities in these sectors increased.
Obviously, these were carefully timed to
coincide with the attacks from the north.
Elusive enemy groups disrupted communications and raided military installations.
During the first days of January the situation in the U.S. X Corps area in the center
was obscure. Contact had been lost with the
ROK 5th and 8th Divisions to the X Corps’
right; the ROK 9th Division was badly disorganized, and the ROK 2d Division had
virtually disintegrated. Thus there were
only isolated pockets of South Korean
troops between the X Corps and the ROK
III Corps, and an estimated 18,000 enemy
soldiers poured into the gap. To counter this
threat General Ridgway formed a defensive
line facing east and northeast on the X
Corps’ right flank, and another to block the
enemy’s movement to the south. But the
enemy had already penetrated so deeply
and in such force that it looked as if U.N.
forces would be forced to withdraw still
farther south.
Now that Seoul had fallen, many enemy
units shifted eastward to concentrate on
driving through the rough, mountainous
land along the Hongch’on–HoengsongWonju axis. Success in this area would place
the enemy in position to attack southwestward behind the U.S. I and IX Corps.
Further, this attack threatened the railroad and highway between Hongch’on and
Pusan, the main U.N. north-south supply
route. The capture of Wonju, moreover,
would seriously limit U.N. movement in
central Korea. Thus when Hongch’on and
Hoengsong were abandoned and the U.S.
8
X Corps retired in co-ordination with the
withdrawals of the I and IX Corps to the
P’yongt’aek–Samch’ok line, the enemy
quickly followed up with strong attacks
against Wonju.
Wonju was defended by elements of the
U.S. 2d Division. This unit had suffered
severe losses when it screened the Eighth
Army withdrawal in North Korea in late
Now reconstituted and strengthened
by the French and Dutch Battalions, the
“Indianheads” showed their mettle by
making a stand on high ground immediately south of Wonju and holding in the
face of repeated assaults by at least two divisions. January produced some of the worst
weather of the winter, and air support was
seriously limited. On 10 January, for example, the Far East Air Force could fly no
close-support sorties. On other days during
this period F-80 and F-84 jets skimmed the
tops of hills through snow flurries and
clouds to give what support they could.
Thus lacking complete air support, and
fighting in temperatures as low as 25 degrees below zero, the men of the 2d Division
hurled back all the enemy’s assaults and
counterattacked time and again through
knee-deep snow. But this defense was not
enough. The almost total disintegration of
the line to the 2d Division’s right forced
abandonment of Wonju. During this action
the division was commanded by Maj. Gen.
Robert B. McClure to 13 January, thereafter by Maj. Gen. Clark L. Ruffner.
By 10 January large numbers of the
enemy had flooded through the gap to the
2d Division’s right and infiltrated the ROK
III Corps, while enemy guerrillas harried
the supply lines. To meet this threat
Ridgway ordered Maj. Gen. Oliver P.
Smith to move his 1st Marine Division from
the vicinity of Masan on the south coast
northward to prevent enemy penetration
from north of the Andong–Yongdok road
on the east and to protect the supply routes
to the ROK units.
With the central and eastern sectors seriously threatened, the west was now comparatively quiet. Patrols of the U.S. I and
IX Corps ranged north in attempts to make
contact with the enemy. Air reconnaissance
in front of the I Corps revealed a build-up
of enemy troops and supplies between
Suwon and Osan, astride the main highway
from Seoul to Taejon and Taegu. This,
coupled with police reports of large groups
of guerrillas between Taejon and Yongdong,
indicated that the enemy might soon renew
his attack along this main route to southeast
Korea. But ground sightings and contacts
in the I Corps sector were so few that it
seemed the enemy was moving at night and
avoiding roads, or that the bulk of his forces
was moving eastward.
Clearly, General Ridgway needed more
exact information about the enemy. To attempt to re-establish contact in the west,
and to force the diversion of some forces
from the X Corps sector, he planned Operation WOLFHOUND, a reconnaissance in
force in the I Corps sector. Accordingly, the
27th Infantry was again reinforced with
field artillery, tanks, and engineers and
ordered north.
The task force struck out northward in
the early morning hours of 15 January. A
battalion from the U.S. 3d Infantry Division covered its right flank, while other
units to the west delivered local covering attacks. Blown bridges and other obstacles
that the withdrawing U.N. troops had set
up were the chief impediments to the advance. As the task force moved north along
the Seoul highway toward Osan, it passed
over bare, frozen hills and through deserted
villages where an occasional solitary civilian might be seen dimly beside his ruined
9
home. Thin wisps of smoke showed the
presence of other human beings in this
barren land, but investigating patrols found
only more wretched South Koreans huddling around small fires. Not a single
enemy soldier was encountered until the
task force reached a point just south of
Osan, where it met and exchanged shots
with a small enemy detachment, which
then fled.
Advancing in two columns, the task force
converged on Suwon the next day, 16
January, and met machine gun fire about
800 yards south of the ancient city. But by
now the high command was satisfied, and
ordered the task force to withdraw about
twelve miles southward.
The Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army,
General J. Lawton Collins, arrived in
Korea in mid-January to assay the fighting
qualities of the U.N. forces and promptly
settled the question of evacuation. “As of
now,” he announced to news correspondents, “we are going to stay and fight.” General Ridgway expressed his confidence in
his troops, avowing that the Eighth Army
could readily take care of itself in its present
situation. The Eighth Army, Collins informed Washington on 17 January, was in
good shape and constantly improving under
Ridgway’s leadership.
This optimism was confirmed by events
to the east of the I and IX Corps. On 15
January, when the WOLFHOUND force
moved north, U.N. troops south of Wonju
had begun further withdrawals to a shorter
defense line which ran roughly between
Wonch’on and Yongwol. The situation in
the central and eastern sectors, though still
serious, had improved by the third week of
the new year, and enemy pressure was
gradually decreasing. Guerrillas still harassed the rear areas, but the threat was
abating as U.N. troops contained and
hunted down enemy irregulars. The enemy
armies had suffered heavily in their efforts
to drive down the center of the peninsula.
In one action, for example, the North
Korean 2d, 9th, and 31st Divisions, while trying to encircle the U.S. 2d Division, were
estimated to have lost one thousand men
per day to U.N. infantry, armor, artillery,
and aircraft. Eighth Army headquarters
later estimated that the hostile armies had
lost 38,000 men during the first twenty-six
days in January.
Broad expanses of the Eighth Army front
had now become quiet, but quietness did
not necessarily indicate that the enemy had
given up his attempts to drive to Pusan. Air
reconnaissance revealed that he was building up reserves or supplies and bringing up
thousands of replacements to his depleted
units. It became apparent that, as the U.N.
troops developed their positions along the
P’yongt’aek–Samch’ok line, the enemy
thinned his forward elements, establishing
screening forces to maintain light contact,
and concentrated the bulk of his troops
farther north.
General Ridgway, on 20 January, issued
orders designed to exploit this situation. He
directed his subordinate commanders to
create opportunities for brief but violent
counteraction with armor, artillery, infantry, and air power with the intention of
disrupting enemy preparations for a new
offensive. He found the moment promising.
“Never have members of a military command,” he told his troops, “had a greater
challenge than we, or a finer opportunity
to show ourselves and our people at their
best—and thus be an honor to the profession of arms, and a credit to those who
bred us.”
As local patrols were still making very
little contact, the U.S. IX Corps planned a
reconnaissance in force on its front. For this
10
mission a task force was organized out of
elements of the 1st Cavalry Division, a
Regular division which fought as infantry in
World War II and in Korea. The force included the 3d Battalion, 8th Cavalry, the
70th Tank Battalion, a battery of field
artillery, and a platoon of engineers. With
the mission of conducting aggressive operations in a triangular area bounded by the
towns of Kumnyangjang-ni, Ich’on, and
Kyongan-ni, the force struck out at 0530,
22 January, and advanced northward to a
point on the Ich’on–Kumnyangjang-ni
road about five miles east of the latter town.
There it split into two groups. One turned
to the east and traveled as far as Och’on-ni
without encountering any opposition. The
other went west for nearly a mile, came
under fire from a small enemy group which
dispersed under an air strike, and then
moved north for several thousand yards.
This element encountered no more resistance until en route back to the U.N. lines,
when it met and scattered another small
hostile band.
This reconnaissance, and Operation
WOLFHOUND, further demonstrated that the
enemy did not occupy any positions close to
the front lines of the U.S. I and IX Corps in
strength. Therefore Ridgway scheduled a
still larger operation, THUNDERBOLT, for 25
January. THUNDERBOLT was to be another
reconnaissance in force, with each U.S.
corps authorized to use one U.S. division
and one ROK regiment. Since the terrain
in the coastal sector was flatter and the road
network denser, the I Corps planned to use
five columns of infantry and armor, while
the IX Corps employed but two. The
operation was to be a methodical, coordinated advance designed to push through
the area south of the Han River and seek
out the enemy.
The two-day period preceding Operation THUNDERBOLT was unusually quiet,
even in the zones of the U.S. X and ROK
III Corps. The 1st Marine Division had the
only contact with strong enemy forces—
guerrillas to the south. Heavy snow impeded movement along the east coast, but
active patrolling by ROK elements failed
to locate any large enemy concentrations
within fifteen miles of the front. In this setting, combat reconnaissance units of the I
and IX Corps went forward on the night of
24 January to the line of departure for
Operation THUNDERBOLT. The pendulum
was swinging north again.
12
MAP 2
CHAPTER II
On the first day of THUNDERBOLT (25
January) six of the seven participating
columns proceeded against scattered resistance. Only the Turkish Brigade east of
Osan encountered stiff opposition. By nightfall elements of the U.S. 35th Infantry,
25th Division, were on the south edge of
Suwon, and in the U.S. IX Corps zone a
column reached Ich’on and took up positions north and east of the town. U.N. air
units meanwhile co-ordinated their close
support missions, armed reconnaissance,
and interdictory attacks with the fire and
movement of the advancing ground elements. General Ridgway requested U.N.
naval forces to intensify their offshore patrolling along the west coast in order to prevent any amphibious infiltration of the
army’s left flank.
The support furnished by the air forces
was most effective during this period. When
Eighth Army foot elements flushed elusive
enemy soldiers into the open, U.N. aircraft
closed in to destroy them. Air strikes softened up points of resistance almost as fast
as they developed. Most important was the
damage being inflicted upon Communist
supply lines by air power, which, according
to air intelligence estimates, kept as much
as 80 percent of the enemy’s supplies from
reaching his front lines. The enemy now
had to move not only ammunition but food
down from the north, for local rice stockpiles had been removed or destroyed by
withdrawing U.N. forces or burned during
the fighting, and he could no longer live off
the countryside.
During the rest of the month the U.S. I
and IX Corps advanced slowly as all units
proceeded cautiously and methodically,
ridge by ridge, phase line by phase line, to
clear out every enemy soldier. U.N. task
forces advanced a limited distance each
day. The tanks, “quad .50’s” (multiple
antiaircraft machine guns mounted on halftracks), and field artillery would cover a
certain number of hills with fire; and the infantry, under this cover, would sweep the
same ground clean. Each pocket of resistance was wiped out before the next coordinated advance was made. The Eighth
Army commander insisted that U.N. forces
maintain a solid front, for an attempt to advance only in roadbound columns would
surely invite the enemy to drive down the
ridgelines between roads to U.N. rear areas.
During the first days of THUNDERBOLT
the enemy launched a few small night
counterattacks, but in general fought only
outpost actions. Prisoners of war reported
that only two divisions of the Chinese Communist 50th Army occupied a front of nearly
Attack and Counterattack
25 January–28 February 1951
14
thirty miles, a strong indication that it had
a screening mission.
But by 30 January resistance had stiffened, and the enemy began launching
counterattacks in battalion strength. Hostile machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire
north and northwest of Suwon increased,
and in some sectors Chinese, armed only
with grenades and sticks of dynamite, attacked. But the enemy still fought a delaying action. The U.S. 3d Division had joined
the battle on 27 January, and as the operation continued it developed from a reconnaissance in force to a full-scale attack.
Eighth Army troops were not only finding
and destroying the enemy but were taking
ground and holding it.
Then came indications that the extended
frontage of the Chinese Communist 50th
Army was being greatly reduced. Identified
from west to east across both corps’ zones
were the 148th, 149th, and 150th Divisions of
the Chinese Communist 50th Army, the
North Korean 8th Division and the 112th,
113th, and 114th Divisions of the Chinese
Communist 38th Army. U.N. air observers
warned of numerous freshly dug enemy
foxholes along the Inch’on–Yongdungp’o
highway, and on the last day of January the
U.S. I Corps advanced less than one mile,
with some units engaging in hand-to-hand
fighting. Nevertheless, U.N. armored spearheads probed aggressively toward Seoul,
their way paved by massed Eighth Army
artillery, bombing and napalm attacks, and
naval gunfire that included the 16-inch
rifles of the U.S. battleship Missouri. During
Operation THUNDERBOLT, the Eighth Army
was for the first time able to bring the full
weight of two major weapons—armor and
artillery—to bear on the Chinese enemy. In
return, the enemy increased the size and
strength of his counterattacks. Columns of
U.N. tanks and other vehicles found roads
heavily mined, and defensive mortar and
artillery fire dropped into U.N. lines with
mounting intensity.
The enemy resisted vigorously until 9
February, then abruptly gave way. Patrols
that penetrated to a point three miles east
of Inch’on reported no enemy activity.
Other patrols raced north through a heavy
snow storm, past abandoned foxholes and
frozen rice paddies, to the Han River without contact. Task forces from the U.S. 25th
Division made an 11,000-yard advance the
following day to secure Inch’on and Kimpo
Airfield without firing a shot. By nightfall
on 10 February, the U.S. I Corps closed up
to the south bank of the Han River and
U.N. troops looked across at the capital
city.
Although no massive amphibious invasion had been necessary to recapture
Inch’on, the U.N. demolitions during the
January evacuation were so complete that
the port looked as if it had suffered another such destructive operation. The city
was three-quarters destroyed. Piers were
smashed and battered; barbed wire entanglements and twisted metal blocked the
streets; buildings were blackened and deserted. At Kimpo hundreds of charred 55-
gallon gasoline drums, which withdrawing
U.N. troops had set afire, still littered the
bomb-pocked runways, and the hangars
were now but gaunt skeletons.
On the central front, meanwhile, U.N.
armored patrols reached Wonju, now deserted except for a few civilians. Since there
was little activity in the center and east at
the end of January, Ridgway ordered the
U.S. X Corps to create diversionary efforts
to the north. Elements of the corps. accordingly pushed toward Hoengsong along the
Wonju–Hoengsong road, and captured the
town on 2 February against light resistance.
But presence of the North Korean II and V
Corps in the vicinity foreshadowed stiffer
15
opposition to a farther advance northward.
The time now seemed ripe for more ambitious efforts. Ridgway instructed the X
Corps and the ROK III Corps to initiate an
attack similar to that being so successfully
carried out in the zones of the U.S. I and IX
Corps. The plan called for the ROK 5th
and 8th Divisions of the X Corps to spearhead enveloping attacks on Hongch’on in
order to disrupt the regrouping of North
Korean forces south of the town. At the
same time ROK III Corps units would advance in the central-east zone to protect the
X Corps’ right flank.
This attack, called Operation ROUNDUP,
began on 5 February, and all units moved
forward without opposition on the first day.
By nightfall on the sixth, however, the
ROK 5th and 8th Divisions were both
meeting resistance. The former, on the
right, found the going particularly difficult
northeast of Hoengsong. Moreover, ROK
III Corps units to the east could not keep
pace with the advances in the central zone,
and by 8 February strong North Korean
forces were hitting the right flank of the
U.S. X Corps. The ROK 5th Division
therefore took up blocking positions along
the exposed flank, and the ROK 3d Division was given the mission of continuing the
envelopment of Hongch’on from the east.
For several days pressure on the U.S. X
Corps increased steadily and signs pointed
to a large enemy build-up on its front. U.N.
troops encountered mine fields and boobytrapped foxholes. Although the enemy was
definitely on the defensive he began launching stronger counterattacks all along the
line. In some cases the enemy seemed to be
trying to entice U.N. troops into attacking.
Air observers reported the presence of large
enemy groups north of the boundary between IX and X Corps and of other groups
moving south and east above Hoengsong.
In addition, U.N. intelligence thought
it probable that the enemy had shifted the
bulk of his forces in the west to the westcentral zone, and the threat of a counteroffensive there became more likely as U.S.
I and IX Corps closed up to the Han River.
This threat materialized on the night of
11–12 February, when elements of the
Chinese Communist 40th and 66th Armies
and the North Korean V Corps struck violently in subzero weather against the ROK
3d, 5th, and 8th Divisions, north of Hoengsong. Signaling his attack with bugle calls,
whistles, and the beating of drums, the
enemy made immediate penetrations and
forced the ROK divisions to withdraw
rapidly. Large enemy groups moved southeast through the snow-clogged, ice-glazed
mountains in the battle zone, and air
observers reported numerous enemy road
blocks behind U.N. lines. The three ROK
divisions attempted to build a defensive line
just north of Hoengsong, but the situation
had already deteriorated to a point where
an organized defense was impossible. Only
remnants of the ROK 5th and 8th Divisions
remained. One regiment of the ROK 3d
Division north of Hoengsong was surrounded, U. N. units became disorganized
and individuals streamed southward, fighting desperately to break through the road
blocks. Hoengsong was abandoned on 13
February, as Eighth Army troops battled
their way south toward Wonju.
At nightfall on the 13th, the enemy attacked in strength at Chip’yong-ni, on the
left hinge of the U.S. X Corps zone northwest of Wonju. This tiny village, no more
than a few thatch-roofed huts clustered in a
valley surrounded by snow-covered rocky
peaks, happened to be the junction of several roads, and as such was a keystone of
the central zone. If it fell the entire Eighth
Army front might be endangered. The 23d
Infantry of the U.S. 2d Division and the
French Battalion formed a defensive perimeter on a ring of low hills immediately
around the town, and by mid-morning of
16
the 14th they were surrounded by a force
later estimated to have comprised three
Chinese Communist divisions. For three
days the stalwart U.N. troops fiercely defended the Chip’yong-ni road junction
against repeated assaults as enemy fire
poured in on them from the surrounding
mountains.
U.N. air forces dropped food and ammunition to the beleaguered men and destroyed hundreds of enemy troops with
strafing and napalm attacks. Even at night,
aircraft were able to give a measure of support by using magnesium flares to illuminate the battlefield. American and French
ground troops were fighting gallantly when
an armored task force from U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment ran the gantlet of enemy fire
to join them. The following day when
weary American and French soldiers
climbed out of their foxholes they found
that enemy pressure had melted away.
For its extreme bravery in this action the
French Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col.
Ralph Monclar, a Foreign Legion veteran
who had given up his four-star rank of
Général de Corps d’Armée to take a battalion to
Korea, was awarded the American Distinguished Unit Citation as were also the U.S.
23d Infantry and attached troops. The defense of Chip’yong-ni proved to be the turning point in the enemy advance.
During the action at Chip’yong-ni, some
twelve miles of front had lain totally undefended between Chip’yong-ni and a
point southwest of Wonju. Two units of the
U.S. IX Corps, the ROK 6th Division and
the 27th Commonwealth Brigade, hurriedly
moved to fill the gap. Although the time lag
in getting them to their assigned sectors
could have been exploited by the enemy, he
apparently was more intent on driving on
the road junctions at Chip’yong-ni and
Wonju, and the IX Corps filled the hole
before he could act.
While U.N. soldiers were thus bitterly
defending in the central and central-west
sectors, strong North Korean forces had attacked northeast of Wonju in an attempt
presumably to recapture P’yongch’ang.
This attempt was believed to be an effort
secondary to the major thrust in the U.S. X
Corps zone, but the North Koreans soon
made a deep penetration east of Wonju and
drove to within ten kilometers of Chech’on
to expose the right flank of the X Corps
once more. General Ridgway had to muster
all his resources to contain the enemy
salient. Elements of the U.S. 7th Division
and remnants of the recently disorganized
ROK 3d and 5th Divisions hastily formed a
defensive line north of Chech’on. The situation was unstable for several days, but the
enemy’s southward surge near Chech’on
was at least temporarily arrested.
At the same time the U.S. I and IX
Corps were gradually taking all the ground
up to the Han River in their zones to the
west. Some I Corps units were in position
along the south bank west of Seoul. Here
the action was confined largely to patrolling
and duels between U.N. tanks and enemy
self-propelled guns located across the river.
Several ROK patrols attempted to slip over
to the north bank, but were driven back by
artillery and mortar fire. The South Korean
capital was reported to be bristling with
enemy troops, and it was estimated that the
Chinese Communist 50th Army, numbering
approximately 18,000 men, was in the city
itself, while the North Korean 8th and 47th
Infantry and 17th Mechanized Divisions, totaling about 19,800 men, were in the vicinity.
The enemy still retained a sizable foothold south of the Han, generally between
Seoul and Yangp’yong. Although he defended it resolutely, troops of both U.S.
corps were steadily narrowing it down. On
the night of 13–14 February, a powerful
enemy counterattack from the bridgehead
17
pushed between two U.N. units and
plunged into I Corps near areas toward
Suwon. This counterattack, probably intended to divert attention from the enemy’s
main effort in the central regions, was
quickly contained. During the next day,
U.S. troops searched out the hostile force
and, by actual count, killed 1,152 and took
353 prisoners. The remaining enemy troops
fled to the north.
Meanwhile, far to the south, guerrillas
and remnants of the North Korean II Corps
continued operations in the rear area. Although these forces were scattered throughout the entire southern Korean peninsula,
large concentrations between Andong and
Uisong posed a constant threat to the U.N.
supply routes. No truck convoy was safe
from the marauders. All attempts to destroy
the guerrilla groups by attacks from a single
direction had failed. The enemy simply fell
back and disappeared. The U.S. 1st Marine
Division, which fought them until the middle of February, soon learned the most
effective technique: first, surround the hostile bands to prevent their escape; then, attack with the support of mortars and
artillery.
Gradually the guerrillas became less
active, less eager to fight, and prone to disperse after short skirmishes. It was estimated
that U.N. counteractions had reduced the
strength of these forces to about 18,000 by
the end of February, a decline of approximately 15 percent during the first two
months of 1951.
The last two weeks of February, however,
saw the enemy strengthen his forces considerably on the fluid central front. Elements
of nine Chinese divisions had been identified in the enemy offensive in the central
zones, as well as elements of the North
Korean II and V Corps, with the North
Korean III Corps attached. In addition, one
more Chinese Communist army was known
to be immediately available.
The enemy attack at Chip’yong-ni had
followed the expected pattern. Within a
week after the initial blow the offensive had
slowed down, and the enemy thinned his
lines in the west-central area and around
Wonju. The penetration by North Korean
troops in the east-central zone had continued to move toward Chech’on, but the
momentum of the thrust abated and it degenerated into infiltration. Two factors had
apparently forced the enemy to suspend his
offensive: tremendous casualties and the
need to pause for resupply and reorganization.
When the Chinese Communists attacked
in November, they had been fresh, confident, and unhurt. By the time their midFebruary attack died down, they had been
weakened by U.N. air and ground action,
and had suffered cold, hunger, and disease.
The cold, in particular, had affected the
Chinese much more than the U.N. forces
for most of them were inadequately clothed.
Moreover, they did not have, by Western
standards, proper medical facilities. As few
towns were left standing, they could not
find buildings to protect them from the
freezing weather. When they did, U.N. aircraft wiped out the buildings along with the
enemy soldiers. Frostbite and trench foot
were taking their toll within enemy ranks
and, if prisoners of war were to be believed,
they were plagued by typhus, that age-old
scourge of armies. Fighting 260 miles south
of the Manchurian border, the Chinese
found the situation quite different from that
in November when they had had their
bases to their immediate rear.
At 0745 on 18 February, Maj. Gen.
Bryant E. Moore, who had assumed command of the U.S. IX Corps on 31 January,
reported to Ridgway that one of the regiments in the sector of the U.S. 24th Division
had found no opposition before it. The enemy’s foxholes were empty, and abandoned
18
weapons and cooking equipment lay strewn
about. Eighth Army headquarters passed
this information to the U.S. I and X Corps
with the request that combat patrols be sent
out to gain contact. The army commander
warned that any withdrawal by the enemy
might be a ruse, but findings of the patrols
confirmed the fact that enemy forces along
the entire Eighth Army central front were
beginning a general retreat. General Ridgway immediately ordered U.S. X Corps to
attack eastward to destroy the North
Koreans on its eastern flank, near Chech’on.
At the same time, he directed the IX Corps
to seize positions running from Hajin to
Yangp’yong, and thence northwest to the
intersection of the U.S. IX Corps boundary
with the Han River. These moves met very
light, scattered resistance and disclosed evidence of hasty retreat. By 19 February the
initiative all along the front had passed
from the enemy into U.N. hands.
General Ridgway was determined to give
the North Koreans and Chinese neither rest
nor opportunity to reorganize. On 21 February, he inaugurated a general advance
(Operation KILLER) by both the U.S. IX
and X Corps to deny important positions to
the enemy and to destroy as many hostile
troops as could be found. The objective was
a line which ran generally eastward from
Yangp’yong on the Han River east of Seoul
to points north of Chip’yong-ni and Hwangsong-ni, and thence eastward so as to secure
the east-west portion of the Wonju–Kangnung road between Wonju and Pangnimni. In order to include the U.S. 1st Marine
Division in KILLER, the boundary between
the two corps was shifted eastward so that
Wonju and Hoengsong fell within the IX
Corps zone. The Marine division was relieved of its antiguerrilla mission and committed near Wonju as part of the IX Corps.
During the first week of Operation
KILLER the U.N. troops advanced up to ten
miles in the Chip’yong-ni area, and by 24
February the 1st Marine Division had
seized the high ground overlooking Hoengsong. That same day General Moore, the
U.S. IX Corps commander, died of a heart
attack following a helicopter accident in
which he and his pilot crashed into the Han
River. General Smith, commander of the
U.S. 1st Marine Division, assumed temporary command of the corps pending the arrival of Maj. Gen. William M. Hoge who
took command on 5 March.
Advances in both corps zones were slow
and unspectacular, for South Korea was
just beginning to thaw. Swollen streams and
mud greatly hampered military operations.
In the X Corps zone thaws coupled with
extremely mountainous terrain made each
day’s advance a test of endurance for both
men and equipment. Heavy rains turned
frozen rice paddies into treacherous brown
slime, and men stumbled and slithered in
deep mud. At night, U.N. troops scraped
through sodden sand and muck to hack out
foxholes in the frozen ground beneath.
Though opposition in front of the U.S. IX
Corps was heavy, enemy tactics along the
entire central and central-east fronts were
much like those encountered by Operation
THUNDERBOLT a month before. Enemy
groups contested U.N. advances, but their
mission was plainly one of delay.
As U.N. troops began moving back into
the areas lately occupied by the enemy,
they found evidence of the effectiveness of
their attacks. The hills around Wonju and
Chech’on were littered with enemy dead.
Many more had been buried in shallow
graves on the bleak mountain sides. Apparently the Chinese and North Korean invaders had been even more severely mauled
than had been imagined. The Eighth Army
Psychological Warfare Branch went into
action, and shortly thereafter the Fifth Air
Force began dropping leaflets to the retreat-
19
ing enemy with the terse invitation: “Count
your men!”
In the I Corps zone the Han River became a formidable obstacle shortly after the
beginning of the thaws. Behind this obstacle
the Communist defense of Seoul and other
areas on the north bank was apparently
being conducted with a reduced number of
troops. The port of Inch’on was again in
limited use, but many weeks would pass before piers, cranes, tidal gates, and other port
installations could be fully restored. Kimpo
Airfield would not again be operational
until May.
In eight days U.N. forces had advanced
to their assigned objectives in the central
and central-east zones. Operation KILLER
was nearly completed. Its success had been
due in large measure not only to continuous
pressure against an enemy who appeared
unable to launch a major counterattack
unless granted time to organize, but also to
the strict observance of the basic tactical
doctrine of co-ordinated movement.
On 28 February, after weeks of ceaseless
hammering by U.N. forces, the Communist
foothold south of the Han River collapsed.
By 1 March the entire Eighth Army front
was relatively stable. For the first time, the
U.N. line had no gaping holes, no soft spots,
and no enemy salients threatening to tear it
in two.
20
MAP 3
21
CHAPTER III
Operation KILLER—the advance by the
IX and X Corps—had not fulfilled all of
General Ridgway’s hopes for it, for the enemy had managed to withdraw while
wretched weather was disrupting Allied
road and rail movement. But in large part
the recent losses had been recouped and the
geographical objectives were attained by
1 March. The U.N. line, situated about
halfway between the 37th and 38th parallels, swung in a concave arc from south of
the Han River in the west through
Yangp’yong and Hoengsong, then curved
gently northeast to Kangnung.
With MacArthur’s approval, Ridgway
determined to continue the offensive with a
new attack, Operation RIPPER. He planned
to attack northward in the central and
eastern zones to capture Hongch’on and
Ch’unch’on and seize a line, designated
IDAHO, just south of the 38th parallel.
RIPPER’S purpose was, again, to destroy
enemy soldiers and equipment, to keep up
pressure that would prevent the mounting
of a counteroffensive, and to split the Chinese from the North Korean forces, most of
which were posted on the eastern front. The
U.S. IX and X Corps were to advance in
the center through successive phase lines to
IDAHO while the ROK units in the east
covered the right flank with local attacks
and the I Corps in the west maintained its
positions south and east of Seoul. The drive
by the IX and X Corps would create a
bulge east of the capital city from which
U.N. forces could envelop it.
Operation RIPPER began on 7 March
when, after one of the most tremendous artillery preparations of the war, the U.S.
25th Division crossed the Han River near
its confluence with the Pukhan and established a bridgehead on the north bank.
Simultaneously, the ROK 1st Division delivered a diversionary thrust northwest of
Kimpo Airfield, and the U.S. 3d Division
demonstrated along the Han River south of
Seoul in an attempt to draw attention from
the 25th Division. At first the enemy vigorously contested the bridgehead, but after
three days of heavy fighting retired in disorder. In the central and eastern zones,
U.N. forces made substantial gains on the
first day, and thereafter moved steadily forward. Opposition to the drive took the form
of a series of small unit delaying actions, a
tactic well adapted to the rugged terrain.
Wherever the land was least favorable to
attacks, wherever roads were lacking, slopes
precipitous, and natural approaches few,
there the enemy held most stubbornly. For
the next six weeks a grinding type of warfare prevailed. Nevertheless, by 11 March
Crossing the 38th Parallel
1 March–21 April 1951
22
elements of the U.S. IX Corps had reached
the first phase line. Other units reached it
in the next two days, and the attack to the
second phase line began on the 14th.
As intended by General Ridgway, the
advance in the central and eastern zones
had threatened the enemy’s control of the
capital. To search out the positions that still
barred the way, a patrol from the ROK I
Division crossed the Han River west of
Seoul and proceeded northward for several
miles before running into enemy fire. Another patrol probed the outer defenses of
the city, found them almost deserted on the
night of 14–15 March, and U.N. troops
moved in. Thus Seoul changed hands for
the fourth time. Within a matter of hours
the Republic of Korea flag was raised over
the National Assembly Building.
Heavily blasted by U.N. and enemy
bombardment, some of its principal buildings the scenes of previous fighting, Seoul
showed both new and old scars. The Bun
Chon shopping district, untouched when
U.N. troops had withdrawn in January,
had been flattened. United States Ambassador John J. Muccio’s official residence
had taken two more direct hits. The great
brass-studded red gates of the embassy
compound were leveled and buried in
rubble. No utilities were in operation.
Streetcar and light wires dangled from
poles. Of the city’s original population of
1,500,000 only some 200,000 ragged civilians remained. By the end of March, however, a city government was once more
functioning in Seoul.
During the next week the enemy fought
only delaying actions. In the X Corps zone,
some of the worst terrain yet encountered
proved to be more of an obstacle than the
enemy. The mountainous country consisted
of high peaks and narrow valleys, and U.N.
troops were constantly either descending
sharp slopes or climbing steep heights to attack enemy positions that were sometimes
above the clouds. Each enemy position was,
in effect, a strong point which had to be approached, enveloped, and carried by assault. The early spring’s rising temperatures
were turning battlefields into quagmires.
All supplies had to be hand-carried, and
usually only the barest essentials reached
the front lines. Prompt action by air rescue
and evacuation units saved many wounded
who otherwise would have died, for it sometimes took two days to carry the wounded
out to litter jeeps. Far East Air Forces cargo
aircraft contributed by dropping food and
ammunition, and thus gave the ground
forces greater flexibility. Despite the enemy
and natural obstacles, Operation RIPPER
ground slowly forward.
About this time Ridgway ordered the
ROK I Corps in the east to complete the
destruction of remnants of the North Korean 10th Division in the Chungbong Mountains southwest of the coastal town of
Parhan-ni. This enemy division, currently
harassing the South Korean forces engaged
in Operation RIPPER, had infiltrated southward in January through the mountains
from the 38th parallel to within twenty
miles of Taegu. Relying on the countryside
for food and clothing and on captured materiel for ammunition, it had been able to
make itself the full-time concern of at least
one U.N. division plus ROK security forces.
It had suffered constant attack and heavy
losses. Because it had no medical facilities,
only the fittest survived. Yet the North Korean 10th Division managed to maintain the
form of a military organization.
As early as 13 March, what was left of
the division had made its way as far north
as the Chungbong Mountains, where the
surviving elements continued their operations. During the next few days, four ROK
23
regiments harried the North Koreans in an
effort to wipe them out. Though the 10th
Division casualties were high, many must
have survived to escape: the major activity
in the sectors of the ROK 3d and 9th Divisions, on 17 and 18 March, consisted of
fighting enemy groups that entered U.N.
areas from the rear, fought their way
through, and disappeared to the north.
With this threat eliminated, other ROK
forces in the east were able to move to Line
IDAHO by 17 March. The U.S. IX and X
Corps neared their third phase line in the
central zone and, Hongch’on having been
secured, U.S. marines advanced toward
Ch’unch’on. The enemy in this sector
fought vigorously from bunkers which were
little affected by aircraft and artillery attack. In many instances enemy soldiers had
to be dislodged by the bayonet. Since
Ch’unch’on was an enemy supply and communications center, and it seemed probable
that the city could be taken only after a
hard fight, the 187th Airborne Regimental
Combat Team (RCT) was alerted to make
a drop there on 22 March. By the 19th,
when U.N. armored patrols entered the
Ch’unch’on basin, it became apparent that
the progress of Operation RIPPER and the
withdrawal of the enemy had been so rapid
that an airdrop would not be profitable.
The project was canceled.
Once Seoul had fallen I Corps troops
took up positions on a line from Yongdungp’o through the capital’s northern
suburbs, thence northeast. Ridgway then
enlarged RIPPER to include a move by the I
Corps westward to the Imjin River, and the
corps began its attack on 22 March.
Next day the 187th Airborne RCT and
two Ranger companies parachuted from
more than 100 twin-tailed “Flying Boxcars”
onto drop zones at Munsan-ni about 20
miles northwest of Seoul. An armored task
force from the I Corps then rolled forward
through mine fields and quickly made contact with the paratroopers. But the jump,
which had been designed to block enemy
movement along the Seoul–Kaesong axis
and trap large numbers of enemy troops,
failed to achieve these results. The enemy,
here and elsewhere during Operation
RIPPER, had elected to withdraw, rolling
with the punch and trading space for time.
His prompt withdrawal made the advance
to the Imjin River rapid and very nearly
bloodless.
This advance placed Eighth Army troops
on the west flank of the enemy. The U.S. I
Corps commander quickly ordered the
187th RCT to attack due east to capture
the commanding ground behind the enemy
troops facing the U.S. 3d Division. This
move would allow the latter to attack and
hammer the enemy against the anvil
formed by the airborne regiment. But foul
weather and all but impassable roads—
supporting armored elements were forced
to return to Seoul—slowed the eastward
movement of the 187th RCT. By the time
the objective was reached the enemy had
withdrawn.
By the last days of March, as RIPPER
came to a close, Ridgway’s forces had
fought their way through rain and mud
generally to the 38th parallel. In the east
the ROK III and I Corps had pushed
patrols more than twelve miles north of the
parallel, and by 31 March South Korean
troops were in control of the roads leading
west and south from Yangyang on the east
coast. In the west, an American armored
column probed over the line north of
Uijongbu above Seoul. The enemy had
pulled back and broken contact in many
areas across the front. All U.N. forces were
in position on Line IDAHO, and all geographical objectives had been taken. But
24
the main body of the enemy had slipped
away and escaped destruction. RIPPER was
thus a qualified success.
Throughout February and March, U.N.
naval forces played an important role in
the Korean conflict. Ships from the navies
of the United States, Australia, Canada,
Great Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and Thailand
constantly harassed the enemy. A blockading force had initiated a continuous bombardment of Wonsan and Songjin that was
to surpass the Civil War record established
when Federal ships shelled Vicksburg for
forty-two consecutive days. Both Wonsan
and Songjin were communications centers
for the road and rail networks along the
east coast, and the blockade and bombardment were designed to keep the supply
arteries severed. By the end of March the
siege was in its forty-third day.
In addition, South Korean units raided
Wolsa Peninsula, about forty-five miles
southwest of P’yongyang, killed and
wounded a number of the garrison, and
withdrew with a bag of prisoners. Similar
raids were delivered at Inch’on, and ROK
marines hit far up the east coast in the
vicinity of Wonsan. The U.N. commanders
launched these operations for several purposes: to inflict physical damage on the enemy; to net prisoners who could furnish
valuable information; and to force the enemy to keep garrisons in areas where such
raids might be expected.
When the main enemy forces had pulled
back before RIPPER, it was to a line north of
the 38th parallel which had apparently
been built before the North Korean onslaught of June 1950. This line was probably the strongest position in enemy territory. The most stalwart portion of this line
lay in the center, where a series of fortifications, built in solid rock and reinforced by
logs and concrete, protected the road network and supply and assembly areas in the
popularly termed “Iron Triangle” bounded
by Ch’orwon, Kumhwa, and P’yonggang.
Sending U.N. troops in force across the
38th parallel was not an undertaking to be
entered into lightly. A northward advance
would lengthen their communication lines
while correspondingly shortening the enemy’s, and eventually a point would be
reached where U.N. air superiority would
be nullified. General MacArthur had reported that his forces could successfully
proceed for one hundred miles over the
parallel before they reached this point, but
in the United States and among the other
participating United Nations, it was all too
easy to remember the debacle of late 1950
after the first U.N. crossing of the parallel.
On the other hand, the enemy armies could
not be allowed to regroup and reorganize
unmolested for a counterattack which intelligence sources considered inevitable.
To complicate matters, the forthcoming
March–July rainy season would limit the
mobility of armored and mechanized forces.
The decision whether to cross the parallel
or stand pat was a vital one. President
Truman considered it a tactical decision
which should be made by the responsible
commander. The choice was made by
Ridgway. With MacArthur’s approval,
he elected to continue the advance with
the hope of achieving maximum destruction.
In making their plans, U.N. commanders were sure that the enemy was engaged
in a full-scale buildup of troops and matériel not far to the north. While U.N. tactical
advances were taking place, they gave careful consideration to the expected Chinese
Communist spring offensive. That it would
come was a foregone conclusion, and the
only elements that remained in doubt were
25
the time and the place of the attack. The
enemy was still generally on the defensive,
but there were definite offensive overtones
in his actions. He was building no new positions farther to the rear. The Chinese were
believed to have moved their XIX Army
Group (consisting of the 63d, 64th, and 65th
Armies) close to the Eighth Army’s western
front. If so, they could be expected to attack
in the west and west-central zones over
open, comparatively flat land, the only territory along the existing line where armor
could be used advantageously. That armor
would be used seemed certain, for air observers had reported the presence of the
equivalent of one armored division and possibly two armored regiments in enemy rear
areas. And on the central and central-east
fronts, additional Chinese and North Korean troops had moved to within striking.
distance of the line.
By the end of the first week in April,
U.N. intelligence officers reported that nine
Chinese Communist armies had been positively identified, and ten more tentatively
identified, together with eighteen North
Korean divisions and six brigades. The
combat efficiency of three of the armies had
doubtless been reduced by the recent offensives, but the other armies were a formidable force.
The possibility that the enemy, might use
his increasing air strength—now believed
to be a minimum of 750 aircraft of all
types—was a cause for concern. Numerous
reports and air photographs left little doubt
that the North Koreans were making airfields ready for immediate use. In some instances runways were being lengthened to
accommodate jets or bombers. In P’yongyang the enemy was readying a street to
serve as a runway by demolishing adjacent
houses. It was reasonable to assume that all
this was intended to permit use of air power
in conjunction with a ground offensive.
In the face of these potential threats, it
was better for the U.N. forces to move forward than to stand still. Thus on 5 April
Ridgway followed RIPPER with Operation
RUGGED, a general advance toward a new
objective line called KANSAS. Running
along commanding ground north of the
38th parallel, KANSAS was approximately
115 miles in length, including fourteen
miles of tidal water on the left flank and, in
the center, the ten-mile water barrier of the
Hwach’on Reservoir, which was Seoul’s
source of water and electric power. The terrain on the right flank of this line was
rough, nearly devoid of roads and therefore
difficult for both U.N. and enemy units.
But by shortening and strengthening their
line, the U.N. commanders could use the
water and terrain barriers to establish a
stronger defense in depth. They could also
make KANSAS the base for later operations
designed to seize the Iron Triangle.
By 9 April, all units in the U.S. I and IX
Corps and the ROK I Corps on the east
coast had battled their way against fluctuating enemy resistance to positions on Line
KANSAS. Although the U.S. X and ROK
III Corps, in the central and central-east
sectors, had been delayed by rugged, terrain
and hampered by the lack of adequate supply routes, they were steadily drawing up.
On the same day, 9 April, the enemy
opened several sluice gates of the dam that
controlled the water passing from the
Hwach’on Reservoir into the lower Pukhan River. The Pukhan, originating in the
mountainous country to the north, flowed
south to the reservoir and thence southwest
to its confluence with the Han River east of
Seoul. Within an hour the water level had
risen several feet; one engineer bridge was
broken, and IX Corps Engineers were
forced to swing a second one back to the
26
banks. To prevent the enemy from opening
all eighteen sluice gates and flooding the
Pukhan, a task force from the 7th Cavalry
and the 4th Ranger Company was hastily
organized and sent to seize the dam, close
the gates, and immobilize the gate-opening
machinery.
This raid failed for a variety of reasons:
lack of enough landing craft, poor visibility,
difficulty of movement over the almost
trackless terrain, and stubborn enemy resistance. But the enemy’s opening of the
Hwach’on gates, while dramatic, had less
effect on U.N. operations than originally
feared and the task force was recalled after
two days.
While the U.S. X and the ROK III
Corps drew up to the KANSAS line, the U.S.
I Corps and left-flank units of the IX Corps
continued the advance by attacking toward
Ch’orwon, the southwest corner of the Iron
Triangle, with the intention of seizing a line
designated UTAH which was in effect an
outward bulge of KANSAS. As UTAH’S
northernmost point lay just south of Ch’orwon, this move would place the U.N. forces
in position to strike at the Triangle. The
main body of the IX Corps remained in
position and patrolled, and on the east coast
the ROK I Corps advanced by column of
divisions.
Meanwhile U.N. forces continued to
edge forward, although the enemy burned
off large areas of his front to create dense
smoke screens that reduced the effectiveness
of close air support. The Hwach’on Dam
fell on 16 April, and on the east coast South
Korean forces took Taep’o-ri. Other ROK
troops north of Seoul sent patrols across the
Imjin River and far to the northwest. By 17
April the Eighth Army’s front-line units
could not make contact with the enemy and
U.S. IX Corps units not already moving
joined in the advance north from Line
KANSAS. Thereafter the general progress
toward Line UTAH was virtually unopposed. Even as the advance continued,
however, evidences of enemy preparation
for counterattack continued to be reported
to Van Fleet.
The enemy had long boasted in his press
and radio releases that his offensive would
be designed to force a military decision by
either driving the U.N. forces from Korea
or destroying them in the field. Van Fleet
foresaw different results. His army had improved during the winter campaign. U.S.
soldiers had become highly skilled in the
months since they had entered the war as
green occupation troops. Van Fleet decided
to meet the expected attack by continuing
the doctrines developed by his predecessor—those of “maximum punishment,
maximum delay . . . .” The U.N. forces
would, if compelled, buy time with space,
and conduct a co-ordinated withdrawal to
defensive positions well south of the 38th
parallel, maintain contact with the enemy
at all times, and inflict maximum losses on
him by utilizing superior U.N. fire power
from the ground and the air. When the
offensive had run its course the Eighth
Army would counterattack, cut the enemy’s
supply lines, and endeavor to destroy all
hostile troops in the forward areas.
During this period came a dramatic
change in command. On 11 April, after a
series of public utterances revealed sharp
differences over national policy and military strategy, President Truman relieved
General MacArthur of all his commands
and replaced him with General Ridgway.
Lt. Gen. James A. Van Fleet was dispatched
posthaste from Washington to take command of the Eighth Army and attached
forces. He arrived and assumed command
on 14 April.
27
The U.N. campaign in Korea bore a
striking resemblance to the Duke of Wellington’s campaigns against Napoleon’s
armies in Spain and Portugal. Wellington,
like U.N. commanders, was pitted against
enemy forces that were capable of receiving
steady overland reinforcements, while his
troops, like those of the Eighth Army, were
supplied chief ly by superior sea power.
Wrote the Duke, describing his war of
maneuver: “If they advance against me I
shall retire before them, accepting battle if
they give me a favorable opportunity, for
the . . . action of my lines is superior to
the shock action of their columns . . . .”
To anticipate an enemy offensive did not
mean to sit and wait for it. By 19 April, all
U.S. I and IX Corps units were in position
along Line UTAH and preparing to continue
the advance to Line WYOMING, an eastward
extension of the UTAH bulge. After consolidating their gains for two days these
corps started northward again. If this attack proved to be successful, U.N. forces
would be on the high ground overlooking
Ch’orwon at the base of the Iron Triangle.
But during the daylight hours of 22 April
enemy activity across the whole front
sharply increased, and the U.N. offensive
halted abruptly. Their lines alive with
movement, the Chinese and North Koreans
abandoned cover and concealment and
moved boldly into the open. The expected
enemy spring offensive was at hand.
SECTION 1
l–24 January 1951
31
32
33
CONGESTION ON THE HONGCH’ON–WONJU ROAD, central sector, 3 January 1951
34
35
BUILDINGS BURNING IN SEOUL as South Korean government officials and U.N. troops leave the city
for the second time, 3 January.
AMMUNITION DUMP ON FIRE AT KIMPO AIRFIELD
36
TROOP-LOADED TANKS MOVING
BABY-SAN WAITING FOR PARENTS to arrange passage out of Inch’on.
37
SOUTH after crossing the Han River.
LAST TROOPS TO LEAVE INCH’ON HARBOR boarding
an LST, 4 January.
38
RAIL BRIDGE ACROSS THE HAN RIVER is demolished by engineer troops. Both photographs were
taken on 4 January.
39
PONTON BRIDGE SPANNING THE ICY HAN is blown up after last of the U.N. forces evacuate Seoul,
4 January.
40
HORDES OF REFUGEES FLEEING FROM SEOUL clogging a dike across rice paddies, 5 January.
A SEEMINGLY ENDLESS COLUMN OF SOUTH KOREANS plodding
41
through the heavy snow south of Kangnung near the east coast.
TWO KOREAN MOTHERS pushing a cartload of their younger children.
42
2D DIVISION VEHICLES IN MOUNTAIN PASS south of Wonju, 10 January. In this sector enemy troops
flooded through the gap to the right of 2d Division positions and ROK III Corps lines.
43
SUPPLY CONVOY HELD UP by accident on icy highway. Temperatures reached 25 degrees below
zero during the fighting for Wonju, attacked by Communist forces 7 January.
44
A 25-pounder Field Gun-howitzer. Artillerymen of the 29th British Brigade prepare to support
the Turkish Brigade fighting in the west sector, 19
January. Both brigades were attached to the 25th
Division.
ROK 3d DIVISION TROOPS ADVANCING to the mountains southeast of Yongwol on the central
front, 20 January.
45
Moving Out over the frozen ground, X Corps
area. Note rocket launcher in foreground.
25TH DIVISION TROOPS MOVING UP TO OSAN, 23 January. Operation THUNDERBOLT, a reconnaissance-in-force designed to seek out the enemy, was scheduled to start on 25 January.
46
GEN. J. LAWTON COLLINS, CHIEF OF STAFF,
U.S. ARMY, stopping for a conference in
Japan before going to Korea, is greeted by
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.
GEN. HOYT S. VANDENBERG, CHIEF OF STAFF,
U.S. AIR FORCE (left), confers with Lt. Gen.
George E. Stratemeyer, Commanding General, Far East Air Forces.
ARRIVING IN JAPAN afater turning over their commands, Maj. Gen. David G. Barr (left) commanded the 7th Division and Maj. Gen. John H. Church the 24th Division.
47
GENERAL MACARTHUR VISITING NEAR THE FRONT LINES, north of Suwon, 28 January, He is
accompanied by his military secretary, Maj. Gen. Courtney Whitney, 2d from left, and Lt. Gen.
Matthew B. Ridgway, Commanding General, U.S. Eighth Army, wearing his characteristic
grenade. Maj. Gen. William B. Kean, Commanding General, 25th Division, is behind General
MacArthur.
48
49
“WESTERN JAMBOREE,” Special Services road show
playing in the 25th Division area.
SECTION 2
25 January–28 February 1951
53
54
U.N. AIRCRAFT GIVING CLOSE SUPPORT to the 1st Cavalry Division near Ich’on, 26 January.
96TH FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION WINDING ITS WAY THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS to the 1st
Cavalry Division area, 26 January.
55
FOUR CHINESE CAPTURED BY ROK 1ST DIVISION north of Ansong.
ADVANCING WEST OF SUWON on 27 January, U.N. troops pass a small village recently vacated by
the Communist forces.
56
PREPARING B OXES O F C RATIONS T O BE
AIRDROPPED
LAST-MINUTE INSPECTION OF CARGO BEFORE
TAKING OFF
C-119 FLYING BOXCAR LOADED WITH CARGO flying
57
RECOVERING A N AIRDROPPED 55-GALLON
DRUM OF GASOLINE
over jagged mountains to a drop zone, January 1951. KOREAN LABORERS ASSEMBLING AIRDROPPED
C RATIONS
58
59
LINEMAN REPAIRING TELEPHONE LINES between Tanyang and Chech’on. Railroad is part of
South Korea’s main rail system from Pusan to Seoul.
60
MEMBERS OF THE 187TH AIRBORNE REGIMENTAL
COMBAT TEAM firing the 75-mm. recoilless rifle,
5 February.
25TH DIVISION MEN OBSERVING WHITE PHOSPHORUS falling on enemy positions near the small
village of Ansan.
61
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY EARL D. JOHNSON (center) with General Kean (left) and
General Ridgway watching the 25th Division advance.
5TH INFANTRYMEN PATROLLING IN RUGGED TERRAIN near the Han River, 5 February.
62
63
BACK FROM CAPTIVITY. Two American and four
Australian soldiers in the 24th Division Medical
Clearing Station after reaching U.S. lines.
64
65
15TH INFANTRYMEN fighting their way to the Han
River, 13 Febr uar y.
66
67
CROSSROAD AT CHIP’YONG-NI, central Korean front.
On 13 February the 23d Regimental Combat
Team, 2d Division, and attached French Battalion
were surrounded by three Chinese Communist
divisions. For three days this U.N. force defended
the road junction against assaults by the enemy
entrenched in the surrounding mountains.
68
SUPPLIES COMING IN at the X Corps command post airstrip, Wonju, 12 February.
GREEK SOLDIERS SHARING THEIR WARMTH with an adopted Korean orphan.
69
AT CHIP’YONG-NI, 23 February. From left: General Ridgway; Maj. Gen. Charles D. Palmer,
Commanding General, 1st Cavalry Division; Col. William A. Harris, Commanding Officer, 7th
Cavalry Regiment; and Col. John Daskalopoules, Commanding Officer of Greek Battalion
attached to the 7th Cavalry Regiment.
70
WALKING WOUNDED HEADING FOR AID STATIONS. Canadian infantryman is helped along by a fellow countryman, left; a 2d Division casualty is supported by an Australian soldier, right.
71
ARMY NURSE OFF DUTY
72
INFANTRYMEN OF THE 27TH REGIMENT CAUTIOUSLY MOVING UP A MOUNTAIN near Kyongan-ni,
southeast of Seoul in the west sector, 17 Febr uar y.
73
MEN OF THE 17TH INFANTRY TAKING COVER BEHIND A STONE WALL, 20 February. On 18 February the 17th Regimental Combat Team, 7th Division, attacked northwest from Chech’on in the
central sector.
7TH DIVISION TROOPS TRUDGING UP HILL 675 after crossing the snow-covered valley (background). On 20 February Chuch’on-ni was secured.
74
All Hands Join in To Fight a Raging Fire, 2d
Logistical Command, Pusan, 19 February.
75
76
77
CATCHING UP ON NEWS FROM HOME, 23 February. Men are from the Belgium–Luxembourg Battalion, which arrived in Korea on
31 January.
BRINGING IN ENEMY PRISONERS, 1st Cavalry Division area, 27 February. On 21 February Operation
Killer was launched along sixty miles of central
Korean front to annihilate enemy forces and reestablish U.N. line east of Wonju.
SECTION 3
1 March-21 April 1951
80
WHITE PHOSPHORUS SHELLS FALLING ON ENEMY
POSITIONS north of the Han. The 3d Division attempted to divert enemy attention from the 25th
Division south of Seoul. Operation Ripper was
launched on 7 March to take Ch’unch’on, an
enemy supply and communications center, and
outflank Seoul.
81
M4 TANKS OF THE 89TH TANK BATTALION, 25th
Division, crossing the Han River near its confluence with the Pukhan River, 7 March.
82
COMPANY K, 32D REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM, NEARING THE TOP OF ANOTHER HILL. Smoke is
from white phosphorus shells.
83
7TH DIVISION TROOPS moving north (above) rest their weary feet during a break along the roadside (below) near P’yongch’ang, east central sector.
84
85
REMAINS OF A HANGAR AND MAINTENANCE
SHOP
SEOUL TWO DAYS AFTER IT WA S RETAKEN BY
U.N. FORCES, 17 March.
86
AFTER CROSSING THE HONGCH’ON RIVER, men of the 5th Infantry tackle another enemy-held hill,
central sector, 19 March.
87
CROSSING AN ENEMY-MADE FOOTBRIDGE. The 24th Division advanced to positions northwest of
Ch’ongp’yong-ni by 23 March.
ENEMY SOLDIERS BAGGED BY THE 5TH INFANTRY are escorted south, 24 March.
88
187TH AIRBORNE REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM PRACTICE-JUMPING FROM C- 119’s, the twin-tailed
“Flying Boxcars.”
PREPARING T O L OAD FOR THE AIRDROP A T
MUNSAN-NI, designed to block enemy movement
along the Seoul-Kaesong axis and trap large numbers of enemy troops, 23 March.
89
LOADED “FLYING BOXCARS” heading for the drop zone.
90
187TH IN POSITION EAST OF MUNSAN-NI. After
parachuting in, the troops were ordered to
capture the commanding heights behind the
enemy troops facing the 3d Division.
3D DIVISION INFANTRYMEN CLIMBING UP THE TRAIL
to their objective near Uijongbu, 23 March. By the
end of the month the enemy had pulled back to a
line north of the 38th parallel.
91
92
TANK-INFANTRY RECONNAISSANCE PATROL moving through a war-torn street in Hongch’on.
93
A BATTALION STAFF OF THE 1ST MARINE DIVISION observing artillery fire, central front, 17 March.
94
MEDIUM TANK M26 GRINDING ALONG A NARROW MOUNTAIN ROAD, central sector. On 23 March
the 1st Marine Division advanced to positions north and east of Ch’unch’on.
95
CONVOY CROSSING THE SOYANG RIVER. By 8 April the 7th Division put two battalions across the
Soyang River, and by 19 Apr il U.N. forces were in position along Line UTAH.
96
MARSHALING YARD O N THE MAIN RAIL LINE leading south from Wonsan undergoing a fiery
napalm bomb attack by B-26’s of the 452d Light Bomb Wing, Fifth Air Force. Both Wonsan and
Songjin were enemy communications centers for road and rail networks along the east coast of
North Korea.
97
FIVE KNOCKED-OUT ENEMY BRIDGES over the Ch’ongch’on River near Sinanju.
98
99
ROLLING OUT THE RED CARPET AT OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, for the first marines rotated home.
22 APRIL–12 NOVEMBER 1951
102
Map 4
CHAPTER IV
By the light of a full moon in the early
evening hours of 22 April, three Chinese
Communist armies attacked the U.N.
forces following four hours of artillery bombardment. The initial attack, a secondary
one, was delivered through the Kwandok
Mountains in the Yonch’on–Hwach’on
area of central Korea. By daybreak the
enemy was in motion across the whole
peninsula.
Delivering his main effort against the
U.S. I and IX Corps, the enemy attempted
a double envelopment against the west
sector to isolate Seoul, coupled with the
secondary thrust in the Yonch’on–Hwach’on
area and a push against the eastern part of
the line near Inje. Radio P’yongyang announced that the ultimate objective—destruction of the U.N. command—would be
readily accomplished. Of an estimated total
of 700,000 available troops in Korea, the
enemy commanders employed about half
in the offensive, but they used little artillery,
few tanks (contrary to U.N. expectations),
and no close air support. Their tactics—assaults by a “human sea” of massed infantry—were the same as before, and again
bugle calls and flares co-ordinated night
attacks in which small units infiltrated the
U.N. lines. When dawn came the enemy
broke contact and, using camouflage and
natural and man-made features, sought
cover and concealment against artillery fire.
The U.N. lines held firm against the first
assaults everywhere except in the central
sector held by the IX Corps, where the
ROK 6th Division was defending the center
with the U.S. 24th Division on the left and
the 1st Marine Division on the right. Here
the enemy struck the ROK division in the
Namdae River valley south of Kumhwa
and drove it back. As the division withdrew in confusion south of the UTAH line,
the enemy attempted to exploit his advantage by moving into the gap between
the 24th Division and 1st Marine Division,
which refused their exposed flanks and held
on.
With his line cracked, General Van Fleet
ordered the I and IX Corps to retire step by
step to KANSAS while the infantry, supported by artillery and aircraft, slowed the
enemy. Thus was lost the ground gained in
the recent U.N. offensives. Task forces built
around the U.S. 5th Cavalry and the 27th
Commonwealth Brigade darted into the gap
left by the ROK 6th Division, struck the advancing Chinese south of the 38th parallel,
and stopped the exploitation. On the right
the 1st Marine Division retired southward
The Enemy Strikes Back
22 April–19 May 1951
104
from the Hwach’on area to take up new
positions before Ch’unch’on. When an
enemy thrust cut the Seoul–Ch’unch’onKansong highway near Kap’yong on 26
April, Van Fleet pulled the IX Corps back
to the Hongch’on River.
Meanwhile, although the enemy did not
throw his full weight against Seoul until
after the Seoul–Kansong road was cut, the
I Corps was heavily engaged in the west.
Fording the waist-deep Imjin River about
midnight of 22 April, Chinese infantrymen
established shallow bridgeheads on the
south bank between Korangp’o-ri and Majon-ni. Other enemy troops cut south along
the Ch’orwon–Seoul highway, but the I
Corps slowed the attacking Chinese as it retired to the KANSAS line until the morning
of 23 April, when the enemy drove the
ROK 1st Division south of the KANSAS line.
This setback exposed the left flank of the 1st
Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment,
of the British 29th Brigade. During the next
few days this unit gallantly held its position
even after it was isolated and virtually overrun. Only a handful of soldiers from the
Gloucestershire battalion were able to
make their way back to the main U.N.
line.
Once the enemy had cut the Seoul–Kansong highway on 26 April, he put his weight
into a strong attack against Seoul. Next day
he outflanked Uijongbu and the U.S. 3d
Division pulled back to positions four miles
from the outskirts of Seoul while the ROK
troops withdrew down the road from Munsan-ni. Van Fleet directed the establishment of a new transpeninsular line to halt
the enemy in front of Seoul and north of the
Han.
On 29 April U.N. pilots strafed an estimated 6,000 enemy soldiers when they tried
to ferry the Han and attack down the
Kimpo Peninsula to outflank Seoul from
the west. The survivors were never able to
offer a serious threat to the peninsula’s defenders, the ROK 5th Marine Battalion.
The enemy also attempted to outflank
Seoul to the east in the V-shaped area between the Han and the Pukhan Rivers, but
the 24th and 25th Divisions checked this
maneuver and held the enemy on the north
bank of the Han in the vicinity of Kumgong’ni and Punwon-ni. On the east-central
front North Koreans attacked the ROK
units in the Yanggu–Inje area, made several
gains, and captured Inje, but by 29 April
their drive had been halted.
On this day General Van Fleet established a new line, not named and therefore
termed NO-NAME-LINE which extended
from north of Seoul to Sabangu, thence
northeast across the 38th parallel to Taepori on the east coast. Because the major
weight of the enemy’s attack had struck in
the west, Van Fleet reshuffled his units to
put more American divisions there. Assigned to the I Corps, on the left, were the
ROK 1st Division, and the U.S. 1st Cavalry
and 25th Infantry Divisions, with the U.S.
3d Division in reserve. Holding the Kimpo
Peninsula was the British 29th Brigade.
The IX Corps, on the I Corps’ right, had
the 28th Commonwealth Brigade (this
was the redesignated 27th Commonwealth
Brigade), the U.S. 24th Division, the
ROK 6th and 2d Divisions, and the U.S.
7th Division in line, with the U.S. 187th
Airborne RCT in reserve. In the center the
X Corps, consisting of the U.S. 1st Marine and 2d Infantry Divisions and the
ROK 5th and 7th Divisions, held the line,
and the ROK III and I Corps defended the
eastern sector.
Thus by the end of April the U.N. infantrymen, strongly supported by artillery and
air (U.N. airmen flew 7,420 sorties during
the last eight days of the attack), had halted
105
the enemy short of Seoul and the Han, and
held a strong, continuous defense line. The
enemy had fallen far short of his announced
intention of destroying the U.N. forces.
U.N. intelligence officers, reasoning on the
basis of information gained by air reconnaissance, concluded that he would start
another offensive soon.
While the Chinese and North Koreans
regrouped and brought supplies forward,
General Van Fleet decided to capitalize on
the lull and take the initiative. During the
first week of May regimental patrol bases
were established almost eight miles in front
of NO-NAME-LINE, and armored patrols
ranged ten to twelve miles into enemy territory to harass the enemy troops that were
withdrawing from NO-NAME-LINE. U.N.
forces cleared the Kimpo Peninsula. The
ROK 1st Division fought its way up the
Munsan-ni road. Uijongbu fell to the 1st
Cavalry Division on 6 May, and a 25th
Division task force drove northeastward up
the Seoul–Sinp’al-li highway. In the westcentral sector an armored patrol regained
control of the Seoul–Kap’yong road for the
United Nations, and on 7 May U.S. marines dug North Koreans out of camouflaged bunkers on the Wonju road and captured Ch’unch’on. A task force consisting
of the French Infantry Battalion, the U.S.
1st Ranger Company, one company of the
U.S. 9th Infantry, and the U.S. 72d Tank
Battalion probed northeast of Chaun-ni.
On the extreme right the ROK III and I
Corps also advanced northward. General
Van Fleet then planned a general offensive
based on NO-NAME-LINE designed to carry
through to KANSAS, but increasing evidence
that the enemy was preparing to resume the
offensive forced the Eighth Army commander to postpone his plan.
The signs were unmistakable. After 10
May enemy resistance to local attacks stiffened. Airbase construction was still increasing. U.N. intelligence placed enemy air
strength at 1,000 planes, with fifty new airbases being pushed to completion. Supply
columns moving southward were reported
daily, and air patrols noted heavy troop
movements north of the IX Corps.
To cripple enemy air strength before the
new offensive, the Fifth Air Force and the
1st Marine Aircraft Wing stepped up their
attacks. A good example of their efforts
came on 9 May when a total of 312
planes—F-80 Shooting Stars, F-84 Thunderjets, F-86 Sabres, F9F Panthers, F4U
Corsairs, and F-51 Mustangs—struck at
Sinuiju airbase on the south bank of the
Yalu and reported demolishing fifteen enemy jets and over 100 buildings.
During the first ten days of May, when it
looked as if the enemy would concentrate
his attack west of the Pukhan River against
Seoul, General Van Fleet had strengthened
the western portion of his line. But between
10 and 15 May, according to intelligence
reports, the Chinese had moved five armies
eastward and deployed them in front of the
Ch’unch’on–Inje area held by the U.S. X
Corps and the ROK III Corps. Because
time was short, Van Fleet decided not to
shift his forces from the west, but he alerted
the U.S. 3d Division, in I Corps reserve, to
move out on his order. The rough and
mountainous Ch’unch’on–Inje area generally favored the defender, but it would provide the attacker with some security from
air and armor.
The daylight hours of 15 May saw all the
usual signs of impending enemy attack, including an increased number of enemy
agents trying to slip through the lines. Air
patrols reported more bridge construction,
and enemy probing attacks grew more
numerous. Van Fleet’s command made
ready to stand firm.
106
By 14 May NO-NAME-LINE had been
considerably strengthened. The U.N. forces
had laid mines, registered artillery, established bands of interlocking machine gun
fire, and strung over 500 miles of barbed
wire. Interspersed among the mine fields
and barbed-wire networks were 55-gallon
drums of gasoline and napalm, ready to be
detonated electrically. General Van Fleet
resolved not to yield ground, but to hold his
line with all the weapons and power at his
disposal. As he phrased it, “We must expend steel and fire, not men. . . . I want
so many artillery holes that a man can step
from one to the other.”
After darkness fell on the night of 15–16
May, an estimated twenty-one Chinese divisions, flanked by three North Korean divisions in the west and six in the east, struck
down the center of the peninsula against
the U.S. X Corps and the ROK III Corps
in the Naep’yong-ni-No-dong area. The X
Corps held a thirty-seven-mile sector of
NO-NAME-LINE from the high ground west
of Hongch’on northeastward to Inje. The
U.S. 1st Marine Division held the left part
of the corps line on the jagged terrain overlooking Ch’unch’on plain. To the right was
the U.S. 2d Division, with the ROK 5th
and 7th Divisions on its right, and the ROK
III Corps to their right. Chinese units
crossed the Pukhan River west of Ch’unch’-
on, and on 16 May other units struck hard
against the ROK 5th and 7th Divisions.
The patrol base regiments fell back to NONAME-LINE, and by 1930 hours of 16 May
the two ROK divisions were heavily engaged along a twenty-mile front in the
vicinity of Han’gye-ri, a village ten miles
northeast of Inje. The two divisions held
their ground for a time, then fell back, disorganized and broken.
On the left (west) shoulder of the enemy
salient, the U.S. 2d Division, including the
French and Dutch Battalions, withstood
resolute enemy attacks until 18 May, and
then, together with the 1st Marine Division,
moved right to fill the gap left by the two
ROK divisions. The IX Corps extended its
front to the right to cover the area left by
the 2d Division and the marines. Van Fleet
raced the 15th RCT of the U.S. 3d Division
from Seoul to bolster the west face of the
salient, and sent the 7th and 65th Infantry
Regiments to blocking positions at the
southernmost part of the penetration. The
swarming columns of Chinese and North
Koreans soon almost surrounded the 2d Division, pushing against its front, right, and
rear. The Chinese even blocked the 2d’s
main supply route, but a co-ordinated attack by the U.S. 9th Infantry driving
northward, and the U.S. 23d and 38th Infantry Regiments attacking southward
along with their French and Dutch contingents, regained control of the route. The 2d
Division stood fast and punished the enemy
heavily. The 38th Field Artillery Battalion,
firing in support, threw 12,000 105-mm.
rounds in twenty-four hours.
It was this kind of monumental artillery
support which helped to create the so-called
ammunition shortage that later was the
subject of public debate and a Congressional investigation in the United States.
All U.N. artillery units were firing the “Van
Fleet load,” which was five times larger
than the ammunition allowance previously
in use. The Van Fleet load, together with a
shortage of motor transport and the difficulties of supply inherent in mountain warfare, was largely responsible for the muchpublicized shortage.
Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, commanding the X Corps, ordered the 2d Division back to a new line south of Han’gye-ri
on 18 May. The division, commanded by
Maj. Gen. Clark L. Ruffner, successfully
107
withdrew. During its defense it lost 900
men—killed, wounded, and missing—and
estimated enemy casualties at 35,000. During this period, while the Seoul sector was
relatively quiet, the divisions of the ROK
III Corps, on the X Corps right, were heavily engaged, broke, and pulled back to the
P’yongch’ang–Kangnung road. The ROK
I Corps, on the coast, withdrew from
Taep’o-ri to Kangnung.
While the battle raged on the central and
eastern fronts, the enemy struck in the western sector held by Lt. Gen. Frank W. Milburn’s I Corps and the IX Corps. On the
night of 17 May, an enemy force estimated
at 25,000 men struck down the Pukhan
River toward the Han, but the U.S. 25th
Division and the ROK 6th Division
stopped this drive just south of Masogu-ri in
three days of violent action. A weak attack
directed against Seoul by some four North
Korean battalions was quickly halted.
By 20 May the U.N. troops had brought
the enemy’s offensive to a standstill. The X
Corps stabilized its front. The U.S. 1st Marine Division still held its portion of NONAME-LINE, and the U.S. 2d Division, with
the 15th Infantry attached, prepared to
wrest the initiative from the Chinese and
retake its positions on NO-NAME-LINE.
Having thus stopped two major enemy offensives in as many months, and with two
more U.N. battalions about to join the
Eighth Army, General Van Fleet decided
to take the offensive again.
108
MAP 5
CHAPTER V
General Van Fleet opened his new offensive with a series of local attacks designed to
relieve enemy pressure on the U.S. X
Corps. On 18 May he ordered the U.S. I
and IX Corps, and the U.S. 1st Marine Division, the left flank element of the X Corps,
to send out strong patrols and prepare to
attack a phase line (TOPEKA) about halfway
between NO-NAME-LINE and KANSAS. The
next day, after bolstering the U.S. 3d Division by attaching to it the newly arrived
Canadian 25th Brigade, he enlarged the
goals of his offensive by directing the I, IX,
and X Corps to advance to enemy supply
and communications areas near Mansedari,
Hwach’on, and Inje. The ROK I Corps, on
the east, was to advance and conform to the
movements of the X Corps’ right flank. The
ROK III Corps, which had recently broken
under enemy attack, was deactivated. Together with part of the old ROK III Corps
front, the ROK 9th Division was given to
the X Corps, and the ROK 3d Division
and its front were given to the ROK I
Corps.
The new offensive, Van Fleet hoped,
would deny the enemy any chance to gather
himself for another counterstroke, threaten
the enemy supply route in the Hwach’on
Reservoir area, and eventually result in the
capture of the Iron Triangle. He shifted
boundaries to place the western third of the
Hwach’on Reservoir in the IX Corps zone,
leaving the remaining two thirds the responsibility of the X Corps. Once the X
Corps had taken its objectives, he hoped to
send it in an enveloping move northeastward to the coast to block the enemy while
the ROK I Corps attacked northwestward.
As he put it, “The 38th Parallel has no significance in the present tactical situation.
. . . The Eighth Army will go wherever
the situation dictates in hot pursuit of the
enemy.”
Once more, as the enemy pulled back,
the United Nations forces rolled forward
against generally light resistance. On 19
May units of the ROK 1st Division reconnoitered the Seoul highway toward Munsan-ni. Within the next few days I Corps
troops reached the Imjin River north of
Munsan-ni and entered Uijongbu and
Sinp’al-li. Elements of the IX Corps pushed
toward Kap’yong, drove the enemy across
the Hongch’on River, and moved toward
the Hwach’on Reservoir.
In the X Corps zone, while aircraft
executed a continuous series of close supThe United Nations Resume
the Advance
20 May–24 June 1951
110
port missions, the American divisions made
ready to trap or destroy the enemy soldiers
that had burst through the lines in the offensive just halted. Using tank-infantry task
forces as well as regular formations, General Almond planned to employ the U.S.
1st Marine Division, on the left, in the
Yanggu area to push the enemy back
against the Hwach’on Reservoir while to
the southeast the U.S. 3d Division struck at
the farthest point of enemy penetration. At
the same time, the 187th Airborne RCT
was to drive northeast along the Hongch’-
on–Kansong highway to cut the enemy
supply route at Inje, east of Yanggu, while
a task force composed of American and Korean infantrymen covered the right flank.
The ROK 8th and 9th Divisions were in reserve; the ROK 5th and 7th Divisions were
reorganizing.
The 1st Marine Division attacked toward
Yanggu at 0800 on 24 May, while the 187th
RCT started out for Inje. One battalion of
the airborne regiment broke loose and
crossed the Soyang River the next day to
hold a bridgehead pending the arrival of
the 23d Infantry of the U.S. 2d Division
two days later, when the 7th Marines also
reached the Soyang. Almond formed a task
force of the 187th, the U.S. 72d Tank Battalion, and other elements to drive to the
coastal town of Kansong in accordance
with Van Fleet’s orders.
Although rain, mud, and enemy resistance slowed the offensive on 27 and 28
May, and in many instances permitted the
enemy to withdraw with his supplies, the
187th had taken Inje by the 27th) the marines were making a final push toward the
Hwach’on Reservoir and Yanggu, and the
17th Infantry of the 7th Division, in the IX
Corps, had taken Hwach’on. At the end of
the month the X Corps was deployed along
the Soyang River. Its f lanking drive to
Kansong proved unnecessary, for that town
fell to the ROK Capital Division of the
ROK I Corps.
The Eighth Army had scored a significant advance which had brought it just
about back to the Kansas line. The front
now ran from Munsan-ni through Yongp’yong, Hwach’on, and Yanggu, dipped
southward sharply, and then swung north
and east to Kansong. Except in the west
where it slanted southward to take tactical
advantage of the Imjin River, the line lay
north of the 38th parallel. South Korea was
virtually cleared of the enemy.
Enemy casualties for the last half of May,
Eighth Army headquarters reported, included 17,000 counted dead and 17,000
prisoners of war. Its own casualties for the
entire month numbered 33,770. The South
Koreans had lost the most; American losses
totaled 745 dead, 4,218 wounded, 572 missing, and 6,758 nonbattle casualties, most of
which were caused by disease.
What should be done next? General Van
Fleet’s statement about the hot pursuit of
the enemy did not mean that he intended
another advance to the Yalu, for the Joint
Chiefs of Staff had prescribed that the
Eighth Army was not to go beyond the general vicinity of Line KANSAS. General Ridgway, however, had authorized local advances to gain better ground. In any event,
it was clear that the U.N. forces were not
numerous enough to encircle and destroy
the enemy in large-scale maneuvers, but
would have to stabilize along a strong defensive line. In addition to KANSAS, there
were other transpeninsular lines—the
Yesong River–Wonsan line, and the
Sukch’on–Wonsan line north of the 39th
parallel—that were relatively short; but
they possessed less defensible terrain than
KANSAS, their road systems were poorer,
and to seize them would lengthen the U.N.
111
communications lines while shortening the
enemy’s Clearly, then, the best policy appeared to be to defend KANSAS, meanwhile
taking advantage of Ridgway’s authorization to conduct local advances to more
favorable ground.
On 1 June, therefore, Van Fleet directed
reserve elements of his forces to clear out
all civilians and to strengthen KANSAS by
stringing barbed wire, clearing fields of fire,
laying mines, constructing shelters with
overhead cover, establishing trail and road
blocks, and plotting artillery concentrations.
He hoped thus to make the line virtually
impregnable. Meanwhile the I and IX
Corps were to continue their advance
toward Line WYOMING, the bulge north of
KANSAS that ran from the Imjin River to
just south of Ch’orwon and Kumhwa,
thence southeast. With this order Van Fleet
lowered his sights slightly, for his earlier
plans had aimed at capturing the Iron
Triangle rather than stopping short on
WYOMING.
This advance, dubbed Operation PILEDRIVER, was carried out with comparative
ease except along the approaches to the
Iron Triangle where the enemy resisted
stoutly. Except for a range of hills, the Triangle was a low-lying area surrounded by
saw-toothed mountains. It was the terminus
of a main highway from Manchuria and
was interlaced with dirt roads and two
single-track railroads. It served the enemy
as a supply and communications area. Elements of both the I and IX Corps fought
their way toward the WYOMING line near
the Ch’orwon–Kumhwa base of the Triangle, and the enemy fought back hard
from defenses arranged in depth. As happened so often, heavy rains in the first few
days of June limited direct air support and
turned the roads into veritable quagmires.
But the Eighth Army edged forward. The
1st Cavalry Division pushed from Uijongbu
toward Ch’orwon against hard-fighting
Chinese, as sweat-soaked engineer parties
moved ahead of creeping tanks to probe for
wooden box-mines. Infantrymen of the
U.S. 3d and 25th Divisions used flame
throwers against mud and log bunkers. By
10 June, aided by drier weather that made
possible round-the-clock air support, the 3d
Division, with the ROK 9th Division and
the 10th Philippine Battalion, attacked and
gained the high ground south of Ch’orwon,
while the 25th Division and the Turkish
Brigade fought their way to within three
miles of Kumhwa. Next day at 1330
Ch’orwon fell, abandoned by the enemy;
two hours later the Turkish Brigade entered
Kumhwa, from which the enemy had also
departed.
Now firmly in control of its portion of
Line WYOMING, the I Corps sent out task
forces to pursue the enemy. On 13 June two
tank-infantry task forces, from Ch’orwon
and Kumhwa, reached P’yonggang, which
they found deserted. When they discovered
that the enemy held the dominating ground
north of the city, however, the two task
forces quickly returned. Units of the IX
Corps pushed northeast toward Kumsong
and found the enemy present in strength
and obviously establishing a defensive line.
As the Triangle was dominated by the surrounding heights, neither side attempted to
hold it in strength thereafter, although
Chinese troops struck back at the I and IX
Corps and reoccupied P’yonggang on 17
June.
On the east-central front, meanwhile, the
X Corps had pushed through mountains
toward its sector of the KANSAS line, which
extended over a series of ridges from the
Hwach’on Reservoir northeastward to the
lower lip of the “Punchbowl,” an aptly
named circular depression north of Inje.
112
Using three divisions, the ROK 7th, the
U.S. 1st Marine, and the ROK 5th (which
had relieved the U.S. 2d Division), the X
Corps ground forward against the North
Korean II and V Corps. The enemy, well
dug in on the ridge tops and amply supplied with machine guns, mortars, and
artillery, fought back hard. Marines and
South Koreans assaulted successive bunkerstudded ridges to push the enemy out, and
on 16 June elements of the 1st Marine Division reached KANSAS, while on the right of
the X Corps the ROK I Corps advanced
from Kansong toward Kosong.
Thus by mid-June the Eighth Army had
largely attained the principal terrain objectives of PILEDRIVER, although the enemy
had again managed to get away. Action for
the rest of the month, except in the Punchbowl area where the 1st Marine Division
fought a violent battle, was confined to developing the KANSAS and WYOMING lines,
and to patrolling and local fights which,
although fierce and bloody, did not materially affect the dispositions of either side.
As the first year of the Korean conflict
came to an end, the United Nations could
look back on their accomplishments with
considerable satisfaction. South Korea had
been cleared of the invading enemy, and
the U.N. forces, after receiving and delivering severe batterings, had pushed north of
the 38th parallel and successfully executed
the missions that were within their power to
accomplish. Thus, when on Sunday evening, 23 June, in New York City, Jacob
Malik, Deputy Foreign Commissar of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and his
country’s delegate to the United Nations,
proposed cease-fire discussions between the
participants in the Korean conflict, his proposal, while it may have been made for the
convenience of the Chinese, came at a
fortunate time for the Eighth Army.
114
MAP 6
CHAPTER VI
After Mr. Malik made his proposal, the
Peiping radio followed his lead and indicated that the rulers of Communist China
favored a truce. President Truman then
authorized General Ridgway to conduct
negotiations with the enemy generals. The
U.N. commander at once sent radio messages to his opposite numbers in the enemy
camp, and after some argument both sides
agreed to meet in Kaesong, a town near
Korea’s west coast about three miles south
of the 38th parallel and between the opposing armies’ front lines. After liaison officers
had made preliminary arrangements, the
negotiations opened on 10 July with Vice
Adm. C. Turner Joy, the Far East naval
commander, acting as chief delegate for the
United Nations. Lt. Gen. Nam Il led the
enemy delegation.
Both sides agreed that hostilities would
continue until a truce was signed, but
neither side was willing to start any largescale offensives while the peace talks were
in progress. All along the front—which now
extended from the Imjin River to Ch’orwon, paralleled the base of the Iron Triangle, swung southeast to the lower edge of
the Punchbowl, and then ran north and
east to the Sea of Japan above Kansong—
the fighting died down. U.N. troops busied
themselves improving their positions and
consolidating the ground they had just won.
Action was characterized by artillery fire
and air strikes, plus a continuing bombardment of Wonsan. Combat patrols went out
regularly; enemy attacks were repulsed.
Offensive action consisted chiefly of limited
regimental or battalion attacks designed to
seize more favorable terrain, capture prisoners, and keep the enemy from nosing too
close to the U.N. lines. With the exception
of the flare-up in the fall of 1951 that followed the breaking-off of the truce negotiations in August, this general pattern was
to prevail until just before the signing of the
truce in 1953.
Enemy policy appeared to follow the
same lines as that of the United Nations,
whose intelligence officers concluded that
the Chinese forces were being strengthened.
New Chinese units were identified northeast of the Iron Triangle, in front of the IX
Corps below Kumsong, and in the vicinity
of the Punchbowl. The enemy, like the
U.N. forces, appeared to be holding a main
line of resistance with screening units in
front rather than relying on defense by
maneuver.
Throughout the summer months there
was continuous, though local, fighting for
limited objectives, and no day passed without casualties. In general the front lines remained stable except in the Iron Triangle
and the Punchbowl. The Triangle action
Lull and Flare-up
25 June-12 November 1951
116
focused on the low Sobang Hills which the
Chinese had reoccupied after being driven
out during Van Fleet’s June offensive. On
1 July tank-infantry task forces from the
Corps tried to eject the Chinese but failed.
Repeating the attacks through Independence Day, tanks and infantry finally pushed
the enemy entirely from the area between
the Triangle’s base and P’yonggang, then
withdrew to the main U.N. line. At the
same time I Corps patrols crossed the Imjin
to harry the enemy, and the X Corps
bombed and shelled positions in the Punchbowl where North Koreans appeared to be
concentrating artillery and mortars.
Later in July Van Fleet ordered a northward advance in the X Corps zone to
shorten the line, prevent the enemy from
freely observing the KANSAS line, and force
the enemy to pull back his mortars and artillery. The specific objective was a 3,890-
foot-high mountain, designated Hill 1179
or Taeu-san, at the southwest edge of the
Punchbowl which ROK marines had unsuccessfully attacked. It was defended by
what was estimated to be a regiment (1,700
men) of North Koreans. Elements of the 2d
Division, strongly supported by aircraft and
artillery, took over and after a four-day assault secured the crest of Taeu-san.
In August the strength of all forces under
Van Fleet’s command numbered 586,769 at
their peak. This figure included, in addition
to 229,339 in the Eighth Army proper,
357,430 from the Republic of Korea, the
U.S. Marines, the Fifth Air Force, and the
seventeen other U.N. contingents. By now
the Colombian Battalion had reached Korea to join in alongside the men from the
United States, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, France,
Great Britain, Greece, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the
Union of South Africa.
Action was focused again in the zone of
the X Corps and the ROK I Corps to the
east. Both corps, the latter supported by
gunfire from warships lying offshore, advanced their fronts to gain more favorable
terrain to the northeast and west of the
Punchbowl, and the U.N. units on the
western portion of the line sent out raiding
parties and combat patrols to divert the enemy reserves. The X Corps and ROK I
Corps offensives were carried out almost exclusively by South Koreans under American command and supported by American
units. But on the night of 27–28 August,
when a unit of the ROK 5th Division
crumpled under an enemy counterattack
delivered against a newly captured hill
mass (“Bloody Ridge”) west of the Punchbowl, the U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment of the
2d Division was committed. It was unable
to retake the lost ground.
Late in August, after the truce negotiations had been suspended, Van Fleet determined to resume the offensive in order to
drive the enemy farther back from the
Hwach’on Reservoir (Seoul’s source of
water and electric power) and away from
the Ch’orwon–Seoul railroad. Success in
each of these enterprises would also
straighten and shorten the U.N. front, give
greater security to the KANSAS line, and inf lict damage on the enemy. Therefore,
when the 9th Infantry’s attack failed, the
U.N. commanders determined to put forth
a major effort in the X Corps zone, using
all five divisions in that corps to continue
the ridge-top and mountain actions in the
Punchbowl area.
The U.S. 1st Marine Division, with
ROK marine units attached, opened a
drive against the northern portion of the
Punchbowl on 31 August. Two days later
the 2d Division attacked northward against
Bloody and Heartbreak Ridges in the vicinity of the Punchbowl’s western edge and
117
Taeu-san. Both assaults, delivered uphill by
burdened, straining infantrymen, met with
initial success. By 3 September, the two divisions had reached their first objectives.
Van Fleet ordered them to continue the advance as far north as the northwesterly leg
of the Soyang River above the Punchbowl.
On 11 September the 1st Marine Division attacked again. After seven days of
heavy fighting, with the enemy resolutely
defending each ridge top from mutually
supporting positions and yielding only after
repeated counterattacks and seesaw struggles, the marines secured their objective on
18 September.1
Meanwhile the 2d Division, on Bloody
and Heartbreak Ridges west of the Punchbowl, was engaged in the fiercest action
since spring. Like the marines, the 2d Division infantrymen, often carrying 60-mm.
mortar or 75-mm. recoilless rifle rounds as
well as their own ammunition and equipment, crawled hand over hand up towering, knife-crested ridges to assault the hardfighting enemy who would yield a ridge
only in desperation, then strike back in vigorous counterattack. The same crest often
changed hands several times each day.
By 19 September the X Corps front was
stabilized except in the 2d Division’s zone.
Supplied by airdrop and by sturdy Korean
carriers with A-frames strapped to their
backs, and heavily supported by aircraft
and artillery, the 2d Division fought on bitterly. In one instance it delivered, within
the space of twenty-four hours, no less than
eleven separate assaults, all unsuccessful,
against one ridge. The battle raged into
October. Finally, on the 14th, after the enemy seemed to be willing to reopen the
truce talks, the last ridge was secured and
the 2d Division consolidated its hard-won
gains.
Along the western portion of the front,
action in September was characterized by
local attacks, counterattacks, and combat
patrols which culminated, in the eastern
portion of the Triangle, in a series of successful raids by tank-infantry task forces from
the IX Corps. Once these were accomplished, the five divisions-the ROK lst,
the 1st British Commonwealth, the U.S. 1st
Cavalry, 3d, and 25th Divisions—struck
north across a forty-mile front from the
Kaesong area to Ch’orwon to advance the
front three or four miles, establish a new
line, JAMESTOWN, and thus protect the
Ch’orwon-Seoul railroad. By 12 October
JAMESTOWN was secured. The IX Corps, to
the right, followed with aggressive patrolling toward Kumsong. By 21 October the
24th Division had seized the commanding
heights just south of Kumsong. The successful advances of August, September, and
October gave the U.N. forces possession of
commanding ground along their entire
front, and may have influenced the enemy
leaders to decide to sit down at the peace
table once again.
General Ridgway had attempted to persuade the enemy to resume negotiating on
4 October, while the 2d Division was fighting hard west of the Punchbowl. Six days
later liaison officers met again, this time at
Panmunjom, a tiny village on the Seoul
highway north of the Imjin River. Their
deliberations were interrupted by a misdirected U.N. air attack near Panmunjom
that brought from the enemy a violent protest. It was 22 October before the liaison
officers met again, and three days later the
plenipotentiaries once more resumed the
negotiations that were to continue for many
weary months. Meanwhile, for the soldier
at the front, the war went on.
1
Several days later the marines tried the first troop lift by
helicopter in a combat zone. During September they moved
company-sized units, and in October managed to move a
whole battalion.
SECTION 4
22 April–19 May 1951
121
122
U.N. FORCES WITHDRAWING UNDER THE WEIGHT
OF THE ENEMY OFFENSIVE. Top, Belgian Battalion
heading south; middle, British 29th Brigade resting along the roadside; bottom, 24th Infantry
Division moving to new defensive positions.
123
Top, 65th Infantry, 3d Division, moving down a
valley road; middle, M46 Patton tank towing a
crippled mate through Uijongbu; bottom, battalion commander calling in the position of his men
near Uijongbu.
124
F-80 SHOOTING STAR BOMBING ENEMY POSITIONS south of Ch’orwon.
“LONG TOMS” OF THE 204TH FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION firing north of Seoul.
25TH DIVISION MEN IN THE HILLS south of Ch’orwon expecting an enemy attack, 23 April.
125
INFANTRYMAN OF 24TH REGIMENT SQUEEZING ONE OFF, west central sector.
CLEANING OUT ENEMY EMPLACEMENTS. Note
Hant’an River in background.
ESCORTING A WOUNDED 25TH DIVISION INFANTRYMAN down the hill to an aid station, 22 April.
126
F-9F PANTHERJETS RETURNING TO THE CARRIER USS PRINCETON (left center) after a bombing
mission. USS Philippine Sea is in the right background.
127
AD SKYRAIDER on the deck of the USS Princeton lowering its wings as it swings into take-off
position.
T H E HWACH ’ O N DA M UNDER ATTACK by Navy AD Skyraiders using aerial torpedoes.
128
RAILROAD BRIDGE ACROSS THE TAEDONG RIVER, south of Tokch’on, is blown up by Superforts of
the Far East Air Forces, May 1951.
129
MARSHALING YARD NEAR YANGYANG on east coast undergoing a bombing attack by B-26 light
bombers of the Fifth Air Force.
SECTION 5
20 May–24 June 1951
132
133
MARINE PATROL CLOSING IN ON A KOREAN HUT. Note feet of enemy casualty in the doorway. U.N.
offensive, opened on 18 May, was slowed by heavy rains, mud, and stiff enemy resistance.
17TH INFANTRY, 7TH DIVISION, TAKING TIME OUT
along a road near Chungbangdae-ni, south of the
Hongch’on River, 22 May.
134
HIGH-LEVEL CONFERENCE. From left, Maj. Gen. William M. Hoge, Commanding General, IX
Corps; Maj. Gen. Blackshear M. Bryan, Commanding General, 24th Division; Lt. Gen. James
A. Van Fleet, Commanding General, U.S. Eighth Army; and General Ridgway.
135
31ST INFANTRY REGIMENT, 7TH DIVISION, on a hill near Ch’unch’on, 24 May. Note 57-mm. recoilless rifles in photograph above. A casualty (opposite page, bottom) receives emergency first
aid. On the 25th, elements of the 7th Division moved north of Ch’unch’on.
136
SUPPLIES FOR THE 187TH REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM dropping near Umyang-ni, south of Inje.
AIRDROPPED SUPPLIES NEAR THE MAIN SUPPLY ROUTE south of Inje. On 27 May, the 187th drove
into Inje.
137
MOVING OUT UNDER ENEMY FIRE, 26 May.
ROK 8TH DIVISION MEN ON THEIR WAY FORWARD passing combat-worn troops resting on their
way to the rear.
138
ROK 16TH REGIMENT ADVANCING to positions held by 7th Infantry.
EVACUATING 2D DIVISION CASUALTIES across the Soyang River.
139
M4 TANKS OF 1ST CAVALRY DIVISION fording the Imjin River,
ENEMY-MADE FOOTBRIDGE used by 7th Infantry, 3d Division, in withdrawing from the front lines.
140
CHINESE PRISONERS captured north of the Imjin River by 1st Cavalry Division.
PUERTO RICAN INFANTRYMEN, 65th Infantry, 3d Division, in an enemy-made trench, 1 June.
141
COMPANY I, 5TH CAVALRY REGIMENT, moving across rice fields before starting the climb up Hill
513, north of Tokchong, 1 June.
142
F-80 SHOOTING STAR on a strafing mission north of Inje, 1 June.
OBSERVATION P LANE S EARCHING THE R UGGED
PEAKS for information on enemy positions to relay
to ground troops.
143
ENGINEERS PROBING FOR ENEMY MINES ahead of a creeping tank south of Ch’orwon, 10 June.
MEDIUM TANK M4A3 FIRING at enemy positions in
the hills north of Inje, 4 June.
144
MINE EXPLOSION CASUALTY AWAITING EVACUATION BY HELICOPTER. Above, medical corpsmen
administer plasma to one of five marines wounded in the explosion. Right page: top, a Sikorsky
helicopter approaches a marker placed as a landing guide; bottom, marines hold down the
helicopter after it lands on the windy slope.
145
146
HAULING IN A “PIG” aboard the mine sweeper USS Mocking Bird. This device, properly termed a
paravane, is used in minesweeping operations.
147
U.S. NAVY HOSPITAL SHIP Haven docked at Pusan. Denmark, India, Italy, Norway, and Sweden
also furnished special medical elements for the U.N. effort in Korea.
148
USS NEW JERSEY FIRING OFF THE EAST COAST
OF KOREA. Below is a close-up of the 16-inch guns
aboard the ship. Enemy-held east coast is barely
visible in background.
149
“MEN FROM MARS” FIRING ROCKETS AT ENEMY-HELD WONSAN. The men are wearing one-piece
suits, with hood and gloves, made of plastic-coated glass fabric designed to give head-to-toe protection against back blasts of fuming acids.
150
MARINES PUSHING FORWARD. By 9 June the 1st Marine Division had advanced north of Yanggu,
east central front.
RECOILLESS RIFLE CREW, 7th Cavalry Regiment, firing near Ch’orwon.
151
TRYING TO WARD OFF THE DEAFENING BLAST OF a 75-mm. Recoilless Rifle.
152
DIRECT HIT ON AN ENEMY WAREHOUSE IN WONSAN
153
B-26 INVADER OVER A TARGET IN NORTH KOREA
NAPALM BOMB ATTACK ON AN ENEMY INDUSTRIAL CENTER
SECTION 6
25 June–12 November 1951
157
158
RIFLEMEN OF THE 7TH INFANTRY, 3D DIVISION,
MOVING OU T T O ATTACK HILL 17, south of
P’yonggang in the Iron Triangle, 3 July.
159
160
UNITED NATIONS DELEGATION AT KAESONG. From left: Maj. Gen. Laurence C. Craigie, USAF;
Maj. Gen. Paik Sun Yup, Commanding General, ROK I Corps; Vice Adm. C. Turner Joy, Far
East Naval Commander (acting as chief delegate for the U.N.); Maj. Gen. Henry I. Hodes,
Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Eighth Army; and Rear Adm. Arleigh A. Burke, U.S.N.
161
CONFERENCE SITE IN KAESONG. Photograph was taken 10 July 1951, the day negotiations opened.
ENEMY DELEGATION AT CONFERENCE SITE. From left: Maj. Gen. Hsieh Fang and Lt. Gen. Teng
Hua, Chinese Army; Lt. Gen. Nam Il, chief delegate for the Communists; Maj. Gen. Lee Sang
Cho and Maj. Gen. Chang Pyong San, North Korean Army.
162
SIGNAL CORPS MEN REPAIRING COMMUNICATIONS LINES in a mountain pass south of Hwach’on.
163
F-86 SABREJETS READY TO TAKE OFF FOR “MIG ALLEY,” an area in North Korea where Russianbuilt MIG-15 jets were frequently encountered.
ARRIVING AT X CORPS HEADQUARTERS FOR A LIAISON VISIT, July 1951. Lt. Gen. Harold R. Bull
(left), Commandant of the National War College, and Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward (center), Chief
of Military History, talk with Maj. Gen. Clovis E. Byers, Commanding General, U.S. X Corps.
164
GENERAL BYERS VISITING A COMMAND POST in the 2d Division area.
ENGINEERS REPAIRING ROAD DAMAGE caused by heavy rain near Inje, 21 July.
165
TRUCKS HEADING FOR INJE along newly repaired road, 1 August.
166
STRETCHER-BEARERS ACCOMPANYING TROOPS UP HILL 1179, southwest edge of the Punchbowl.
167
WALKING WOUNDED FROM 38TH INFANTRY going
down Hill 1179 to an aid station. On 30 July elements of the 2d Division seized Taeu-san (Hill
1179).
ENEMY SOLDIERS CAPTURED IN THE PUNCHBOWL
AREA are searched at command post of the 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry, ROK 8th Division.
168
169
ORPHANED KOREAN CHILDREN received money, clothing, food, and toys contributed by thousands
of Americans.
170
LST LOADED WITH BOXCARS moving into Pusan harbor, August 1951.
KOREAN LABORER CARRYING EMPTY SHELL CONTAINERS on an A-frame. Because of poor roads and
hilly terrain, the A-frame, an ancient native
wooden pack carrier, became indispensable for
supplying many forward units.
171
CRANE UNLOADING A BOXCAR AT PUSAN
172
F-84 THUNDERJETS, securely anchored aboard a carrier, en route to Japan for action over Korea.
173
GIANT CRANE loading a mobile crane onto a barge for shipment to Korea.
174
PONTON BRIDGE IN 3D DIVISION SECTOR washed several hundred yards downstream by flash
floods. During August heavy torrential rains bogged down lines of communication to the front.
MEN OF THE 23D INFANTRY trying to save equipment in the swollen Soyang River.
175
AID STATION housed in bunkers along the side of a mountain.
OBSERVATION POST, 36TH REGIMENT, ROK 10TH DIVISION, 20 August. One week later the 36th
Regiment abandoned its positions, returning to Worun-ni, south of Hill 1179.
176
KOREAN LABORERS helping to carry 75-mm. recoilless rifles up to 2d Division troops.
WEARY SOLDIERS OF THE 9TH INFANTRY REGIMENT
moving to new positions near Yanggu. In late
August the 9th Infantry fought at Bloody Ridge,
west of the Punchbowl.
177
GUN CREW OF BATTERY C, 204TH FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION, firing a 155-mm. self-propelled
gun at enemy positions north of Yonch’on.
178
CLOUDS OF SMOKE FROM PRECISION BOMBING of enemy marshaling yards after a surprise attack
by thirty-five B-29 Superforts, 25 August. The yards are at Rashin, seventeen miles south of the
USSR boundary on the northeast coast of Korea.
179
HELICOPTER LANDING ON FLIGHT DECK of the USS Boxer after an air-sea rescue mission.
REFUELING IN SEA OF JAPAN. A Navy tanker (center) is servicing a destroyer (left) and a cruiser
(right).
180
UP THE STEEP SLOPE OF HILL 940 trudges Company F, 9th Infantry.
181
182
NEAR THE CREST OF BLOODY RIDGE. This position changed hands several times during September.
RIFLE TEAM FIRING AT AN ENEMY POSITION
with a 57-mm. recoilless rif le.
QUAD .50’s giving support to the 9th Infantry
fighting for Bloody Ridge.
183
HILL 983, crest of Bloody Ridge.
184
FIRING AN 81-MM. MORTAR at enemy positions on Hill 931, 13 September.
185
FRENCH TROOPS USING PACK ANIMALS to carry supplies.
186
FIRE DIRECTION AND CONTROL TEAM of the 23d Infantry within view of Hill 931, crest of Heartbreak Ridge in background.
187
COMPANY E, 23D INFANTRY, ON ITS WAY TO HILL
931 to relieve Company C, which had been fighting on the ridge for nine days. One of the men rests
near an enemy casualty, below.
188
FRENCH BATTALION TROOPS ATTACHED TO 2D DIVISION occupying Hill 931, 23 September.
189
CASUALTIES OF FIGHT FOR HILL 931 receiving medical attention at an aid station in 2d Division area.
190
M4 TANKS firing in support of the 2d Division, north of Pia-ri near Hill 1179, 18 September.
105-MM. HOWITZER MOUNTED ON GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE M7 firing in support of the 1st Marine
Division, 22 September.
191
PLOWING THROUGH MUD NEAR KUMSONG, 21 September. Leading vehicle is a multiple-gun
motor carriage M16, better known as Quad .50’s.
192
ENEMY CASUALTY NEAR BUNKER overrun by 7th Marine Regiment. Note trees sheared off by
artillery fire.
GU N CREW L OADING A CAMOUFLAGED 105M M.
HOWITZER used in support of the 7th Marine
Regiment.
193
SIKORSKY HELICOPTER HOVERING OVER HILL 884 with supplies, 20 September. During September the marines moved company-sized units by helicopter; in October they moved units the size
of a battalion.
194
POSITIONS ON THE MAIN LINE OF RESISTANCE occupied by the Colombian Battalion, attached to
the 24th Division, near Chup’a-ri overlooking the Kumsong Valley.
195
SUPPLIES AND REINFORCEMENTS FOR THE ROK 21ST REGIMENT in a cove near the Hwach’on
Reservoir.
BRIDGE OVER UNDERCUT ON ROAD BETWEEN INJE AND YANGGU, Engineers removed bridge after
filling the undercut area to road level.
196
GENERAL OF THE ARMY OMAR N. BRADLEY, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at 7th Division
headquarters area. From the left: Lt. Gen. William M. Hoge, Commanding General, IX Corps;
General Bradley; Maj. Gen. Ira P. Swift, Commanding General, 25th Infantry Division; Maj.
Gen. Frank F. Everest, Commanding General, 5th Air Force (shaking hands with General
Bradley).
197
GENERAL RIDGWAY, Commander in Chief,
United Nations Command (left), with Maj.
Gen. Claude B. Ferenbaugh, Commanding
General, 7th Infantry Division, 2 October
1951.
MA J. GE N . CLOVIS E. BYERS (left, foreground), Commanding General, U.S. X
Corps, with Brig. Gen. Min Ki Sik, Commanding General, ROK 5th Division, on the
way to a training demonstration.
198
LOADING A DUKW FROM A VICTORY SHIP, Inch’on harbor, 3 November. The DUKW will transfer its cargo directly to railroad cars.
199
CARGO NET FILLED WITH TURKEYS for Thanksgiving Day dinner.
KOREAN WORKERS LOADING GONDOLAS with artillery ammunition for the front.
200
USS NEW JERSEY along the North Korean coast
firing all nine of her 16-inch guns, November 1951.
201
12 NOVEMBER 1951–30 JUNE 1952
CHAPTER VII
As the year 1951 drew to a close the
character of the conflict returned to that of
July and early August. Fighting tapered off
into a monotonous routine of patrol clashes,
raids, and bitter small-unit struggles for key
outpost positions. By the end of the year a
lull had settled over the battlefield with the
opposing sides deployed along defense lines
that spanned the breadth of the peninsula.
Not until the early summer of 1953 was the
fighting resumed on a larger scale, and then
only briefly.
The lull resulted from General Ridgway’s decision to halt offensive ground operations in Korea. Two factors influenced
his decision: the cost of further major assaults on the enemy’s defenses would be
more than the results would justify; and the
possibility that peace might come out of the
recently reopened armistice talks ruled out
the mounting of any costly large-scale offensive by either side. His orders to Van
Fleet, therefore, issued on 12 November
1951, were to cease offensive operations and
begin an active defense of the Eighth
Army’s front. Attacks were to be limited to
those necessary for strengthening the main
line of resistance and for establishing an
outpost line 3,000-5,000 yards forward of
the main positions.
The line to be defended was manned by
three American and one South Korean
corps and extended from the Yellow Sea in
a great arc eastward for 155 miles to the
shores of the Sea of Japan. Defending the
army’s left wing, the U.S. I Corps, now
commanded by Lt. Gen. John W. O’Daniel,
occupied the sector originating at the confluence of the Imjin and Han Rivers and
extending northeast to a point midway between Ch’orwon and Kumhwa. On the
U.S. I Corps right flank the defenses of
Maj. Gen. Willard G. Wyman’s U.S. IX
Corps began, bulging northward toward
Kumsong and east to the Pukhan River,
which formed the corps’ right boundary.
East of the Pukhan the U.S. X Corps,
under Maj. Gen. Clovis E. Byers from 15
July to 5 December and thereafter under
Maj. Gen. Williston B. Palmer, extended
its lines eastward over the mountainous
spine of the peninsula to the Nam River,
to meet the left boundary of the ROK I
Corps. This latter corps, commanded by
the ROK Army’s Maj. Gen. Paik Sun Yup,
defended the Eighth Army’s right wing; its
zone extended due north along the Korean
east coast from the Nam River to Kosong.
Action on the Eighth Army front during
the last two months of the year was limited
mostly to patrol clashes and repelling light
enemy attacks. Blanketed by U.N. harassStalemate
12 November 1951–30 June 1952
206
ing artillery fire, the enemy moved only at
night, and his own artillery was restricted
by the liberal use of U.N. counterbattery
fire. In the U.S. I Corps sector the ROK 1st
Division mounted a series of tank-infantry
raids against enemy positions in the area
south of Panmunjom, but after 16 December these small-scale actions gave way once
more to patrolling.
The third week of December saw a series
of changes on both sides. The U.S. 45th Division, the first National Guard division to
fight in Korea, arrived from Japan and replaced the 1st Cavalry Division north of
Seoul in the I Corps sector. The 1st Cavalry Division returned to Japan for a wellearned rest. Following up this change the
U.S. 2d Division, which had been in IX
Corps reserve, relieved the U.S. 25th Division on the line.
On the enemy side, Eighth Army intelligence reported, the North Korean I Corps
had moved from its positions on the western
sector of the enemy battle front to reserve
positions in the eastern sector. As a result
the Chinese now defended the entire western and central parts of the enemy line.
This concentration of the North Korean
forces in the rugged eastern sector, where
there was little likelihood of a major U.N.
thrust, indicated that the North Korean
Army might be suffering from a manpower
shortage.
The air conflict over Korea continued at
a slower pace as snow, fog, and heavy cloud
cover reduced visibility, but sorties averaged
700 daily. Enemy pilots seemed reluctant
to close with American Sabres. Either their
losses had begun to tell, or a new group was
being pushed through a jet training cycle
and the enemy flyers were not ready to do
battle with the Sabres. U.N. bombers and
fighter-bombers continued their interdiction campaign, Operation STRANGLE,
against railroad tracks, bridges, and highway traffic.
At sea, naval units of nine nations tightened their blockade around the coast line of
North Korea. Naval planes from the fast
U.S. carriers Antietam and Valley Forge
bombed the rail systems around Yonghung,
blasted bridges, and blew up boxcars. A
landing ship, equipped with 5-inch rockets,
joined in the bombardment of the northeast
port city of Songjin. Two thousand rockets
fell on the harbor area to destroy a large
supply point, shunting yards, and bridges
while coastal roadways were raked with
shell fragments. United States destroyers
continued to bombard Wonsan while the
cruiser Saint Paul, supporting the ROK I
Corps at the eastern extremity of the front,
fired on targets of opportunity. Off the west
coast, south and west of Chinnamp’o, the
British light cruiser Belfast, the U.S. destroyer Eversole, and the British frigates
Mounts Bay and White Sand Bay scored direct
hits on three enemy gun emplacements and
blew up a small arms supply depot.
On the ground, patrols from both sides
were out in force. As expected, the enemy
jumped off in a series of small-scale attacks
during Christmas week. The initial thrust,
delivered by about a battalion, came in the
X Corps sector deep in the eastern mountains. Covered by 82-mm. mortar and artillery fire, the enemy captured an outpost of
the ROK 3d Division. Two counterattacks
failed, but on 28 December a battalion of
the ROK 3d restored the outpost position
and enemy attacks stopped. That afternoon
action. erupted on the far left flank of the
otherwise quiet front. A Chinese battalion,
its members wearing white parkas in the
snow-covered terrain, lashed out at a company-held outpost of the ROK 1st Division
that served as a patrol base for the division.
A forty-minute pitched battle ensued in
207
bitter, subzero weather before the ROK
company fell back. Two days later, tanksupported elements of the ROK 1st won
back 900 yards of the ground the company
had lost but failed to recapture the outpost
itself. The high ground was secured by the
last day of the year in spite of bad weather
and heavy enemy resistance that cut short
the attack.
Although the decision by General Ridgway to discontinue offensive operations
changed the Eighth Army’s mission to one
of defense, he had not implied that all
action should cease. His order did not preclude raids, attritional warfare, or local
limited offensives under favorable conditions. Therefore in December 1951, Van
Fleet directed his corps commanders to
make their attacks against enemy positions
as costly to the foe as possible. Later, at a
meeting with the corps commanders, he directed them to begin attacking with artillery and air strikes to impress the Chinese
and North Koreans with the tremendous
fire power of the Eighth Army. As the new
year began, the Eighth Army made ready
to carry out these instructions.
The 155-mile front remained generally
quiet in the opening days of 1952, although
patrols were regularly dispatched to gain
prisoners and information. The most significant activity during the first month of the
year occurred in the western extremity of
the I Corps line. When light counterblows
had failed to dislodge the Chinese from a
ROK 1st Division outpost, the division
opened a co-ordinated attack on the height
on 3 January. After a five-day struggle, the
infantry succeeded in seizing and securing
the hill and adjacent positions. The Chinese
lost heavily in this action, suffering an estimated 4,000 casualties and the destruction
of a considerable amount of precious equipment and supplies.
In January 1952 the Eighth Army
opened a month-long artillery-air campaign against enemy positions. The artillery
units of the four corps fired on remunerative targets, and on alternate days U.N.
aircraft struck at others with high explosives
and fire bombs. Thousands of rounds of artillery shells and bombs fell on the targets
during the month. No doubt this artilleryair attack discouraged enemy offensive
action, but the strength of the enemy’s positions and his skill in camouflage minimized
its effect.
The superiority of U.N. air and artillery
fire forced the Chinese and North Koreans
to dig in deeply. Simple emplacements became dirt and log fortifications with overhead cover that varied from four to fifteen
feet in thickness. It was common practice to
place primary defense positions on the forward slope of a hill and dig personnel shelters, artillery emplacements, command
posts, and supply points, all well-camouflaged, on the reverse slope. Tunnels or
covered trenches connected the fighting
positions with the shelters. Thus enemy
troops could move to the shelters when attacked by aircraft or artillery, then return
to their positions when the fire lifted. All
positions afforded cover from high-angle
fire and provided good fields of fire.
U.N. artillery and the infantry’s recoilless weapons, employing direct fire, neutralized many of the positions on the forward slopes of hills but were less effective
against enemy fortifications on the reverse
slopes. Many times the shells would fall into
the valley below rather than on the target.
The aerial fire bomb was no more effective.
Only a direct hit from a 500- or 1,000-
pound bomb would destroy these emplacements.
Sporadic, light ground action continued
to mark the fighting during the remainder
208
of January and February of 1952. Patrols
went out daily to feel out the enemy, capture prisoners, and locate enemy positions.
The newly arrived 45th Division carried
out a number of tank-infantry raids near
the end of January to destroy enemy positions and seize prisoners. Various ruses
aimed at luring the enemy out of his positions met with little or no success.
While the spring rains and mists that
cloaked Korea in March and April limited
air and ground operations, Van Fleet shifted
his units along the front to give the South
Korean Army a greater share of responsibility for defending the battle line and to
concentrate American fire power in the
vulnerable western sector.
By 1 May the 1st Marine Division had
moved from the Punchbowl area in the
U.S. X Corps zone to replace the ROK 1st
Division in General O’Daniel’s I Corps.
Here the marines’ amphibious training and
equipment could be utilized to conduct
small raids across the Imjin River. The
ROK 1st Division, after nine weeks training, replaced the U.S. 3d Division in the
corps’ right center sector. General O’Daniel
now had the 1st Marine Division on the left
wing, the 1st British Commonwealth and
the ROK 1st in the center, and the 45th on
the right.
General Van Fleet made more extensive
changes on the central front. He erased the
U.S. I Corps–U.S. IX Corps boundary and
redrew it farther west. At the same time he
also had the right boundary of the latter
corps moved west. With this shift General
Wyman’s IX Corps, by 1 May, consisted of
the ROK 9th Division on the left, the U.S.
7th Division in the center, and the U.S.
40th Division on the right. The 40th, the
second National Guard division to fight in
Korea, arrived in late January 1952. Assigned to the IX Corps, it relieved the U.S.
24th Division, which returned to Japan. On
the IX Corps’ right flank, into the gap
created by the shift in boundary, Van Fleet
moved the reactivated ROK II Corps. The
new corps’ battle front, defended on the left
by the ROK 6th Division, in the center by
the ROK Capital, and on the right by the
ROK 3rd, extended eastward from Kumsong to the X Corps boundary.
Only two changes occurred on the east
central and eastern fronts. In General
Palmer’s X Corps, the ROK 8th replaced
the 1st Marine Division. General Palmer’s
sector now had the ROK 7th Division on
the left wing, the U.S. 25th in the center,
and the ROK 8th on the right wing. On
the eastern front, the ROK 11th Division
moved up from its training area and took
over defense of the left half of the ROK I
Corps zone, while the ROK 5th assumed
responsibility for the right sector on the Sea
of Japan.
Ground action had continued to be limited to patrols in March and April, but the
enemy became bolder in May. He increased
his probing attacks and patrols, intensified
his artillery fire, and aggressively intercepted U.N. patrols. The increased enemy
activity was most pronounced in the U.S. I
Corps sector, where the Chinese executed
thirty probing attacks, all unsuccessful, during May against the ROK 1st Division. But
Chinese thrusts in the 45th Division sector
overshadowed all other action across the
entire front. When the Chinese made three
raids against the 45th, the U.S. division
countered by sending nine tanks of the
245th Tank Battalion and a ROK infantry
unit to raid the town of Agok, eight miles
west of Ch’orwon, on 25 May. That night
the Chinese launched an unsuccessful attack against one of the division’s patrol
bases. Three nights later two Chinese companies intercepted a patrol from the 279th
209
Infantry Regiment, on the division’s right.
Cut off, the patrol engaged the enemy with
small arms and automatic weapons fire and
radioed for assistance. Although the
Chinese fired nearly three hundred mortar
and artillery rounds on the main line of resistance, a relief platoon started out immediately and reached the besieged patrol
three hours later. When aircraft illuminated the battle area with flares, the
enemy’s fire lessened. Finding the patrol
reinforced and the battlefield light as day,
the Chinese broke off the engagement and
withdrew.
The enemy’s increased aggressiveness
was greatly aided by his growing strength
in artillery. In July 1951 the enemy had
fired an estimated 8,000 artillery and mortar rounds, but in May 1952 an estimated
total of 102,000 rounds fell on the Eighth
Army’s positions. Furthermore, the firing
was more effective. The Chinese and North
Koreans showed ability to mass eight to ten
guns on a target, and to place counterbattery fire accurately. They fired widely
spaced alternating guns and moved their
artillery pieces frequently. In May the
Chinese also moved artillery forward to
within 2,000–6,000 yards of the Eighth
Army’s defenses.
As a result of increased Chinese ground
activity at the hinge of the Eighth Army’s
line west of Ch’orwon, Maj. Gen. David L.
Ruffner, the 45th Division commander,
planned an operation to establish eleven
patrol bases across his division’s front. If his
plan succeeded these bases would screen
the division’s main line of resistance more
adequately by denying the enemy their use.
This operation, known as Operation
COUNTER, began on 6 June when the two
front-line regiments of the division launched
a series of attacks to occupy the eleven objectives. By 7 June all but one objective had
fallen to the assault units of the division.
The enemy followed up with a series of
counterblows during the next five days, but
these were successfully repulsed.
Seven days later, 13 June, the 45th Division opened Phase II of COUNTER to seize
the last objective, a hill which the 45th had
abandoned in March. It lay at the southern
tip of a T-shaped ridge line eight miles west
and slightly north of Ch’orwon. The struggle
for the height began with an air strike and
a preparatory artillery bombardment. The
2d Battalion of the 180th Infantry then
crossed the line of departure and engaged
the Chinese at close quarters. American infantry repulsed four company-size Chinese
counterattacks. Next day the regiment’s 3d
Battalion relieved the 2d and secured the
objective. U.N. aircraft flew fifty-eight
close-support missions during the first eighteen hours, and U.N. guns fired 43,600
rounds during the forty-eight-hour battle.
At noon on 14 June, Phase II of Plan
COUNTER ended with the new chain of
patrol bases one half to two miles in front of
the main line of resistance secure in the
division’s hands.
The Chinese immediately launched
counterattacks along the entire front of the
45th Division. They first expended about
two battalions in futile efforts to retake Hill
Then, on the night of 20–2 1 June, they
opened a regimental assault, supported by
5,000 rounds of artillery and mortar fire,
against Hill 255, southwest of Hill 191.
When this failed they struck at outpost positions on the western anchor of the division’s
outpost line, climaxing their efforts on the
night of 28–29 June with an unsuccessful
attack that lasted four and a half hours.
Throughout June the 45th sustained 1,004
casualties, but the Chinese lost an estimated
5,000 men, including thirty captured.
Patrol clashes and light probing attacks
210
by the enemy marked the action elsewhere
on the front during May and June. Strong
positions and the mountainous terrain acted
as deterrents to any large-scale action on
the central and eastern fronts.
If ground action waned during the first
half of 1952, so did air action. Enemy jet
pilots had flown 3,700 sorties in January
1952 but only 308 in June. Even though the
Chinese and North Koreans put fewer and
fewer operational aircraft into the air, they
continued to expand their air potential.
U.N. intelligence estimated that they had a
total of 1,000 planes, including 400 jets, in
Manchuria and China during May 1951,
but twelve months later they were reported
as possessing 1,800 planes, including 1,000
jets, in the same areas. The enemy also
tightened his night air defenses. Over a
dozen of his cannon- and rocket-firing jets
attacked ten B-29’s on the night of 10–11
June as the U.N. aircraft were carrying out
a bombing raid on the Kwaksan railroad
bridge south of the Yalu River. Assisted by
radar-controlled searchlights, the jets shot
down one bomber and caused a second to
make a forced landing.
Throughout the first half of 1952, then,
the U.N. forces waged a war of containment. U.N. infantry units parried enemy
thrusts and launched attacks of their own,
while naval units blockaded the coasts of
North Korea and established an anti-invasion patrol to protect ROK partisans holding offshore islands. Sabrejets successfully
limited hostile aircraft to the area north of
the Ch’ongch’on River line, and friendly
bombers interdicted hostile supply lines.
The front-line soldier continued to watch
for enemy assaults while hoping that the
armistice negotiators would soon reach
agreement.
Support and Service
The prosecution of the war in Korea
called for a tremendous administrative and
logistical effort on the part of the Eighth
Army. Decisions in Washington and Tokyo
required that the army not only carry on its
tactical mission but operate the supply lines
within the peninsula, administer the rear
areas, give relief to the disrupted civilian
population, and run the prisoner of war
camps until August 1952—tasks normally
carried out by the theater headquarters.1
In addition, the Eighth Army had to integrate the multinational forces fighting in
Korea within its command structure. Multitudinous problems arose in carrying out
these various responsibilities.
To integrate the ground contingents
offered by member countries of the United
Nations most efficiently, the U.N. commander’s plan was to assign them, according to their size, to American units within
the Eighth Army. Thus the Turkish Brigade
came under control of an American division. The United Kingdom’s two brigades
and the one from Canada were placed
under army control until July 1951, when
the 1st British Commonwealth Division was
formed and assumed control of all Commonwealth forces in Korea. This division,
in turn, came under operational control of
an American corps. Since all other ground
combat units were of battalion size, they
were attached to U.S. infantry regiments.
A number of problems required immediate solution. Language barriers, different
standards of training, divergent tactical
concepts, variations in dietary habits, dissimilar religious and national customs, and
other discrepancies had to be reconciled.
Some were resolved with little or no difficulty; others required extensive planning
for solution.
The difficulties experienced when the
first U.N. contingents came to Korea led
the Eighth Army to organize the United
Nations Reception Center. The center became responsible for clothing and equipping U.N. forces upon their arrival in Korea and for providing them with familiarization training in American arms and
equipment. As the newcomers went through
the reception center, American officers
could evaluate their proficiency. These
officers soon learned that some of the units
were not so well trained as advance reports
had indicated and that some lacked aggressiveness. As a result, the familiarization
training programs were expanded.
Training and other factors influenced the
assignment and subsequent role of the U.N.
contingents, although the most desirable
1
In August 1952, the Eighth Army was relieved of these
tasks when the Far East Command organized the Korean
Communications Zone, under its direct control, for this
purpose.
212
course of action was to employ all U.N.
units exactly as similar U.S. units were employed. Those units whose training did not
approximate U.S. standards and who did
not develop satisfactorily received additional training while on line of communications guard duty before being committed.
Troops not naturally aggressive and under
poor leadership were not given an assault
role in the attack. Those lacking in soldierly
steadfastness did not receive key defense
missions. But most U.N. units were considered capable of executing any tactical
mission appropriate for a similar U.S. unit.
In assigning the U.N. units and in giving
them missions U.S. commanders had to
reckon with divergent staff and tactical
concepts and techniques. One unit preferred organizing the high ground when on
the defense, whereas American doctrine
favored organizing the forward slopes to
obtain maximum effect with grazing and
interlocking fire from automatic weapons.
Another unit considered reconnaissance in
force and combat patrols wasteful in that
casualties were suffered without the compensatory gain of a physical objective. Some
units did not think in terms of massed fire
power to the degree U.S. forces did. There
were other minor variations, but generally
the non-U.S. units endeavored to pattern
their actions after those of their American
counterparts. Most of the U.N. officers from
other countries, particularly staff officers,
had attended various U.S. service schools.
They were thus familiar with American
tactical doctrine, and their military concepts and practices were generally in accord
with it.
With so many nationalities operating
under a unified command in Korea it was
only natural that language difficulties
should develop. Although the language
problem was never completely solved, it
did not interfere with the army’s tactical
operations. English was the official language, and all orders, directives, and instructions were issued in that tongue. The
task of translation fell on the non-U.S. contingents for they had enough men that
knew English well, whereas the American
commands to which the contingents were
attached had too few soldiers that were
competent in a language other than their
own. The integrated U.N. units also furnished liaison officers to these same American commands.
In theory it would have been desirable to
have each U.N. country furnish the necessary logistical support for the men whom it
sent into the conflict in Korea. In practice,
however, it was simpler to have the United
States furnish the support on a reimbursable basis. Thus the Eighth Army, which
had the responsibility for supplying all of
the units integrated into it, could do the job
via a single line of communications instead
of many. Nonetheless it encountered a
number of difficulties.
National differences in customs and tastes
led to many complications in supplying
U.N. forces with rations. Because of Moslem religious restrictions, the Turks could
not eat pork or pork products. The Hindus
of the Indian contingent could not eat beef
because of similar restrictions. The Turks
wanted strong coffee, spices, and butter instead of margarine. The Hindus had to
have rice, curry powder, and strong spices.
Thailanders and Filipinos required rice,
strong spices, and strong tea and coffee.
The Dutch missed their milk and cheese,
and the French their bottle of wine. Nearly
all of the Europeans wanted a great deal
more bread than the American ration provided. The Japan Logistical Command
Quartermaster modified the ration to meet
these various requirements.
213
Types of provisions furnished to particular countries changed from time to time,
but in May 1952 only three countries—
Canada, Norway, and Sweden—were accepting the complete American ration with
nothing taken away or added. British Commonwealth forces, other than the Canadians, received all food supplies except
perishables from British Commonwealth
sources. All other units depended fully on
the United States for their food supplies,
with the rations modified to suit their tastes
and customs.
Items of American clothing generally
won the favor of the U.N. troops from other
countries, though many of them were not
convinced that two layers of light clothing
were better for winter than a single layer of
heavy clothing. The major problem was in
measurements. Western Europeans are of
about the same size as Americans; so are
the Greeks and Turks, though their wider
feet made fitting of shoes difficult. Oriental
troops such as the Thailanders and Filipinos, on the other hand, are considerably
smaller and their clothing had to be cut
down. For them too, fitting of shoes was a
problem, especially for the Thailanders.
Supplying the integrated units was part
of the generally difficult task of the Eighth
Army in carrying out its overall logistical
mission. The logistical responsibility held
by the army involved operating the ports
and railways, receiving and classifying the
incoming supplies and equipment, and forwarding them to the battle front. To organize and control this logistical effort, the
Eighth Army formed the 2d Logistical
Command. This command also took over
the job of administering the rear areas.
Logistical support of an army in the field
is an arduous task, even under ideal conditions. In South Korea, conditions were far
from ideal. The country has only one
port—Pusan—considered adequate to
handle incoming military supplies. The
mountainous east coast and the extreme
tidal range of the west coast prohibit construction of adequate ports. Inch’on, the
port for Seoul, and several smaller ports on
the west and south coast were available, but
deep-draft vessels had to remain offshore
and have their cargoes lightered in. Hence
Pusan became the major port for the Eighth
Army and received nearly all supplies.
There were disadvantages in using Pusan
as the chief port. It is located at the extreme
southeast tip of the peninsula. As the Eighth
Army moved northward its supply line was
correspondingly extended. The lack of adequate railroads and highways from Pusan
to the battle front added to the burden of
maintaining the supply line. Moreover,
concentrating the bulk of supplies at one
port provided an excellent target for enemy
air attack.
To move supplies and equipment forward from Pusan to the front the 2d Logistical Command utilized the Korean railroads as the chief means of transportation.
But the Korean rail system left much to be
desired. Its 3,500 miles of track are concentrated mostly in the western half of the peninsula, because the mountains prevent construction of lines in eastern Korea. Another
complication is that the system’s main
trunk lines, one double track from Pusan to
Seoul and a single track from Pusan to
Ch’unch’on, have very few feeder lines. The
forces in eastern Korea therefore had to
truck supplies from the main lines over
great distances.
The problems of rail support increased as
the Eighth Army advanced northward and
track mileage under its control lengthened.
The rail system had suffered a good deal of
damage in the fighting, and a shortage of
214
rolling stock developed. Air and artillery
bombardment had destroyed tracks and
rolling stock, yards and repair shops, railroad bridges and tunnels, and a lack of
enough skilled workers hindered the restoration of the damaged lines although the
Eighth Army’s engineers worked constantly
at the job. The army’s transportation section instituted a system of movements control to help overcome the shortage of rolling
stock. It insisted that every car be fully
loaded before shipping and unloaded
quickly at its destination. The transportation section also obtained some rolling stock
from Japanese sources and the United
States, including locomotives. Despite all of
these measures, a shortage of cars and motive power persisted throughout the course
of the conflict.
As for the highway system of Korea, it
was not built to support modern military
operations. The roads are narrow, badly
drained, and poorly surfaced. Snow and ice
cover them in winter, and spring thaws and
summer rains make them impassable.
There were few laterals to connect with the
main highways, and in many areas roads
did not even exist or were merely ox-cart
trails. Because supply agencies had to rely
heavily on truck transportation, the Eighth
Army’s engineers spent a great deal of time
and effort in improving and maintaining
the existing roads and in constructing new
roads.
Yet the tremendous improvements made
by the engineers in South Korea’s land
transportation facilities were not enough to
get the supplies to the combat troops. Trains
and trucks brought the supplies from the
ports to forward supply points. But from
there to many sections of the front, food,
clothing, ammunition, and other battlefield
needs had to be hand-carried over the
rugged terrain, a process that required a
large number of men. Since combat troops
could not be spared for such a task, the
South Korean Government, at the request
of the Eighth Army, organized the Korean
Service Corps to carry supplies to the front
lines. Laborers of this corps, using A-frames,
daily toiled up the slopes of steep hills carrying needed supplies to the companies and
platoons. They also assisted the front-line
troops in building and improving fortifications.
As its principal means of communication
in the Korean conflict, the Eighth Army
used wire and very high frequency radio.
Because the telephone and telegraph systems of South Korea had been seriously
damaged by the war and were in a bad
state of disrepair, the army’s signal section
built its own wire system extending from
Pusan all the way to the front. The radio
network supplemented the wire system to
insure rapid and constant communication
between all echelons of command. The ingenuity and hard work that went into the
construction of the wire and radio networks
produced in the end what was probably the
finest communications system that any field
army ever enjoyed.
Another problem posed for the Eighth
Army was maintaining the supply of ammunition. When the conflict began, a great
amount of ammunition left over from
World War II was available for the support
of the army. Transporting this ammunition
to the front placed an additional burden on
the inadequate rail and highway system of
South Korea. As hostilities extended into
the summer of 1951, ammunition levels in
the depots began to approach the absolute
minimum needed to sustain combat operations in Korea. The ammunition affected
was shells for light and medium artillery
and for mortars. A rationing program for
normal combat operations was adopted to
215
solve the problem. This program helped to
relieve the strain on transportation facilities
and insured that the army’s guns would
have all the ammunition necessary to stop
an enemy drive or to support offensive operations.
Besides giving logistical support to the
South Korean Army, the Eighth Army
aided the civil population with relief supplies. From the very beginning of the conflict the Republic of Korea required civil
assistance for its population. As the fighting
spread over the whole country, the destruction of homes and fields, economic dislocations, and threats of disease and starvation
imperiled the new nation. The South
Korean Government did not have the
means to cope with the problems of its tens
of thousands of homeless refugees. Unless
something was done, civil unrest would
seriously impair the military effort of the
U.N. forces in Korea. Thus civil relief became a military problem, at least while the
fighting continued.
When the U.S. Army received responsibility for providing civil assistance to the
Republic of Korea, it moved quickly. The
Far East Command shipped food, clothing,
and medicine from its supply depots to care
for the refugees. Other relief items were
purchased from Japanese sources. The
Eighth Army organized the United Nations
Civil Assistance Command (UNCACK)
to provide relief. Working with the South
Korean Government and U.N. representatives, this command supervised the organization of refugee camps, distributed food
and clothing, and established medical facil;
ities for the civil population. To prevent the
spread of communicable diseases, more
than three fourths of the population received inoculations against smallpox, typhoid, and typhus. Aircraft dusted cities
with DDT to kill disease-bearing insects
while teams dusted millions of South
Koreans.
Thousands of children who had lost their
families wandered with the refugees. Orphanages within the country rounded them
up and cared for them, receiving aid from
the Civil Assistance Command. In addition,
thousands of American soldiers voluntarily
contributed money to support homes for
them. Many units of the Eighth Army
“adopted” orphanages, supporting them
with money, clothing, food, and other
necessities.
Another objective of the civil relief mission in Korea was to assist the country in
rebuilding its economy. The Civil Assistance Command helped to rebuild and expand the agricultural economy by providing technical guidance and material aid. At
the same time the South Koreans were
helped and encouraged to build factories
for the production of war materiel and consumer goods, and the nation’s government
took steps to reduce inflation. This economic
program was reinforced by the Eighth
Army’s employment of thousands of Korean workers and the rebuilding and improvement of the railroads, highways, ports,
and airfields of the country.
Another problem bristling with difficulties arose from the large number of enemy
soldiers held by the Eighth Army. When
the North Korean forces collapsed near the
end of 1950, the Eighth Army had well
over 100,000 prisoners of war on its hands.
These prisoners were held on the island of
Koje-do, situated thirty miles southwest of
Pusan. The camp consisted of four barbed
wire enclosures each subdivided into eight
compounds, with each compound capable
of holding 6,000 prisoners.
The camp administration carried out the
principles of the Geneva Convention of
1949 regarding prisoners of war. Guards re-
216
ceived instructions in these principles, and
representatives of the International Red
Cross inspected the compounds frequently.
The captives were permitted to engage in
athletics, and classes of instruction in a
great variety of subjects were offered to
those who wished to attend.
Camp authorities also instituted a screening program to separate South Korean
civilians from the real prisoners of war.
These civilians had been forced to fight or
to work as laborers in the North Korean
Army when it overran the Republic of Korea during the first months of the war. As a
result of the screening program 38,000 captives were reclassified as civilians during
November and December 1951. Then, in
January 1952, the camp commander began
a second screening cycle to correct mistakes
made in the first one. Communist leaders
within the compounds resisted this screening because it meant that they would lose
control over the anticommunist prisoners
and that the guards could keep a closer
watch over antagonistic groups.
During the early months of the camp’s
operation disorders occurred often, but
rioting did not break out until late in 1951.
Evidently a core of tough communists had
been organized in each compound with the
objective of seizing control over the anticommunists among the prisoners. Gangs of
thugs cowed those who would not conform,
and kangaroo courts sentenced leaders of
the opposition to death. This attempt to
seize control of the captives within each
compound led to factional strife and a
number of deaths.
Violent opposition to screening began in
early 1952, when the inmates of Compound
62 attacked a battalion of troops from the
U.S. 27th Infantry Regiment. The battalion had entered the compound to keep
order while the Republic of Korea screening committee performed its duties. The
prisoners attacked the Americans with
rocks, pick handles, homemade knives and
axes, tent poles, and barbed wire flails. The
soldiers threw concussion grenades to stop
the attack, but the mob continued to move
forward. The American commander ordered his troops to fire, and the prisoners
were forced back. When the melee ceased,
200 inmates of the compound were casualties and one American had been killed and
thirty-eight wounded.
As a result of the riot the guard strength
was increased and a new screening and
segregation program instituted. The new
program called for separation of those
prisoners and civilian internees who desired
repatriation from those who did not and for
construction of new prisoner of war camps
on the mainland and the island of Cheju-do.
As the new screening program began, in
April 1952, it met with increasing hostility
from the communist prisoners. Mass meetings, flag raisings, and other acts of defiance
took place. The climax came in May when
the prisoners seized the commander of the
prisoner of war camp. General Van Fleet
immediately moved reinforcements to the
island, including flame-throwing tanks.
Upon release of the camp’s head, Brig.
Gen. Haydon L. Boatner took over command and proceeded to bring the situation
under control. General Boatner had all
civilian residents of the island moved off,
reorganized the staff, and ordered his
guards to enter forcibly any compound displaying slogans or flying North Korean
flags. Engineers began rebuilding the compounds to reduce their capacity to 500 men,
and the army commander sent the 187th
Airborne Regiment to reinforce the guard
strength of the camp.
The communist leaders prepared to fight
against any removal of the prisoners. They
217
secretly fashioned weapons, filling crude
grenades with hoarded cooking gasoline.
The inmates of one compound dug a waistdeep trench before the main gate on the assumption that the guards would enter
there.
On 10 June the camp commander proceeded to move the prisoners to the new
compounds. The leader of Compound 76,
where the trench had been dug, was ordered to form his men into groups of 150 in
preparation for the move. He failed to do
so, and General Boatner ordered the commander of the 187th to move two battalions
into the compound. The troops did not
enter by the main gate. Instead engineers
cut through the barbed wire in rear of the
compound while tanks patrolled outside of
the enclosure. Then the troops, wearing gas
masks, advanced through the cut in the
wire and threw tear gas grenades into the
unruly mob. The grenades ignited gasoline
hidden in the compound, and the inmates
broke before the American troops. Some
locked themselves in the barracks of the enclosure while others jumped into the ditch
near the main gate. The troops began a
methodical job of cleaning out the barracks
and ditch, herding the captives toward the
center of the compound. In one and a half
hours it was all over. Nearly 6,000 North
Koreans squatted in the center of the enclosure while the compound’s buildings
went up in flames. Over 150 inmates were
killed and injured; the Americans had one
killed and thirteen wounded. Shortly afterward the prisoners were moved to the new
compound while their leader was led off to
solitary confinement.
With the collapse of the prisoners’ revolt
in Compound 76, the remainder of the
screening program was carried out with
relatively little difficulty. The noncommunist prisoners were separated from the communists, and the latter moved into the 500-
man compounds. Incidents on the island
continued, but guards used tear gas to stop
demonstrations and riots and to maintain
order and discipline among the unruly
inmates.
SECTION 7
12 November 1951–30 June 1952
221
222
STATION GYPSY, near Hwach’on. Operations van from which programs were broadcast (left) contained two short-wave receivers, two dual-speed turntables, an amplifier for live broadcasts, a
transmitter, console, microphone, tape recorder, and library of over 35,000 song hits; administrative van is on the right.
223
378TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION constructing a treadway bridge across the Pukhan River,
ROK 6th Division sector of IX Corps area, November 1951.
224
PATTON TANK ON THE MAIN SUPPLY ROUTE, 3d
Division sector, I Corps area, 17 November 1951.
225
226
WINTRY WASHDAY in the 24th Division area, 24 November.
8-INCH HOWITZER in action, 25th Division area.
227
CLEARING SLUSH from a 24th Division landing strip.
GUARD DUTY. Snow-covered vehicle is a halftrack, Quad .50.
228
VICE-PRESIDENT ALBEN W. BARKLEY, right foreground, is welcomed to the 24th Division area by
the Colombian Battalion Commander; Maj. Gen. Blackshear M. Bryan, Commanding General,
24th Division, is at right.
229
WET AND CHILLED, cavalrymen huddle around a small can of burning gasoline.
230
LITTER BEARERS OF THE 7TH DIVISION, moving cautiously over ice and snow, bring in a wounded
man.
231
ENEMY PRISONER, captured by a 7th Division soldier, is on his way south for the winter.
232
SELF-PROPELLED 155-MM. GUN lights up the night
in the 25th Division area, 26 November.
233
234
FLYING BOXCAR C-119 DISGORGING MAIL for APO 24, Ch’unch’on.
235
ROLLS OF BARBED WIRE AND MAIL on the way up to Company E, 21st Infantry.
PATTON TANKS PINCH-HITTING FOR MAIL TRUCKS carry Christmas mail to front-line troops.
236
RIDGERUNNER, so called because of its maneuverability on the roadway above running along the
ridge line. The tank shown above is credited with having destroyed eighteen enemy bunkers in
one afternoon.
INSULATED CONTAINERS OF HOT FOOD being carried up to hilltop positions, 24th Division area.
237
TANK COMMANDER crouching behind the turret after giving the order to fire.
ENEMY BUNKER AND CONNECTING TRENCH,
Hill 770.
ENEMY KITCHEN on Hill 770 near Kumsong.
238
CABLE CAR, built by 3d Engineer Construction
Battalion. Starting point is at foot of Hill 770, left;
the car nears the platform at the top of the hill, below. Engine from a discarded 3
/4-ton truck supplied
power for the car, which traversed a distance of
1,530 feet from bottom to top. At several stages of
its journey the car dangled as much as 200 feet off
the ground.
239
COMPANY E, 21ST INFANTRY, preparing for a long
winter, near Kumsong. Koreans help with construction of bunker, right. Assistant squad leaders
attend a class on the use and operation of grenade
adapters, below.
240
Some troops see Santa.
241
Some troops do not.
242
Now I lay me down to sleep. . . .
243
REPLACEMENTS for the 1st Marine Division disembarking from an LST.
244
WHITE-CLAD RECONNAISSANCE PATROL from 2d Division moving out, 1 January 1952.
L-20 PREPARING TO TAKE OFF. Seated in front with the pilot is Maj. Gen. Williston B. Palmer,
Commanding General, X Corps.
245
NEW YEAR’S DAY DINNER on its way up to Company L, 21st Infantry, near Kumsong.
246
247
Celebrating New Year’s Day
248
PLOTTING CORRECTIONS ON A MAP in the fire control hut before the next heavy mortar rounds are
fired, west of Ch’orwon, 4 January
249
SERVING A HOT MEAL to the 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division, along a mountainside. The
45th Division arrived in Korea during the third week of December.
250
JANUARY 1952. In this month the Eighth Army opened a sustained artillery-air campaign against
enemy positions.
251
DESTROYING AN OLD ENEMY BUNKER WITH TNT,
NEAR KUMSONG, 11 JANUARY.
252
40TH DIVISION INFANTRYMEN preparing to debark at Inch’on harbor, January 1952. The 40th
Division was assigned to the IX Corps to relieve the 24th Division.
253
24TH DIVISION TROOPS aboard the USS George Clymer headed for Japan.
COFFEE BREAK for 40th Division men on their way to the front lines two days after arriving in
Korea.
254
UNCACK Representative Presenting a Jeep-Type Fire Engine to a Korean public safety
officer, Taejon, October 1952.
Partially Contructed Family Housing Units, Taegu, July 1952.
255
UNCACK CHIEF NURSE WITH KOREAN WOMEN examining American women’s uniforms donated
to hospitals, August 1952.
The United Nations Civil Assistance Command
(UNCACK), in providing relief for the civil population of South Korea, distributed food and clothing, reconstructed communities, and furnished
medical facilities.
CEMENT DONATED BY UNCACK was used to
make well casings and pipe, July 1952.
256
FRENCH BATTALION TROOPS ON MANEUVERS, shown in positions along the electric railroad track
at Kumgong-ni.
257
INSTALLING A FIELD TELEPHONE at the 160th Infantry regimental command post.
LEAVING WARMING TENTS to carry out a fire mission. The men above are from Battery B, 37th
Field Artillery Battalion.
258
259
MEDIC TREATING INJURED 2D DIVISION INFANTRYMAN, 14 February 1952,
while a wounded ROK soldier is helped up the steep bank to await his turn.
260
ALL-PRISONER CAST of a play staged for the entertainment of the POW camp, Koje-do, March
1952.
U.N. POW CAMP, KOJE-DO. Korean village, foreground, borders the camp.
261
SEARCHLIGHT IN POSITION, west of Ch’orwon. This searchlight is mounted on the bed of a converted 21
/2-ton truck.
TAKING TIME OUT for coffee and doughnuts, 37th Field Artillery Battalion command post.
262
SAVING AN AIRMAN
FIRING ROCKETS FROM A PT BOAT in a harassing attack against the east coast of North Korea.
The boat is manned by ROK Navy men.
263
LOW-LEVEL AIR ATTACK on enemy supply center at Suan, thirty-five miles southeast of P’yongyang. Note tank of napalm just released from the left wing of the F-80.
264
PLATOON LEADER BRIEFING HIS MEN before leaving on a reconnaissance patrol, June 1952.
265
CONFERENCE IN THE RAIN, June 1952. General Van Fleet, Eighth Army commander, is on the left;
next to him is Brig. Gen. Joseph P. Cleland, Commanding General, 40th Division; Maj. Gen.
Willard G. Wyman, Commanding General, IX Corps, is at right.
266
Welcome home.
1 JULY 1952–28 JULY 1953
CHAPTER IX
Deadlock continued as the Korean conflict went into its third year in late June
Since November 1951 the battle front
had been relative stable, both sides having
settled down to an active defense of their
positions. In the following winter and spring
the fighting dwindled to patrol clashes,
raids, and small-scale attacks, but the enemy grew more aggressive in May 1952 and
action along the entire front increased.
Enemy attempts to seize key outposts and
terrain guarding the approaches to the
Eighth Army’s main positions sparked frequent and intense fire fights during the
summer and fall of 1952. The army successfully defended these positions, breaking up
the enemy’s attacks and killing thousands
of Chinese and North Koreans.
July began with a series of small-scale attacks by both sides. In the Eighth Army’s
western sector the U.S. I Corps, under its
new commander, Maj. Gen. Paul W. Kendall, conducted a number of raids on Chinese fortifications opposite the corps’ front.
On the first day of the month, infantrymen
from the ROK 1st Division raided enemy
positions overlooking the Imjin River, In
the fight that followed the ROK troops
killed 112 Chinese before returning to the
division’s lines. Two days later, on 3 July,
the marines, on the corps’ left wing, struck
at a Chinese battalion. Supported by mortar and artillery fire, two companies from
the 7th Marine Regiment swept into the
enemy positions to inflict 200 casualties on
the surprised Chinese before retiring. The
corps handed out more punishment when a
tank-infantry team from General Ruffner’s
U.S. 45th Division attacked a hill mass
northwest of Ch’orwon. The tankers and
infantrymen returned to their lines after
killing seventy-nine of the enemy on the
hill.
Light action marked the fighting on the
remainder of the front. In General Wyman’s U.S. IX Corps, troops from Maj.
Gen. Wayne C. Smith’s U.S. 7th Division
raided an enemy-held hill ten miles south
of P’yonggang on 3 July. The raiding infantrymen wiped out the forty-five Chinese defenders and destroyed enemy fortifications
before returning to their lines. The ROK
9th Division followed up this raid with two
of their own against enemy positions, killing
sixty Chinese and destroying bunkers,
trenches, and gun emplacements. In the
ROK II Corps area South Korean infantrymen struck enemy positions northeast of
Kumhwa to kill sixty-five Chinese. In the
ROK I Corps sector North Korean troops
unsuccessfully attacked an observation post
for naval gunfire on the enemy’s Nam
River communications line. The enemy lost
an estimated 600 men in this attempt.
Outpost Battles
1 July–31 December 1952
270
Torrential rains in the last week of July
and the first week of August restricted activity along the front, but periods of clear
weather brought renewed attacks by both
sides. In the U.S. I Corps zone Maj. Gen.
James C. Fry, the U.S. 2d Division commander, sent two reinforced companies
against Hill 266 during the night of 31
July–1 August. Determined to regain the
height that had been lost in July, the infantrymen stormed up the slopes and drove the
Chinese out. Quickly digging in and organizing their position, the 2d Division troops
awaited the inevitable counterattack. It
came the following night, but massed division artillery and small arms fire broke up
the Chinese assault. Enemy attacks later in
the month met with no success, and the hill
remained in the hands of the 2d Division.
Heavy rains again drenched Korea in
the latter part of August to bring the fighting to a near halt. Then, as September began, the skies cleared and the enemy renewed his assaults on the Eighth Army’s
outpost positions. These attacks were accompanied by an increasing amount of
mortar and artillery fire support.
For quite some time the enemy had
gradually been increasing the volume of
mortar and artillery fire used in support of
his attacks. In September an all-time high
of 45,000 rounds fell on the army’s front in
one day. Despite the enormous effort
exerted by the Fifth Air Force and the
naval air arm to sever the enemy’s supply
lines the Chinese and North Koreans kept
their front-line troops supplied and even
managed to accumulate a reserve stock of
ammunition and supplies.
Various sectors of the Eighth Army’s line
came under enemy attack in September.
After unsuccessfully assaulting an outpost
that the marines had seized and established
the previous month, the Chinese shifted
their efforts to the U.S. I Corps’ right wing.
On the night of 18 September, after their
artillery had smothered Hill 266 in the U.S.
2d Division sector with 1,000 shells, an estimated two enemy companies, reinforced
with tanks, swarmed up the slopes and
rapidly overran the crest. The Americans
withdrew 400 yards and established new
positions, then counterattacked. But the
heavy and accurate Chinese artillery fire
prevented the assaulting troops from making any headway. On the evening of 20
September another American counterattack formed and began to envelop the hill.
After slow progress through heavy enemy
fire the attacking companies, reinforced by
a platoon of tanks, made a co-ordinated
assault that carried them to the crest. The
Chinese fell back as the attacking infantrymen swept over the hilltop and secured the
position.
In the central sector of the Eighth Army
line, the enemy struck at two separate
points in the front of the ROK II Corps’
Capital Division. On the division’s left flank
the Chinese overran an outpost position to
threaten the main line of resistance while
another outpost on the division’s right fell
to enemy assaults. Both were soon retaken
by the South Korean infantrymen.
In the eastern sector of the front North
Koreans attacked main line of resistance
positions on the right wing of the U.S. X
Corps on the night of 21–22 September.
While the U.S. 45th Division was in the
process of relieving the ROK 8th Division,
elements of two enemy battalions overran
the western slope and crest of a hill serving
as part of the ROK division’s main line.
Driving one company back about 1,000
yards, the attacking enemy then swung to
the west to widen the penetration. But the
defending South Koreans on the left of the
penetration held firm and halted the North
271
Korean attack. The next morning, 22 September, an infantry company from the
ROK 8th Division, supported by tanks
from, the 45th Division’s 245th Tank Battalion, managed to regain part of the hill. At
noon of the same day, after artillery fire
and air strikes had covered the penetration,
elements of the ROK 8th’s reserve regiment
counterattacked and drove the enemy back.
By nightfall the main line of resistance had
been restored and all enemy troops driven
out. During the next two days the North
Koreans made several weak efforts to penetrate the division’s main line without success. Meanwhile the 45th Division continued its relief of the 8th, completing it on 26
September.
While the troops of the Eighth Army defended their outposts and main battle positions against local enemy assaults, the air
war over Korea intensified during the summer of 1952. Aircraft from the Fifth Air
Force and the Far East Bomber Command,
Marine aircraft, and Navy carrier-based
planes struck at supply centers, troop concentrations, power plants, factories, and
rail and road networks. In addition to striking deep into enemy territory, air units rendered valuable assistance to front-line
troops. Enemy bunkers, trenches, gun positions, and communication lines were
bombed or seared with napalm. On 29
August the Fifth Air Force carried out the
largest air raid of the Korean conflict. Hundreds of Air Force, Marine, and Navy
planes accompanied by aircraft from Australia and the United Kingdom raided
P’yongyang, the North Korean capital. In
this massive strike, supply installations, repair shops, troop concentrations, military
headquarters, and a host of other targets
were destroyed or badly damaged.
An increasing number of enemy jet interceptors rose to challenge Fifth Air Force
Sabrejets during the summer. But the superiority of American pilots was clearly
demonstrated by the number of enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat. During
the month of September alone, pilots from
the Fifth Air Force shot down sixty-four
MIG-15’s at a cost of seven Sabrejets.
The Navy maintained its blockade of
both coasts of North Korea. On the east
coast, warships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet
continued to bombard the enemy port of
Wonsan. Ships from the fleet also continued
to provide gunfire support to friendly forces
near the east coast of the peninsula. On the
Korean west coast the U.N. fleet helped
protect islands off the North Korean coast
and assisted guerrilla units to recapture an
island that had been seized by an enemy
force.
The rising tide of enemy attacks that began in May culminated in a series of assaults in October that produced some of the
heaviest fighting in more than a year. Battles raged on many sections of the front as
Chinese and North Korean units, sometimes employing their familiar human-sea
tactics, tried to penetrate the Eighth Army’s
main line of resistance or to seize dominating terrain. The heaviest fighting centered
around two key heights, Hills 281 and 395,
northwest of Ch’orwon. Capture of these
strategic positions, astride the U.S. I CorpsU.S. IX Corps boundary, would give the
Chinese control of the lateral roads behind
the corps’ lines and threaten the main supply route to Ch’orwon.
To herald the opening of their attacks the
Chinese unleashed the largest volume of
mortar and artillery fire received by the
Eighth Army since the fighting began. On
one day, 7 October, more than 93,000
rounds fell on U.N. positions along the
front. The Eighth Army estimated that during these attacks the enemy’s daily expend-
272
iture of artillery and mortar ammunition
doubled to more than 24,000 rounds.
The Chinese began a co-ordinated attack
against both hills on the evening of 6 October after a daylong artillery bombardment
of the objectives. Two enemy companies
struck Hill 281, the eastern anchor of the I
Corps line. The U.S. 2d Division’s French
Battalion, defending the height, repelled
this assault, but the Chinese added two
more companies to the attacking force, reformed, and attacked again. The gallant
French would not yield, and as the battle
progressed the Chinese continued to build
up their attacking strength. By dawn, they
had an entire regiment hammering away
vainly at the French. Finally, with hundreds of their dead and wounded strewn
about the besieged position, the Chinese
broke off the attack and withdrew. They
kept up pressure against the French-held
hill for the next few days, but on 12 October
abandoned further attempts to capture it.
The main enemy attack in the meantime
struck Hill 395, guarding the U.S. IX
Corps left flank. The Chinese hurled an
estimated two battalions against the height
in co-ordination with the attack on Hill
Elements of the ROK 9th Division,
defending the hill, held their positions until
the following afternoon, 7 October, when
the enemy threw in additional battalions
and forced the South Koreans to withdraw.
A counterattack restored the lost ground,
but the enemy renewed his assault in regimental strength the next day and again
forced the ROK troops to withdraw. They
established a new defense line south of the
lost positions and then began to counterattack. Assisted by numerous air strikes and
the massed corps artillery, the South Korean infantrymen managed after two days
of heavy fighting to fight their way to the
crest of the hill and drive the Chinese back.
An enemy battalion then attempted to push
the infantrymen back, but the defenders,
backed up by artillery fire, stopped the
Chinese short of their goal.
To relieve the pressure against Hill 395 a
battalion from the ROK 9th Division, supported by a company-sized tank-infantry
team, seized high ground several hundred
yards north of the hill. Securing this newly
won terrain, the battalion continued to advance northward and by 15 October had
secured two screening positions 1,000 yards
north of Hill 395. With the South Koreans
now in firm control of the disputed ground
the enemy gave up further efforts to penetrate the IX Corps left flank. After the battle was all over, the 9th Division reported
that the major part of a Chinese reserve
division from the 38th Chinese Communist
Army had been destroyed. Over 2,000 Chinese dead were counted on the slopes of
Hills 281 and 395 in the ten-day battle.
The Eighth Army countered enemy aggressiveness by making several attacks during the middle of the month. The primary
aim of these attacks was to strengthen the
defense of Kumhwa, the right leg of the
Iron Triangle and the hub of an important
road net. Two dominating hill masses, Hills
500 and 598, about four miles north of the
city were the objectives of the IX Corps’
U.S. 7th and ROK 2d Divisions. The
attack began on the morning of 14 October
when two battalions from the 7th Division’s
31st Regiment executed a double envelopment of Hill 598 from the south and southeast. Advancing under heavy enemy fire,
the battalions succeeded in driving the enemy from the hill after six hours of intense
fighting. The Chinese counterattacked that
night and forced the Americans off the
height.
The next morning, 15 October, the infantrymen of the 31st again attacked. Mov-
273
ing silently and swiftly through the morning mists they went up the slopes of Hill
598 and ejected the enemy from the crest.
Two smaller heights that lay a short distance from the main objective also fell the
attacking troops. The Chinese then retaliated by throwing two battalions against
the hill in an effort to dislodge the Americans. The enemy attack failed. Three days
later, on 18 October, the American infantrymen advanced another 1,000 yards
deeper into enemy territory and seized key
terrain to protect Hill 598 from the north.
But counterattacking Chinese battalions
forced the troops of the 31st to pull back the
main hill mass. Further enemy attempts
to regain Hill 598 failed until 30 October.
At that time, three days after the ROK 2d
Division had taken over the height from the
U.S. 7th Division, an enemy regiment
stormed up the slopes and drove out the
South Korean defenders. Successive counterattacks by the 2d failed to regain the hill.
While the 7th Division had been fighting
for Hill 598, a battalion from the ROK 2d
Division streamed up Hill 500 and seized
the crest against light enemy opposition.
The usual enemy counterattack followed,
and for a week the position changed hands
repeatedly. Near the end of October the
ROK troops finally managed to seize and
hold the height.
Meanwhile more fighting broke out the
ROK II Corps’ sector. Two Chinese
companies attacked hilltop positions near
the left flank of the ROK Capital Division
on the night of 6 October. The South Koreans made a determined stand and prevented the enemy from making any penetration of the main battle line. About 500
yards east of these positions the enemy also
struck with two companies and seized an
outpost guarding the division’s center. The
following morning ROK troops counterattacked and managed to reach positions
300 yards from the crest. The Chinese prevented any further advance, and as October
ended the enemy still remained in possession
of the hilltop.
Fighting along the remainder of the
Eighth Army front consisted of patrol
clashes and light raids by the enemy. Harassing attacks occurred on the U.S. I Corps’
front against the 1st Marine Division when
the Chinese attacked several outposts without success.
With the coming of winter weather in
November, enemy aggressiveness began to
decline. Although the Chinese kept pressure on the central front, the severe defeat
inflicted on them by the IX Corps in October and the adverse weather evidently
dampened their desire to conduct further
large-scale attacks against the Eighth
Army’s battle line. For the remainder of the
year fighting diminished in intensity as both
sides prepared to meet the rigors of the
Korean winter.
Although most of the front remained relatively quiet, in the U.S. I Corps sector the
enemy tried to penetrate a part of the 1st
British Commonwealth Division’s front line
on 19 November. The British threw back
the attack after killing over a hundred
Chinese. Fighting again flared up in the
corps area when the ROK 1st Division beat
back Chinese attempts to overrun outposts
on the Imjin River line in December. The
enemy then tried to seize key terrain in
front of the U.S. 2d Division. In a short but
intense battle the Americans killed 111 of
the enemy and captured four prisoners.
The Chinese then withdrew their attacking
force.
Enemy attacks on the central front during the last two months of the year resulted
in several brief but bitter fights. On the IX
274
Corps left wing an enemy battalion seized
an outpost in front of the U.S. 3d Division’s
lines on 6 November. Shortly after this success the Chinese made an attempt to break
through the defenses of the U.S. 7th Division’s Ethiopian Battalion. After a brief fire
fight the enemy withdrew leaving 131 of his
dead around the Ethiopians’ positions.
On the eastern front an enemy force
struck several positions in the U.S. X Corps
center. The U.S. 40th Division quickly
broke up these assaults, killing 152 of the
enemy and capturing seven. Farther east, in
the ROK I Corps sector, two North Korean
battalions made a minor penetration of the
ROK 5th Division’s lines. Counterattacking South Korean infantrymen ejected the
enemy and restored the positions.
As ground fighting slowed to a near halt
during December, General Van Fleet made
several changes in his battle line. To
strengthen the Kumhwa–Ch’orwon sector
of the Iron Triangle, the army commander
increased the number of front-line divisions
in the IX Corps. The front of the ROK 9th
Division, on the corps’ right flank, was
narrowed and the left boundary of the
ROK II Corps shifted several miles to the
east. The ROK Capital Division then filled
in the resulting gap. One other change occurred in the IX Corps when the ROK 2d
Division relieved the U.S. 3d Division on
the corps’ left flank. Lt. Gen. Reuben E.
Jenkins, who had taken over command of
the IX Corps from General Wyman in
August, now had three ROK divisions and
one U.S. division, the 25th, defending his
front.
In the western sector of the army’s battle
line, the U.S. 7th Division relieved the U.S.
2d Division on the U.S. I Corps’ right flank.
On the eastern front a newly created South
Korean division, the ROK 12th, entered
combat for the first time, replacing the U.S.
45th Division on the right flank of the U.S.
X Corps.
At the year’s end General Van Fleet had
sixteen divisions manning the Eighth
Army’s battle line. Included in this number
were one U.S. Marine, one British Commonwealth, eleven South Korean, and
three U.S. Army divisions. Contingents of
troops from other United Nations countries
reinforced the American divisions, and a
Korean Marine regiment became an important adjunct to the 1st Marine Division.
The army commander also had four divisions available as reserve forces—one South
Korean and three American.
By giving the South Koreans responsibility for defending nearly 75 percent of the
Eighth Army’s front General Van Fleet indicated that he had confidence in the
ability of the revitalized ROK Army to
hold its own against large-scale enemy attacks. It was evident that the South Korean
Army, trained and equipped by the U.S.
Army, was now a fighting force capable of
effective defense.
For over a year now a stalemate had existed in the Korean conflict. Both sides had
constructed defense lines so powerful that
their reduction could be accomplished only
at a prohibitive cost. This had limited the
Eighth Army’s offensive operations during
1952 to small-scale attacks to prevent the
enemy from holding terrain features close
to the army’s main line of resistance and
raids to hamper the enemy’s build-up of
defensive positions.
During the year the Eighth Army also
conducted a vigorous defense of its outpost
positions. These outposts, located on high
ground to screen the army’s main line of
resistance, became the objective of frequent
enemy attack, particularly in the latter half
of the year. The Eighth Army threw back
275
the great majority of these assaults and inflitted thousands of casualties on the enemy.
Positions that did fall, owing to the weight
of enemy numbers, were quickly restored by
counterattacking Eighth Army infantrymen. Occasionally an outpost position had
to be abandoned when it became clear that
the enemy intended to seize the position at
any cost. In this case the outpost lost its usefulness as the price of holding it or retaking
it outweighed its tactical value in delaying
enemy attacks on the main line of resistance.
276
Map 7
CHAPTER X
As the year 1953 began, activity along
the entire front subsided. Patrolling and
small-scale harassing attacks characterized
the fighting during the winter months of the
new year. Then, as spring began, the enemy
renewed his assaults upon the Eighth
Army’s outpost line, attempting to seize
terrain that overlooked the army’s main
line of resistance. These attacks increased in
frequency and intensity until, in July, they
approached the scale of the enemy’s heavy
attacks of May 1951.
During January 1953 General Van Fleet
continued to make changes in the Eighth
Army’s line. In the right-wing corps, he replaced the veteran ROK 5th Division with
the newly activated 15th. In the left-wing
corps, the U.S. 2d Division relieved the 1st
British Commonwealth Division, the first
time the latter unit had been out of combat for nearly eighteen months. In the IX
Corps, in the Eighth Army’s center, the
U.S. 3d Division took over the sector held
by the U.S. 25th Division, while in X Corps
the U.S. 45th relieved the U.S. 40th Division. After these changes the army commander had twelve South Korean and
eight U.N. divisions to defend the army
front. The thousands of service and security
troops that supported the combat divisions
brought the army’s total strength to nearly
768,000 men.
To oppose the Eighth Army’s twenty divisions the enemy disposed a formidable
array of strength along his front. Seven
Chinese armies and two North Korean
corps, totaling about 270,000 troops,
manned the enemy defense line. Another
eleven Chinese armies and North Korean
corps with an estimated strength of 531,000
remained in reserve. With service and security forces, the total enemy strength in
Korea amounted to more than a million
men.
The enemy employed his forces along a
battle line that roughly paralleled that of
the Eighth Army. The Chinese occupied
about three fourths of this line; their armies
extended from the Korean west coast eastward to the Kum River. East of the river
the North Koreans manned the remainder
of the line to the Sea of Japan—a sector, incidentally, where there was little likelihood
of a main U.N. thrust. Although a manpower shortage probably explains this division of responsibility, it is also possible that
the Chinese questioned the fighting ability
of their allies.
Other than a few patrol clashes, little
fighting occurred during January and February. Only in the sector of the ROK 12th
Division did the enemy make any serious
attempts to penetrate the army’s main line
of resistance, and these failed. Meanwhile,
The Last Battle
1 January–27 July 1953
278
the Eighth Army carried out a number of
raids on enemy positions. Supported by air
strikes and accurate artillery fire, raiding
parties from all five corps struck hard at
Chinese and North Korean positions to kill
or capture enemy soldiers and destroy emplacements and fortifications.
During February the command of the
Eighth Army changed hands. General Van
Fleet, after nearly two years as the Eighth
Army’s leader, turned over his command to
Lt. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor and returned
to the United States for retirement.
As March began the enemy increased his
attacks on the army’s outpost line, evidently
in retaliation for the U.N. raids of January
and February. The U.S. I Corps bore the
brunt of these attacks. On the first day of
March an enemy battalion assaulted main
line of resistance positions on Hill 355, held
by elements of the U.S. 2d Division. Although part of the enemy force managed to
reach the foxholes and trenches of the defenders the attack was beaten off. The
Chinese hit the hill again on 17 March with
a battalion. Attacking in two elements from
the north and northeast, the Chinese
breached the protective mine fields and
wire and drove into the trenches on the
crest. The center of the line gave way, but
two platoons that had been previously
placed in blocking positions moved up to
contain the penetration. Meanwhile, on the
crest and forward slope of the hill the fighting was heavy. At dawn an infantry company arrived to reinforce the troops on the
hilltop and the Chinese began withdrawing. As they pulled back, U.N. artillery fire
hit their routes of withdrawal and inflicted
further casualties.
The Chinese again struck at the U.S. I
Corps during the final week of the month.
On the evening of 23 March an enemy regiment assaulted Hills 266, 255, and 191,
outposts of the U.S. 7th Division. Defended
by the division’s Colombian Battalion, Hill
266 was the target of the main enemy effort.
A Chinese battalion supported by artillery
and mortar fire drove into positions on the
western slope of the hill at 2100. The
Colombians on the hill received reinforcements amounting to a company, but this
was not enough to withstand the enemy assault and the defenders fell back to positions on the southeastern slope of the height.
The following morning, 24 March, a battalion from the 7th Division counterattacked and managed to gain the crest of the
hill and engage the Chinese in trenches and
bunkers. The struggle continued throughout the morning with both sides supported
by heavy artillery fire. The Chinese stubbornly fought to retain their positions, and
the Americans broke off their attack, pulling back to the southern slope. Early the
next day another American counterattack
failed, and the Chinese still held the crest of
Hill 266.
Concurrently with the attack on Hill 266
two enemy battalions hit Hills 255 and 191.
The battle on Hill 191 was short. As the
Chinese companies advanced up the slopes
the Americans called for and received reinforcements. After a brief fire fight with
the defenders, the Chinese broke contact
and withdrew. Over on Hill 255 the Chinese were more successful. Supported by
tanks and by artillery and mortar fire the
Chinese forced the defenders to withdraw
700 yards. Shortly after midnight two companies from the 7th Division counterattacked up Hill 255 and drove the enemy
off the crest.
Although the Chinese had gained their
chief objective, Hill 266, the price was high.
The 7th Division reported that the battles
on the three hills cost the enemy 750
casualties.
279
While the battle seesawed about the outposts in the 7th Division sector, the enemy
prepared for another attack farther to the
west in the I Corps sector. Early in the evening of 26 March several outposts of the 1st
Marine Regiment received diversionary attacks by small enemy forces. Then the enemy struck three nearby outposts in regimental strength. Overrunning two of the
three positions quickly, the Chinese advanced toward the main line of resistance.
But an American blocking force, placed between the Chinese line of advance and the
main line of resistance, intercepted the enemy regiment. After a vain, all-night effort
to get by this obstacle the Chinese withdrew. Later in the morning of 27 March a
marine battalion counterattacked and recaptured one of the lost outposts. The rest
of the day and all through the following
night the marines pressed their attack forward. By morning of the next day, 28
March, they took the remaining outpost,
but shortly afterward a Chinese counterthrust drove the Americans back 400 yards.
In the afternoon the marines again regained
the outpost. Reinforcing and digging in,
they awaited the next onslaught. It came
that night when a Chinese battalion attacked. More marine reinforcements were
poured in while corps and division artillery
fire isolated the battlefield and prevented
the Chinese from increasing the size of their
attacking force. By the next morning the
enemy had made no more headway and
withdrew.
Friendly and enemy patrols kept busy in
the I Corps sector. The Chinese, apparently
sensitive to the activities of the corps’ patrols
and raiding parties, began to establish ambushes. One patrol of thirty-four men from
the U.S. 7th Division fell into a trap set by
the enemy on 9 March. Surrounded by
some sixty Chinese the whole patrol became casualties: twenty men were killed,
twelve wounded, and two missing. On another occasion a thirty-four-man patrol
from the U.S. 2d Division ran head on into
two Chinese companies. The patrol called
for and received reinforcements, and the
resulting engagement lasted until the next
morning when the enemy broke contact
and withdrew. The Americans suffered a
total of sixty-three casualties in this fight,
twelve of them killed, forty-three wounded,
and five missing. Two platoons from the
Colombian Battalion, raiding enemy positions on the morning of 10 March, engaged
the Chinese in a short but intense fire fight.
Forced to withdraw under heavy enemy artillery fire, the Colombians lost nineteen
men killed, forty-four wounded, and eight
missing.
After the flare-up of fighting in late
March, activity along the battle front again
settled into routine patrolling and smallscale harassing attacks. The calm persisted
throughout April, interrupted only by
Eighth Army raids on the enemy’s outpost
and main line of resistance positions. But as
April ended, and the armistice negotiations
at Panmunjom approached a decisive stage,
there were signs that the enemy intended to
increase the size and frequency of his attacks. Troop movements indicated that he
was shifting his forces from the northern
coastal areas and concentrating them in
more forward areas. His artillery and armor
were being positioned in depth and his
troops realigned on the front and in the
rear. An increasing number of contacts between Eighth Army and enemy patrols
showed considerable tightening of the enemy counterreconnaissance screen.
Then, in the final week of May, the Chinese conducted several attacks against the
army’s left wing. In the sector held by the
IX Corps, attacks estimated to be in regi-
280
mental strength struck the ROK 9th Division. After intense fighting the South
Koreans stopped these assaults and forced
the enemy to withdraw. In the ROK Capital Division sector, two Chinese battalions
tried to make a penetration. Although supported by large volumes of mortar and artillery fire, the Chinese were unable to drive
the South Koreans from their positions and
had to withdraw under punishing corps
and division artillery fire.
The enemy’s heaviest blow struck the
U.S. I Corps. On the evening of 28 May
five outpost positions of the U.S. 25th Division came under attack by an enemy regiment. These outposts, about 1,000 yards
forward of the division’s main line, guarded
routes of approach to the division’s center.
Nicknamed Carson, Elko, Vegas, Berlin,
and East Berlin, they were defended by
platoons from the division’s Turkish Brigade. Moving under extremely heavy artillery support, one Chinese battalion advanced on Carson and Elko. At the same
time another enemy battalion, concealed
by a smoke screen, attacked the center position, Vegas, while a third assaulted outposts
Berlin and East Berlin on the right. Three
hours after the attack began the enemy had
reached the Turkish positions on Carson
and Elko and were engaging the defenders
in hand-to-hand combat. Unable to overcome the Turks the enemy withdrew, evidently to re-form, then attacked again. At
outpost Elko, the action continued intermittently until midmorning of 29 May
when the Chinese broke contact. A few
minutes later they struck again at Elko. The
fight continued about the outpost as the enemy pressed the attack. Finally, near midnight, the division ordered the outpost
abandoned and the Turks withdrew to their
main line of resistance.
Meanwhile, a furious fight had developed around outpost Vegas. One half hour
after the Chinese began the attack on
Vegas they reinforced their attacking elements with another battalion. Pushing forward through the artillery and mortar fire
of both sides, they broke into the defensive
positions and engaged the Turks in close
combat. A Turkish company, rushed to reinforce the outpost, found hand-to-hand
fights going on around the position. Two
hours later the enemy began to break off
the attack, once again suffering numerous
casualties as the 25th Division artillery
raked the enemy routes of withdrawal.
Just after daylight the Chinese attacked
again with two battalions. This assault was
also unsuccessful and the attackers withdrew. Two hours later the Turks counterattacked enemy elements on the north slope
of the hill that contained outpost Vegas and
drove them back. The Turks now had control of the entire outpost, but the Chinese
seemed determined to seize Vegas at any
cost. At midafternoon of the same day, 29
May, another battalion struck the battered
position. The fight raged around the outpost for the remainder of the afternoon.
Then at 2300, the order to withdraw came
from division and the defenders fell back to
their main line of resistance.
The enemy attack on outposts Berlin and
East Berlin did not last long. After a bitter
two-hour fire fight the enemy gave up the
effort on these two positions and withdrew.
The Chinese had succeeded in occupying
outposts Carson, Elko, and Vegas, but they
paid a heavy price. The 25th Division reported evaluated enemy casualties in the
battle as 2,200 killed and 1,057 wounded.
In contrast the Turks reported their losses as
104 killed, 324 wounded, and 47 missing.
By the first of June it appeared certain to
intelligence officers of the Eighth Army that
the Chinese planned to strike a major blow
281
soon. Their failure to follow up the May attacks against the U.S. I Corps indicated
that those had been diversionary efforts to
screen their real intentions. The continued
movement and realignment of troops on the
enemy front and rear and the large buildup of supplies near the battle zone further
confirmed the army’s belief that a largescale Chinese attack impended. When the
enemy blow would fall or where remained
a matter of conjecture. As the first week of
June passed the front remained relatively
quiet. On the night of 10 June, the Chinese
struck.
The enemy directed his efforts against
the ROK II Corps, whose line bulged out
to form a salient in the vicinity of Kumsong.
Striking down both sides of the Pukhan
River with two divisions the Chinese succeeded in forcing the right wing and center
of the corps back about 4,000 yards in six
days of heavy fighting. Not since the spring
offensive of April–May 1951 had fighting
on such a scale occurred.
The main enemy blow fell on the II
Corps’ right wing and center. Shortly after
dark on 10 June a Chinese division attacked
the right regiment of the ROK 5th Division, whose lines lay east of the Pukhan
River. By seizing Hill 973, the dominant
height in the regiment’s sector, the enemy
forced the South Koreans to fall back about
1,000 yards. Counterattacks by the reserve
regiment of the 5th and a regiment from
corps reserve the following morning failed
to restore the main line of resistance or halt
the enemy advance. The Chinese kept up
their unrelenting pressure, forcing the 5th
to withdraw again, and by 15 June the
South Koreans had been pushed back to the
east bank of the river at a point where the
stream cut sharply eastward. There the division formed a new main line of resistance.
In the corps center the situation was just
as critical. On the night of 12 June elements
of another Chinese division struck the
ROK 8th Division’s right, which rested on
the Pukhan. As the Chinese pressed forward they made several penetrations during the next twenty-four hours. Counterattacks by the reserve regiment of the 8th
failed to halt the advance, and the Chinese
began exploiting their gains. Attacking in
regimental strength early on the morning of
14 June they soon enveloped the division’s
right regiment. The hard-pressed South
Koreans began falling back under the
weight of the enemy attack.
While the Chinese were attacking the II
Corps’ right, a smaller enemy force struck
the ROK 20th Division, on the left of the X
Corps. Evidently this was a holding attack,
for the Chinese did not press their assault.
But the collapse of the ROK 5th Division,
on the II Corps’ right, threatened the left of
the X Corps. Lt. Gen. I. D. White, the X
Corps commander, therefore narrowed the
front of the 20th Division on 16 June and
committed the ROK 7th Division, in corps
reserve, on the left of the 20th to strengthen
that flank. Other changes were being made
to meet the situation in the ROK II Corps.
The failure of the 8th Division’s right to
hold coupled with the withdrawal of the
5th east of the river opened a gap between
the divisions. The ROK II Corps commander filled this gap by committing the
ROK 3d Division, in corps reserve, between the 8th and 5th Divisions on 15 June.
At the same time General Taylor, in order
to facilitate control, temporarily shifted the
boundary between the II and X Corps
westward to the river and gave the ROK
5th Division to the X Corps. To replace the
ROK 3d, the army commander shifted the
ROK 11th Division from the ROK I Corps
over to the II Corps but kept it under army
control.
282
The Chinese continued their attacks
against the 8th Division, this time concentrating on the division’s right and center.
Under the heavy blows of the Chinese
assault the South Koreans reeled back. A
counterattack by elements of the division
on 16 June failed to push the enemy back,
and the 8th drew up on a new main line of
resistance 3,000 yards south of the original
one.
While the enemy concentrated his main
effort against the ROK II Corps, he delivered several attacks on other parts of the
front. Two outpost positions in front of the
ROK 1st Division, in the U.S. I Corps, fell
to the enemy near the end of June, after a
prolonged attack by a Chinese regiment.
Farther east, in the sector of the IX Corps,
the Chinese employed forces in battalion
and regimental strength in a thrust against
the U.S. 3d and ROK 9th Divisions. They
made minor penetrations in the lines of the
3d, but counterattacks quickly restored the
positions. In the ROK 9th Division’s sector
the Chinese failed to make a dent. In the
eastern sector of the Eighth Army’s front,
North Korean attacks forced a minor readjustment of main line of resistance positions
on the X Corps’ right wing. At the same
time enemy forces were successful in seizing
Hill 351, the northern anchor of the ROK
I Corps line.
By 18 June, a slackening of enemy pressure enabled the corps to stabilize its front.
General Taylor directed the commanders of
the ROK II and U.S. X Corps to readjust
their forces so as to permit the relief of the
ROK 5th and 7th Divisions and to reestablish the boundary that existed between
the corps before 15 June. The enemy made
no further attacks on the II Corps front
until the middle of July, just before the termination of hostilities.
Meanwhile a major airborne movement
brought General Taylor additional troops
from Japan. The 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team assembled at two air
bases in Japan on 21 June. In a matter of
hours the entire unit, completely equipped
for combat with vehicles, artillery, ammunition, and rations, was flown to forward air
bases near the front. A few days later a
similar movement took place. The 34th
Regimental Combat Team (less one rifle
battalion) of the 24th Division, similarly
equipped, boarded aircraft at an air base
near Tokyo and was flown to Pusan and
Taegu.
Measured in terms of ground gained, the
enemy attacks of mid-June on the ROK II
Corps front were successful. The Chinese
succeeded in pushing 15,000 yards of the
corps front back about 4,000 yards. Moreover, their attacks caused three ROK divisions to be redeployed in reinforcing and
counterattacking roles. Both sides incurred
heavy casualties. The Chinese lost an estimated 6,628 men, and the II Corps reported 7,377 casualties as a direct result of
the attacks.
Enemy attacks against the II Corps subsided after 18 June and by the end of the
month action along the entire army front
returned to routine patrolling and light attacks. But the army commander felt that
the Chinese would again launch an attack
in strength. It was not long in coming, this
time against the left flank of the II Corps
and the right flank of the IX Corps. The
Capital Division, defending the IX Corps
right-flank sector, faced northwest.
On the night of 13 July, the Chinese attacked the IX Corps’ right flank with three
divisions and soon broke through the South
Korean lines. A good deal of confusion ensued as the Capital Division’s right and
center fell back. Some of the troops with-
283
drew into the zone of the II Corps as units
became entangled and lateral communication was lost. On the division’s extreme left,
things went somewhat better. There the
units fell back in an orderly fashion under
the crushing weight of Chinese attacks. But
the collapse of the Capital Division made
matters worse for the II Corps, whose situation was already serious.
The Chinese had timed their assault on
the Capital Division with another attack, in
division strength, against the ROK 6th
Division, protecting the II Corps’ left. After
vainly trying to hold back the onslaught,
the South Koreans began giving way. Their
left flank was exposed by the withdrawal of
the Capital Division, and the enemy was
threatening to get into the rear of the 6th
and cut it off. To prevent an enemy envelopment the division had no choice but to
pull back. Retiring slowly, the 6th took
a heavy toll of the attacking Chinese while
farther to the east the ROK 8th and 3d
Divisions moved back under heavy enemy
pressure.
To meet the situation in the Eighth
Army’s center, General Taylor directed the
commanders of the IX and II Corps to
establish and hold a new main line of resistance along the south bank of the Kumsong River, a tributary of the Pukhan. In
order to restore the line in the Capital Division zone, he permitted the U.S. 3d Division to be moved from its sector in the vicinity of Ch’orwon to the right wing of the IX
Corps. The U.S. 2d Division extended its
sector to the right to cover the position vacated by the 3d. The corps commander reinforced the 2d by attaching to it the 187th
Airborne Regimental Combat Team, which
dug in on the division’s right. At the same
time the 34th Regimental Combat Team
(less one battalion) came up from Pusan
and assumed the role of a counterattacking
force. It took up positions in rear of the 2d
Division.
In the II Corps the ROK 11th Division,
in reserve, moved up to relieve the hardpressed 6th. The ROK 7th Division on the
left wing of X Corps moved out of the line,
and its place was taken by the U.S. 45th
Division. The 7th then came over to the II
Corps. Further changes occurred in the
corps when the ROK 6th hastily reorganized and moved into the sectors held by the
ROK 3d and 5th Divisions. The two latter
divisions went into corps reserve. After this
reorganization the II Corps counterattacked on 17 July with three divisions in an
attempt to seize the high ground along the
Kumsong and establish a new main line of
resistance. By 20 July the II Corps attained
its objective and held it. No attempt was
made to restore the original line, inasmuch
as the imminence of an armistice made it
tactically unnecessary to expend lives for
terrain not essential to the security of the
Eighth Army’s front.
Enemy losses in July were tremendous.
The army estimated that the Chinese lost
over 72,000 men, more than 25,000 of them
killed. Out of the five Chinese armies that
had been identified in the attacks upon the
II and IX Corps, the enemy had lost the
equivalent of seven divisions.
While the fighting raged on the central
front, the negotiators at Panmunjom rapidly
approached an agreement on armistice
terms. On 19 July agreement was reached
on all points by both sides. The next day
liaison and staff officers began the task of
drawing up the boundaries of the demilitarized zone. All details of the armistice
agreement and its implementation were
completed in a week. At 1000 hours on 27
July Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison, Jr., the
senior United Nations delegate to the armistice negotiations, signed the armistice pa-
284
pers. At the same time the senior enemy
delegate, General Nam Il, placed his signature on the documents. The signing took
place at this time to permit the armistice to
go into effect at 2200 hours of the same day,
as required by the agreement. Later General Clark, for the United Nations, General
Kim Il Sung, for North Korea, and General
Peng Teh-Huai, for the Chinese forces on
the peninsula, affixed their signatures.
ment, “not peace in the world. We may
not now relax our guard nor cease our
quest.”
Despite the failure to settle the issue in
Korea, the United States and its partners in
the fight against aggression had gained
some insight into the manner of foe that opposed them. They learned that the communist adversary would use every means at
his command to gain an advantage, both
political and military; that he was willing,
as in his use of human-sea tactics, to expend
his soldiers’ lives prodigally in order to offset superior fire power. And, most important, they learned that the enemy, though
powerful, was not invulnerable.
The countries that fought under the flag
of the United Nations to prevent the conquest of South Korea had demonstrated
their ability to put aside differences and act
in concert against a common enemy. That
nations of highly diverse cultural, religious,
and racial background were willing to place
their forces under a single command, in this
case the United States, was evidence that
free men could rise above national pride in
their never-ending fight to remain free.
The conflict in Korea had lasted three
years, one month, and two days. It had destroyed Korean homes, fields, and factories,
wrecked the nation’s economy, and threatened the populace with famine and disease.
It had consumed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of civilians and soldiers from nations all over the face of the globe. Many
had died who a short time before had
known Korea only as an exotic place name
on a map. The signing of the armistice
brought an end to the shooting; it did not
bring an end to the ideological war. “We
have won an armistice on a single battleground,” said President Eisenhower as the
Panmunjom negotiators reached agree-
SECTION 8
1 July–31 December 1952
286
287
288
TREATING A ROK SOLDIER wounded on Capital Hill, 8 September, right.
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF CAPITAL HILL, dominated by enemy terrain, background.
289
290
QUAD .50’S adding fire power to a counterattack on Old Baldy, 21 September.
291
BATTLE WEARY from fighting on Old Baldy.
292
ROK MP’s TRYING TO GET WARM near White Horse, 8 October.
293
ASSEMBLY POINT for ROK 9th Division infantrymen.
WHITE HORSE (Hill 395) one of two key heights
northwest of Ch’orwon attacked by enemy units in
October. Vehicle is a 90-mm. gun motor carriage
M36.
294
WOUNDED ON WHITE HORSE, two ROK 9th Division soldiers head for medical treatment.
295
MEDICAL AID MEN DRESSING WOUNDS at an aid station near base of White Horse.
296
F-86 SABREJETS OVER NORTH KOREA hunting for MIG-15’s. During September pilots from the
Fifth Air Force shot down sixty-four MIG’s at a cost of seven Sabrejets.
297
ADJUSTING ROCKETS on the wing of an AD Skyraider before take-off
BANSHEES returning to the USS Kearsarge after a mission over Korea.
298
WINTER 1952
T66 MULTIPLE ROCKET LAUNCHERS in action, 40th
Division sector, 26 November. Except for brief encounters with the enemy, most of the front remained relatively quiet during November and
December.
299
300
301
PRESIDENT-ELECT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER in Korea, December 1952. Above, the President-elect
is with Maj. Gen. James C. Fry, Commanding General, 2d Division. Left page above, he has
dinner with 3d Division troops, south of Ch’orwon. Below, he leaves 3d Division area by jeep;
in back seat are Lt. Gen. Reuben E. Jenkins, Commanding General, IX Corps (left), and Maj.
Gen. George W. Smythe, Commanding General, 3d Division.
SECTION 9
1 January–27 July 1953
305
306
CLEANING SNOW OFF THE FLIGHT DECK of an aircraft carrier.
TROOPS FROM THAILAND arriving at Inch’on, January 1953.
307
DESTINATION KOJE-DO. Troops from the 23d Infantry, scheduled for guard duty at the prisoner
compound, board ship via cargo net.
308
INSIDE A BUNKER on Hill 200.
PHILIPPINE SOLDIERS attached to the 45th Division put on snow suits before leaving on a night
patrol mission, north of Yanggu.
309
LUNCH PICNIC-STYLE. The men are from Company K, 15th Infantry.
NAVY MEN WORKING IN A SNOWSTORM at an emergency airfield.
310
PATROL OF THE 35TH INFANTRY studying a map of enemy terrain. Armored vests are clearly visible
on the two men at left.
311
ENTERTAINMENT for 55th Transportation Truck Battalion, Eighth Army. The cast is from the
motion picture, “The Girls of Pleasure Island.”
312
TROOPS BOARDING A HELICOPTER to be airlifted up to the line.
ENEMY TERRAIN as seen through chicken wire in front of an outpost. The wire helped to keep
grenades from coming into the bunkers; often the wire was used as a base for supporting
camouf lage material.
313
GENERAL MARK W. CLARK, Commander in Chief, U.N. Command (right), at the Greek
Battalion headquarters. With him are (from left) Lt. Gen. Reuben E. Jenkins, Commanding
General, IX Corps; Lt. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, Commanding General, Eighth Army; and
Lt. Col. George Koumanacos, Commanding Officer of the Greek Battalion.
314
WOUNDED 7TH DIVISION INFANTRYMAN is rushed away from the fight on Pork Chop Hill.
315
CARTING AWAY TWO CHINESE PRISONERS captured on Pork Chop Hill, 17 April 1953.
316
U.N. AND NORTH KOREAN OFFICERS acknowledging receipt of returnees.
EMACIATED AND WOUNDED AMERICAN receiving new clothing at Freedom Village, Panmunjom.
317
LIBERATED AMERICANS are escorted down the ramp of a C-124 upon arrival in Japan for
medical treatment before continuing the trip back to the United States.
OPERATION LITTLE SWITCH, April 1953. On 11 April agreement was reached for the exchange of
605 U.N. prisoners for 6,030 enemy prisoners.
318
SIGNING THE ARMISTICE AGREEMENT at 1000 hours, 27 July 1953, Panmunjom. Lt. Gen. William K.
319
Harrison, Jr., signs for the United Nations (left), and General Nam Il for the Communists (right).
320
7TH DIVISION POSITION just before it was abandoned, 31 July.
321
1ST MARINE DIVISION MEN after receiving word of the armistice.
40TH DIVISION TROOPS all packed and ready to leave Heartbreak Ridge.
322
FIRST SHIPMENT OF REPATRIATED MEN from Korea docking at San Francisco, 23 August.
323
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM F. DEAN boarding a plane at Tokyo for home, 21 September.
325
List of Pictorial Sources
Page
31
32–33
34
35
36–37 (top)
36 (bottom)
37 (bottom)
38 (top)
38 (bottom)
39 (top)
39 (bottom)
40 (top)
41 (top)
40–41 (bottom)
42
43
44 (top)
44 (bottom)
45 (top)
45 (bottom)
46 (top left)
46 (top right)
46 (bottom)
47
48
49
53
54 (top)
Source
USAF
SC
SC
SC
SC
USN
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
Number
79347 AC
355931
355593
355566
355553
425403
425473
355563
355565
355547
356269
355576
355574
356475
356295
356682
356636
356696
356347
356713
355939
355940
356671
356736
375189
(cartoon)
FEC–51–4601
356902
Page
54 (bottom)
55 (top)
55 (bottom)
56 (top)
56 (bottom)
56–57 (center)
57 (top)
57 (bottom)
58
59
60 (top)
60 (bottom)
61 (top)
61 (bottom)
62-63
64 (top)
64 (bottom)
65
66–67
68 (top)
68 (bottom)
69
70 (left)
70 (right)
71
72
73 (top)
73 (bottom)
Source
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USAF
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
USAF
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Number
356897
357169
357402
362393
362139
78972 AC
356733
356880
361469
(cartoon)
357386
357227
357742
357320
358042
358094
358093
(cartoon)
unknown
358336
358494
358774
359414
358263
358159
358508
358624
358622
The following list gives the origin of all photographs and cartoons
which appear in this book. The photographs were selected from those
in the files of the Army Signal Corps (SC), the Air Force (USAF), the
Navy (USN), and the Marine Corps (USMC). The cartoons were
published originally in the Pacific Edition of the Army newspaper,
Stars and Stripes. Further information concerning photographs may be
secured from the agency of origin, Washington 25, D. C. Inquiries
should include the number of the photograph.
326
Page Source Number Page Source Number
74–75 (top)
74–75 (bottom
76–77
77
80–81 (top)
80–81 (bottom)
82
83 (top)
83 (bottom)
84–85
85
86
87 (top)
87 (bottom)
88 (top)
88 (bottom)
89
90
90–91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98–99
121
122 (top)
122 (middle)
122 (bottom)
123 (top)
123 (middle)
123 (bottom)
124 (top left)
124 (top right)
124 (bottom)
125 (top left)
125 (top right)
125 (bottom)
126
127 (top)
127 (bottom)
128 (left)
128 (right)
129
132
133 (top)
133 (bottom)
USN
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USAF
SC
SC
SC
USAF
USAF
USAF
SC
SC
USMC
USMC
USMC
USMC
USAF
USAF
USN
USMC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USN
USN
USN
USAF
USAF
USAF
SC
SC
USMC
426777
426781
359744
359404
359910
359805
360254
360255
362325
361405
79951 AC
362092
362126
362114
79676 AC
79638 AC
79628 AC
361980
362117
A–8613
A–7091
A–8941
A–8759
79649 AC
80332 AC
708178
A–7797
365854
365440
365791
365849
365755
365760
365542
365570
365544
365547
FEC–51–23765
365537
428635
428637
428678
79842 AC
A–79842–AC
80333 AC
368493
368504
A–156986
134 (top)
134 (bottom)
135
136 (top)
136 (bottom)
137 (top)
137 (bottom)
138 (top)
138 (bottom)
139 (top)
139 (bottom)
140 (top)
140 (bottom)
141
142 (top)
142 (bottom)
143 (top)
143 (bottom)
144
145 (top)
145 (bottom)
146
147
148 (top)
148 (bottom)
149
150 (top)
150 (bottom)
151
152 (top)
152 (bottom)
153 (top)
153 (bottom)
157
158
158–59
160
161 (top)
161 (bottom)
162
163 (top)
163 (bottom)
164 (top)
164 (bottom)
165
166
167 (top)
167 (bottom)
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USN
SC
SC
SC
USN
USN
USN
USN
USN
USN
USN
USN
USMC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
USAF
USAF
USAF
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USAF
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
367550
368661
368660
368676
368540
368543
369065
368815
369479
368813
368690
369492
369216
368735
429640
368949
369402
370299
429680
429857
429641
430064
430052
429644
429685
429504
A–8615–A
369995
369801
(cartoon)
80508 AC
79848 AC
79852 AC
428390
373296
372740
373647
372280
374102
374889
80703 AC
375088
FEC–51–26651
376086
376744
376719
FEC–51–27649
376599
327
Page Source Number Page Source Number
168
169
170 (top)
170 (bottom)
171
172
173
174 (top)
174 (bottom)
175 (top)
175 (bottom)
176 (top)
176 (bottom)
177 (top)
177 (bottom)
178
179 (top)
179 (bottom)
180–81
182 (top left)
182 (top right)
182 (bottom)
183
184 (top)
184–85 (bottom)
185 (top)
186
187 (top)
187 (bottom)
188
189
190 (top)
190 (bottom)
191
192 (top)
192 (bottom)
193
194
195 (top)
195 (bottom)
196
197 (left)
197 (right)
198
199 (top)
199 (bottom)
200–201
SC
USAF
SC
SC
SC
USAF
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
USAF
USN
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USMC
SC
USMC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USN
375862
79336 AC
378047
376996
376379
80647 AC
378951
378054
378191
378612
378297
378289
FEC–51–30742
(cartoon)
378303
80805 AC
430680
431295
379463
379465
382525
379470
379512
380915
381464
(cartoon)
381110
381108
381111
381467
382532
380802
381292
380947
A-9765
380918
A–156727
382462
382556
382887
381452
381453
378205
383938
383177
382914
435681
221
222
223 (top)
223 (bottom)
224–25
226 (top)
226 (bottom)
227 (top)
227 (bottom)
228
229 (top)
229 (bottom)
230 (top)
230 (bottom)
231
232–33
234
235 (top)
235 (bottom)
236 (top)
236 (bottom)
237 (top left)
237 (top right)
237 (bottom)
238 (top)
238 (bottom)
239 (top)
239 (bottom)
240
241
242 (left)
242 (right)
243
244 (top)
244 (bottom)
245
246
247
248
249
250
251 (top)
251 (bottom)
252
253 (top)
253 (bottom)
254 (top)
254 (bottom)
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
USMC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
385806
385608
386280
386281
385200
385330
385420
385430
385331
385280
(cartoon)
385790
385626
(cartoon)
385627
385807
386490
386482
385444
386546
386547
386505
386508
389599
386823
386824
386877
386878
FEC–52–37820
387033
(cartoon)
388645
A–157778
388736
387445
388474
387049
(cartoon)
387456
388477
388566
388754
388755
392561
392995
390105
421650
405822
328
Page Source Number Page Source Number
255 (top)
255 (bottom)
256
257 (top)
257 (bottom)
258–59
260 (top)
260 (bottom)
261 (top)
261 (bottom)
262 (top)
262 (bottom)
263
264 (top)
264 (bottom)
265
266
286–87
288
289
290 (top)
290 (bottom)
291
292–93
292 (bottom)
293 (bottom)
294
295
296
297 (top)
297 (bottom)
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USAF
USN
USAF
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
USN
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USAF
USN
USN
421635
405834
390177
390612
390129
392504
399346
395043
397517
398702
83054 AC
444157
81504 AC
(cartoon)
406096
406069
443864
423081
407539
426124
(cartoon)
408532
404701
418366
418372
418362
418375
418380
82042 AC
448324
480057
298
299 (top)
299 (bottom)
300 (top)
300 (bottom)
301
305
306 (top)
306 (bottom)
307
308 (top)
308 (bottom)
309
310 (top)
310 (bottom)
311
312 (top)
312 (bottom)
313
314
315 (top)
315 (bottom)
316 (top)
316 (bottom)
317
318–19
320
321 (top)
321 (bottom)
322
323
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
USN
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
SC
Stars and Stripes
SC
USN
USN
USAF
USN
SC
SC
USN
SC
SC
449917
411730
411732
416354
416389
412361
416204
478280
426136
416243
424253
422625
415948
480136
419512
FEC–53–2238
422077
424400
428313
422963
(cartoon)
422968
633215
481024
82929 AC
625914
431799
432931
626455
425766
435044

CMH PUB 21–2: KOREA—1951-1953 (11 Oct 1996)

CMH PUB 21–1: KOREA—1950 (11 Oct 1996)

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