UNITED
STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR
SOUTH
TO THE NAKTONG,
NORTH TO THE YALU
(June-November 1950)
by
Roy E. Appleman
CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
UNITED STATES ARMY
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1992
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-60043
First Printed 1961-CMH Pub 20-2-1
For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328
ISBN 0-16-035958-9
UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR
Stetson Conn, General Editor
Advisory
Committee
(As of 15 March 1960)
Fred Harvey Harrington
University of Wisconsin
|
Maj. Gen. Ben Harrell
U.S. Continental Army Command
|
Oron J. Hale
University of Virginia
|
Maj. Gen. Even M. Houseman
Industrial College of the Armed Forces
|
W. Stull Holt
University of Washington
|
Brig. Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr.
U.S. Army War College
|
Bell I. Wiley
Emory University
|
Brig. Gen. William A. Cunningham III
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
|
T. Harry Williams
Louisiana State University
|
Col. Vincent J. Esposito
United States Military Academy
|
C. Vann Woodward
Johns Hopkins University
|
Office of the Chief of Military History
Brig. Gen. James A. Norell, Chief of Military History
Chief Historian
|
Stetson Conn
|
Chief, Histories Division
|
Lt. Col. James C. Griffin
|
Chief, Publication Division
|
Lt. Col. James R. Hillard
|
Editor in Chief
|
Joseph R. Friedman
|
...to Those Who Served
Foreword
At the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, the U.S. Army combat units nearest the scene were the four infantry divisions performing occupation duties in Japan. When the Army of the Republic of Korea, supported only by U.S. air and naval forces, was unable to halt the North Korean aggressors, these divisions, seriously understrength and only partially trained and equipped for fighting, provided the troops that were committed initially to action in response to the call of the United Nations Security Council.
Colonel Appleman's narrative portrays vividly the grimness of "limited war" against a fanatical enemy, and the tragic consequences of unpreparedness. His writing recaptures the dismay that most Americans experienced in the realization that a small, little-known country could achieve military success against a coalition that included this, the world's most powerful nation.
Here is the story of how U.S. Army combat units, thrown piecemeal into the battle to slow Communist advances, fought a desperate and heroic delaying action, buying time until the United Nations forces could attain the military strength necessary to take the offensive. When that offensive was launched, it quickly crushed the North Korean forces, only to be met with the massive intervention of a more formidable adversary, Communist China.
This volume covers U.S. Army action in Korea from the outbreak of war to the full-scale intervention of the Chinese Communists. It is the first of five volumes now planned for inclusion in UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR, a series patterned on the much more voluminous UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Subsequent volumes will complete the Korean combat narrative as well as deal with related problems of command, strategy, logistics, handling of prisoners of war, and the armistice negotiations.
Washington, D.C.
15 March 1960
|
JAMES A. NORELL
Brigadier General, USA
Chief of Military History
|
vii
The Author
Roy E. Appleman, a graduate of Ohio State University,
magna cum laude,
continued his education at Yale Law School and Columbia University, receiving from the latter the M.A. degree in History and completing all requirements for the Ph.D. degree except the publication of a dissertation.
He entered the United States Army as a private in the infantry in 1942 during World War II and after completing Officer Candidate School the following year was commissioned a 2d lieutenant. After a number of assignments, he was sent overseas to the Pacific theater in 1944, assigned as a combat historian with the United States Tenth Army and subsequently attached to the XXIV Corps. Coauthor of
Okinawa: The Last Battle,
first combat volume to be published in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, he received the Army Commendation Ribbon in 1945 for performance of duties as combat historian in the Okinawa campaign and his subsequent contribution to the Okinawa volume.
Early in 1951 Colonel Appleman (then a major) was ordered from reserve status to active duty with the Army and sent to Korea as a combat historian for the purpose of studying the action there and preparing the Army's history of the Korean War. A lieutenant colonel, he returned to civilian life in the autumn of 1954. Upon completion of the manuscript for the present work, he received the Secretary of the Army's Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service.
Author of
Abraham Lincoln: From His Own Words and Contemporary Accounts,
published by the Government Printing Office; coauthor of
Great Western Indian Fights,
being published by Doubleday & Company, Inc.; and coauthor of
History of the United States Flag and Symbols of Sovereignty,
being published by Harper & Brothers, Mr. Appleman is presently Staff Historian in the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and holds a commission as lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army Reserve.
viii
Preface
William Napier, upon finishing after seventeen years of painful toil the six volumes of his
Peninsular War,
wrote in a parody of Chaucer:
"Easy ys myne bake to rede and telleth of moche fyte,
But then your easy rede is damned hard to wryte...."
True it is that a historian's first business is grinding toil and drudgery. All of this it has been to the writer of this book. Nevertheless it was a labor willingly undertaken, but accompanied throughout by the apprehension that he might fail in doing justice to the story of his countrymen who fought in Korea.
First and always, within the limits of his knowledge and ability, the author has neglected no effort nor passed over any evidence that seemed likely to further his purpose of writing a true history of the Korean War. He accepted Parkman's dictum that faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than research, that one who is to write it "must study events in their bearings near and remote; in the character, habits, and manners of those who took part in them . . . and must himself be, as it were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes."
During the first four of the nine years he devoted to writing this book, from 1951 to 1954, the writer was on active duty in the United States Army and completed a first draft of the manuscript. In the following five years, as a civilian in Army reserve status, he devoted the time he could salvage from earning a living to several revisions and final completion of the work.
The writer was not entirely a stranger to Korea when he arrived there early in July 1951. Six years earlier, as a staff officer, he had accompanied Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge's U. S. XXIV Army Corps from Okinawa to Korea in early September 1945. This was at the beginning of United States commitment in Korea, when General Hodge accepted the surrender of the Japanese there at the end of World War II and began the occupation of that country below the 38th Parallel. But it was in 1951 that the writer saw Korea's hills at close quarter and felt his knees tremble and buckle as he climbed the steeply pitched ridges.
Korea was at the same time both beautiful and sordid. The green hills and patchwork-patterned rice paddies have an enchanting beauty when seen from a distance or the relative comfort of a vehicle on the roads. Slogging over this same ground carrying a load of weapons and pack in scorching
ix
heat or pelting rain, or in the numbing cold of a Siberian-type winter, with the enemy waiting around the next bend or over the next rise of ground, is another matter. Then the landscape loses its charm and becomes harsh and deadly to the spirit and exhausting to mind and body.
From Pusan in the south to the United Nations line north of the 38th Parallel, from the Imjin River in the west to the Iron Triangle, to. the mountain line above the Hwach'on Reservoir, to Heartbreak Ridge and the Punchbowl, and on to the high Taebaek Mountains near the east coast in the ROK sector, the writer traveled from command post to command post and often up to battalions and rifle companies on the line. His companion during these travels in Korea was Capt. (now Major) Russell A. Gugeler, an experienced soldier who subsequently wrote
Combat Actions in Korea.
Whenever possible the earlier, 1950 battlefields were visited. Where lack of time or other circumstances did not permit this, critical terrain was studied from liaison planes that could dip low and circle at leisure around points of interest.
The writer came to know the stifling dust, the heat, the soaking rains, the aching legs, the exhausted body that was the common experience of the men who fought in Korea, although he seldom had to run any risk of known personal danger as did they, and he could always look forward to food at night and a safe place to sleep at some command post, which most of them could not. It is easy for him now to close his eyes and see the rushing torrents in the mountain gorges and everywhere the hills, scantily covered, if at all, in the south, and green with pine in the higher mountains of the north. In the lower ground were the rice paddies, small vegetable patches, the mud-walled and thatched-roof huts. How could one forget this Asiatic land where so many of his countrymen died or were maimed, where they enacted their roles of bravery and fortitude. In a sense, the Korean War experience became a part of him.
Official records are indispensable for fixing dates and time of major events and troop movements. But anyone familiar with the way the records of combat units during battle are made up will know that they seldom tell the essential facts of what happened, and how, and why. They are often the products of indifferent clerks transcribing, at places remote from the scene of action, a minimum of messages for something-anything-that will satisfy the official requirement for a report. Those who know the most about an action or an event seldom take the time to tell, or write, about it. They are too tired, or too nearly dead, or they are dead.
In the early months of the Korean War there was little time for the military organizations committed there to keep adequate records of what they did, even had there been the desire to do so. Always they were stopping only briefly, fighting hazardous rear-guard actions, and then on the run again. No one had time to write down what had happened and why, even if he knew. And no one in the various headquarters had the time or the energy or the will to search out those who survived each action and from them learn firsthand of the event. Everyone was too much concerned with survival
x
or of getting a moment of respite from exhaustion. A record for posterity, for history, weighed the least of many things on their minds. Even when reports of military organizations are models of official records, the author agrees wholly with Marshal Erich von Manstein, who believes that a historian of military matters and campaigns "cannot get the truth from files and documents alone . . . the answer . . . will seldom be found-certainly not in a complete form-in files or war diaries."
How easy it would have been to write a story of the war based on the records alone, never stopping to get beneath that gloss! Such a book might have read smoothly and had a tone of plausibility to all except those whose personal knowledge would have branded it as inadequate at best and as almost wholly false at worst. Rather than produce such a book, the author chose the nine years of work that resulted in this one.
Since it was only from survivors of the early battles in Korea that one could hope to reconstruct the narrative of the first months of the conflict, the writer undertook to get their story. When he arrived in Korea in early July 1951, on active duty with the Army, he had orders from Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, then Chief of Military History, to study the terrain of the action and to interview as many participants, of all ranks, as he could find. He began then a process continued almost to the hour that this manuscript went to press. He talked with hundreds of soldiers, from privates to three- and four-star generals, about particular actions and decisions affecting the action of which each had personal knowledge in some degree. One interview would result in leads to others. Thus the snowball grew. Many officers and soldiers who had information were now in distant lands on reassignment, or otherwise out of reach for personal discussion. To them went letters. Over the years, information came back from many corners of the globe. The response was remarkable. The author had only to ask and he received. The men were eager to tell their story-from the private in the ranks to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Without this willing help of those who toiled, suffered, bled, and lost their comrades the story of the Korean War in 1950 could never have been told satisfactorily. If this narrative carries the mark of truth, it is to these men largely that it is due. My debt to them is great.
Some major events almost defied comprehension. Such was the battle of Taejon. The author spent seven years in attempting to solve that puzzling and bizarre action. The first draft of the Taejon chapter, based on the official records, was nothing. Knowing this, the author sought out survivors and throughout the years searched for, and gradually accumulated, more information. Missing pieces of the puzzle came to light that made it possible to fit others into place. The author rewrote this chapter eight times. Finally he obtained from Maj. Gen. William F. Dean his comments on the manuscript and a statement of his contemporary thoughts and actions bearing on the events described. Some of them were not calculated to raise him to the level of an all-seeing military commander, but they marked Dean as a man of truth and honor. Then, with General Dean's contributions, the author felt
xi
at last that he had salvaged about all that ever would be learned concerning Taejon from American sources. Many other chapters reached their final form in much the same manner as this one.
The scope and scale of treatment change as the narrative proceeds. At first only two reinforced rifle companies were committed to battle, then a battalion, then a regiment, then a division, finally the Eighth Army and the reconstituted ROK Army. Against them was the might of the initially victorious North Korean Army, and later the light infantry masses of the Chinese Communist Forces. Gradually, United Nations troops from many parts of the world entered the lists, usually in small numbers to be sure, but in the case of Great Britain the force rose from two battalions to a Commonwealth division. As the larger forces came into action against each other the focus of action necessarily broadened and detail diminished. Task Force Smith, for example, in the first week of July 1950, received a detail of treatment that could not possibly be continued for all of the Eighth Army late in the year, nor even in August and September at the Naktong Perimeter. The use of detail necessarily had to be more selective. The ROK Army is treated in less detail than the American organizations, but enough is told to relate its part in the over-all operations. Reliable information on ROK action was nearly always very difficult to obtain, and sometimes impossible.
Throughout, the writer's sympathies have been with the troops who fought the battles at close range-the men who handled the rifles, who threw the grenades, who caught the enemy's bullets, who fought their own fears in the face of the unknown, who tried to do their duty as United States soldiers even though they were fighting for a cause they did not understand, and in a country to whose culture and interests they were strangers. He tried to be there with them.
The writer is indebted to many officers who, while serving in the Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, have read the manuscript in its various stages and offered comments and criticisms. They include Maj. Gen. Richard W. Stephens, a leading participant in the action; Col. George G. O'Connor; Col. S. W. Foote; Col. Carl D. McFerren; Col. Joseph Rockis; Col. Warren H. Hoover; and Lt. Col. Eugene J. White.
The sympathetic and generous viewpoint of Dr. Kent Roberts Greenfield, who gave valuable help in directing the critical panel review of the manuscript and evaluating needed final revisions, is gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Louis Morton gave detailed and critical review to the manuscript. Dr. Stetson Conn, who succeeded Dr. Greenfield as Chief Historian, and his Deputy, Dr. John Miller, jr., have been most helpful in reviewing the final draft of the manuscript.
To Miss Ruth Stout, the editor, and Mr. Thomas J. Seess, the copy editor, the writer especially wants to express his appreciation for their friendly, necessary, and painstaking editing of the manuscript and guiding it through the printer. Mr. Joseph R. Friedman, as Editor in Chief, has contributed from his wide editorial experience and wisdom. Mrs. Norma
xii
Heacock Sherris assisted in finding suitable illustrations for the volume.
Mr. Billy-Mossman, assisted by Mr. Elliot Dunay and the draftsmen who worked under his supervision, produced the maps in this volume. The author turned over to Mr. Mossman a large number of sketch maps and overlays which he had prepared while writing the text. Mr. Mossman, a former infantry officer with World War II experience in the Pacific Theater, and later on active duty in Korea during the Korean War, has a wide knowledge of military matters and of Korea itself. This background combined with his training in military cartography made him an ideal choice for the layout and supervision of the map work on this volume.
Mr. Israel Wice and his staff in the General Reference Section, Office of the Chief of Military History, cheerfully and efficiently gave their services in obtaining official records and other materials requested by the writer for his use. Mr. Stanley Falk prepared a useful digest of the Far East Command Daily Intelligence Summary, July through November 1950, relative to the Korean War. In an early stage of the work, Mrs. Gwendolyn Taylor as typist and general assistant gave valuable help.
The writer is much indebted to Mrs. Joy B. Kaiser. Many a complicated troop movement she has reconstructed on an overlay from coordinate readings given in S-3 and G-3 journals and periodic reports. The author never tried to write up the story of an action until after it had been plotted on a terrain map. Thus, Mrs. Kaiser in a two-year period saved him much labor, doubling as typist for an early draft of the manuscript, preparing overlays from journal co-ordinates, and otherwise contributing to the work.
Another whose dedication benefited the writer is Mrs. Edna W. Salsbury. She assumed the task of typing what turned out to be the last two revisions of the manuscript, and she performed that task ably. Throughout the tedious work of typing a heavily footnoted manuscript she made many suggestions that resulted in improving readability and her careful attention to detail contributed much in maintaining accuracy.
Notwithstanding the considerable assistance given the author by so many individuals and organizations, he alone is responsible for interpretations made and conclusions drawn in this volume as well as for any errors of omission or commission.
The person to whom the author owes most is Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward. As Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, in 1951, he ordered him to Korea to start this work. He opened the door for him to all commanders in Korea and the Far East Command. His experience as Secretary of the General Staff from 1938 to 1941, and subsequently as commander of the 1st Armored Division in North Africa, had given him broad knowledge of military matters and firsthand experience of battle and how it affects men.
General Ward's constant injunction to the author was to seek the truth of the Korean War and to tell it, no matter whom it might touch unfavorably. He wanted the facts made known, because only from them, he thought, could the United States build a better army for its defense. How well the
xiii
writer remembers his statement one day in casual conversation, "Truth is the first casualty in battle." He has tried not to have it the first casualty in this account of the Korean War.
Washington, D.C.
15 March 1960
|
ROY E. APPLEMAN
Lieutenant Colonel, USAR
|
xiv
Content
Chapter
Page
I. KOREA AND THE BACKGROUND OF CONFLICT ......................... 1
II. ARMED FORCES OF NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA ....................... 7
The
North
Korea
People's
Army
........................... 8
The
Republic
of
Korea
Armed
Forces
...................... 12
III. INVASION ACROSS THE PARALLEL ............................... 19
Invasion
................................................ 21
The
ROK
Counterattack
at
Uijongbu
....................... 28
The
Fall
of
Seoul
....................................... 30
IV. THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED NATIONS REACT .............. 36
U
.
S
.
and
U
.
N
.
Action
.................................... 37
Evacuation
of
U
.
S
.
Nationals
From
Korea
................. 38
KMAG
Starts
To
Leave
Korea
.............................. 40
ADCOM
in
Korea
.......................................... 42
MacArthur
Flies
to
Korea
................................ 44
The
President
Authorizes
Use
of
U
.
S
.
Ground
Troops
in
Korea
................................................ 46
V. THE NORTH KOREANS CROSS THE HAN RIVER ........................ 49
Deployment
of
U
.
S
.
Forces
in
the
Far
East
,
June
1950
.... 49
The
River
Crossing
...................................... 52
ADCOM
Abandons
Suwon
.................................... 55
VI. AMERICAN GROUND FORCES ENTER THE BATTLE ..................... 59
Task
Force
Smith
Goes
to
Korea
.......................... 60
Task
Force
Smith
at
Osan
................................ 65
VII. DELAYING ACTION: P'YONGT'AEK TO CHOCH'IWON ................. 77
The
Retreat
From
P'yongt'aek
............................ 79
Night
Battle
at
Ch'onan
................................. 82
The
21st
Infantry
Moves
Up
.............................. 88
The
Fight
at
Chonui
..................................... 90
Choch'iwon
.............................................. 96
VIII. IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND ON THE EAST COAST ............ 101
Page xv
Chapter
Page
IX. EIGHTH ARMY IN COMMAND ...................................... 109
General
Walker
Assumes
Command
in
Korea
................. 110
Troop
Training
and
Logistics
............................ 113
The
Port
of
Pusan
and
Its
Communications
................ 116
American
Command
Estimate
............................... 117
X. DISASTER AT THE KUM RIVER LINE ............................... 121
The
N
.
K
.
4th
Division
Crosses
the
Kum
Below
Kongju
...... 123
The
63d
Field
Artillery
Battalion
Overrun
............... 126
The
N
.
K
.
3d
Division
Crosses
the
Kum
Against
the
19th
Infantry
............................................. 130
Roadblock
Behind
the
19th
Infantry
...................... 137
XI. TAEJON ...................................................... 146
Dean's
Plan
at
Taejon
................................... 147
Taejon—The
First
Day
.................................... 151
Taejon—The
Second
Day
................................... 155
Withdrawal
From
Taejon—Roadblock
........................ 164
The
24th
Division
After
Taejon
.......................... 179
XII. THE FRONT LINE MOVES SOUTH ................................. 182
Yongdok
and
the
East
Coastal
Corridor
................... 182
Reorganization
of
the
ROK
Army
.......................... 188
The
U
.
S
.
25th
Division
at
Sangju
........................ 190
The
1st
Cavalry
Division
Sails
for
Korea
................ 195
The
1st
Cavalry
Division
Loses
Yongdong
................. 197
The
27th
Infantry's
Baptism
of
Fire
..................... 199
Retreat
................................................. 203
"Stand
or
Die"
.......................................... 205
XIII. THE ENEMY FLANKS EIGHTH ARMY IN THE WEST .................. 210
Walker
Acts
............................................. 211
The
Trap
at
Hadong
...................................... 215
The
N
.
K
.
4th
Division
Joins
the
Enveloping
Move
......... 222
The
N
.
K
.
4th
Division
Seizes
the
Koch'ang
Approach
to
the
Naktong
.......................................... 225
Chinju
Falls
to
the
Enemy—31
July
....................... 227
Three
Pershing
Tanks
at
Chinju
.......................... 231
Colonel
Wilson
Escapes
With
the
1st
Battalion
,
29th
In-
fantry
............................................... 233
XIV. BLOCKING THE ROAD TO MASAN ................................. 285
The
Two
Roads
to
Masan
.................................. 235
The
Battle
at
the
Notch
................................. 239
Colonel
Check's
Reconnaissance
in
Force
Toward
Chinju
... 242
The
Affair
at
Chindong-ni
............................... 244
Page xvi
Chapter
Page
XV. ESTABLISHING THE PUSAN PERIMETER ............................ 248
The
25th
Division
Moves
South
........................... 248
United
Nations
Forces
Withdraw
Behind
the
Naktong
....... 249
The
Pusan
Perimeter
..................................... 252
U
.
S
.
Air
Action
and
Build-up
in
the
First
Month
......... 255
Strength
of
the
Opposing
Forces
at
the
Pusan
Perimeter
.. 262
XVI. THE FIRST AMERICAN COUNTERATTACK—TASK FORCE KEAN ........... 266
Who
Attacks
Whom?
....................................... 270
The
5th
Marines
on
the
Coastal
Road
..................... 274
Bloody
Gulch—Artillery
Graveyard
........................ 276
Task
Force
Kean
Ended
................................... 286
XVII. THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE NAKTONG BULGE ..................... 289
The
Naktong
Bulge
....................................... 290
The
N
.
K
.
4th
Division
Attacks
Into
the
Naktong
Bulge
.... 291
The
Enemy
Gains
Cloverleaf—Obong-ni
..................... 298
Yongsan
Under
Attack
.................................... 302
Battle
at
Cloverleaf—Obong-ni
........................... 304
Marines
Attack
Obong-ni
................................. 310
24th
Division
Attack
Gains
Cloverleaf
................... 313
Obong-ni
Falls
.......................................... 315
The
Enemy
Bridgehead
Destroyed
.......................... 316
XVIII. BATTLE FOR THE EASTERN CORRIDOR TO PUSAN ................. 319
The
Kyongju
Corridor
to
Pusan
........................... 319
The
North
Koreans
Reach
P'ohang-dong
.................... 320
The
Air
Force
Abandons
Yonil
Airfield
................... 329
The
ROK
3d
Division
Evacuated
by
Sea
.................... 330
The
North
Koreans
Turned
Back
From
the
Kyongju Corridor
. 331
XIX. THE TAEGU FRONT ............................................ 334
The
North
Koreans
Cross
the
Naktong
for
the
Attack
on
Taegu
................................................ 335
Triangulation
Hill
...................................... 340
The
Enemy
10th
Division's
Crossing
at Yongp'o
........... 342
Hill
303
at
Waegwan
..................................... 345
Tragedy
on
Hill
303
..................................... 347
Carpet
Bombing
Opposite
Waegwan
......................... 350
Bowling
Alley—the
Sangju-Taegu
Corridor
................. 353
Page xvii
Chapter
Page
XX. STALEMATE WEST OF MASAN ..................................... 364
The
Southern
Anchor
of
the
Army
Line
.................... 364
The
N
.
K
6th
Division
Regroups
West
of
Masan
............. 365
Enemy
Attacks
at
Komam-ni
(
Saga
) ........................ 366
Battle
Mountain
......................................... 368
XXI. AUGUST BUILD-UP AND SEPTEMBER PORTENTS ..................... 376
The
Far
East
Air
Forces
in
August
....................... 376
Ground
Build-up
......................................... 379
Korean
Augmentation
to
the
United
States
Army
........... 385
Eighth
Army
Realignment
and
Extension
Eastward
.......... 389
The
North
Korean
Plan
................................... 392
XXII. PERIMETER BATTLE .......................................... 397
Action
in
the
East—Task
Force
Jackson
................... 397
Enemy
Breakthrough
at
Yongch'on
......................... 408
Back
on
Taegu
........................................... 411
Crisis
in
Eighth
Army
Command
........................... 415
The
7th
Cavalry's
Withdrawal
Battle
..................... 417
Troopers
in
the
Mountains—Walled
Ka-san
................. 421
Hill
314
................................................ 432
XXIII. NORTH KOREAN BREAKTHROUGH IN THE SOUTH ................... 437
Midnight
Near
Masan
..................................... 438
Agok
.................................................... 443
Task
Force
Manchu
Misfires
.............................. 446
The
North
Koreans
Split
the
U
.
S
.
2d
Division
............ 448
General
Walker's
Decisions
on
1
September
............... 451
XXIV. THE NORTH KOREAN GREAT NAKTONG OFFENSIVE .................. 454
The
End
of
Task
Force
Manchu
............................ 456
The
Battle
of
Yongsan
................................... 459
The
23d
Infantry
in
Front
of
Changnyong
................. 466
A
North
Korean
Puzzle
................................... 469
The
35th
Infantry—The
Rock
of
the
Nam
................... 470
Counterattack
at
Haman
.................................. 479
Battle
Mountain
and
Sobuk-san
........................... 483
XXV. THE LANDING AT INCH'ON ..................................... 488
MacArthur's
Early
Plans
................................. 488
X
Corps
Troops
Assembled
................................ 489
The
Landing
Controversy
................................. 492
Naval
Plans
............................................. 497
Intelligence
Estimate
................................... 500
The
Ships
Load
Out
...................................... 501
Preliminary
Bombardment
................................. 502
Securing
the
Inch'on
Beachhead
.......................... 503
Capture
of
Kimpo
Airfield
and
Advance
to
the
Han
River
.. 509
Page xviii
Chapter
Page
XXVI. THE CAPTURE OF SEOUL ...................................... 515
The
Capture
of
Yongdungp'o
.............................. 516
Securing
the
Southern
Flank
............................. 520
Seoul's
Western
Rampart
................................. 523
The
32d
Infantry
Enters
Seoul
........................... 527
Battle
of
the
Barricades
................................ 531
MacArthur
Re-establishes
Syngman
Rhee
in
Seoul
.......... 536
The
Blocking
Force
South
of
Seoul
....................... 538
The
X
Corps
Situation
................................... 540
XXVII. BREAKING THE CORDON ...................................... 542
The
Eighth
Army
Plan
.................................... 542
The
Enemy
Strength
...................................... 545
United
Nations'
Perimeter
Strength
...................... 547
The
38th
Infantry
Crosses
the
Naktong
................... 548
The
5th
Regimental
Combat
Team
Captures
Waegwan
......... 552
The
24th
Division
Deploys
West
of
the
Naktong
........... 554
The
Indianhead
Division
Attacks
West
.................... 558
Encirclement
Above
Taegu
................................ 560
The
Right
Flank
......................................... 567
The
Left
Flank—The
Enemy
Withdraws
From
Sobuk-san
....... 568
XXVIII. PURSUIT AND EXPLOITATION ................................ 573
The
25th
Division
Crosses
Southwest
Korea
............... 574
The
2d
Division
Pushes
West
............................. 579
Taejon
Regained
......................................... 582
From
Tabu-dong
to
Osan—Eighth
Army
Link-up
With
X Corps
. 588
The
ROK
Army
Arrives
at
the
38th
Parallel
............... 598
The
Invaders
Expelled
From
South
Korea
.................. 600
XXIX. THE PLAN FOR COMPLETE VICTORY ............................. 607
MacArthur's
Plan
of
Operations
in
North
Korea
........... 609
Eighth
Army
Deploys
for
the
Attack
...................... 612
The
ROK
I
Corps
Captures
Wonsan
and
Hungnam
............. 614
The
X
Corps
Prepares
To
Move
Amphibiously
to
North-
east
Korea
........................................... 618
XXX. EIGHTH ARMY AND X CORPS ENTER NORTH KOREA .................. 622
Eighth
Army
Crosses
the
Parallel—The
Kumch'on
Pocket
.... 622
The
X
Corps
Moves
to
Northeast
Korea
.................... 631
Mines
at
Wonsan
Harbor
.................................. 633
The
X
Corps
Ashore
...................................... 635
XXXI. THE CAPTURE OF P'YONGYANG ................................. 638
The
Logistical
Situation
................................ 638
Sariwon
Scramble
........................................ 640
Into
P'yongyang
......................................... 646
Page xix
Chapter
Page
XXXII. UP TO THE CH'ONGCH'ON .................................... 654
Airborne
Attack:
Sukch'on
and
Sunch'on
.................. 654
The
Enemy
Blocking
Force
Destroyed
...................... 658
Death
in
the
Evening
.................................... 661
The
Advance
Continues
................................... 663
XXXIII. THE CHINESE INTERVENE ................................... 667
American
Optimism
at
End
of
October
..................... 669
Continuation
of
the
Pursuit
............................. 671
ROK
Troops
Reach
the
Yalu
............................... 672
Chinese
Strike
the
ROK
II
Corps
......................... 673
Unsan—Prelude
........................................... 675
On
the
West
Coastal
Road
................................ 681
The
X
Corps'
Changing
Mission
........................... 684
The
CCF
Block
Way
to
Changjin
Reservoir
................. 686
XXXIV. UNSAN .................................................... 689
North
of
the
Town
....................................... 691
Roadblock
South
of
Town
................................. 696
Ordeal
Near
Camel's
Head
Bend
........................... 700
XXXV. EIGHTH ARMY HOLDS THE CH'ONGCH'ON BRIDGEHEAD .............. 709
Action
North
of
the
River
............................... 709
MIG's
and
Jets
Over
the
Yalu
............................ 715
XXXVI. THE CHINESE APPRAISE THEIR FIRST PHASE KOREAN ACTION ..... 717
XXXVII. GUERRILLA WARFARE BEHIND THE FRONT ...................... 721
XXXVIII. THE X CORPS ADVANCES TO THE YALU ....................... 729
ROK
I
Corps
Attacks
up
the
Coastal
Road
................. 729
U
.
S
.
7th
Infantry
Division
Reaches
Manchurian
Border
.... 732
3d
Infantry
Division
Joins
X
Corps
...................... 738
7th
Marines
Clear
Road
to
Reservoir
..................... 741
The
Gap
Between
Eighth
Army
and
X
Corps
................. 745
XXXIX. THE BIG QUESTION ......................................... 749
The
Chinese
Communist
Forces
............................ 749
Eighth
Army
Estimate
of
CCF
Intervention
................ 751
The
X
Corps
Estimate
.................................... 755
The
Far
East
Command's
and
MacArthur's
Estimates
........ 757
Actuality
............................................... 765
Conclusion
.............................................. 769
The
Pregnant
Military
Situation
......................... 770
Page xx
Chapter
Page
SOURCES ......................................................... 777
GLOSSARY ........................................................ 779
BASIC MILITARY MAP SYMBOLS ...................................... 783
INDEX ........................................................... 785
Tables
No
.
1. ROK Combat Divisions, 1 June 1950 ............................ 15
2. ROK Army, 26 July 1950 ....................................... 191
3. Estimated U.N. Strength as of 30 September 1950 .............. 605
4. Postwar Tabulation of U.N. Strength in Korea as of
30 September 1950 ............................................ 606
5. Organization of the XIII Army Group .......................... 768
Maps
No
.
Page
1. The North Koreans Cross the Han, 28 June-4 July 1950 ......... 54
2. Task Force Smith at Osan, 5 July 1950 ........................ 67
3. Delaying Action, 34th Infantry, 5-8 July 1950 ................ 78
4. Delaying Action, 21st Infantry, 8-12 July 1950 ............... 91
5. The U.S.-ROK Front, 13 July 1950 ............................. 103
6. Defense of the Kum River Line, 34th Infantry, 14 July 1950 ... 124
7. Defense of the Kum River Line, 19th Infantry, 13-16 July 1950 131
8. Task Force Kean, 7-12 August 1950 ............................ 268
9. North Korean Forces Enter the Naktong Bulge, 5-6 August 1950 . 292
10. Destroying the Enemy Bridgehead, 17-19 August 1950 .......... 311
11. The Threat to the Eastern Corridor, 10 August 1950 .......... 322
12. Eliminating the Threat, 11-20 August 1950 ................... 328
13. The N.K. Attacks on Taegu, 4-24 August 1950 ................. 386
14. The N.K. Attacks in the East, 27 August-15 September 1950 ... 399
15. The N.K. Attacks on Taegu, 2-15 September 1950 .............. 412
16. The Inch'on Landing, 15-16 September 1950 ................... 504
17. Breaking the Cordon, 16-22 September 1950 ................... 549
18. The Kumch'on Pocket, 9-14 October 1950 ...................... 624
19. The Capture of P'yongyang, 15-19 October 1950 ............... 641
20. Airborne Attack on Sukch'on and Sunch'on, 187th Airborne RCT,
20 October 1950 ............................................. 655
Page xxi
No
.
Page
21. Advance of United Nations Command Forces, 20-24 October 1950 665
22. The Chinese Intervene in the West, 25 October-1 November 1950 673
23. The Unsan Engagement, 8th Cavalry Regiment, Night, 1-2
November 1950 ............................................... 692
24. The Ch'ongch'on Bridgehead, 3-6 November 1950 ............... 710
25. X Corps Advances to the Yalu River, 25 October-26 November
1950 ........................................................ 730
Color Maps
No
.
Page
I. The North Korean Invasion, 25-28 June 1950 ................ 21
II. The Fall of Taejon, 20 July 1950 .......................... 150
III. The Front Moves South, 14 July-1 August 1950 .............. 182
IV. The Pusan Perimeter, 4 August 1950 ........................ 236
V. The North Korean Naktong Offensive, U.S. 25th Division
Sector, 31 August-1 September 1950 .................... 438
VI. The North Korean Naktong Offensive, U.S. 2d Division
Sector, 31 August-1 September 1950 .................... 443
VII. The Capture of Seoul, 19-28 September 1950 ................ 511
VIII. The Pursuit, 23-30 September 1950 ......................... 574
Illustrations
South Korean Troops ............................................. 14
Uijongbu Corridor ............................................... 25
Brig. Gen. John H. Church ....................................... 42
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur ........................... 45
Maj. Gen. William F. Dean ....................................... 60
American Combat Troops Arriving at Taejon ....................... 63
Road Leading to Suwon ........................................... 64
Task Force Smith Position ....................................... 66
Traffic Jam .................................................... 85
South of Ch'onan ................................................ 87
Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker ....................................... 89
Defense of Choch'iwon ........................................... 97
General Walker and Col. Alfred G. Katzin ........................ 111
Main Rail Line out of Taejon .................................... 117
Moving Across the Kum River Bridge .............................. 125
Kum River Bridge Explosion ...................................... 127
Dike Position near Taep'yong-ni ................................. 152
Page xxii
Chapter
Page
Aerial View of Taejon Airfield .................................. 148
Machine Gun Emplacement ......................................... 149
Aerial View of Taejon City ...................................... 151
The A-Frame ..................................................... 183
Strafing Attack ................................................. 188
Naktong River at Andong ......................................... 189
Cavalrymen Preparing for Action ................................. 198
Hadong ......................................................... 218
Hadong Pass .................................................... 219
Moving Up From Chinju ........................................... 237
Pier 2 at Pusan ................................................. 260
60-Ton Crane at Pusan ........................................... 261
Fox Hill Position ............................................... 273
Point of a Combat Column ........................................ 305
Marines on Hill 311 ............................................. 317
Aerial View of P'ohang-dong ..................................... 326
Triangulation Hill .............................................. 341
Waegwan Bridge .................................................. 346
Maj. Gen. Paik Sun Yup .......................................... 350
The Bowling Alley ............................................... 356
Tank Action in the Bowling Alley ................................ 358
Enemy Side of the Rocky Crags ................................... 872
Rocket and Napalm Attack ........................................ 378
Exploding Phosphorus Bombs ...................................... 379
South Korean Recruit ............................................ 387
Assault Troops of Company K ..................................... 403
1st Cavalry Observation Post .................................... 413
General Walker Crossing the Naktong ............................. 418
Ruins of Ancient Fortress on Ka-san ............................. 422
D Company, 8th Engineer Combat Battalion ........................ 423
Mountain Mass West of Haman ..................................... 439
Defensive Position in Front of Changnyong ....................... 451
U.N. Troops Cross Rice Paddies .................................. 463
Battle Trophy ................................................... 471
2d Battalion, 27th Infantry ..................................... 474
27th Infantry Command Post ...................................... 481
Veteran of the 5th Regimental Combat Team ....................... 486
Wolmi-do ........................................................ 505
Landing Graft and Bulldozers .................................... 507
Marines on Wolmi-do ............................................. 508
Destroyed Enemy Tanks ........................................... 510
Kimpo Runway .................................................... 513
Top-Level Briefing .............................................. 514
Marines on Hill 125 ............................................. 517
American Troops Move on Seoul ................................... 526
Page xxiii
Chapter
Page
Seoul as Seen From the Air ...................................... 529
Tanks Entering Seoul ............................................ 533
The Battle for Hill 201 ......................................... 552
Crossing the Kumho River ........................................ 557
Ponton Treadway Bridge .......................................... 558
Advancing to the Crest of Hill 201 .............................. 560
View From the Crest of Hill 201 ................................. 561
40-mm. Antiaircraft Battery ..................................... 564
Enemy-Held Area ................................................. 569
Kumch'on From the Air ........................................... 584
On the Outskirts of Kumch'on .................................... 585
Col. Lee Hak Ku ................................................. 589
Captured Enemy Equipment ........................................ 601
Tank Troops of 1st Cavalry Division ............................. 613
3d ROK Division Officers and KMAG Advisers ...................... 617
ROK Troops ...................................................... 618
Kumch'on, North Korea ........................................... 631
Landing Craft Approaching Beach ................................. 636
Tank-Supported Convoy ........................................... 648
Burning Enemy Tank .............................................. 649
5th Cavalry Troops .............................................. 650
Capitol Building in P'yongyang .................................. 651
Kim Il Sung's Desk .............................................. 653
Mass Airdrop Near Sunch'on ...................................... 656
Artillery Airdrop Near Sukch'on ................................. 657
North Korean Atrocity Site ...................................... 662
The Middlesex 1st Battalion ..................................... 664
Supply by Air in Unsan Area ..................................... 678
The 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry ................................ 734
Looking Across the Yalu ......................................... 735
On the Banks of the Yalu ........................................ 738
Ox-Drawn Sleds .................................................. 739
Chinese Communist POW's ......................................... 743
Chinese Communist Flag .......................................... 751
Chu Teh ......................................................... 752
Lin Piao ........................................................ 753
Chou En-lai ..................................................... 758
Kim Il Sung ..................................................... 767
Peng Teh-huai ................................................... 769
General MacArthur ............................................... 771
Insignia of Major U.S. Ground Force Units ....................... 775
Illustrations are from Department of Defense files.
Page xxiv
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