Dark Earth: The Korean War

[Simon Darkshade]

Background
The aftermath of World War 2 in the Far East was chaotic and violent and sowed the seeds for the single greatest conflict since the war. A prostrate Japanese Empire was occupied by American, British, Chinese and Soviet forces under the proconsular command of General MacArthur, Tartary was occupied by the Red Army, China was ripped by civil war, drought, plagues and rogue dragons and the European imperial powers were caught up in fierce insurgencies in Indochina, the East Indies, Siam, Malaya and Burma.

The Chinese Civil War ended in 1948, with the last rebel forces fleeing into Tartary, Mongolia, Tibet, Formosa and Burma and the Shaozhen Emperor ascending the Dragon Throne with a decidedly nationalist agenda. The tense days of the Shanghai Crisis of late 1948 saw the withdrawal of foreign naval forces from the rivers of China, but failed to alter the ongoing status of the international city and lead to increased naval reinforcements to the Far East from Britain and the United States. In early 1950, the eyes of the world were firmly focused on Formosa, Hainan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and the South China Sea, as the Imperial Navy began to flex its muscles.

The United States stood as the single greatest power in the world, with her enormous economic wealth, immense industrial power, vast air fleets and burgeoning atomic arsenal giving her the appearance and substance of unmatched strength. The pressure to demobilize and return to some sense of normalcy was considerable, particularly given the perceived relative bulwarks of Britain and France against Soviet aggrandizement in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The primary military priorities of the United States were the ongoing building up of strategic air forces, control of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, air defence of the Western Hemisphere, protection of its defensive perimeter in the Pacific and containment of the spread of Soviet communism. This left the United States Army as the arm of service most impact by defence economies.

By the end of 1949, the US Army had shrunk from its 1945 level of over 12 million men and 204 divisions to just over 2 million men in 20 divisions, with 5 in Japan, 2 in Germany, 1 in Austria-Hungary, 1 in the Philippines, 1 in Mexico, 1 in Panama, 1 in Alaska and 8 in the United States. In a world where the Soviet Union was suspected of being on the cusp of developing jet bombers, chemical rockets and atomic weapons and peace was still menaced by Werwolf submarines and Nazi sky pirates, the need for riflemen on the ground was not seen as truly pressing.

The United States was not alone in cutting back its armies in the field, with Britain fielding just 18 divisions (4 in Germany, 1 in Austria-Hungary, 2 in Japan, 2 in the Middle East, 2 in India, 2 in Malaya, 1 in Hong Kong and 4 at home), France 24 (4 in Germany, 1 in Austria-Hungary, 5 in North Africa, 5 in Indochina and 9 at home), Canada 5, the Netherlands 4 and Sweden 8.

The only American forces remaining on the Korean peninsula apart from advisors were a engineer regiment at Pusan and two US Air Force reconnaissance squadrons based at Kunsan Field.

The Korean Peninsula had been jointly occupied by the Soviet Union and the United States in the dying days of the Pacific War in late 1945, with the 39th Parallel dividing the two zones of influence. This decision caused substantial anger in Peking, with the Imperial Chinese government forced by necessity to put aside its designs on Korea in favour of the pursuit of national unity and tense negotiations over the fate of Manchuria.

By 1948, US and Soviet forces had departed, with North Korea ruled by a communist regime and South Korea controlled by a pro-Western capitalist republican government. The Imperial Family remained in exile in India with a moderate level of popularity in Korea. Both Korean states has achieved some level of relative stability by 1950.

Europe was wracked by the aftermath of war, with millions of displaced refugees and orphans, harsh weather, shortages of food and the disruption of international trade making 1946 and 1947 two bitter years for the Continent. The United States and Canada stood as the only states to come out of the war better off than they had entered it, with France bankrupted by Nazi occupation and Britain turning its resources towards national reconstruction, the Empire and the Middle East.

Some measure of recovery began in 1947 with the Marshall Plan delivering American financial aid and support to Europe and American, British and Canadian exports of manufactured goods providing relief. Communist backed revolts were suppressed in Yugoslavia, France and Spain, with British strategic air power and naval force was able to successfully oppose Soviet ambitions in Scandinavia and the Balkans without open conflict. SOE agents were heavily active in Poland, Romania, the Ukraine, the Baltic and Georgia against Soviet forces with varying degrees of success.

Japan had been under Allied occupation since their formal surrender in 1946, with the Red Army occupying Sakhalin and the remaining four islands controlled by the USA, the British Empire and France. The Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Air Force had been effectively disbanded and its ships divided among the victorious Allies, with the Imperial Japanese Army demobilised to an infantry force of 120,000 men under American control. Significant war industry had been eliminated and civilian economic activity was only slowly recovering. A new constitutional monarchy had been put in place with Anglo-American guidance, with Supreme Allied Commander General Douglas MacArthur taking the role of effective ruler of Japan.

The Middle East was largely under British occupation, with the Arab protectorates of Iraq, Jordan, Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya all supported by British and Indian garrisons and RAF Bomber Command operating out of a number of key aerodromes as part of their strategic deterrence of Soviet expansion. Qajar Persia, Arabia and Ottoman Turkey were engaged in their own power struggle in Iraq and Syria in an effort to become regional hegemon. French occupation of Syria had ended in 1948, with the Lebanon continuing as a protectorate. Israel had perhaps the most powerful military in the Middle East and was certainly enjoying the strongest economic growth in the region in early 1950.

The Dutch Empire in the East Indies was crumbling, with the major island kingdoms breaking away as independent states in a series of rebellions across the Indonesian archipelago from 1945 to 1949. Only the Moluccas and the westernmost islands remained under Dutch rule, with the cost of waging a colonial war in Asia while opposed by the USA, China and the Soviet Union proving too great for the newly liberated Netherlands. There was significant support for a unified Indonesian state from various factions and the Americans, but strategic rivalry between the Sumatran and Javanese confederations, religious conflict and Communist backed rebellions had stymied this effort as of 1950.

France had been embroiled in an increasingly bitter counter-insurgency campaign in Northern Indochina since 1945. Their opponents, the Viet Minh, were a mixed group of communists and nationalists who enjoyed wide support among the peasantry of Tonkin and Annam. Vietnam had been liberated by British Empire forces in 1944/45, with the French Far Eastern Expeditionary Corps arriving in late 1945. Heavy fighting broke out in 1947, concentrated around forts on the Chinese border near Lang Son and in the Red River Delta between Hanoi and Haiphong, where the French Navy employed heavy use of airpower and naval gunfire. The deployment of French armour in 1949 lead to a localized victory at the Battle of Cao Bằng, but the Viet Minh could not be bought to a decisive battle as of 1950.

Communist insurgency also spread to Malaya in 1948, with the proclamation of a State of Emergency following on from attacks on British settlers and plantation manages by the Malayan National Liberation Army. Heavy reinforcements were moved to the colony from India, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Britain, with a series of combined arms sweeps through rebel held jungle areas following over the next 6 months with little result.

The tempo of operations shifted in the second half of 1949 with the establishment of an interconnected network of 254 fortified fire bases (each manned by an infantry company supported by artillery, machine guns, mortars, tanks and engineers) and over 600 'New Villages', where the Chinese populace was forcibly resettled. Heavy aerial patrols by aircraft and helicopters kept the Malayan jungle under constant surveillance, with airstrikes from fighter-bombers, attack planes, strike fighters, medium and heavy bombers dealing out fearful damage as part of Operation Firedog. RN, RAN, RNZN and RIN fighters, attack bombers and strike aircraft from the three carriers of the Far East Fleet also saw frequent employment, along with long range gunfire strikes from the battleships HMS Vanguard, HMS Superb and HMAS Australia or the many cruisers and destroyers of the fleet.

Burma was also struck by insurgency in the jungles and mountains of Shan and Kaching State as part of the aftermath of the War. Heavy British and Indian troop deployments managed to suppress open rebellion, but the conflict continued to threaten to boil over in early 1950. Siam, under limited British occupation since 1944, was facing increased Communist guerrilla activity in Isan.

The Philippines had been granted independence by the United States of America in 1947 and faced an insurgency on Luzon and Mindanao by the Communist backed Hukbalahap and the Moros, with both being clandestinely supplied with arms by Soviet submarines. Increasing numbers of US advisors were deployed on operations with the Philippine Army by early 1950, along with air strikes by USAF planes out of Clark Air Force Base.

It was to the great surprise of the world when, on May 1st 1950, an army of 250,000 surged across the border into South Korea.

[Simon Darkshade]

Prewar Forces

United States of America

US Navy: 687,553 personnel, 1093 ships, 6102 aircraft

Battleships: 18 active, 18 Reserve
Aircraft Carriers: 20 active, 18 Reserve, 4 under construction
Battlecruisers: 2 active, 2 Reserve
Light Aircraft Carriers: 5 active, 5 Reserve
Escort Carriers: 5 active, 73 Reserve
Heavy Cruisers: 24 active, 26 Reserve, 5 under construction
Light Cruisers: 32 active, 35 Reserve
Destroyers: 236 active, 328 Reserve, 16 under construction
Destroyer Escorts: 95 active, 267 Reserve, 10 under construction
Submarines: 102 active, 183 Reserve, 15 under construction

4 US Marine Divisions (1st California, 2nd Virginia, 3rd Texas, 4th Florida)

654 Vought Super Corsairs
597 Douglas AD Skyraiders
421 McDonnell F2H Banshees
389 Grumman F9F Panthers
364 North American FJ-2 Furies
326 Martin AM Maulers
284 Boeing F8B Seahawks
261 Grumman AF Guardians
193 North American AJ Savages

376 Sikorsky H-5s
182 Sikorsky H-19s

324 Lockheed P2V Neptunes
179 Martin P5M Marlins
123 Boeing P2B Superfortresses
87 Martin PB2M Mars
36 Boeing PBB Sea Rangers
25 Hughes H4 Hercules

532 North American T-6 Texans
289 Lockheed T-33 Shooting Stars

40 Lockheed R7V Constellations
118 Douglas R5D Skymasters
302 Douglas R4D Skytrains

1st Fleet (San Francisco)
CVA: United States, Independence
CVB: Okinawa, Guadalcanal
CVE: Sicily, Badoeng Strait, Eniwetok, Rabaul, Saipan
BB: Louisiana, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, New Jersey
CB: Los Angeles, New York City
CA: Fall River, Newark, Cheyenne, Frederick
CL: Fargo, Sioux Falls, Tampa, Athens, Syracuse, Wilkes Barre, Portsmouth, Denver
59 DD
20 DE
23 SS

2nd Fleet (Norfolk)
CVA: America, Ranger
CVB: Midway, Coral Sea, Iwo Jima, Franklin D. Roosevelt
CV: Antietam, Crown Point
BB: Montana, Kansas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Minnesota
CB: Salem, Philadelphia
CA: Albany, Macon
CL: Worcester, Roanoke, Birmingham, Cleveland, Columbia, Vicksburg
54 DD
24 DE
27 SS

3rd Fleet (Hawaii)
CV: Oriskany, Bonhomme Richard
CVL: Wake Island, Pelelieu
BC: Hawaii, Philippines
CB: Newport News, Dallas
CA: Olympia, Shreveport
CL: Hartford, Huntington, Oklahoma City, Little Rock
CLAA: Chattanooga
35 DD
11 DE
21 SS

4th Fleet (Caribbean)
CVL: Bataan, San Jacinto, Wright
CL: St. Petersburg
CLAA: Honolulu, Montpelier
20 DD
12 DE
7 SS

6th Fleet (Mediterranean)
CVB: Tripoli, New Orleans
CV: Reprisal, Port Royal
BB: South Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, Alabama
CB: Chicago, Detroit
CA: Saint Paul, Columbus, San Antonio, Sacramento
CL: Galveston, Pasadena, Providence, Vincennes
42 DD
18 DE
12 SS

7th Fleet (Subic Bay)
CV: Philippine Sea, Valley Forge
BB: Missouri, Wisconsin
CB: Des Moines, San Francisco
CA: Rochester, Quincy
CL: Vallejo, Gary, Springfield, Topeka, Manchester
CLAA: Buffalo
26 DD
10 DE
14 SS

Reserve Fleet
CV: Shangri-La, Lake Erie, Tarawa, Essex, Yorktown, Intrepid, Hornet, Franklin, Ticonderoga, Randolph, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Wasp, Hancock, Bennington, Boxer, Leyte, Kearsarge

CVL: Belleau Wood, Cowpens, Monterey, Langley, Cabot

BB: Washington, North Carolina, Connecticut, Utah, Michigan, Vermont, South Carolina
North Dakota, Delaware, Ohio, Wyoming, Virginia, Florida, Nevada, California, Colorado, Maryland, West Virginia

BC:Guam, Panama

CA: Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, Helena, Toledo, Lincoln, Charlotte, Jackson, Scranton, Bayonne, Dover; Wichita, Asheville, Tuscaloosa, Minneapolis, New Orleans; Rockford, Lancaster, Ogden, Charleston, St. Louis, Portland; Chester, Louisville, Augusta, Groton

CL: Alexandria, Montgomery, Tacoma, Madison, Orlando, Duluth, Tallahassee, Corpus Christi, San Jose, Lansing, Mobile, Houston, Santa Fe, Astoria, Dayton, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Biloxi; Brooklyn, Savannah, Phoenix, Nashville, Boise, Honolulu, Baton Rouge, Bismarck

CLAA: San Diego, Oakland, Reno, Flint, Tucson, Spokane, Fresno, Troy, Huron

US Army: 1,469,482 men, 24 divisions

The United States Army was in the process of introducing a number of new weapons in early 1950, with the wartime fleet of M-24 Chaffee light, M-4 Sherman medium and M-26 Pershing heavy tanks being replaced by M-40 light, M-48 medium and M-105 heavy tanks.

The 24 active divisions consisted of 14 infantry, 4 armored, 4 airborne and 2 cavalry divisions and 15 independent regimental combat teams (10 infantry, 5 Armored cavalry).

Japan
1st Cavalry Division
6th Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
11th Airborne Division
24th Infantry Division
25th Infantry Division
29th Infantry Regiment (Okinawa)

Germany
1st Armored Division
1st Infantry Division
6th Armored Cavalry Regiment

Italy
17th Airborne Division

Austria-Hungary
2nd Cavalry Division

Philippines
5th Infantry Division
100th Infantry Regiment

Hawaii
23rd Infantry Division
5th Infantry Regiment

Panama
12th Infantry Division
96th Infantry Regiment

Alaska
9th Infantry Division
10th Mountain Division

United States
2nd Infantry Division
3rd Infantry Division
4th Infantry Division
8th Infantry Division

2nd Armored Division
3rd Armored Division
4th Armored Division

82nd Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division

1st Armored Cavalry Regiment
2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment
3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
4th Armored Cavalry Regiment

1st Infantry Regiment
2nd Infantry Regiment
3rd Infantry Regiment
4th Infantry Regiment

43rd Infantry Regiment (West Indies)
65th Infantry Regiment (Puerto Rico)

6 in Japan, 2 in Germany, 1 in Austria-Hungary, 1 in the Philippines, 1 in Hawaii, 1 in Panama, 2 in Alaska and 8 in the United States

US Air Force: 879,265 personnel, 11,134 aircraft

Active: 11,134
AFR: 2020
ANG: 4122
Total Aircraft: 17,276

5329 Fighters
2016 Bombers
1038 Attack
4585 Trainers
473 Reconnaissance
265 Tankers
3570 Transports

1254 B-29 Superfortresses (797 active, 182 AFR, 275 ANG)
429 B-36 Peacemakers (429 active, 0 AFR, 0 ANG)
223 B-45 Tornadoes (166 active, 0 AFR, 57 ANG)
110 B-47 Stratojets (110 active)

632 F-47 Thunderbolts (96 active, 0 AFR, 536 ANG)
1124 F-51 Mustangs (162 active, 285 AFR, 677 ANG)
1267 F-80 Shooting Stars (928 active, 0 AFR, 339 ANG)
982 F-84 Thunderjets (502 active, 0 AFR, 480 ANG)
271 F-90 Comets (176 active, 0 AFR, 95 ANG)
230 F-89 Scorpions (149 active, 0 AFR, 47 ANG)
610 F-86 Sabres (529 active, 0 AFR, 81 ANG)
125 F-92 Starstreak (125 active, 0 AFR, 0 ANG)
88 F-94 Starfires (88 active, 0 AFR, 0 ANG)

491 A-26 Invaders (134 active, 111 AFR, 246 ANG)
343 A-38 Grizzlies (82 active, 86 AFR, 175 ANG)
204 A-48 Wolverines (108 active, 96 AFR)

254 RB-29 Superfortresses (190 active, 64 AFR, 0 ANG)
90 RB-36s (90 active)
79 RF-57 Rainbows (54 active, 25 AFR, 0 ANG)
50 RF-61 Reporters (50 active)

265 KB-29 Superfortresses (265 active)

630 C-45 Expeditors (520 active, 0 AFR, 110 ANG)
1556 C-47 Skytrains (1238 active, 34 AFR, 284 ANG)
697 C-54 Skymasters (697 active, 0 AFR, 0 ANG)
130 C-97 Stratofreighters (130 active)
459 C-119 Flying Boxcars (350 active, 0 AFR, 109 ANG)
45 C-121 Constellations (45 active)
53 C-124 Globemasters (53 active)

2061 T-6 Texans (1625 active, 29 AFR, 407 ANG)
318 T-7 Navigators (89 active, 229 AFR, 0 ANG)
477 T-11 Kansans (0 active, 427 AFR, 50 ANG)
783 TB-25 Mitchells (559 active, 224 AFR, 0 ANG)
54 TB-29 (54 active)
295 T-33 Shooting Stars (295 active)
325 TC-47 Skytrains (85 active, 240 AFR)
272 TF-51 Mustangs (164 active, 0 AFR, 108 ANG)

Britain

Royal Navy: 462,984 personnel, 456 ships, 3016 Aircraft

Battleships: 16 active, 16 reserve
Aircraft Carriers: 14 active, 8 reserve, 2 under construction
Light Aircraft Carriers: 4 active, 12 reserve
Escort Carriers: 2 active, 17 reserve
Battlecruisers: 4 reserve
Heavy Cruisers: 12 active, 16 reserve
Light Cruisers: 32 active, 24 reserve
Destroyers: 162 active, 156 reserve
Frigates: 87 active, 129 reserve
Submarines: 78 active, 85 reserve

2 Royal Marine Divisions (1st Portsmouth, 2nd Singapore)

432 Hawker Sea Furies
362 Supermarine Type 396 Crusaders
326 Hawker P.1052 Sea Hawks
279 Supermarine Type 525 Attackers
225 Blackburn Brigands
219 Fairey Rangers
184 Westland Wyverns
135 Fairey Gannets
87 English Electric Canberras

158 Westland Dragonflies
97 Bristol Sycamores

186 Short Sunderlands
123 Short Stirlings
15 Saunders-Roe Princesses

12 Bristol Brabazons
94 Handley Page Hastings
132 Vickers Victorias

Home Fleet:
CV: Malta, Gibraltar, Irresistible, Audacious, Invincible, Illustrious
BB: Lion, Conqueror, Thunderer, Warrior, Centurion, Vengeance, Dragon, Iron Duke
CVL: Theseus, Hercules, Achilles, Ethalion
CB: Hero, Defence
CA: Tiger, Splendid, Argonaut
CL: Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Southampton, Uganda, Bermuda, Sirius, Cleopatra, Naiad, Crown,

Mediterranean Fleet:
CV: Africa, Singapore, India, Implacable, Ark Royal, Eagle, Victorious
BB: Hood, Temeraire, Majestic, Triumph, Black Prince, Magnificent
CB: Minotaur, Adventure,
CA: Spartan
CL: Manchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, Dublin, Ceylon, Gambia

Far East Fleet:
CV: Indefatigable, Hermes
BB: Vanguard, Superb
CA: Ulysses, Swiftsure, Royalist, Lionheart
CL: Jamaica, Kenya, Belfast, Sheffield, Mauritius, Diadem

Atlantic Fleet:
CL: Cardiff, Aden, Gloucester, Coventry

West Indies and North America Station
CL: Fiji, Nigeria

Persian Gulf Station
CL: Charybdis

Pacific Station
CL: Andromeda

South Atlantic Station
CL: Scylla

Reserve
CV: Centaur, Pegasus, Unicorn, Indomitable, Ocean, Leviathan, Formidable, Argus
BB: King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Princess Royal, Emperor, Monarch, Royal Sovereign, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Nelson, Rodney, Anson, Howe, St. George, St. Andrew
BC: Orion, Neptune, Jupiter, Ajax
CVL: Colossus, Venerable, Sans Pareil, Brilliant, Mars, Agamemnon, Edgar, Pioneer, Engadine, Phoenix
CB: Challenger, Powerful,Terrible, Thunderchild
CA:Excalibur, Surprise, Crusader, Sceptre, Champion, Bellerophon, Captain, Faerie Queen , London, Shropshire, Devonshire, Northumberland
CL: Defiance, Ariadne, Daedalus, Icarus, Gladiator, Niobe, Phoebe, Dido, Bellona, Euryalus, Hermione, Trinidad, Barbados, Burma, Malaya, Sentinel, Oxford, Avalon, Cambridge, Leeds, Aberdeen, Lyonesse, Bristol, Worcester

British Army: 1,026,548 personnel, 18 divisions

Home Forces
1st Airborne Division
Guards Armoured Division
2nd Infantry Division
4th Infantry Division

Germany
6th Armoured Division
7th Armoured Division
9th Infantry Division
10th Infantry Division

Austria-Hungary
6th Infantry Division

Japan
3rd Infantry Division

Middle East Command
1st Armoured Division
2nd Armoured Division
6th Airborne Division

India Command
3rd Armoured Division
5th Infantry Division

Malaya Command
1st Infantry Division
7th Infantry Division
18th (Gurkha) Division

Hong Kong Garrison
8th Infantry Division
17th (Gurkha) Division

Army Reserve
2nd Airborne Division
4th Airborne Division
11th Infantry Division
12th Infantry Division
4th Armoured Division
5th Armoured Division

Royal Air Force: 624,367 personnel, 6885 aircraft

Bomber Command: 1625
Fighter Command: 1774
Transport Command: 1023
1st TAF: 489
2nd TAF: 550
MEAF: 347
FEAF: 453
RAF Mediterranean: 305
RAF India: 319

Bomber Command
674 Avro Lancasters
502 English Electric Canberras
239 Avro Yorks
125 Vickers Valiants
85 Vickers Windsors

Fighter Command
456 de Havilland Venom FB.2s
425 Hawker P.1052 Falcons
309 Supermarine Type 525 Warriors
102 Gloster Meteor F.8s
158 Fairey Shadow NF.12s
136 Hawker P.1083 Hunters
105 Supermarine Type 545 Sunbursts
83 Gloster P.376 Javelins

1st Tactical Air Force (France)
178 Gloster Meteors
113 Hawker P.1052 Falcons
102 English Electric Canberras
96 Supermarine Type 525 Warriors

2nd Tactical Air Force (Germany)
206 de Havilland Vampires
105 Gloster Meteors
100 Hawker P.1052 Falcons
91 Supermarine Type 525 Warriors
48 English Electric Canberras

Transport Command
12 Bristol Brabazons
24 de Havilland Comets
32 Avro Ashtons
79 Bristol Britannias
134 Westland Dragonflies
273 Handley Page Hastings
464 Vickers Victorias

RAF Far East Air Force
92 Supermarine Spitfires
87 Hawker Tempests
82 Gloster Meteors
76 Bristol Battleaxes
64 de Havilland Mosquitoes
52 English Electric Canberras

RAF Middle East Air Force
129 de Havilland Vampires
85 Gloster Meteors
79 de Havilland Mosquitoes
54 English Electric Canberras

RAF India
77 Supermarine Spitfires
73 de Havilland Vampires
61 Gloster Meteors
58 Hawker Tempests
50 English Electric Canberras

RAF Mediterranean
74 Hawker Tempests
72 Gloster Meteors
52 Supermarine Spitfires
59 de Havilland Mosquitoes
48 English Electric Canberras

Soviet Union

Red Army: 3,642,000 men, 254 divisions

Poland
10 Rifle Divisions
5 Tank Divisions

Romania
4 Rifle Divisions
2 Tank Divisions

Tartary
10 Rifle Divisions
2 Tank Divisions

Mongolia
9 Rifle Divisions
1 Tank Division

Soviet Union
145 Rifle Divisions
51 Tank Divisions
10 Air Rifle Divisions
8 Artillery Divisions

Red Air Force: 1,574,000 personnel, 20,503 aircraft

3496 Yak-9
723 Su-5
641 MiG-9
572 Yak-15
235 La-152

2984 Il-10
2637 Il-2

3065 Pe-2
1162 Tu-2
833 Polikarpov NB

429 Tu-6 heavy bombers

2459 Po-2 trainers

1267 Li-2 transports

Soviet Navy: 246,887 personnel, 392 ships, 1055 aircraft

Battleships: 16 active, 4 under construction
Aircraft Carriers: 3 active, 4 under construction
Light Aircraft Carriers: 5 active, 3 under construction
Battlecruisers: 4 active, 4 under construction
Heavy Cruisers: 8 active, 4 under construction
Light Cruisers: 29 active, 10 under construction
Destroyers: 145 active, 34 under construction
Frigates: 57 active, 29 under construction
Submarines: 113 active, 31 under construction

Battleships (12): Sovetsky Soyuz, Sovetskaya Ukraina, Sovetskaya Rossiya, Sovetskaya Belorussiya Sovetskaya Kazakhskaya, Sovetskaya Gruzinskaya, Sovetskaya Armjanskaja, Sovetskaya Azerbaydzhanskaya, Sovetskaya Uzbekskaya, Sovetskaya Turkeskaya, Sovetskaya Kirgizskaya, Sovetskaya Tadzhikskaya; Comintern, Revolutsiya, Svobodnaya, Demokratiia

Aircraft Carriers (3): Minsk, Kronstadt, Archangelsk

Light Aircraft Carriers (4):Krasnoyarsk, Yakutsk, Azov, Riga

Battlecruisers (4): Stalingrad, Odessa, Sevastopol, Sverdlovsk

Pr. 66 Superheavy Cruisers (4): Varyag, Slava, Smely, Tretij Internacional

Heavy Cruisers (4): Kirov, Komintern, Profintern, Chernova Ukraina

Light Cruisers (32): Sverdlov, Dzerzhinksi, Zhdanov, Voroshilov, Molotov, Kalinin, Frunze, Maxim Gorky, Admiral Lazarev, Admiral Ushakov, Admiral Senyavin, Admiral Nakhimov, Admiral Makarov; Chapayev, Zheleznyakov, Kuybyshev, Chkalov, Meretskov, Mikoyan, Litvinov, Budyonny, Voronezh, Bryansk, Novgorod, Vladimir, Kerch, Bryansk, Voronezh, Taganrog

Destroyers: 14 Tashkent, 27 Ognevoy, 23 Gnevny, 12 Soobrazitelnyy, 69 Skoryy

France

French Army: 1,293,254 personnel, 24 divisions

France
1st Infantry Division
2nd Infantry Division
3rd Armoured Division
4th Armoured Division
10th Armoured Division
15th Infantry Division
16th Infantry Division
20th Infantry Division
23rd Alpine Division

Germany
1st Armoured Division
2nd Armoured Division
3rd Infantry Division
5th Armoured Division
8th Infantry Division

Austria-Hungary
11th Infantry Division

Algeria
10th Division Parachutiste
25th Division Aeromobile

Morocco
5th Infantry Division
20th Infantry Division

Tunisia
24th Infantry Division

Indochina
1st Foreign Legion Division
4th Infantry Division
6th Armoured Division
11th Airborne Division
18th Infantry Division

French Navy: 182,533 personnel, 289 ships, 567 aircraft

Battleships: 12 active
Aircraft Carriers: 6 active, 2 under construction
Light Aircraft Carriers: 4 active
Battlecruisers: 3 active
Heavy Cruisers: 12 active, 2 under construction
Light Cruisers: 25 active, 5 under construction
Destroyers: 87 active, 24 under construction
Frigates: 46 active, 18 under construction
Submarines: 46 active, 8 under construction

Battleships (12): Richelieu, Jean Bart, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Jeanne d'Arc, Colbert Gloire, Soleil Royale, Victoire, Majestueux, Superbe, Orient

Battlecruisers (3): Dunkerque, Strasbourg, Lyons

Aircraft Carriers (6): Henri IV, Charles Martel, Saint Louis, Paris; Lorraine, Alsace

Light Aircraft Carriers (4): Lafayette, Marengo, Austerlitz, Ulm

Heavy Cruisers (12): Sans-Pareil, Magnifique, Temeraire, La Reine, Saint-Esprit, Dauphin-Royal , Imperieuse, Lion, Fleur de Lys, Souverain, Couronne, Tonnerre

Light Cruisers (25): Victor Hugo, Dupuy de Lome, Jules Verne, Duguay-Trouin, Emile Bertin, De Grasse, Montcalm, Champlain, La Galissonniere, Bayard, Georges Leygues, Jean de Vienne, Marseillaise, Roland, Forbin, Chevalier Paul, Oriflamme, Vengeur, Châteaurenault, Conde, Hamelin, Baudin, Truguet, Joyeuse, Turpin

Destroyers: 12 Le Fantasque, 8 Mogador, 14 Adroit, 18 Le Hardi; 15 Gleaves, 9 Benson, 12 Fletcher

2 French Marine Divisions (1st Algeria, 2nd Indochina)

French Air Force: 295,714 personnel, 2243 aircraft

130 Dassault Ouragan
149 Gloster Meteors
167 P-80 Shooting Stars
243 de Havilland Vampires

282 Supermarine Spitfires
329 Hawker Sea Furies

110 Bristol Battleaxes
154 A-26 Invaders

121 English Electric Canberras
142 Avro Lancasters

213 C-47 Dakotas
124 Vickers Victorias
79 C-54 Skymasters

Empire of China

Imperial Army: 2,489,326 personnel, 214 divisions
187 Infantry Divisions
21 Tank Divisions
6 Artillery Divisions

Imperial Air Force: 270,349 personnel, 2955 aircraft

575 Yak-9
398 Polikarpov I-16
260 P-40
203 P-51
164 Hawker Hurricanes
125 Chengdu J-1
82 MiG-9

482 Il-2

261 Pe-2
152 B-25
90 B-24

163 C-47

Imperial Navy: 94,572 personnel, 127 ships, 494 aircraft
4 Battleships, 2 under construction
2 Aircraft Carriers, 1 under construction
1 Light Aircraft Carrier, 1 under construction
12 Cruisers, 4 under construction
29 Destroyers, 10 under construction
35 Frigates, 9 under construction
28 Submarines, 15 under construction
123 Torpedo Boats

Battleships: Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Jiyuan, Pingyuan (Zhiyuan, Jingyuan)
Aircraft Carriers: Ping Hai, Ning Hai
Light Aircraft Carrier: Laiyuan
Heavy Cruisers: Chao Ho, Ying Swei, Fei Hung, Yang Wu
Light Cruisers: Haian, Yuyuan, Chaoyong, Yangwei, Nanchen, Kaichi, Hai Chi, Hai Yung

[Simon Darkshade]

Invasion

The heavily armed North Korean Army smashed through the South Korean border defences all along the 39th Parallel in a maelstrom of heavy artillery fire, spearheaded by three strong armoured columns of 460 T-34 medium and 129 IS-3 heavy tanks linking up with crack Soviet trained paratroopers. Over 250 Sturmovik attack fighters and 327 Yak-9s hammered retreating columns of South Korean infantry and panicked refugees alike from the air, causing widespread chaos. The port of Haeju was seized by amphibious assault by the North Korean naval infantry brigade on the first day, covered by the fire of five North Korean destroyers. Seoul was attacked by 105 Il-4 medium and 50 Pe-8 heavy bombers, dealing out fearful damage and setting large sections of the capital city ablaze.

The North Korean Army advanced over 80 miles in the first three days of the lightning advance, threatening Seoul with imminent capture. The South Korean Army had been able to boast of 100,000 soldiers on paper prewar, yet only two divisions remained rallying around Seoul by May 7th, with the others killed, captured, fleeing south or simply melted away. The South Korean government was evacuated to the south and the bridges over the Han River were blown up on May 5th.

The Battle of the Han River lasted two bloody days, concluding with the South Korean I Corps falling back to avoid being completely outflanked by North Korean armour. Seoul fell on May 6th 1950.

The world had been stunned by the speed and ferocity of the initial invasion. In Washington DC, news had broken at 2pm Sunday afternoon April 30th 1950, with reports of confirmation taking several hours in light of the confused chaos on the other side of the Pacific. US President Harry Truman's administration was initially unsure as to whether this was a localized conflagration or the signal for the start of a global war of conquest by the Soviet Union and it's satellites. By midnight, a general consensus was reached for the United States to intervene in the conflict, with the support of the League of Nations to be sought in an emergency session first thing Monday. British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill telephoned President Truman in the early hours of Monday morning to extend the support of Britain and the Empire for whatever measures were deemed necessary, an offer that the President gladly accepted.

The meeting of the Council of the League of Nations in New York City was brief, with Britain, France, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Mexico and Brazil all voting in favour of condemning the North Korean invasion, demanding that it immediately cease its acts of aggression. A second resolution authorizing the members of the League to provide assistance to repel the armed attack on South Korea and restore peace and security in the area followed on Tuesday May 2nd 1950. The Soviet Union and China were currently boycotting the Council of the League over the issues of the Baltic States and Formosa respectively.

Even prior to the meeting of the League, orders were going out across America and the world to the US Armed Forces, with the USN Seventh Fleet directed to move a task force consisting of the aircraft carriers USS Valley Forge and USS Philippine Sea and the battleship USS Missouri from Subic Bay to the Korea Strait. Two wings of USAF F-80 and F-51 tactical fighters in Japan were alerted for immediate deployment. The Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and her escorts, including the battleship HMS Vanguard, were ordered to depart from Hong Kong for the British naval base at Kure, Japan at full speed.

The eyes of the world became focused on Korea.

Intervention

The Initial Phase of the Air War
Initial aerial reconnaissance flights were launched over South Korea by Far East Air Force F-51Hs of the 68th Fighter Squadron on May 1st to observe the North Korean advance. This was followed by combat air patrols by F-80s from May 3rd to cover the evacuation of US citizens from Suwon Airfield. By May 5th, twenty North Korean fighters had been shot down by USAF jets, with A-26 and A-38 attack bombers based in Japan conducting airstrikes on North Korean railyards and ports from May 3rd. On May 5th, 36 USAF B-29s attacked Kimpo airfield and Seoul railway station in an effort to slow the Red advance, marking the first time that American heavy bombers were employed in Korea. The Fifth Air Force was directed to take operational control of tactical aircraft in Korea, with Strategic Air Command retaining control of strategic bombers.

British and Australian aircraft operating from Japan joined airstrikes from May 5th, with RAF Meteors and RAAF Spitfires conducting offensive counter air sweeps and RAF Mosquito bombers striking at railway yards and bridges near the border. A squadron of 20 RAF Lancasters arrived in Kure, Japan from Singapore on May 6th and flew their first mission on the night of May 10th, striking Kimpo airfield with two dozen 1000lb bombs each.

Two RAF airships (R-236 and R-250) reached Korea on May 8th from Britain, providing the use of their airborne command facilities, very long range airborne radar, aerial refueling facilities and guided weapons for the initial coordination of the aerial campaign. Two USAF and two USN airships were to arrive in Japan and Korea by May 18th, adding to Allied command of the air. Within a week of the initial North Korean invasion, the USAF had established clear aerial superiority over the skies of South Korea.

The Beginning of the War at Sea
The USN and RN carrier task forces arrived off the south coast of Korea on May 6th after high speed runs, but were not the first naval forces to go into action. The light cruiser USS Springfield and four destroyers left Yokosuka on May 2nd and took up position off the east coast of South Korea, closely followed by HMS Jamaica and a pair of destroyers. An initial engagement with a flotilla of North Korea torpedo boats and gunboats on May 4th resulted in the rapid destruction of five of the North Korean vessels by concentrated 4.5", 5" and 6" gunfire from the American and British vessels. Two days later, the American submarine USS Remora sunk a North Korean destroyer off Haeju.

The Anglo-American carrier task group, designated Task Force 77, launched its first air strike on May 10th, with 42 Skyraiders, 56 Super Corsairs, 32 Panthers and 29 Furies and 20 Hawker Sea Furies, 18 Supermarine Attackers, 15 Blackburn Brigands and 16 Westland Wyverns hammering North Korean port facilities and railyards along the 39th Parallel. In the afternoon, airfields around the northern capital of Pyongyang were bombed and rocketed, with the appearance of USN and RN jet fighters over 500 miles away from the nearest Allied airfield being a sobering lesson to the North Korean Air Force; it proved to be a factor in the redeployment of Yak-9 fighters to the role of home air defence rather than supporting the advancing army.

Throughout the day, the battleships Vanguard and Missouri conducted heavy bombardments of targets around Kaesong and Sariwon from 36 miles away, inflicting significant damage. Cruisers and destroyers bombarded the coastal roads and bridges in a successful effort to impede the flow of logistical traffic for the Red invasion forces.

The Retreat to Pusan

Battle of Osan
The initial US Army ground forces moved by air from Japan was a regimental combat team based around the 21st Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division with an attached field artillery battalion; the rest of the division along with its heavy guns and tanks was to follow by sea. The speed of the North Korean advance resulted in this deployment being expedited, with the bulk of the 21st arriving in Pusan on May 5th and moving forward by road and rail to Taejon and finally to Osan taking up defensive positions to the north of the village on May 10th. Their orders were to block and delay the advance of the North Korean Army for as long as possible.

The force consisted of three understrength infantry battalions supported by the 18 105mm howitzers of the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion and their own company of twelve 4.2" heavy mortars. The infantry was equipped along the same basic lines as their counterparts of 1945, with each battalion having four 81mm mortars and eight 60mm mortars, four 75mm recoilless rifles and eight Super Bazooka rocket launchers.

The first contact with the enemy came shortly after dawn on May 11th, when a large column of thirty North Korean T-34/85 tanks was spotted advancing towards them through the early morning drizzle. The 52nd Field Artillery was ordered to open fire on the enemy armour at a distance of 5 miles, but failed to halt their advance. The T-34s opened fire on the American infantry positions once they closed within 700 yards, with a short but intense melee ensuing as 105mm HEAT rounds and 90mm rockets managed to knock out seven tanks before the remaining North Korean armour smashed through the 21st's roadblock and continued south.

At 0841, amid increasing rain, a force of a further 45 tanks and a column of trucks almost 10 miles long was spotted. They were bought under fire by the American howitzers and proceeded to dismount and begin to form up in the rice paddies on either side of the road in an attempt to outflank the position held by the 21st RCT. Almost three whole North Korean infantry regiments, or the better part of an infantry division, began moving towards the US lines.

Four waves were pushed back by concentrated machine gun, mortar and artillery fire over the next two hours, with at least six further T-34s being knocked out. By mid morning, the 52nd Field Artillery was beginning to run short of ammunition and was starting to take fire from two batteries of North Korean 122mm howitzers. The US commander, Colonel Charles Smith, ordered his battalion commanders to begin a phased withdrawal towards their hidden transportation vehicles on the outskirts of Osan..

The withdrawal proceeded in an orderly fashion initially, with the 2nd Battalion falling back from the central of the three hills that made up their position under the cover of the 1st and 3rd Battalions. The 3rd Battalion was increasingly pinned down on the right hand side of the Osan road on Hill C, being bought under fire from two directions. The 1st Battalion moved from their position on Hill A to Hill B to provide much needed defensive firepower in support of their sister battalion.

The true scale of the North Korean attack soon became apparent, with two whole regiment assaulting the American battalions from the front and flank with heavy tank support, whilst the remaining regiment had moved around from the west and now threatened to encircle the remaining elements of the 21st from behind. A series of running break out battles occured, as individual rifle companies attacked towards Osan before taking up covering positions.

The last portion of the retreat of the 1st Battalion turned into a rout as they were struck by bombardments from the North Korean 122mm howitzers and a pair of newly arrived 132mm Katyusha multiple rocket launchers. As heavy rain and fog began to envelop the battlefield, the battered remnants of the three companies of the 1st Battalion reached their waiting trucks in Osan. The 21st pulled back rapidly to their support elements at the town of Pyongsaek, with stragglers coming in over the rest of the afternoon and through the night.

The first engagement between the North Korean and United States Armies had resulted in a clear victory to the overwhelming forces of the 105th Armoured Division and 4th Infantry Division. It had been a short, sharp shock to US commanders in Tokyo and signalled that the situation was fraught with difficulty. 84 US soldiers were killed in action or missing, with 123 captured and 141 wounded, with many of those captured later discovered to have been murdered in cold blood.

The American infantrymen had acquitted themselves effectively against their counterparts and had enjoyed initial superiority in support weapons and mortars; however, the capacity of North Korean armour to manoeuvre beyond the comparative short range of American anti-tank weapons was not easily countered. The final straw had been the employment of North Korean medium and rocket artillery, which outmatched the American field pieces.

The Battle of Osan was the first of several battalion or regimental level engagements that took place over the next week, with subsequent engagements at Pyongsaek, Chonan and Chochiwon taking a considerable toll on the 21st and 34th Infantry Regiments as they were steadily pushed back towards Taejon.

Whilst this was taking place, US reinforcements began to pour into Korea from Japan at the port of Pusan. The 1st US Marine Division, the 1st Cavalry, 7th Infantry and 25th Infantry Divisions all arrived by the end of May, along with the British 3rd Infantry Division and a Commonwealth Division made up of composite Australia/New Zealand, Canada/New Avalon and South Africa/Rhodesia brigades drawn from occupation duty in Japan. A convoy carrying the US 2nd Infantry Division was en route from the United States, having left San Francisco on May 14th, with the 2nd Royal Marine Division and 4th Indian Division preparing to embark transports at Singapore. They joined elements of six South Korean divisions, with further units being formed from the refugees crowding the Allied bridgehead around Pusan.

The Battle of Taejon from May 19th to May 25th saw the 24th Infantry Division, reduced down to just over 12,000 men after the initial battles, short on artillery and supported by only an understrength battalion of 46 M-4 Sherman tanks, halt an offensive by the North Korean 2nd, 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions and the 105th Armoured Division. The week long running battle saw the 24th Division suffer 1162 dead, 623 wounded and over 2500 missing before they began to withdraw. The North Korean Army had captured Taejon, but had been delayed long enough for the newly re-established Eighth United States Army to establish a firm defensive perimeter around Pusan.

The invasion of South Korea was over. The Battle of the Pusan Perimeter was about to begin.

[Simon Darkshade]

Battle of the Pusan Perimeter

June 2nd-August 1st 1950

The Pusan Perimeter
The defensive perimeter around the port of Pusan extended in a curve for almost 225 miles from the Korea Strait to the Sea of Japan. The northern arm was covered heavy mountainous terrain, with the west mainly following the line of the Naktong River. The hot Korean summer had scoured the land, leaving little vegetation or potable water. The ongoing drought saw temperature soar to above 110 degrees, adding to the suffering of both sides.

The North Korean Army mustered a force of nearly 190,000 men, comprising fifteen infantry and two armoured divisions supported by powerful armoured elements equipped with T-34 tanks and a strong artillery force. Their logistical support capacity had been stretched to its absolute limit by the speed of their invasion, however, and supply and reinforcement was to prove decidedly difficult in the face of Allied air power.

The Eighth United States Army provided the headquarters for the Allied ground forces, based out of Taegu. The South Korean Army's six divisions manned the northern flank of the Perimeter, with the American 1st Cavalry Division, 25th Infantry Division, 24th Infantry Division and 6th Infantry Division manning the Naktong Front, augmented by two reinforced brigades of the 1st Marine Division and the 5th Regimental Combat Team. The British 3rd Infantry Division and the ad hoc Commonwealth Division held the southernmost end of the line where Naktong turned towards the east. The understrength 7th Infantry and 11th Airborne Divisions were held in operational reserve in Japan.

The port of Pusan was of vital importance to the Allied position in Korea, with supplies and reinforcements pouring in from Japan and the United States and the airfields around the city providing the means for the forward deployment of tactical fighters. Should it have fell, the Allies would have been forced to fight their way ashore in order to return to Korea.

First Battle of the Naktong
The battles around Pusan began on June 2nd with the North Koreans launching a massive artillery barrage at Waegwan, followed by a tank and artillery assault. The US 1st Cavalry Division was sorely pressed, but held their position along the Naktong thanks to heavy air support, five battalions of 105mm field howitzers firing over open sights and the timely arrival of a battalion of M-4E8 Shermans. Infiltration attacks continued over the next 10 days, but US superiority in field artillery and mortars prevented any substantial rupture in the line.

Counteroffensive
The Eighth Army launched a counteroffensive near the southern end of the line at the end of the first week of June, with the US 2nd Infantry Division, the 1st and 2nd US Marine Brigades and the British 3rd Infantry Division pushing towards the Nam River and the Chingu Pass. The Allied forces were heavily supported by airstrikes, naval gunfire from RN battleships offshore and a concentrated artillery bombardment. The attack encountered initial success before being bogged down along the Nam River in the face of strong Red defensive lines and a confused tank battle along the northern edge of the salient. By June 11th, the Marines had been withdrawn to reinforce the heavily pressed Naktong Bulge to the north and the new front line stabilized along the Nam at a cost of almost 1400 Allied casualties.

First Battle of the Naktong Bulge
On June 5th, the North Korean Army launched an offensive on the Naktong Bulge, a westward curve opposite Yongsan 10 miles to the north of the watersmeet of the Naktong and Nam, with two infantry and one armoured division pushing against positions held by the 25th Infantry Division. Over the next week, continual attacks and bombardments were launched against the US held positions to divide their forces and fire support, prior to an assault crossing of the Naktong by the North Korean 4th Infantry Division under the cover of newly arrived Soviet 180mm and 240mm heavy guns. Bitter fighting raged around the key controlling position of Cloverleaf Hill, with gradual North Korean advances being made at a frightful cost.

The provisional 1st US Marine Division, consisting of two brigades with tank and artillery regiments, was moved northward to clear the Reds from Cloverleaf Hill, attacking with heavy mortar and artillery support and concentrated airstrikes from Marine Corsairs on June 15th. After initial strong resistance, the Marines broke the supporting North Korean trench lines and systematically destroyed position after position in a well organized combined arms engagement. By dawn on June 16th, the North Korean forces had been effectively destroyed, with survivors streaming back across the Naktong amid relentless air strikes.

Battle of Taegu
On June 16th, the positions held by the US 1st Cavalry Division around Waegwun and the 25th Infantry Division around Taegu were attacked by five North Korean divisions. The well dug in American troops were amply supplied with mortars, artillery, heavy machine guns and Sherman tanks and encountered comparatively little difficulty in repulsing the initial Red forays. Repeated attempts were made to cross the Naktong in force, with bridgeheads being hammered by USN and USAF airstrikes and both US divisions were able to inflict substantial casualties upon the attackers. One infantry company of the 1st Cavalry was overrun on Hill 303, which was recaptured by US forces after heavy bombardment by artillery and napalm. The bodies of sixty seven American soldiers were found with their hands bound and gunshot wounds to the back, causing considerable outrage in the United States. The Battle of Taegu came to an end on July 6th.

Battle of the Nam River
The British 3rd Division and the Commonwealth Division positions along the Nam were struck by a heavy attack on June 18th by three North Korean divisions. The main line of defence held out against constant bombardment and infiltration attacks over the next three days, with some strongpoints only being saved by calling artillery down on their own positions. All Commonwealth reserve formations were fully committed to the battle along the Nam, which opened up a lightly defended flank along the hill line north of Kosong.

A further North Korean division struck along the Kosong hill line during the night of June 21st, cutting off Macforce, a battlegroup centred around the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders under Lt. Colonel David Mackenzie. Macforce was isolated over the course of the 22nd of June, with their only support coming from a battery of long range 6" guns at Masan and carrier aircraft from the RN task force offshore. On the 23rd, the battlegroup came under attack by a full North Korean infantry regiment, eventually being pushed back to Hill 32. For the next two days and nights, the Argylls held out under constant infantry attack and artillery fire, having been promised relief by General Keightley. Airstrikes continued throughout around the clock, but were unable to break the North Korean positions.

On the dawn of June 25th, the beleagured Macforce heard a new sound besides the rattle of machine guns and the terrible song of artillery and mortars - the hum of aircraft engines. 85 RAF Avro Lancasters each dropped two dozen 500lb bombs on the North Korean forces to the north of Hill 32, with their escort of 125 Spitfires and 62 Mosquitoes strafing and rocketing the carefully plotted Red positions to the south and west. As the smoke and dust cleared, the clattering of tanks became clearly audible, as 52 Centurions of the 1st King's Dragoon Guards spearheaded the relief column of the 27th Infantry Brigade, including the 1st Battalion of the Argylls. The Battle of the Nam ended on June 26th, with the British and Commonwealth forces remaining in control of the valley.

Battle of P'ohang Dong
On the northern side of the perimeter, the six divisions of the South Korean Army had been forced back over the course of June to a line north of Taegu to the coast at P'ohang Dong, with a further four divisions of poorly equipped recruits in training around Pusan. The Taebaek mountains provided excellent defensive terrain for most of the line, with the exception of the central valley northeast of Taegu and the narrow coastal strip north of P'ohang Dong. The northern arm was seen as the most vulnerable by both the Allies and the North Koreans.

Over 50,000 North Korean troops organized in four divisions struck towards the town of Yongdok on June 23rd, pushing back the forward elements of the South Korean Capital Division and 4th Division. USAF Mustangs and Invaders operating out of Yongil Airfield provided substantial close air support, with USN aircraft and naval gunfire pounding Red supply lines. The North Korean offensive ground to a halt on the 24th after advancing less than two miles. For the next two weeks, the South Koreans were gradually forced back upon P'ohang Dong, inflicting heavy losses on the attackers for every mile and every hamlet. The US 5th RCT was shifted to Yongil to support the South Koreans.

A heavy armoured attack by 120 Red tanks broke through the stretched defences on July 8th, taking P'ohang Dong by coup de main. American and South Korean troops held Yongil Airfield and the hills to the south of the town thanks to concentrated naval gunfire support from USS Wisconsin and the heavy cruiser USS Des Moines offshore. Further American forces, including a squadron of heavily armoured M-48 main battle tanks, were built up behind the line to support a counteroffensive that was launched on July 14th. Over 200 USN aircraft supported the advance,with the 105mm gunned M-48s destroying dozens of North Korean T-34s and crushing all attempts at resistance by the shattered remnants of the North Korean 12th Division. The front stabilized around Yongdok by July 17th.

Strategic Air Power
The USAF and RAF had built up substantial heavy bomber strength in the Far East by mid July and launched several carpet bombing attacks on North Korean staging areas around the Pusan Perimeter. 95 RAF Lancasters struck around Chinju on July 20th with 3284 500lb and 206 1000lb bombs, devastating several supply dumps and heavy artillery batteries. Forces of 126 and 139 B-29s hit targets around Kumch'on and Andong, smashing troop concentrations and forward logistical headquarters. The impact on North Korean field forces was somewhat less clear. Continued light and medium bomber attacks continued throughout the final week of July.

British and American airships had maintained a constant presence off each coast of Korea, allowing for a full picture of Red aerial sorties and significant intelligence on ground movements. Their aircraft complements launched several air strikes per day on airfields and the North Korean railway network, with the airships themselves coastal striking targets of opportunity with aerial gunfire and rockets. On July 25th, three American and two British airships hit Pyongyang with one of the heaviest raids of the war to date, with significant damage caused by bombs and their heat rays.

The Sea War
In addition to supporting Allied ground troops around the Pusan Perimeter, the American and British Empire naval forces had a variety of other missions. The United States Navy's Task Forces 77 operated in the Sea of Japan, consisting of three fleet carriers (Valley Forge, Philippine Sea and Bonhomme Richard), the light fleet carrier USS Pelelieu and the escort carriers USS Badoeng Strait, USS Sicily, USS Eniwetok, USS Rabaul and USS Saipan. The CVEs (Task Force 77.4) provided close air support from Marine Corsair squadrons for American and South Korean forces, whilst the four larger carriers (Task Force 77.1) operated further out to sea, striking at transportation targets, troop concentrations and strategic targets in addition to their tactical missions.

The battle squadron (TF 77.2) conducted regular shore bombardment missions in support of troops and against coastal targets, provided heavy anti aircraft support to the carrier task forces and acted as a deterrent to any intervention by the Soviet Pacific Fleet. The independent cruiser squadron provided the outer defences of the fleet, shore bombardment and hunted down and destroyed three North Korean destroyers. Destroyers and destroyer escorts screened each carrier task force and conducted aggressive ASW sweeps against the five North Korean submarines operating off the east coast.

The Royal Navy operated in the Korea Strait and Yellow Sea, covering any sorties by the Imperial Chinese Navy and supporting the British and Commonwealth divisions along the southern end of the Pusan Perimeter. The aircraft carriers HMS Hermes, HMS Indefatigable and the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Sydney controlled the air and sea around the Korea Strait, with the battleships HMS Vanguard, HMS Superb, HMAS Australia and HMNZS New Zealand providing long range gunfire in support of ground forces and heavy air defence to the carriers. The heavy cruisers Ulysses, Royalist and Swiftsure ranged across the Yellow Sea, bombarding the North Korean shore and covering any sorties from their fleet base in the Korea Bay.

Aftermath
The North Korean offensives of June and July had cost them nearly 30,000 casualties and ground their strategic offensive to a halt. August would see further hard fighting all along the Pusan Perimeter, but growing American, South Korean and Allied strength made a North Korean breakthrough unlikely. New North Korean troops did trickle through to the battlefield over the course of July; however, no further divisional sized units could be formed, despite increased Soviet shipments of material and arms.

On the 5th of August 1950, President Truman announced to the world that an atomic explosion had occurred in the Soviet Union at some stage in the last week of July.

The stakes had been raised.

World Reaction: Reinforcements and Mobilization

The reaction of the world to the initial North Korean invasion had been a mixture of shock and befuddlement, with large sections of the public across Europe and the Americas possessing only limited knowledge of the one-time Hermit Kingdom of the Far East. The American-lead reaction to North Korean aggression was very popular with the press and public in the USA, Britain, Canada, Australia and the rest of the Commonwealth, with the lessons of the 1930s of the necessity of standing up to aggression being very fresh in the collective public conscience. The reaction of Europe and South America was only slightly less vehement, as the former was still very much in the process of recovering from the ravages of the Second World War.

There was significant public and political concern in Japan that the North Korean invasion would be but a prelude to a wider Red offensive in the Far East. Subsequent American reinforcement of their positions in the Far East was greeted rapturously as a sign that further war would not strike Japan. There was a most significant boost to the Japanese economy from extensive American military orders of all manner of goods and supplies for the field army in Korea and air and naval forces based in Japan.

The Soviet Union was outwardly supportive of the North Korean action, but inwardly, Stalin was furious that the threat of war had been forced upon him without consultation and well before the USSR had recovered from the war. A wide range of actions, including deposing the North Korean government, were contemplated, before a decision was reached at the Politburo to provide all support needed short of open support and to secure the defences of the Motherland. Red Army forces in Romania and Poland were reinforced, production of T-54 tanks was increased and fighter and submarine patrols were increased to defend against the perceived threat of Anglo-American air and naval attack. Long planned battleships, aircraft carriers and cruisers were laid down as part of Stalin's cherished ambition for an ocean going fleet and programmes for the development of intercontinental missiles and atomic submarines were given renewed priority.

General MacArthur had pressed for further US Army and Marine Corps divisions to allow him to go onto the offensive since early June, with plans initiated for an amphibious landing at Inchon and the 3rd Marine Division leaving San Francisco on June 30th. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff approved recommendations for the deployment of a further corps consisting of the 8th Infantry, 10th Mountain and 23rd Infantry Divisions by early August. The battleships Iowa and New Jersey, the battlecruisers Hawaii and Philippines and the aircraft carriers Boxer and Leyte sailed from Hawaii on July 29th, along with destroyers and cruisers detached from the 3rd Fleet.

Over the latter half of 1950, progressively larger numbers of American reserves were mobilized and activated, with 5 reserve and 4 National Guard divisions alerted for activation by mid 1951. These were required to provide for an adequate strategic reserve in the United States and reinforce key defensive positions in the Atlantic and Pacific in the face of the large commitment of land forces to Japan and Korea. Production of munitions, aircraft and tanks were increased, with many great factories mothballed since 1945 creaking back into life.

Australia and New Zealand had reacted swiftly to the invasion of South Korea, dispatching a joint naval task force headed by two battleships and the brand new aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney to join the Far Eastern Fleet. Mobilization of land forces in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa began in order to expand the Commonwealth Division into a corps sized formation. The 2nd Royal Marine Division and 4th Indian Division arrived in Japan on June 29th, with the former being kept in reserve for the planned amphibious landing at Inchon.

In mid June, the Committee of Imperial Defence recommended to the Cabinet the deployment of a large naval squadron from the Mediterranean, land forces from India and Malaya and air forces from Britain and Egypt to reinforce the position of the Empire in the Far East. After significant debate, the deployment of the 5th Indian division and the 1st Infantry Division was approved, along with a composite RAF group and an RN-RCN task force from the Mediterranean Fleet. A squadron headed by the carriers Ark Royal, Eagle, Victorious and HMCS Aurora and the battleships Hood and Magnificent left Malta on July 24th.

The Soviet atom bomb test of July lead to a veritable seismic reaction, with many in the United States, Britain and Canada seeing the event as the direct precursor to an invasion of Germany and Western Europe. Prime Minister Churchill and Premier de Gaulle flew to Washington to consult with President Truman on August 6th on the ramifications of the Red bomb on the Allied position in Germany and Europe in general.

Intelligence reports on increased Soviet military activity in Eastern Europe and general defensive readiness were seen as alarming signs, but back channel communications from an unknown Politburo member to British SIS assets in Constantinople and USAF reconnaissance flights indicated the true state of affairs. These indications of the nature of Soviet actions were not universally accepted by the American, French or British delegations, but President Truman, after private talks with Prime Minister Churchill, decided that the best course of action would be to confront aggression directly in the Far East and with a united front of preparation in Europe. French dissatisfaction with this decision was to have wide reaching consequences in the future.

The Allied occupation forces in Germany would be increased from their current level of 14 divisions and 1450 aircraft to 25 divisions and 3000 aircraft, whilst the process of German rearmament and negotiations on the restoration of sovereignty, tacitly begun in 1949, would be greatly accelerated in return for a security treaty between Britain, Canada, the Low Countries, France and the United States.

The US Army called up further reserves, increased the monthly intake of conscripts and requested the re-activation of a further 7 divisions (3 USAR, 4 USNG), the US Navy began reactivating large elements of the Reserve Fleet and the US Air Force recalled 120,000 reservists and began reactivating large numbers of mothballed bombers.

The Army began full scale production of the M-48 medium and the M-102 heavy tanks and began development of a long range strategic missile. The USN placed orders for the first production run atomic submarines, the Skate class, initiated a crash programme for the operational fielding of short, medium and long range surface to air missiles and began development programmes for atomic powered aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers. The USAF increased orders for the B-47 and B-52 strategic bombers and the F-100, F-101 and F-102 supersonic jet fighters. Projects Nike and Atlas (for the development of surface to air missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles respectively) were given considerably increased priority, with the first operational Nike Ajax batteries fielded in early 1951 rather than 1952.

Britain was similarly shocked by the first Soviet atom bomb test , which had been thought to have been between 3 and 5 years away. The Army Reserve was activated, the monthly National Service intake from the 1932 class was doubled and large elements of the Reserve Fleet were recommissioned.The year of maximum danger was shifted from 1960 to 1957, with a number of important results for defence production. Production of Hunters, Javelins, Vixens, Deltas and Sunbursts for Fighter Command and Canberras, Valiants and Vulcans for Bomber Command was increased and the development of the 'super' fusion bomb, the English Electric supersonic jet fighter and intercontinental ballistic missile were given 'superpriority'. Tentative orders for new atomic submarines, tactical atomic bombs, guided missile cruisers and destroyers were made and operational deployment of the first Floating Fortress was approved for 1952. Production of Centurion and Conqueror tanks was to be doubled and orders for anti-submarine frigates for 1950-1953 were increased from 29 to 56.

France partially mobilized reserve divisions to reinforce the Maginot Line and the French Army in Germany and initiated programmes for the development of long range missiles, jet bombers, supersonic fighters, tanks and new carriers. Its efforts were hampered by the smaller size of the French economy compared to that of Britain, let alone the United States, but were to prove fruitful over the next decade.

It was against the background of these greatly increased global tensions, political machinations and myriad schemes, General MacArthur's final plan for an amphibious landing at Inchon was approved on August 16th 1950.

[jemhouston]

Good story.

[Simon Darkshade]

Thank you. It is, of course, an abridged version of an in-universe history; it happens to be by an interesting person that no one has cottoned on to yet.

Like a few other pieces, this is a repost that previously went up on the former board. I still have to do 1952, 1953, 1954 and the aftermath/1955, having not written anything on it since 2019; I might try and finish it off when I knock my studies on their head in a week or so.

[Simon Darkshade]

Great Naktong Offensive
August 25th-September 10th

Prelude
The first half of August had seen localized engagements between Allied and North Korean forces along the Pusan Perimeter, as Red troops and equipment were built up for a last great concerted offensive to break the enemy defensive line and take Pusan before the correlation of forces shifted decisively against them. The battles of the Nam River and P’ohang Dong had showed that flanking attacks were a strategic dead-end due to Allied sea and air power and that the only alternative was a series of simultaneous attacks along the front in a coordinated offensive using Soviet supplied equipment.

It would consist of five assaults launched by a total of 165,000 men organized in 19 divisions. The North Korean I Corps, consisting of the 1st Armoured Division and the 5th, 6th and 7th Divisions, would attack the British 3rd Division and Commonwealth Division on the Nam River Line and break through to Masan. II Corps, consisting of the 2nd, 4th, 10th and 14th Divisions would attack the Naktong Bulge, held by the US 25th and 2nd Infantry Divisions and push through to Miryang. III Corps, consisting of the 2nd Armoured Division and the 1st, 3rd, 9th and 13th Divisions, would break through the 1st Cavalry and 6th Infantry Division to Taegu. IV Corps, with the 8th, 11th and 15th Divisions, would attack the positions held by the South Korean 1st and 6th Divisions around Hayang and Yongch’on. Finally, V Corps, consisting of the 12th, 16th and 17th Divisions, would push forward through the South Korean Capital Division and 3rd Division and take P’ohang-dong.

The earliest attacks would fall upon the South Koreans along the northern arm of the bridgehead, drawing in Allied reserves and obscuring the main blows to fall on the line of the Naktong. The five prongs would then converge on Pusan, routing the remaining Allied bridgehead and securing the Korean peninsula under the single banner of the hammer and sickle.

Battle of Kyongju
The initial attack struck the right of the Allied line around Yongdok, with a massed North Korean infantry attack on the boundary between the Capital Division and the South Korean 3rd Division following a lightning bombardment at 0400 on August 24th. Several forward companies were overrun, causing the entire of the 17th Regiment of the Capital Division to crumble into headlong retreat and her neighbouring regiment falling back to refuse its flank. The town of Kigye fell to the North Koreans by noon.

The US 24th Infantry Division held the coastal position at P’ohang-dong and moved to support the secondary South Korean defensive line in the hills south of Kigye with two companies of medium tanks and heavy artillery and mortar support. This barely managed to stabilize the strongpoints around Hills 334, 438 and 445 in time for the US 5th Regimental Combat Team to move forward to An’gang-ni and start digging in alongside four battalions of South Korean infantry.

Over the next five days, the South Koreans were steadily pushed back from the hill line by relentless mortar fire and flanking attacks at a heavy cost in lives to the Red attackers. Concerted assaults on P’ohang-dong failed to dislodge the 24th Division from their strongly held positions due to round-the-clock naval gunfire support from USN cruisers and destroyers rotating offshore and dozens of airstrikes by USAF Shooting Stars and Mustangs armed with napalm, rockets and cluster bombs. Dozens of long range naval bombardment by the battleship USS Iowa struck at North Korean rear lines and support positions, hampering their ability to provide heavy support for their frontline infantry.

The reformed South Korean 2nd Division, heavily reinforced with US infantry, artillery, tanks and cavalry, replaced the Capital Division on the frontlines on September 2nd, providing a welcome opportunity to rearm and reinforce the battered formation. A last great Red attack was smashed back by the increasingly confident South Koreans and Americans on the very outskirts of An-gang-ni on September 7th and the newly formed Republic of Korea I Corps prepared for an offensive to retake the lost high ground.

Battle of Yongch’on
The rugged mountainous terrain to the northwest of Yongch’on was rent by the screaming of rockets and the thunder of guns at 0500 on August 25th. The South Korean 1st and 6th Divisions came under heavy attack from the Northern forces and were gradually pushed back three and a half miles along the front over the next nine days before grinding the offensive to a halt. The North Korean 8th Division was effectively wiped out by a South Korean counterattack on September 4th. Limited armoured breakthroughs resulted in the seizure of two hills overlooking Yongch’on by elements of the 11th Division, but they were cleared by gruelling frontal infantry attacks by September 9th.

There ensued a desperate succession of running battles on the broken ridgelines and in makeshift trenches between small American and South Korean rifle companies and the determined North Korean infantry. The first deployments of US Army combat wizards in Korea proved decisive, with the flash of lightning bolts and fireballs scouring Red positions from the hills alongside conventional artillery and mortar fire.

Sporadic night attacks followed over the course of the next four days, as the ability of the North Korean forces to mount large scale daylight operations was progressively degraded by American artillery and airpower, which had also largely eliminated the remaining tank units along the northern front. Heavy use of napalm was particularly successful in dislodging doggedly held machine gun nests and bunkers. The South Korean troops had suffered sufficient attritional losses to make large scale offensive action impossible for the time being and an uneasy stalemate held around the Yongch’on front.

Battle of Taegu
The North Korean III Corps attacked the forward positions of the 1st Cavalry Division on the night of August 25th in a surprise action without a preliminary bombardment. The armoured spearhead of the T-34 tanks of the 2nd Armoured Division broke through the defences of the 8th Cavalry Regiment on the right flank of the US line and only hurried commitment of the divisional reserves of the 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry Regiment and massed artillery fire prevented a decisive breakthrough. The 9th Division’s attack on the US 6th Division along the Naktong was held back after initial breakthroughs isolated several battalion strongpoints. By August 29th, the American troops had been pushed back almost 2 miles towards Taegu at some points.

The 7th Cavalry Regiment launched a counterattack at the centre of the Allied line with strong tank support and succeeded in smashing a large part of the remaining effective combat strength of the North Korean 3rd Division and creating a significant salient into Red-held territory. The 8th and 10th Cavalry Regiments had re-established strong lines on the northern flank of the enemy penetration and the 5th Cavalry continued to withstand concentrated attacks from the North Korean 1st Division.

On September 3rd, elements of two North Korean divisions launched a furious attack on the key hill position of Ka-san, designated Hill 902. They succeeded in driving the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment from the hill with continued infantry wave attacks and heavy mortar and machine gun fire. American artillery ammunition supplies were running low in the Taegu sector, with some 105mm field howitzer batteries restricted to 20 rounds per day. A scratch force made up of a company of combat engineers of the 8th Engineer Battalion was thrown into the fray on September 5th, retaking the summit of Ka-san and digging in to withstand the enemy repost. They held out against tremendous odds for two days and nights before being withdrawn, having suffered 60% casualties.

Further reserves were deployed to retake Hill 314, which had fallen to the Reds on September 7th. After five attempts, the remnants of two infantry companies were able to establish firm control of the hill and were reinforced by the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, heavily augmented by South Korean riflemen. They repulsed fanatical North Korean attacks for the next two days, with airstrikes proving ineffective due to the close proximity of the enemy to American and South Korean forces. Accurate heavy mortar fire proved particularly devastating to outer Allied positions and the rough terrain prevented the close support of US armour.

On September 12th, the increasing frequency of North Korean attacks severely reduced available machine gun ammunition and threatened the entire hill with being overrun. At 1524, as the remnants of two rifle regiments of the North Korean 1st Division prepared to move out for the final assault on Hill 314, six 240mm M1 howitzers at Taegu opened fire on their positions. The US troops had slipped back from their positions earlier that morning, opening up the hilltop for heavy bombardment. The hour long rain of superheavy high explosive rounds was followed by repeated napalm strikes by USAF attack fighters. At 1648, the reinforced 3rd Battalion charged forward into the North Korean positions, covered by rocket artillery and strafing runs by F-51 Mustangs and swept the remnants of the 1st Division from the hill. American troops grimly held their positions on the high ground to the northwest of Taegu, but sustained grievous losses in their triumph.

Second Battle of the Naktong Bulge
The Second Battle of the Naktong Bulge opened on the 26th of August with a heavy artillery barrage on the section of the defensive line held by the 27th and 35th Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division. Their nine infantry companies were spread thinly across a front of nearly 24,000 yards and several positions were soon isolated by North Korean infantry attacks by the 2nd and 4th Divisions amid wild sorcerously conjured storms. The 14th Infantry Regiment moved to reinforce their sorely pressed comrades and managed to consolidate their defensive positions against the waves of Red infantry attacks.

A second major attack was launched on the 30th of August by the fresh troops of the 14th Division, with thousands of North Korean infantry crossing the Naktong in force, supported by T-34 medium tanks and succeeding in driving US troops up to 3 miles from the river line. Heavy fighting from separated hilltop strongpoints ensued, with extremely heavy use of USAF close air support being decisive in turning back the North Korean attacks by day. By night, the mortars, field artillery and machine guns were the mainstays of increasingly desperate close engagements as Red Po-2 Mule raids made any thought of sleep a distant one.

On September 3rd, two regiments of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 75th Medium Tank Battalion moved up to sweep the North Korean forces back towards the Naktong, preceded by the fire of no less than six 155mm howitzer battalions. The gaps between American hill positions were steadily closed by the inexorable combination of tanks, infantry and artillery until the 14th Division had been largely destroyed or thrown back across the river by the 7th of September. The fighting around the Naktong Bulge had cost the 25th Infantry Division 1432 casualties, at least 654 of them fatal.

Battle of Yongsan
The North Korean 10th Infantry Division attacked towards Yongsan on August 27th with heavy tank and artillery support, falling upon strongly held positions occupied by the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, a company of combat engineers and several attached companies of KATUSAs. The US line was broken in several places by sheer force of numbers and firepower, with the remaining elements of the battalion falling back into the hills behind Yongsan. The road back to the crucial artillery and support base of Miryang had to be held in order to keep open the connection to the British at Masan and maintain the integrity of the defensive perimeter as a whole.

The strategic reserve of a combat team based around the 5th US Marine Infantry Regiment was committed to the bloody fighting, launching an attack across rice paddies towards the North Korean lines early on September 1st. Air strikes, rockets, lightning bolts, mortar and artillery bombardment, tank fire, machine gun and rifle fire and even naval guns from distant Allied warships smashed North Korean reinforcements as they moved across open fields from their positions on the second ridge line and slew them in their hundreds. On the second day of the counterattack, the Marines and Army infantry pinned down both flanks of the Red troops and wrought dreadful woe on their trapped foe with flamethrowers and anti-aircraft gunfire. USMC Super Corsairs provided accurate strafing, rocketing and dive bombing throughout the day, as the 10th Division was driven back towards the Naktong.

On September 5th, the Marines were withdrawn back to Pusan to prepare for the imminent amphibious landings at Inchon. Their place along the Naktong was taken by two newly arrived independent US Army formations, the 65th Infantry Regiment from Puerto Rico and the famed and feared 96th Indian Scouts Regiment, the scourge of the Imperial Japanese Army. The blood price paid in the fighting around Yongsan by the American forces was 896 casualties, with 257 killed, 98 missing and 541 wounded.

Second Battle of the Nam River
The Commonwealth Corps were struck by a heavy attack by the North Korean I Corps on August 27th. An extremely heavy mortar and heavy artillery bombardment at 0420 was followed by repeated volleys of Katyusha rockets as the 1st Armoured Division spearheaded the general Red advance towards the lines held by the British Empire troops. The guns of the 5th AGRA responded, quieting several North Korean batteries and partially disrupting the movement of heavy tanks to forward positions.

The northern sector of the Nam River line was held by the Commonwealth Division, consisting of the 1st Anzac Brigade (made up of one New Zealand and two Australian battalions), the 2nd Canadian/Newfoundland Brigade and the 4th South African/Rhodesian Brigade. Each brigade group was strongly supported by an armoured squadron, a circle of war wizards and two field artillery regiments, in addition to their own mortars, grenadiers, rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, infantry guns and battle tracks.

The North Korean 5th and 6th Infantry Divisions succeeded in pushing across the Nam on August 28th and penetrating the gaps between the individual brigade positions, with some infiltrators making it back into divisional support areas almost 5 miles behind the Nam. Bitter fighting raged through the day, with dozens of ferocious section and platoon level actions forcing back the Reds at bayonet point. 5th AGRA was called on for no less than five separate Yoke target fire orders on the first morning.

Repeated airstrikes by RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF and RSAF Venom and Vampire fighter-bombers inflicted fearful damage on North Korean positions during the morning and early afternoon of August 29th, prior to three main pontoon bridges being destroyed by pinpoint 2500lb guided bombs from RAF English Electric Canberras flying from Iwakuni Airbase. That night, the dark skies above the valley of the Nam were lit in strange flashes of multi-coloured light as the Reds were pounded with napalm, wildfire, skyblaze and vitriol by the heavies of the RAF and RAAF.

Continual attempts were made by North Korean infantry to force a crossing of the Nam over the next week in the face of the concentrated firepower of the Commonwealth Division, but no major breakthroughs could be forced. Australian and Canadian Centurion tank units proved particularly adept in suppressing assaults from their hilltop positions with their 36pdrs, 25mm Maxim Guns and long range machine guns.

The North Korean infantry continued to succeed with lower level river crossings and forward Commonwealth trenches were subjected to constant harassing fire from mortars, machine guns and rocket launchers and bitter grenade duels lasting for hours. Night raids often resulted in scrabbling close engagements resolved by bayonet, sword and axe and the new Uzi submachine guns added to the formidable reputation they had begun to earn in Korea. Flamethrowers and war lions did dreadful slaughter as even divisional cavalry regiments were throw into the fray to turn back the weight of enemy numbers. The Commonwealth Division held against everything the Reds threw at it and by September 4th had firmly repulsed the northern arm of the I Corps offensive

The main force of the 1st Armoured Division and the 7th Infantry Division fell upon the British 3rd Division along the south of the Nam. Over a hundred T-34 tanks accompanied by dozens of BTR-152s struck across the river in three main thrusts at a natural ford, supported by infantry and heavy artillery fire. The supporting artillery of the 3rd Division caught the North Korean armour with enfilading fire from their positions on the hills overlooking the Nam valley and knocked out 42 tanks in the first half hour with their 17pdr and 25pdr anti-tank guns and powerful 3.75” anti-aircraft guns firing over open sights. Well-dug in infantry added their own anti-tank rockets and recoilless rifles to the defences, breaking up the coordinated attack for a devastating armoured counter-attack.

The Centurion and Churchill tanks of the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, the Royal Scots Greys and the 24th Lancers came down from the hills like a wolf upon the fold, firing as they went. The 1st Armoured Division was routed before it could engage the British armour and thrown back across the Nam in disarray. It was at that moment that a Royal Artillery forward observation officer perched on a hilltop nearby issued the order “William Scale 20” and unleashed hell.

Over 350 field, medium and heavy guns and howitzers of the 3rd and Commonwealth Divisions opened fire upon what would later become known as Bloody Ford. Within two minutes, 156 tons of high explosive had hit the North Korean troops on either side of the ford, sending the survivors streaming back into the hills leaving hundreds of dead comrades and smashed vehicles in their wake.

The North Korean I Corps on the Nam River were never again able to mass troops and equipment for a concentrated attack on British trenches, with dozens of RAF and RN airstrikes occurring every hour along the line and companies of Gurkhas from the crack 4th Indian Division being rushed to seal off every attempted infiltration effort. Their lines of supply were significantly disrupted by naval fire support from RN battleships and cruisers operating up to 25 miles offshore. By September 7th, the Battle of the Nam River had been won through Allied firepower and the extremely favourable strategic position of the British lines close to the ever present support of the guns and planes of the Royal Navy. British and Commonwealth forces had lost 338 dead, 297 missing and 1579 wounded in a hard fight, but had inflicted thousands of casualties in return.

Aftermath
The Great Naktong Offensive had seen some of the most bloody and intense fighting of the war in Korea to date. The 8th Army had moved its field headquarters back from Taegu to Pusan during the initial phase of North Korean penetration, but the Pusan Perimeter itself had held strong and fast. The field army of North Korea had been smashed, with the loss of over 52,000 men and virtually all of their tanks, artillery and heavy weapons. Total American casualties were 9568 (1276 killed, 877 missing, 463 POW and 6952 wounded) and British Empire and South Korean losses amounting to 2214 and 15377 (2946 killed, 1119 missing, 704 POW and 10,608 wounded) respectively. The offensive had been stopped and turned back by the valiant Allied feats of arms, causing great consternation in Pyongyang. The scene was set for the landings at Inchon.

[Simon Darkshade]

Inchon

Background
The battles around the Pusan Perimeter had raged for over 3 months by early September. The North Korean Army had been pushed far beyond its logistical support chain and decisively halted by the strong Allied defence during June and early July. The failure of the subsequent Great Naktong Offensive had shattered its capacity to conduct any large scale attacks and overwhelming American and British air and seapower had firmly shifted the initiative along the front. Almost 80,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed, with most divisions significantly understrength and lacking armour, artillery and heavy equipment. The Red tide had been halted and now it was the turn of the Allies to move onto the offensive phase.

Plans had been proposed for an amphibious assault behind North Korean lines in the Seoul area since the early days of the war. General MacArthur had seen that it would be difficult for the South Korean Army to halt the Northern offensive at any point near Seoul and had proposed a number of landings around the Inchon area over May and June that had been abandoned due to the rapidly shifting state of military fortunes. The desperate fighting along the Pusan Perimeter demanded a full commitment of every division and prevented the buildup of a significant strategic reserve. The arrival of substantial numbers of further US and British Empire reinforcements increased the potential for a flanking action and full planning began in late July, with particular consideration going to the use of the newly arrived American and British Marine divisions.

The Joint Strategic and Operations Group of US Far East Command was assigned the task of formulating a plan for a landing at Inchon. The natural and manmade defences of the port were daunting, with passage restricted to two narrow channels easily blocked by mines and beset with a wickedly fast current. The anchorage itself was small and surrounded by seawalls and the vestiges of Japanese defensive fortifications and coastal gun emplacements. The US Navy favoured a simpler landing at Kunsan, but MacArthur refused to compromise, betting everything on a decisive victory. The great challenges of Inchon were what made it an attractive option in his view, as the North Koreans would be strategically surprised by an overwhelming amphibious offensive at an apparently secure location.

MacArthur’s strategic concept was presented to a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his Tokyo headquarters at the Dai-Ichi Building on August 16th 1950. He overcame significant opposition to his plan on behalf of the USN and USAF, which had concluded that “the best that can be said about Inchon is that it is not impossible” by rhapsodising at great length at his extensive affection for both services after their grand triumph in the Pacific War and his personal debt for his successful evacuation from the Philippines in 1942. The advantages of Inchon were significant, striking unexpectedly at a lightly defended point, cutting off the lines of communication of the main Red field forces in the south and circumventing the costs of a lengthy winter campaign. He concluded "We must act now or we will die...we shall land at Inchon, and I shall crush them." The JCS gave their unanimous approval after the bravura performance and full planning commenced.

Operation Chromite proposed an amphibious landing operation at Inchon by the newly activated X Corps, which would consist of the 1st and 3rd US Marine Divisions, the 2nd Royal Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division. The two US Marine divisions would make the assault landing at Inchon on six beaches codenamed Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange and Purple with the heavily reinforced 7th Infantry Division being landed administratively over the next three days. The operational objective was the seizure of Inchon and a rapid advance to take Kimpo Airfield and liberate Seoul, seizing the logistic supply hub of the Red invasion force along the Pusan Perimeter. The 11th Airborne Division remained in Japan as a strategic reserve to be flown in once Kimpo Airfield was secured. This force of 125,000 troops would be supported by the US Fifth Air Force and the RAF Far East Air Force out of Japan, the strategic bombers of the US Twentieth Air Force on Okinawa and the combined Allied naval fleets.

Build Up in Japan and Shaping Attacks
The logistical requirements for an amphibious assault on such a scale required a mustering of shipping and equipment from all over the Far East. The essential requirement was for Tank Landing Ships, which were gathered from USN bases in Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines, RN and RAN facilities in Australia and Singapore and even from Japanese merchant service. Dozens of attack transports, high speed transports, dock landing ships, requisitioned merchant steamers, freighters and attack cargo ships gathered in Yokohama, Kobe, Sasebo and Pusan. Hundreds of fighters, fighter-bombers, bombers, attack planes and transports began to crowd every available airfield in Japan. Thousands of tons of ammunition, vehicles, supplies and general cargo piled up on the docks as the armada was gradually combat loaded and prepared for the journey to battle.

The sheer concentration of men, ships and equipment in Japan and Pusan made the intent of an amphibious operation glaringly obvious, with some wags in the press labelling it ‘Operation General Knowledge’. Extensive use was made of shielding magics and complex webs of illusion obscuring the precise goings on at the dockside, but the flow of traffic could simply not be hidden. Soviet agents in Japan had only to count the scores of trains and hundreds of trucks streaming into the staging bases or look up into the skies to notice the steady influx of all manner of aircraft from across the world. The cooperation of the weather could not be arranged, with Typhoons Jane and Kesia passing over Kobe and southwest Japan on September 2nd and September 8th respectively, tearing vessels from their moorings and damaging cranes and the great build-up of cargo on the dockside.

Several shaping attacks were launched on both sides of the Korean peninsula to pin down North Korean garrisons and split their reserves. Carrier raids hammered Kunsan on four successive days from September 7th to September 10th, coordinated with USAF, RAAF and RAF fighter-bomber strikes on surrounding roads and bridges. 92 B-29s bombed the port on the night of September 12th and a naval task force of three battleships and five cruisers bombarded Red coastal defences on the following dawn as the fires lit by the night raid still burned. On the east coast, Ulchin was hit by several long range cruiser bombardments and a series of heavy nocturnal raids by USAF B-45 Tornadoes operating out of Itazuke Air Force Base. The diversionary attacks were partially successful, with some troops and aircraft being moved to respond to possible Allied amphibious assaults.

The Allied forces steadfastly manning the Pusan Perimeter were joined by the first of many foreign contingents, with a reinforced French infantry brigade from Indochina including crack Royal Musketeers and Imperial Guards, a Filipino regimental combat team and a Dutch-Belgian brigade disembarking in Pusan. Whilst the Eighth Army had been hard pressed by the recent battles along the Naktong, the flow of reinforcements, armoured vehicles and materiel was rapidly restoring their offensive capacity. Further USAF and RAF fighter squadrons arrived in Japan, including the first F-86 Sabre and Hawker Hunter units in the theatre of operations.

Fleet Movements
The requirements for naval support of Operation Chromite necessitated the movement of the majority of the USN’s Task Force 77 from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea. Taking its place as the east coast covering force would be Task Force 75, consisting of the USS Pelelieu, the newly arrived carriers Leyte, Oriskany and Wake Island and the battlecruisers Hawaii and Philippines. The largest naval force since Operation Olympic in 1945 gathered in the Tsushima Strait and the Yellow Sea.

Five American, four British and one Australian fleet aircraft carrier made up TF 77.1 the Fast Carrier Task Force, along with 6 battleships, 15 cruisers, 39 destroyers and 11 frigates. It provided air cover to TF 77.2, the Support Force of 6 battleships, 16 cruisers and 28 destroyers which was to provide direct support for the landings at Inchon. TF 77.3, the Attack Force of 8 escort carriers, 24 destroyers and 13 frigates, would provide direct air support to the assault divisions, carried by TF 77.4, the Amphibious Transport Force, which consisted of 25 AKA, 21 APD, 10 LSD, 32 LSM, 56 LST and 41 APA and a direct escort of 23 destroyer escorts.

A separate Anglo-Canadian task force based around HMS Hermes and HMCS Aurora would remain in the Korea Strait to provide support to the British Empire forces at the base of the Pusan Perimeter. Further destroyer and submarine patrols screened the operational area on all sides. Dozens of minesweepers supported the invasion, along with hospital ships and underway replenishment groups. Squadrons of motor torpedo boats patrolled the occupied shores aggressively, landing commando teams and bombarding coastal traffic.

Strategic Bombing
The Far Eastern Air Force had identified and designated twenty four key strategic targets in North Korea at the outbreak of the war. By the beginning of September, all had been destroyed or badly damaged, with over 50,000 tons of bombs dropped on strategic and tactical targets. The Northern road and rail transport network was in tatters, all major bridges had been destroyed and the considerable industrial plant built up in decades of Japanese occupation had been thoroughly wrecked. The B-29s of Twentieth Air Force were increasingly shifted onto tactical targets in the first week of September, pulverizing suspected Red troops concentrations from the air. Four important rail tunnels in North Korea were destroyed by Grand Slams dropped by Royal Air Force Avro Lancasters in early August as the bombs were finally delivered to the Far East.

On the afternoon of September 13th, 238 B-29s escorted by 90 P-80s bombed Kimpo airfield and targets around Inchon, inflicting serious damage. 113 RAF Lancasters followed up that night with a heavy raid on the railyards of Seoul. American, British, Australian and Canadian medium and light bombers hammered ports on both coasts of Korea over the next 48 hours, whilst USAF and RAF strategic bombers struck targets throughout North Korea and around Inchon with 1000lb and 2000lb bombs. Airships hit Pyongyang and Wonsan with incendiary raids, adding to the general atmosphere of chaos and confusion.

Naval Strikes
The harbour installation and docks of Inchon had been subject to continual reconnaissance flights and aerial photography, but precise intelligence was needed to pinpoint the exact locations of coastal defence guns and North Korean fortifications, particularly on the key fortress island of Wolmi-Do. It controlled the approaches to the harbour and it would be necessary to neutralize and capture the island prior to the main landings. On September 2nd, a joint mission of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Allied military placed a carefully selected team on the island of Yonghung-do, which overlooked the harbour and Wolmi-Do. Landing under cover of specially refined invisibility and non-detection dweomers, two South Koreans and a US Navy lieutenant made contact with the people of the island and began to use junks to raid the shoreline and patrol the channel to observe its mine defences.

Inchon and its defences were subjected to considerable naval gunfire in the lead up to the landings on September 15th. The battleships Missouri, Iowa, New Jersey, Hood, Superb and Magnificent operated in deeper waters out beyond Tokchok-to and bombarded targets around Inchon and Wolmi-do from distances upwards of 67,000 yards as well as diversionary missions against Haeju, Osan and Kaesong from September 10th onwards. The airfield at Kimpo and railway south to Suwon were particular targets for long range bombardment. The superheavy guns of the battleships inflicted considerable damage and knocked out several large fortifications, but precision gunfire would require a closer approach by smaller vessels.

On September 14th the heavy cruisers Des Moines, Rochester, Swiftsure and Royalist covered the mouth of the Flying Fish Channel and provided long range firepower while the Little Rock, Vallejo, Oklahoma City, Springfield, Jamaica, Sheffield, Kenya and Belfast ventured to within 16,000 yards of shore to strike with their remarkably accurate 6” guns. Strong forces of USN, RN, RCN and RAN destroyers sped in as close as the tide would permit to saturate Wolmi-do and the Inchon docks with hundreds of rounds of 4.5”, 5” and 5.25”gunfire in a daring hour long raid. The many guns, howitzers and mortars of the fortified island returned fire and were blasted by the destroyers in return, with one 100mm gun position being struck by 160 5” rounds in a matter of minutes.

The fighter-bombers and attack fighters of the Fast Carrier Task Force hammered every mobile target within one hundred miles of Inchon, destroying trains, trucks and motor cars alike and plastered Wolmi-do with rockets, cluster bombs and napalm. The Skyraider and Brigand attack planes proved particularly adept in suppressing Red strongpoints with accurately delivered 1000lb bombs. Over 450 carrier based fighters provided a virtually impenetrable blanket of protection over the air operating area and swiftly dispatched the few North Korean fighters that tried to penetrate the area.

Green Beach
At 0530 on the 15th of September, the assembled fleet of battleships, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, gunboats and rocket firing landing ships opened fire on Wolmi-Do and Inchon for an hour long bombardment that dwarfed that of the previous few days. At 0630, the landing force of the 5th Marine Regiment and 27 M-26 Pershing tanks of the 1st Marine Tank Battalion hit the shores of Wolmi-Do, codenamed Green Beach, pouring forward from their LSTs and rapidly proceeded to take the island, inflicting over 400 casualties on the outnumbered North Korean garrison through overwhelming firepower and copious use of flamethrowers and combat magic. As the sun rose, the first waves of USMC Super Corsairs operating off the escort carriers of the Attack Force began to strike targets around Inchon.

Isolated groups of Red infantry and snipers ensured that the island was not totally secure until just after sunset, as the 5th Marines fought dozens of small scale engagements with rifle and grenade. The Pershing tanks decisively broke the last pocket of resistance, blasting a well dug in North Korean platoon near the causeway to Inchon with their 90mm guns and covering a flanking assault by a flamethrower team. The venerable Browning Automatic Rifle proved a useful weapon against entrenched enemy troops, second only to the devastating firepower supplied by the deadly Marine fighters in the skies above. The 5th Marines lost 42 killed and 123 wounded in the hard fighting, but had opened the door to Inchon.

Red Beach
The initial planning for the assault on Inchon proper presumed that it would be necessary to hold Wolmi-Do for over twelve hours before the second wave of landings due to the troublesome tides. USN aquamages worked day and night at the Naval College of Sorcery in Norfolk to develop a top secret new high magic spell designed to rapidly raise tides over a confined area, with it being successfully tested in Louisiana on September 7th. It would allow a rapid assault on Inchon shortly after the neutralization of Wolmi-Do, hopefully astonishing the defenders and ensuring complete tactical surprise. Significant obstacles remained, not the least of which were the sea walls blocking immediate egress from the narrow beaches.

Upon receipt of confirmation that Wolmi-Do had been successfully captured at 0927, Admiral Doyle, the commander of the Amphibious Force, ordered that the full assault commence. A circle of wizards in navy blue robes raised their arms and voices in loud incantations aboard the command ship USS Mount Olympus and the tide began to rush in. The landing craft were launched and twelve LSTs began to close in on Red Beach, an area stretching from Cemetery Hill to the top of the Inner Tidal Basin. Despite the heavy preparatory bombardment, they still came under heavy fire from North Korean mortars, machine guns and a pair of 76mm field guns. A flight of Super Corsairs strafed the beach and hit the artillery positions with napalm as the LSTs opened up with their own 5” guns. Four ships were damaged and 19 sailors were killed.

The 1st Marines under Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller landed amid concentrated fire and stormed through North Korean defences at a cost of 23 dead and 96 wounded. The sea wall was scaled using assault ladders and a strong beachhead established. The causeway to Wolmi-Do was open by mid-afternoon, allowing the 5th Marines and their tanks to join the battle for Inchon. As night fell, the key high ground of Observatory Hill and much of the industrial district had been captured and considerable support equipment landed.

Blue Beach
Blue Beach was located south of the tidal basin and was assaulted by the 3rd Marines at 0948. As their landing craft and ships approached the coast, they came under heavy fire from North Korean artillery positions and one LST was sunk. The American response was swift, with the heavy cruisers Des Moines and Quincy firing 248 8” rounds at the Red guns and eliminating active resistance. The Marines swiftly moved off the beaches, accompanied by Pershing tanks of the 3rd Tank Battalion, secured the immediate beachhead and seized the road to Yongdungpo and Seoul.

North Korean mortars hit the roadside positions, causing the Marines to dig in deeply and return fire with their bazookas and heavy machine guns. The tanks once again proved the decisive edge in suppressing indirect enemy fire and establishing firm control over the key road. The next few hours saw only the occasional burst of artillery fire interrupt the consolidation of the beachhead.

A North Korean infantry counterattack at 1440 was decisively beaten back by heavy machine gun fire, flamethrowers and savage bayonet fighting, with over 300 enemy casualties inflicted. Forward patrols established contact with advanced elements of the 1st Marines in the later afternoon, beginning the linkup of the beachhead. A battery of 105mm howitzers of the 12th Marines was landed just before nightfall, adding to the strong positions established during the day. Overall casualties were light, with 40 killed and 116 wounded.

Yellow Beach
To the immediate south of Blue Beach lay Yellow Beach, the target of the 9th Marines. It was defended by two North Korean infantry companies who had suffered grievous losses from the screaming volleys of the LSMRs. The LSTs hit the beach at 0958, disgorging their cargo of hundreds of Marines and 16 tanks. Two well-placed machine gun nests held up the advance inland for the better part of half an hour before being outflanked and destroyed with grenades and recoilless rifle fire. The American forces, augmented with several companies of South Korean Marines, pushed forward behind their Pershings, smashing through the vestiges of enemy resistance.

A pair of USMC combat wizards came ashore at 1124 and soon began blasting bunkers and foxholes with lightning bolts and fireballs to the cheers of the Marines. The combination of tanks, magic, rockets and the ever-present offshore fire of the destroyers proved too much for the remaining Northern troops and they began to surrender as organized opposition crumbled. The Marines quickly linked up with Blue Beach to the north and pressed inland to form strong lines covering the Seoul road and preparing for the next stage of the invasion. Yellow Beach saw the lightest American losses of the day, with 22 killed and 53 wounded.

Orange Beach
The 2nd Royal Marine Division had been given the role of securing the vital southern flank of the landings at Inchon and then advancing to cut the road to Suwon. It landed on two separate beaches, codenamed Orange and Purple. Orange Beach lay to the north the town of Taigan-Do and was relatively lightly defended. It was assaulted by the 4th Royal Marine Brigade, reinforced by 42 Royal Marine Commando and 25 Centurion tanks and landed by 10 LSTs. The landing was preceded by a heavy bombardment from the cruisers Belfast, Jamaica and Kenya and the destroyers Cavalier, Cossack, Alamein, Jutland, Somme and Dunkirk.

The first Royal Marines came ashore at 1012 and quickly silenced the few pockets of resistance in the immediate vicinity of the beaches. The Centurions of the 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Regiment destroyed several machine gun nests and kept up steady fire on North Korean positions on the high ground surrounding the landing area. Advancing inland was to prove a tougher proposition due to the steep hilly terrain and it took until 1937 to reach their objective of the heights of Munhang-Myon. 36 Royal Marines were killed and 98 wounded in the fighting on Orange Beach.

Purple Beach
The final landing of September 15th occurred on Purple Beach, immediately to the south of Orange. The 6th Royal Marine Brigade and 43 Royal Marine Commando would have the difficult task of landing in swampy terrain and seizing high ground overlooking the salt pans around Namdong. Their LCAs hit the beach at 1032 and were bought under fire by North Korean mortars and machine guns positioned on the rear slope of the heights above them. Concentrated strafing, dive bombing and use of napalm by Hawker Sea Furies allowed the beleaguered Royal Marines to fight their way off the beach through the narrow saddles on either side of Sekiren Hill.

From there, the 6th Royal Marines were able to take the village of Tongch’on with a pincer attack whilst 43 Commando advanced to the high ground on the other side of the salt pans. They linked up with the 4th Royal Marine Brigade in the late evening and formed a strong line across the bottom of the peninsula. Organized resistance was relatively minimal compared to the tough fighting encountered by the US Marines further north due to the lack of major North Korean units. By the early hours of September 16th, contact had been established with the American 9th Marines, creating a continuous beachhead.

Consolidation and Breakout
Following the elimination of North Korean resistance in Inchon, the focus of the landings turned to consolidation and the build-up of supplies, as USN Seabees began construction of pontoon docks on Green Beach, UDTs cleared obstructions and assorted debris from the water and the remaining units of the three Marine divisions came ashore. The 1st Marine Division struck out towards Kimpo Airfield, the 3rd Marine Divisions began pushing up the northern side of the Inchon-Seoul road and the 2nd Royal Marine Division advanced on their southern flank, covering them from any movement of Red troops up from the Pusan front. The 16th of September also saw the first ships carrying the 7th Infantry Division arrive in Inchon.

Two attempted North Korean counterattacks struck either end of the Inchon lodgement on the afternoon of the 16th, with an armoured regiment of T-34 tanks spotted outside of the village of Kansong-Ni and destroyed by swarming attacks from dozens of Super Corsairs, Skyraiders, Mauler and Panthers; advancing Marine tanks encountered only a single survivor. In the south, two battalions of infantry moved up from Suwon towards the 2nd Royal Marine Division at 1326 and were engaged by the southernmost battleship on the offshore gunline, HMS Hood, which opened fire at 74,000 yards with her 20” guns. By 1332, the survivors were streaming back into the hills in panic after being struck by no less than forty seven 4800lb shells.

Kimpo Airfield was captured by the 1st Marines on September 17th after a short firefight with the shattered remnants of a North Korean battalion thoroughly demoralized by the pounding of Allied firepower and terrible nightmares and nocturnal screaming conjured by battle mages. The airfield itself was miraculously still relatively intact after the protracted bombing and bombardment that had preceded the landings. The first US aircraft would not be able to operate from Kimpo for two days, but its capture opened the door for swift exploitation of the swelling beachhead. The first C-54s carrying the advanced elements of the 11th Airborne Division landed at Kimpo on September 18th and the first land based USMC Super Corsairs of VMF-214 flew in from Japan the following day, with initial combat missions coming on the 20th.

The Liberation of Seoul
The breakout from Inchon did not occur as a coordinated assault, but rather as a rolling series of leapfrog attacks out from the secure beachhead. Marine and infantry battalions would advance forward supported by tanks, LVTs and circling fighter-bombers. Upon encountering resistance, they would call in artillery fire, airstrikes and naval gunfire support to fix the enemy while the next battalion manoeuvred to envelop its flanks. One particularly stubborn position on Hill 123 held up the advance of the 3rd Marine Division for over an hour and a half before being destroyed, along with the hill itself, by a devastating frost, lightning and flame attack by Argention, the most powerful silver dragon in the US Air Force. By September 20th, the road to Seoul lay open.

American and British forces advanced rapidly towards the South Korean capital in three thrusts, with the 1st Marines and elements of the 11th Airborne crossing the Han River in LVTs and DUKWs and penetrating the suburbs from the north, the 3rd Marine and 7th Infantry driving straight up the road from Inchon and the 2nd Royal Marines attacking from the south. The 1st Marines were the first to push into the city on September 21st, but were slowed by strong resistance from the garrison of two under-strength infantry divisions. The powerful advantages of Allied airpower and artillery could no longer be brought to bear in the close confines of a city filled with over 500,000 helpless friendly civilians.

By the 23rd, all three Allied columns were engaged in intense house-to-house fighting through the streets of Seoul. Each major intersection was heavily defended by makeshift barricades of rice bags, rubble, furniture and debris that concealed machine gun positions, anti-tank guns and improvised mine barriers. Reducing every street fortress was a slow and grim task, with teams of infantry, tanks and combat engineers battling snipers, firebombs and well positioned mortars. The tactical routine for breaching the barricades of Seoul followed a bloody pattern – carrier based fighters would strafe and rocket the barriers whilst riflemen and mortar teams covered the approach of mine-clearing engineers and flamethrowers followed by tanks blasting and crashing through the shattered remnants.

Yard by yard, the Allies pushed forward into the city, with the Pershings and Centurions leading the way, smashing the barricades with their 90mm and 36pdr main guns. The commander of X Corps, General Almond, declared the city officially liberated on September 26th, but it took until September 30th for the combat situation to be safe enough for General MacArthur and President Rhee to fly in and mark the liberation with an official ceremony at a heavily defended Government House. Sniper fire could be heard in the distance as MacArthur proclaimed the restoration of the South Korean government in stentorian tones.

Such a great day as this was not lightly won, with the 1st Marine Division losing 247 killed, 1592 wounded and 15 missing, the 3rd Marines suffering 223 killed, 1128 wounded and 6 missing, the 7th Infantry Division suffering 156 killed, 525 wounded and 60 missing, the 11th Airborne Division losing 82 killed, 395 wounded and 2 missing and the 2nd Royal Marines suffering losses of 219 killed, 1034 wounded and 18 missing. North Korean casualties were unknown, but were estimated to be over 5000, not including 7534 prisoners of war captured.

The Inchon Landings constituted the turning point of the first period of the War in Korea and marked the first major strategic victory of the Allies as they moved onto the offensive. MacArthur’s master stroke had cut off the North Korean army in the field and liberated Seoul, providing a huge boost to Allied morale and raising hopes around the world of a triumph for the forces of liberty. The desparate fighting around the Pusan Perimeter over the long hot summer had given way to the cool breezes of spring and victory. In the south, the Eighth Army prepared to breakout and drive forth to link up with X Corps.

The time for defence was over. The time to attack had come.

[jemhouston]

It's clobbering time.

[Simon Darkshade]

Pusan Breakout

A Cyclone of Strength
The immense amphibious invasion at Inchon overshadowed the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, a battle that in itself combined myriad logistical difficulties and bold advances. The overwhelming weight of force was concentrated on the Allied side, but the rough hilly terrain and surging rivers that had proved so useful to the defensive battles of July, August and September would now present considerable obstacles, as would the increasingly wet autumn weather. General Walton Walker’s Eighth Army consisted of 247,000 men organized in 9 divisions and three corps – the US I Corps of the 1st Cavalry and 2nd and 6th Infantry Divisions and the Dutch/Belgian Brigade; the US IX Corps of the 23rd, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions and the French Brigade; and the British Commonwealth Corps under Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Keightley, comprising the Commonwealth Division, 3rd Infantry Division and 4th Indian Division. The South Korean Army had recovered from the heavy battles of June and July and could now deploy nine divisions organized in three corps.

The offensive, codenamed Operation Cyclone would be conducted on three separate axes. The two US corps would attack towards Taejon and Chongju in Operation Wildcat, the British and Imperial forces would attack toward Chonju and the key port city of Kunsan in Operation Talavera and the South Koreans would push up along the east coast towards Kangnung. The major obstacle between the Eighth Army and the planned link up with X Corps was the Sobaek Mountains, which formed a rough crescent from the east coast to the southern extremities of Korea. The opposing North Korean armies had been bled white by the failed Great Naktong Offensive and could muster barely 80,000 men in a dozen battered and understrength divisions. Many supporting elements had already begun to pull back towards the border to be refitted and reinforced.

Operation Wildcat

The United States Army breakout offensive began in the early hours of September 16th in driving rain and under a slate grey sky. The provision of close air support was hampered by the miserable weather and the main means of support was through artillery bombardment. Over 500 guns, howitzers and mortars ranging in calibre from 81mm mortars to huge 240mm howitzers opened up on the North Korean lines at 0530 for an hour long barrage that inflicted terrific damage on the Red defensive positions. It was followed by armoured personnel carriers and infantry surging forward from their lines, accompanied by assault engineers with bridging equipment and great glowing pontoons of arcane force. Under sporadic fire, the first American troops were across the Naktong by 0900 and engaging the remaining North Korean trenches and strongpoints with overwhelming firepower.

Stout field fortifications on the hilltops and reverse slopes held up the men of the 1st Cavalry and 2nd Infantry for several hours until they were engaged by 360mm bombards firing napalm and white phosphorus rounds as a substitute for precision air strikes. I Corps advanced at an agonizingly slow pace, but eventually cleared the first hills overlooking the valley despite stubborn resistance and advanced beyond the banks of the Naktong. The majority of the initial hill line was subsequently taken by the late evening of the 16th, but it was only the beginning of the long, hard slog that lay ahead.

The front around Taegu was dominated by Hill 268, which controlled the main roads along the eastern bank of the Naktong. It was bombarded by two battalions of 155mm howitzers at 0420 on September 17th and then American infantry attacked to clear the enemy from the hill, trench by trench. The North Koreans were blasted from their positions in a series of bloody engagements characterized by heavy use of bazookas, grenades and mortar fire and forced off Hill 268 by 1400, pursued by an illusionary host of US tanks and infantry carriers. The Waegwan-Taegu road was now open.

The 7th Cavalry spearheaded the American push up the road, capturing Waegwan on the 17th and Tabu-dong on September 18th, encircling significant elements of several North Korean divisions in the process. Supported by the 2nd Infantry Division and three tank battalions, the 1st Cavalry surged ahead towards Chongju, advancing 25 miles in a single day. American combat wizards were heavily utilized, being called forth on multiple times by forward observers with wireless sets and crystal balls to smash their foes aside with bolts of lightning and blasts of frostThe 6th Infantry Division linked up with the British at Nansan on September 21st. Chongju fell on the 23rd as active North Korean resistance began to crumble.

To the south, the 24th Infantry Division ground through the North Korean lines and encircled Taejon, taking the city on September 22nd by coup de main. The weather had taken a turn for the better and the advance of IX Corps was accompanied by dozens of P-80 fighter-bombers circling in the skies above. The 25th Infantry Division maintained contact with the South Korean I Corps to their east throughout their advance and faced little opposition as it reached the Han River north of Chungju. Forward elements of the 25th Division made contact with the 6th Royal Marine Brigade north of Osan on the 24th of September and the 31st Regiment of the 7th Division on the next morning, completing the link up with X Corps.

Operation Talavera

The three divisions of the British Commonwealth Corps crossed the Nam River on the morning of September 16th along a broad front after a preparatory bombardment that had lasted through the night. Initial progress towards Chinju from Masan was slow but steady, with every North Korean strongpoint being subjected to heavy artillery fire and outflanked with Centurions before being stormed by infantry in a hail of grenades and machine gun fire. Long range naval gunfire support from heavy cruisers out far away in the Korea Strait broke several strongly held hill positions along the southern flank of the advance.

The 4th Indian Division captured Sanch’ong on the 18th and let loose the Gurkhas and the Bengal Lancers, who took the vital crossroad of Anui just hours later. North Korean resistance collapsed in this sector, as whole units were overrun by companies of cheering Gurkhas eager to do bloody execution with their kukris and bayonets or ridden down in the fields by the swift Indian cavalry and roaring war lions. By September 21st, Chonju had been invested and bought under the fire of the 25pdrs of the Royal Indian Artillery; it fell 36 hours later after being stormed by Sikh infantry and the Crusader tanks of Skinner’s Horse.

The Commonwealth Division struck towards the Samjin River and Namwon from Chinju, with the Anzac, Sarac and Canadian/Newfoundland brigades leapfrogging each other along the way. The advance was led by the Centurions of the Royal Canadian Dragoons and the Royal Australian Lancers who smashed through every North Korean obstacle and shrugged off many hits from rocket propelled grenades and anti-tank guns. Namwon was captured after a short, sharp assault on September 22nd supported by the first combat action of Royal Australian Air Force CAC Kangaroos in the war in Korea. A brief counterattack lead by a pair of wand-wielding North Korean wizards was mounted that succeeded in retaking a third of the town before being eliminated in a hail of flaming meteors by the wrathful British archmage Dr. Balthazar Greycloak.

The British 3rd Division’s advance from Chinju to Chonju was rather more deliberate and faced moderate to heavy resistance at several crossroads and hill passes over the first four days. The grinding series of engagements in heavy rain on unnamed hills and dirt tracks began to wear down Red opposition, ably aided by British platoon clerics calling down vicious plagues of insects and singing rousing battle hymns to rally their men to ever greater efforts. The combination of fire from the divisional regiment of 6” howitzers and the 120mm guns of the Churchill heavy tanks proved especially effective in destroying the few North Korean bunkers and entrenchments that resisted the well-practiced assaults by teams of British infantry, Royal Engineers, mages, self-propelled 25pdrs and Centurion tanks that had broken the Siegfried Line six years earlier.

Chonju fell on the morning of September 23rd, opening the door to Kunsan, which was liberated just three hours later. The next day, a patrol of Rhino armoured cars of the Natal Mounted Rifles linked up with US troops west of Taejon. The entire western half of South Korea was in Allied hands.


South Korean Offensive

The six divisions of the South Korean I and II Corps under General Chung Il-kwon launched their attack on North Korean lines along the northern part of the Pusan Perimeter on September 17th, with the III Corps in support. The large part of Red strength in infantry and heavy weapons had been shifted towards the Naktong front and organized opposition was light. Yongdok fell to the Capital Division on September 19th and the 3rd Division captured Andong on September 20th. A steady retreat rapidly deteriorated into a rout.

The line of the Taebaek Mountains partly divided the advances of the I and II Corps, with the former attacking towards Wonju and the latter pushing up the coast to liberate Kangnung. Each corps was supported by American field and heavy artillery and battalions of M-4E8 Sherman tanks and broke through the thin line of North Korean resistance by the 22nd of September. Within two days, the Northern troops were in general retreat all along the front and streamed back towards the border, pursued by vengeful South Korean troops and USAF fighter-bombers. After linking up with X Corps on September 30th, the troops of the South Korean Capital Division returned to the streets of Seoul in triumph.

The South Korean Army had experienced a true rebirth since the nadir of the great retreats of May and June. It had successfully defended the national redoubt around Pusan and played a key role in the liberation of their homeland. In the process, it had been forged into an effective fighting force capable of offensive and defensive action alike. It had been at considerable cost, with countless thousands falling in the crusade for their motherland and large swathes of the South devastated by the vicious fighting that halted the Red tide. Now, the men of the South turned their eyes towards the north and their thoughts towards vengeance.

Air War

Aerial operations against North Korean forces were hampered across much of the southern part of the Korean peninsula in the first four days of Operation Cyclone. Once the weather cleared, the unrelenting air strikes resumed in support of the Allied advance. The North Korean Air Force had been effectively destroyed in the aerial battles that swept its planes from the skies over the peninsula by USAF, RAF and RAAF fighters in June and July, but regular fighter patrols were maintained to preserve Allied air supremacy.

B-29 Superfortresses and Avro Lancasters continued their strategic bombing campaign of targets in the north, striking industrial targets, ports, airfields and railway yards with relentless day and night bombing. British, Australian and Canadian English Electric Canberra and American B-45 Tornado medium jet bombers flew daily interdiction missions deep into the heart of communist territory out of airfields in Japan and South Korea and hundreds of Allied attack planes and fighter-bombers spearheaded the advance of the Eighth Army.

Several new aeroplanes took to the skies over Korea for the first time in the war in the September offensive. The American F-86 Sabres and the British Hawker Hunter F.2s were among their respective nations most advanced jet fighters, with both capable of supersonic flight over a combat radius of over 500 miles. The Hunter’s top speed of 786mph and armament of four 25mm ADEN cannon were slightly superior to the Sabre’s 769mph and armament of four 20mm M39, but the American jet had a better range and service ceiling. The United States Army introduced the Sikorsky H-19 helicopter for medical evacuation and tactical control on September 20th and its soon proved its merit.

Strategic reconnaissance flights over North Korea, Manchuria and the Soviet Far East by American F-12 Rainbows had continued throughout August and September and had been among the first to notice the build up of substantial Soviet and Chinese forces along the northern borders of Korea. It was this aerial intelligence that would contribute to the disputes over the merits of offensive strategy in early October in Tokyo and Washington.

War at Sea

Operations in the seas off the Korean peninsula continued at an intense pace in the second half of September. The aircraft carriers and battleships of Task Force 77 had shifted their focus to the south of Inchon and paved the way for the American and British advances through a relentless series of devastating airstrikes and bombardment missions in the enemy rear. Large destroyer and frigate screens had been put in place defending the newly captured port and the full effort of the Allied minesweeping fleet was focussed on eliminating all seaborne threats in the shipping lanes leading to Inchon.

American cruisers ranged far north into the Korea Bay, conducting nightly bombardments of the western coastline of North Korea. Their efforts to draw out the remaining Red destroyers from whatever secret cove hid them were in vain, at least for the moment. A large carrier raid on Pyongyang by 376 aircraft occurred on September 26th to mark the official liberation of Seoul and remind the rulers of the North what awaited them. Border fortifications along the 39th Parallel began to be bought under concentrated battleship bombardment in the last week of September.

On September 30th, the destroyer escort USS Benner (DE-551) was sunk by a suspected North Korean submarine whilst on blockade patrol off Sojoson Bay, even though no enemy vessels had been suspected of operating off the east coast. The attacking vessel was hunted down and destroyed with depth charges after a nine hour pursuit. Allied anti-submarine measures were redoubled, but many senior officers began to suspect that another party had entered the war.

All The World Wonders

The Inchon landings and breakout from the Pusan Perimeter had surprised many in the wider world, particularly in the swift shift from the desperate defence of August to a sweeping offensive. The rapid changes in the situation of the war in Korea lead to several significant reactions in both East and West. The general impression was that the war had gone from a bloody stalemate to the verge of triumph in one fell swoop. In Europe and North America, there was a general sense of euphoria at imminent victory. In Pyongyang and Moscow, there was profound dread at the prospects of defeat. In the Forbidden City, there was a rising sense of anger and tension.

In the West, the liberation of Seoul was greeted with happiness and relief that the end of the war seemed nigh. British Prime Minister Churchill was once again vindicated despite some initial misgivings from the left of the Labour Party. The War Cabinet and Committee for Imperial Defence were generally united in their endorsement of the crossing of the 39th Parallel prior to the beginning of October. Intelligence reports of Soviet and Chinese moves were enough for some to urge caution, particularly in regard to the security of Hong Kong, Tibet and India. Canadian and Australian Prime Ministers Richardson and Menzies were united in their advocacy for a measured approach that would both keep the honour of the Empire intact but not lead to a preventable conflict with China.

President Truman’s popularity soared in opinion polls and the Joint Chiefs of Staff issued increasingly bellicosely confident directives to General MacArthur. The potential for Soviet intervention was largely discounted, whilst the Chinese were generally held as being unable to play an independent role. The State Department was rather more circumspect, having been the recipient of considerable volumes of concerned inquiries from allies and neutral parties alike. Purported back channel communications from pro-Western elements in Peking through the Shah of Persia were received seriously and given due consideration.

Stalin was decidedly perturbed by the dramatic reversals experienced by his allies on the battlefield and moved to act in response. The Politburo in Moscow unanimously supported his decisions to reinforce the Soviet Far East with several fighter and bomber divisions, three rifle corps from Tartary and to redouble the shipment of equipment and ammunition to North Korea. After the exchange of secret telegrams between Moscow and Karakorum, the Great Khan conceded agreed to the deployment of twelve divisions of Mongol volunteers to Khabarovsk in the interests of socialist cooperation and fraternal goodwill. The Red Air Force was ordered to prepare for large scale operations with modern fighters and bombers in defence of North Korea and the Soviet position in the Far East.

The mood in North Korea was black indeed and a strange mixture of despair and defiance took hold. The main organs of the government, Communist Party and High Command had long fled to the secure mountain fastness of their underground fortresses beneath the Jangbaek Mountains. The heart of North Korea’s remaining industrial strength lay along the Yalu, with the USAF and RAF strategic bomber forces having inflicted not-inconsiderable damage on its well defended facilities thus far. The lessons of the fighting thus far were swiftly digested: the overwhelming airpower and sea-power bought to bear by the Allies had proved decisive. If the air battle could be strongly contested, then North Korea and its allies had a scintilla of a chance. If not, then they were doomed.

Imperial China had indicated on four occasions since late August that it would not countenance a Western presence on its border, that it regarded Korea as rightfully part of its Empire and would take all actions necessary to guarantee the security and interests of China should any forces other than those of South Korea cross the 39th Parallel. The Sino-Soviet alliance was a strained one, but it was in nowhere near the abysmal straits that Chinese relations with the United States and the British Empire had reached as of late 1950. Decades of imperialist exploitation, the scars of two world wars and the post-war ruptures over Shanghai, Hainan, Hong Kong and Formosa now boiled over into the heady stew of nationalist fervour that characterized the court of the Shaozhen Emperor.

A gradual mobilization of Chinese military capacity had been initiated since the early days of the conflict as a purely defensive reaction but now it took on a more concerted nature. The operational strength of the Imperial Chinese Army had reached 306 divisions and 4.6 million men by the end of August as reserve levies were called up to the banners and large bodies of peasant conscripts were gathered in vast camps in the interior. Thousands of machine guns, artillery pieces, tanks, trucks and aircraft were supplied from the Soviet Union and orders were placed in the rapidly expanding Chinese shipyards for gunboats, torpedo boats, submarines and destroyers as well as several larger vessels. A volunteer force was mustered in Manchuria to act as a deterrent to Western action in North Korea whilst maintaining official distance in light of the strength of the American and British atomic arsenal. The forthright aim of the Chinese Imperial Court was not to be forced to back down again.

The ranks of the Allied forces in South Korea, dubbed by some the United Nations Command in light of its official League of Nations sanction and international character, began to take on an even more diversified nature. Joining the French, Dutch-Belgian and Filipino units that arrived in August were a Scandinavian regiment made up of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish battalions; an Iberian regiment of veteran Spanish Legionnaires and Portuguese Caçadores; the legendary Spartan Guards Regiment from Byzantine Greece; the 3rd Bersagliere Regiment of the Royal Italian Army; and battalions from Thailand, Brazil, Colombia, Yugoslavia, Ruritania and the Ethiopian Imperial Guard. The advance units of a Turkish Brigade arrived at Pusan on September 30th, epitomizing the rapid transformation of many states from erstwhile wartime foes to allies of convenience against the greater threat of communism. Many would later remember these heady days of united purpose in the long years of bitterness to come.

Aftermath

Less than 30,000 North Korean troops crossed back over the 39th Parallel in any semblance of order. Thousands remaining behind in the rugged hills to fight a guerrilla war and just over 20,000 had been captured by Allied forces. Total North Korean casualties in the breakout offensive are not known, but are thought to be in excess of 35,000. US losses were 813 killed and missing and 5267 wounded, British Commonwealth casualties were 424 killed and missing and 2589 wounded and the South Korean Army lost 747 killed and missing and 4722 wounded.

Seoul was secured by October 3rd as the last stay behind attacks subsided and the long task of rebuilding the shattered capital was contemplated by its citizens. Haeju had been liberated by the 11th Airborne Division two days earlier. The Eighth Army had reached the line of the border at the end of September and mustered along the 39th Parallel with a total of twenty three divisions; the capacity to deploy the 8th Infantry and 10th Mountain Divisions from Japan had been delayed by the logistical bottleneck created by the build-up for the Inchon invasion.

On September 28th, President Truman had authorized General MacArthur to cross the border only in the circumstances that there was no entry into the war by major Soviet or Chinese forces. This was followed by tacit authorization in a communiqué from Secretary of Defense George Marshall that he should not considered himself constrained either tactically or strategically should the crossing the 39th Parallel become necessary. MacArthur continued his plans for a grand invasion of North Korea to completely eliminate the communist army and complete his victory.

[Simon Darkshade]

Allied Invasion of North Korea

The Shape of the War
The internal American debate over the invasion of North Korea had been resolved decisively in favour of the expansion of the war into the north, despite the increasing indications of Chinese disquiet. The National Security Council had broadly approved of MacArthur pursuing the Red forces into North Korea, but recommended that the United States secure an explicit resolution calling for the reunification of Korea from the League of Nations, that the Allies offer peace terms prior to an invasion and that only South Korean forces be employed. The increasing reticence of significant elements within the State Department to support the bellicose line of the War Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff was sidelined by the tactical situation on the battlefield as the North Korean Army fell apart as a distinct field force.

The Chinese Ambassador to Persia had called upon the Shah’s Foreign Minister on October 4th and indicated clearly that if American or British forces crossed the prewar border, then Imperial China would be forced to consider a whole range of options regarding the situation on the Korean Peninsula, given the incipient challenge to its legitimate security interests. The movement of South Korean forces would be nominally acceptable, but the introduction of Western Allied forces into North Korea would lead to a distinct change of Chinese policy. This warning was passed along to London and Washington, but was largely disregarded as an ineffectual bluff by inscrutable Orientals. It can be argued that the course of subsequent events may have turned out rather differently without Allied underestimation of China and greater Chinese clarity in enunciating their position.

The Soviet Union and China had returned to the Council of the League of Nations in July and their veto stymied any action on the Council. A resolution was presented to the General Assembly of the League calling for all appropriate steps to be taken to ensure conditions of stability throughout Korea and advocating internationally supervised elections to form a fully independent and democratic government. The resolution was passed on October 6 by a vote of 48 to 5 with five abstentions. This cleared the last remaining obstacles to the expansion of the war into the north. General MacArthur issued a statement calling for the unconditional surrender of the communist government of North Korea to the United Nations Command on October 8th.

Advanced elements of the South Korean Army had first crossed the pre-war border on October 2nd and pushed across in force three days later, striking up the east coast towards the ports of Kosong and Wonsan. Their progress was slowed by the Taebaek Mountains and resistance by the withdrawing North Koreans, but their overwhelming numbers and the firepower of M-4 Sherman tanks, tactical air support and repeated dragonstrikes ground through all obstacles. Organized opposition crumbled within four days and Kosong fell on October 8th to the great jubilation of Syngman Rhee’s government recently reinstalled in Seoul. That their buoyant proclamation that the first steps had been taken in the reunification of Korea as a free, independent modern state closely mirrored those that emanated from the propaganda organs of North Korea in May did not elicit considerable comment.

Crossing the Border
MacArthur’s grand strategic plan sought the complete destruction of North Korean military power through a two pronged movement on either side of the peninsula towards the Manchurian border. The Eighth Army would strike up the west coast towards Pyongyang and the Yalu River and a combined force of South Korean troops and X Corps would drive up the east coast through Wonsan and Hungnam. The central spine of the Taebaek Mountains would divide the two intended axes of advance and prevent mutual contact and support in a large part of Northern Korea. He proposed an amphibious landing by the US Marines of X Corps under General Almond at Wonsan as part of the eastern flank advance and began to build up amphibious shipping at Pusan and Inchon. This was opposed by General Walton Walker, who disagreed with the necessity of the move and the principle of dividing the Allied field forces in Korea into two independent commands.

Just before 0425 hours on October 10th 1950, the three corps of the Eighth Army crossed the pre-war border in full force, preceeded by a barrage of over 500 artillery pieces and covered by dozens of British, American, Canadian and Australian fighters and fighter-bombers. Good progress was made through the outer layer of North Korean border defences before the advance ground to a halt on the diabolically strong bulwark of the Engels Line, a 14km thick band of concrete fortifications, pillboxes and mutually supporting gun emplacements built by the Communist government with Soviet technical backing from 1946 to 1949. The Engels Line was the brainchild of Sergey Khostov, the Ural dwarven construction genius responsible for many of Stalin’s greatest feats of infrastructure and fortification. The North Korean High Command had retained four elite divisions within their own borders and this force was augmented by the 240,000 lightly armed personnel of the Red Guards.

Breaking the Engels Line was a considerable but not insurmountable challenge for the Eighth Army, given their considerable advantages in firepower and armour. The grinding process of breaking through the outer defences with combined tank-infantry assaults, smashing each fortified strongpoint with artillery, aerial rockets and napalm and enveloping it with flanking infantry attacks was repeated on dozens of occasions across the front over the course of the next eight days. American 8” and 240mm howitzers were employed to devastating effect as ‘can-openers’, in some cases firing at North Korean bunkers over open sights. One central redoubt held out against all artillery fire until it was blasted to ash by the dragonfire of Argention and the fell British gold dragon Zagan on October 15th, a spectacle visible to destroyers operating dozens of miles away off Inchon.

The Battle of the Engels Line bore more resemblance to the bloody and vicious liberation of Seoul than to the sweeping advances up from the Pusan Perimeter and the daring landing at Inchon. Every shattered hillock and muddy dale cost a bitter blood price as the men and machines of the Eighth Army drove northward. By October 15th, the majority of North Korean positions had been eliminated and their forces were once again in full on retreat. The last barrier between the Allied command and Pyongyang was shattered. The fighting along the border from October 10th to October 17th is often swept aside in analysis of the greater course of the war, but the bloody week cost 1245 Allied dead and missing and some 9467 wounded; North Korean casualties are thought to be more than 15,000.

Wake Conference
In the midst of the intense fighting along the border, President Truman informed General MacArthur that he sought a personal meeting on Wake Island. MacArthur and his staff greeted the summons with a mixture of disbelief and profound antipathy at the blatantly political motive of the proposed conference. Truman wanted his esteemed field commander to meet his Commander-in-Chief and additionally desired to associate himself with the forthcoming victory and to assuage domestic criticisms regarding his policies towards communism. MacArthur was far from a political ingénue, but regarded the conference as a cynical distraction from the battlefield.

From the moment Truman stepped on the runway at Wake on October 16th, the strain between the President and MacArthur was quite obvious. The general did not salute Truman, greeting him instead with the handshake due to an equal. They conferred privately for the better part of an hour in a small Quonset hut, with MacArthur assuring President Truman of imminent victory, that neither China nor the Soviet Union would intervene in the conflict and that he had no personal political ambitions. He estimated that the Chinese had at most 500,000 men in Manchuria, with barely half of these deployed along the Yalu River. Truman focussed on the need to bring the war in the Far East to a successful conclusion to deter Communist aggression in Europe. It was followed by a meeting between both entourages in the main airfield office.

This affair was formally recorded and MacArthur repeated his earlier confident assertion that the war would be concluded by Thanksgiving, or Christmas at the latest. In the aftermath of the conflict, the bulk of the Eighth Army would be pulled back to Japan by early 1951, leaving a reinforced X Corps as an interim occupation force. The prospect of intervention by Imperial China was again discounted, as even if they were able to established themselves on the Korean Peninsula, the American and Allied air force and wizardly bases in the south would allow inflict fearful carnage to rain down upon them from above. The question of the Soviets attracted a rather more circumspect response, but was still regarded as an unlikely threat limited to the moderate aircraft strength that the Red Air Force had deployed in the Far East. There was agreement on political support of Syngman Rhee’s government, brief discourse on the British and French positions regarding the Far East and general assent on increasing anti-submarine screens in the Yellow Sea and Sea of Japan before the meeting broke for a welcome luncheon.

President Truman awarded MacArthur a fourth oak leaf cluster to his Distinguished Service Medal and departed for Hawaii. MacArthur returned to Tokyo in a contemptuous rage, fuming at the entire affair as a distraction from the pursuit of triumph. It can be seen in retrospect that the conference arguably diminished the administration’s authority over their Far Eastern proconsul, given the mixture of messages that resulted from the meeting. Both the occupants of the White House and the Dai Ichi would come to regret this course of events.

Into the North
The three corps of the Eighth Army pushed on towards the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, with the Commonwealth Corps, reunited with the 2nd Royal Marine Division, striking from Haeju through Sariwon, the US I Corps advancing on its flank through Ch’orwon and the US IX Corps driving through Pyonggang towards the Imjin and Taedong Rivers. All three corps would converge on the capital and then advance towards the Yalu in concert with the South Korean Army and X Corps operating from the east coast. The vital lines of communication along the Han River would be protected by the initial elements of the 8th Infantry Division and sundry international forces from the increasing annoyance of hit and run attacks by stay behind elements of the North Korean Army. The 11th Airborne Division would operate as a mobile tactical reserve capable of being deployed to reinforce success and the 10th Mountain Division would remain for the moment in Japan as the strategic theatre reserve.

The North Korean Army was in headlong retreat after the breaking of the Engels Line and did not offer any large scale resistance, but many smaller engagements occurred on the battalion and regimental level. The advance was covered from above by strong USAF and RAF fighter patrols and cab ranks of attack aircraft operating under ground control, with any suspected strongpoints or suspicious villages being subjected to strafing, rocket and bomb attacks. Carrier aircraft operating from the seas either side of the peninsula prowled the slate grey skies in search of prey. As the Allied tanks, carriers, jeeps and trucks headed steadily northward, they were preceded by the contrails of long streams of B-29s and Lancasters heading up towards the heart of remaining Red resistance along the Yalu.

Battle of Sariwon
The Commonwealth Corps offensive was spearheaded by the 1st Anzac Brigade, reinforced by a battle group of the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. They reached the outskirts of the industrial town of Sariwon, whose railhead made it a valuable tactical prize, on October 18th. Resistance was confined to sporadic sniper fire as Australian, New Zealand and British troops entered the town covered by Centurion tanks, as brigade and divisional mortars and artillery concentrated their fire on retreating enemy troops on the horizon. Two regiments of North Korean infantry fell upon the Commonwealth troops as they penetrated to the town centre and a chaotic firefight ensued. The superior firepower of the battle rifles and light machine guns of the Commonwealth troops could not be bought to bear in the heavy house to house fighting and the Soviet supplied Kalashnikovs held their own. Organized resistance ceased some 45 minutes later after a daring grenade attack by Lieutenant Colin Mitchell of the Argylls and the arrival of several tanks and Maxim Gun equipped infantry carriers destroyed the enemy command post. 342 North Korean troops were killed and over 2600 captured in exchanged for 7 killed and 29 wounded from the 1st Anzac Brigade.

Battle of Sohung
The US 1st Cavalry Division lead the advance of I Corps over a series of long ridges to the southeast of Sohung which controlled the pass. The 5th and 7th Cavalry launched a series of probing attacks on either side of the pass on October 18th while the 8th Cavalry pressed through the centre with tanks and carriers to bring the Red troops under a concentrated crossfire. North Korean defences on the rearward slopes of the ridges proved considerably resilient and had to be cleared out by concentrated mortar, grenade and flamethrower attacks as they were hit by assaults from several directions. A number of strongpoints around the village of Sinmak held on into the night before being overwhelmed by M-48 tanks, leaving the remnants of a North Korean infantry regiment holding the adjacent hamlet of Sohung. An initial advance just after dawn on the 19th was blunted by a localized tremor and several lightning bolts conjured by a Red combat mage cut off inside the village and six tanks were knocked out by sorcerous fire. The American response was swift and ruthless, with the entire divisional artillery of 72 105mm howizters and 24 155mm howitzers flattening Sohung in a half hour bombardment.

Battle of Sinp’yong
The path of IX Corps was the longest, but they encountered the least resistance of any of the Eighth Army as they rolled into North Korea. The shattered ruins of Pyonggang fell on October 17th and the road towards the capital lacked any large scale roadblocks or defensive positions, as the North Korean Army melted away into the hills and rice paddies. The only significant engagement that they encountered on the road to Pyongyang was at Sinp’yong on October 18th, where two regiments of the 20th Division and several thousand Red Guards stubbornly held strong fortifications on either side of the road. The 182nd Infantry Regiment of the US 23rd Division bought the Red lines under heavy mortar and artillery fire while the 132nd and 164th Infantry Regiments and their tank battalion maneuvered to envelop the North Korean flanks and rear. The encirclement was completed by the late afternoon and the troops trapped within the cauldron of Sinp’yong were subjected to an intense and merciless bombardment throughout the night by US tankers, mortarmen and artillerymen hardened by the tales of massacred American prisoners. The position was subdued by late on the 19th and IX Corps continued their push on Pyongyang.

Fall of Pyongyang
The capital of North Korea had been largely evacuated during the panic that followed the Inchon landings and its remaining garrison had been stripped further for the desperate doomed stand on the Engels Line. The front lines of the enemy army had disappeared in the retreat and the advanced elements of all three corps reached the edge of the city on October 20th. The honour of taking the city fell to the 5th Cavalry, whose tanks and carriers easily rolled through the token roadblocks defending the central government district and met the first elements of the South Korean 1st Division coming down from Wonsan. The city was secured by 1500 hours amid euphoric celebrations from the 1st Division, and the KATUSAs and KATCOMs of the Eighth Army. The heart of their enemy had been torn out.

X Corps Landings
The 1st and 3rd US Marine Divisions and the 7th Infantry Division had begun re-embarking on amphibious transports at Inchon on October 8th as the Eighth Army prepared to batter its way through the Engels Line. Their journey around the south of the peninsula was a tedious one for the marines and soldiers aboard the ships, taken up with cleaning equipment, preparing for the forthcoming fight and reflecting in quiet satisfaction on their achievements in Operation Chromite. The USN was meanwhile engaged in an intense bombardment and minesweeping operation off Wonsan and Hungnam harbours and advance parties of Marines were landed by helicopter to scout the surrounding area and occupy strategic high ground.

The amphibious forces arrived off their destinations on October 15th. The 3rd Marine Division went ashore at Wonsan to be greeted by the rapidly advancing South Korean II Corps, which had captured the city during the previous night after a freewheeling advance up from the border. The 1st Marine Division was spared a similar fate at Hungnam to the north and took the city with ease, sweeping aside the token resistance offered by North Korean Red Guards. The first battalions of the 7th Infantry Division went ashore at Iwon on October 18th and secured the port by October 20th. General Almond’s forces and the South Koreans were well positioned to link up and advance on the Yalu.

Battle of Yongju
The capture of Pyongyang lead to the second major airborne operation of the war by Allied airborne forces. The 187th Regimental Combat Team of the 11th Airborne Division dropped 25 miles north of Pyongyang into drop zones around Sukchon and Sunchon ahead of the advancing Eighth Army on October 20th. They would land outside the towns and establish blocking positions astride the main highways and railways north from the captured capital and hold for 48 hours before being relieved by advancing Allied troops. The aim of the operation was to cut off retreating North Korean forces and expedite the release of American, British and South Korean prisoners of war, who were reported by intelligence to be heading northwards to the Yalu.

Airborne assaults had mixed success in the Second World War, particularly when particularly when lightly armed paratroops engaged well-led and carefully positioned infantry supported by armoured forces. The tactical circumstances of the Allied campaign in North Korea in October 1950 were close to the diametric opposite of this situation and General MacArthur finally gave the order to proceed with the air drop, observing it along with war correspondents aboard an American airship before returning to Pyongyang. Over 2500 men were dropped in the initial waves by 124 C-47s and 53 C-119s with tactical support by USAF F-80s and A-26s. The landings were a resounding success, with both towns occupied and cleared at a cost of only 4 killed and 54 wounded. The remainder of the force followed over the next two days.

The operation achieved tactical surprise but failed to completely achieve either of its strategic aims due to the rapidly evolving state of the battlefield. The majority remaining field forces of the North Korean Army had withdrawn back to the Chongchon River and the government were safely ensconced in the safety of the Yalu. Significant North Korean rearguard forces held strong positions along the next group of hills to the north and the three remaining regiments of the 19th and 22nd Infantry Division were digging in to the south around the town of Yongju and the railway at Opa-ri to fight a delaying action against the overwhelming Allied forces.

Advance patrols of the 1st Battalion of the 187th Airborne Infantry made contact with the North Korean forces two miles to the north of Yongju and an intense encounter battle ensued. The Red troops had an advantage in heavy mortars and automatic weapons, but lacked artillery; whereas the American paratroopers operated longer ranged howitzers, but had limited ammunition. Heavy fighting continued over the course of the morning and early afternoon and two American platoons were overrun. Several medics displayed extraordinary valour and dedication in crawling out under fire to tend to the wounded and one, PFC Richard Wilson, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour after being mortally wounded in his efforts to reach a stranded man.

The beleagured American airborne troops sent urgent requests for reinforcement to Eighth Army’s forward headquarters in Pyongyang. The Allied forces were pausing to regroup and resupply before continuing their drive up towards their ultimate objective of the MacArthur Line, some 25 miles south of the Yalu River. The Commonwealth Division, reinforced by a brigade of the 3rd British Infantry Division after the hell for leather charge northwards, had skirted the edge of the city and constructed several assault bridges across the Taedong River. It was the closest unit to the engagement at Yongju and sped up the highway towards Sukchon to relieve the US paratroopers. Their advance guard of Centurion tanks and mechanized infantry met with sporadic resistance until they reached the foothills to the south of Yongju.

The North Korean blocking force was pinned down with heavy artillery fire from twelve self propelled 25pdrs and the 36pdr armed Centurions of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards. The 4th Sarac Brigade moved to engage the defending troops whilst the 1st Anzac Brigade swung to the left to force their way past the flank of the Red forces and effect a full break through to the US troops at Yongju. The 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders pushed through the lightly defended right of the foothills overnight, clearing them and establishing contact with outlying US positions. A strong force of at least 3000 enemy troops was believed to be dug in overlooking the town.

The North Korean forces, fearing encirclement, attempted to break out into open country to the north and came up against the American positions. They were driven off by heavy rifle and machine gun fire amid desperate hand to hand fighting. The attacker came again and again after midnight and forced the abandonment of the roadblock positions just before dawn. A series of further attacks was broken up by a battery of 105mm howitzers firing canister rounds over open sights at point blank range; nevertheless, the North Korean 239th Regiment continued to push onwards, disregarding losses. American bazookas and .50 calibre heavy machine guns inflicted fearful butchery on the waves of attacking infantry, but were increasingly hard pressed. The discordant sounds of battle could be heard by the vanguard of the oncoming Anzac Brigade, the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment as they crested the hills and beheld the situation before them.

Colonel Charles Hercules Green, 3 RAR’s commander, was informed by brigade headquarters that the US positions were a mile to the north of his force and that indirect fire support was unavailable due to their close proximity. In between the two Allied units was an apple orchard occupied by upwards of a battalion of North Korean infantry. He chose to attack regardless, sending in Captain Archer Denness’ C Company supported by 15 Centurion tanks to clear the orchard whilst his other three companies captured the high ground to either side. It was a bold decision, characteristic of his reputation as a hard charging leader earned as the youngest battalion commander in the Second Australian Imperial Force in the Second World War.

They charged into the orchard with fixed bayonets in a hail of grenades and machine gun fire as the tanks provided heavy support and blasted every suspicious position. At midday, after a fierce engagement lasting over three hours that saw over 250 Red troops killed, the apple orchard was secured and the Australians linked up with the US paratroopers. In the early part of the afternoon, the men of B and C Companies 3 RAF deployed out in extended lines and patrolled across the rice paddies to sweep up remaining North Korean opposition. By nightfall of October 22nd, Yongju was firmly in Allied hands and the last vestiges of resistance. The 187th RCT pulled back to Pyongyang to regroup and prepare for a full divisional airdrop to support the Allied push northwards.

Battle of Kujin
The Eighth Army continued to press northwards after Yongju with the Commonwealth Corps on the left flank of the advance of I Corps, IX Corps and the South Korean II Corps. It had orders to cross the Chongchon River and capture the town of Chongju. General MacArthur, flush with the triumphant outcome of the border battles and the fall of Pyongyang, removed previous restrictions on approaches to the Yalu and prepared to forge ahead to the border and total victory. The weather was beginning to play an increasing role on the battlefield, with temperatures at night falling well below freezing and the rains of autumn gaining a decidedly bitter edge. This gave a sense of urgency to the general Allied advance towards the Yalu, given the general desire to finish the war before the end of 1950.

The 2nd Royal Marine Division was engaged in clearing out the coast to the south of the Chongchon and the 4th Indian Division was kept as a corps reserve at Yongju, leaving the British 3rd Infantry Division and the Commonwealth Division as Lieutenant General Keightley’s frontline forces. The 3rd Infantry Division under Major General Sir Basil Coad had crossed the Chongchon with assault boats at Sinanju on October 24th. Once across, they had constructed a number of pontoon bridges to support the movement of the rest of the corps whilst entrenching themselves on the overlooking hills in preparation for the next stage of the advance towards Pakchon, some 15 miles to the north.

The 1st Anzac Brigade and elements of the 2nd Canadian/Newfoundland Brigade reached the village of Kujin, 2 miles south of Pakchon, at 1530 hours on the 24th of October. They discovered that the central span of the stone bridge across the Taeryong had been demolished and bought up tanks, mortars and a battery of 25pdrs to cover the crossing. A platoon of C Company 3RAR conducted a cautious reconnaissance patrol, crossing the broken span on timber ladders and encountering several dozen North Korean troops offering to surrender. They were bought under sniper and mortar fire from the hills above them and withdrew back across the river. A flight of RAF Venoms strafed and rocketed the suspected enemy positions and heavy bridging equipment was bought up along with additional tanks and artillery pieces. As night fell, the hills were bought under bombardment by the 9.2” guns of the heavy cruiser HMS Adventure from its position offshore in the Korea Bay.

3RAR’s D company crossed the river to clear the town of Pakchon and provide protection to a pair of Royal Engineers combat mages who were reconstructing a ford from a destroyed underwater bridge using geomantic construction spells and four engineering golems. They captured 264 North Korean prisoners but came under increasing machine gun fire. A battlegroup of the 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment was ordered to move up to force an assault crossing of the river some 4 miles downstream under the cover of darkness in order to outflank the enemy positions and take them under fire from the rear. Colonel Green was left with three options – to wait for the Canadians; to cross the Taeryong at the ford in the morning; or to attack across the bridge that night. He characteristically chose the last option and launched an attack across the bridge with A and B companies at 1930 hours. They quickly scaled the muddy bank and established a lodgement along a ridgeline 500 yards from the river, digging in as the freezing Manchurian winds blew in and chilled them to the bone. C Company remained across the river at Kujin with two tank troops of the 1st Armoured Regiment, two Maxim Gun carriers of the Royal Australian Machine Gun Corps and a field battery of the 16th RNZA.

The Australian troops on the far side of the river spotted the approach of a battalion sized force of North Korean infantry at 2000 using their arcane nightvision telescopes and called in mortar and artillery fire to break up the attack. The North Koreans responded with a largely ineffective bombardment by mortars and 76mm ZiS-3 guns which quickly ceased after several counterbattery fire missions from the deadly accurate 5.25” secondary guns of Adventure. After harassment by enemy machine guns for the next two and a half hours, a second major attack was launched at 2235 and both companies were hard pressed to hold their positions with the high rate of fire of the New Zealand 25pdrs proving instrumental to their successful stand. North Korean attacks continued throughout the night, inflicting a number of casualties but failing to break the Australian line. 2 RCR crossed the Taeryong at 0250 and were able to divert some forces away, but were pinned down by mortar fire and unable to breakout from their bridgehead until dawn.

At 0430, a final Red counterattack supported by SU-76 assault guns and T-34 tanks was launched, aiming to drive the enemy from the ridge and re-establish control of the river crossing. The Australians held their fire until the entire force was within range and then opened up with a merciless fusillade from their Bren guns, Vickers GPMGs, rifles, grenades, mortars, Longbow anti-tank rockets and Crossbow recoilless rifles, joined by the Centurions across the river and a pair of well placed fireballs from the battalion mage. The North Korean vehicles were destroyed and the infantry scattered, with several dozen being taken captive by the pursuing Australians, including a Chinese soldier. Maps taken from the body of a dead North Korean officer indicated that a final line of defence by infantry, tanks and artillery was being prepared 65 miles away at Chongju.

As the sun rose over the wreckage of men and machines strewn over the freezing paddy field, C and D companies and their accompanying tanks crossed the Taeryong to reinforce the bridgehead and visual heliographic contact was made with the Canadians further down the river. Royal Navy Sea Furies blanketed the hills above them with napalm and skyblaze and the battered remnants of the North Korean forces withdrew away to the north. The battle had cost the Australians 9 killed and 35 wounded in exchange for at least 159 North Korean killed and over 400 prisoners. The men of 3RAR continued to hold their positions as the 2nd Battalion Royal New Zealand Regiment and the Australian 25th Light Horse, the divisional mounted regiment, passed through their lines to continue the offensive northwards.

Battle of Chongju
The advance towards Chongju was met with increasingly heavy resistance from North Korean infantry and tanks. Major General Coad adopted a steady approach of short advances and careful clearance of strategic high points over the next three days and the 4th Indian Division was bought up to relieve the 3rd Infantry Division from the line to refit at Pakchon. On the 29th of October, the 2nd Canadian and Newfoundland Brigade, then the lead brigade of the Commonwealth Division, reached positions 5 miles from Chongju. At 0915 hours, an RAF Auster had identified a sizeable North Korean formation of approximately 2000 infantry supported by at least ten tanks and self-propelled guns in well protected and camouflaged positions in densely wooded ridges on either side of the road and called in airstrikes. Twenty sorties by USAF Shooting Stars and RAF Meteors strafed, rocketed, napalmed and dive bombed the North Korean positions, claiming to have destroyed 11 T-34s and 5 SU-76s and inflicted heavy casualties.

Coad ordered a bombardment by divisional artillery to precede a probing attack by the Canadians and Newfoundlanders at 1530 hour on October 29th. The 1st Royal Newfoundland Regiment spearheaded the assault, supported by two troops of Churchill heavy tanks, three self-propelled 25pdrs and flanking attacks by skirmishers and war moose. A Company made a flanking assault across the road while the other two companies launched a frontal attack at the ridge. The Red troops responded with heavy small arms and mortar fire. By 1640, all three companies had secured their initial line of objectives with relatively light casualties. Nine North Korean tanks had survived the airstrikes, but all but two had been destroyed by the 120mm guns of the Churchills during the fighting.

The 2nd Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry moved through the Newfoundlander lines to continue the attack, breaking up a counter-attack by a North Korean battalion with machine gun fire, mortars and a bayonet charge. Four further attacks occurred through the night as a heavy unnatural fog fell on the Canadian lines and prevented close artillery supporting fire, being driven back by disciplined volleys of rifle fire and the reliable Vickers heavy machine guns. Harassment fire and grenade attacks continued until just before dawn, when pyrotechnical illumination rounds fired by divisional 6” howitzers showed up the ghostly silhouettes of North Korean infantry withdrawing through the trees pursued by viciously bellowing moose.

The Sarac Brigade moved up at 0620 to positions in the hills overlooking Chongju and advanced cautiously into the burning town, clearing it by 1300 as the Anzac Brigade moved up to cover the western approaches. The Battle of Chongju had cost the Canadians and Newfoundlanders 23 dead and 89 wounded in some of the heaviest fighting they had faced since the battles around the Pusan Perimeter. North Korean losses were 248 killed and 56 captured. This also represented the highwater mark of the advance of the Commonwealth Corps in the 1950 campaign, as they reached the absolute limits of their logistical support train. The movement of the Commonwealth Corps up from the border required virtually all the sundry supplies, fuel and ammunition stockpiled in Japan and Singapore, with further shipments from Australia, Canada and India taking several weeks to reach the Commonwealth forward supply base at Kunsan. Their mobility and ammunition allowance was additionally constrained by the need to reinforce Hong Kong against Chinese aggression.

These limitations were characteristic of the broader challenges faced by the British Empire and Commonwealth in the projection of force in Korea and the Far Eastern theatre in general at a time when the majority of its force posture was oriented towards Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia. It was facing a situation where the acute limits of logistical reality were forcing it into a subsidiary role to that of the United States. Each division in the field required over 800 tons of supplies per day, meaning the advance from the Engels Line to Chongju had consumed over 60,000 tons, or the majority of stockpiled supplies moved in from the Mediterranean and Middle East with the reinforcement convoy in July and August.

The Economic Front
The American and British economies had been hit with a mixture of disruption, increased government spending and shifts in production since the outbreak of the war in May. The early stages of the war had seen a sharp increase in consumer spending as many rushed to stock up on foodstuffs, clothing, fabrics, automobile tyres and bulk goods in anticipation of rationing and shortages. This in turn had stimulated manufacturers into buying large amounts of raw materials to fill expected war production orders. The initial wave of shortages and a spike in food prices stabilized by late July as production expanded to match the avaricious appetite of war. Rubber production in Malaya, Brazil and the Belgian Congo could not keep up with exploding demand and prices increased markedly and the British government bought up the entire Australian woolclip for the year. Both Truman and Churchill had preferences for paying for the war out of general taxation rather than borrowing and wishing to control price inflation to the greatest degree possible.

Tank, small arms and ammunition factories in the United States went to three shifts a day in response to the increased demand for the weapons of war and the Atomic Energy Commission ramped up production of atomic bomb materials at its vast plants in Tennessee, Texas, Alabama and Washington. The Ministries of Supply and Munitions made extremely large orders for aircraft, ordnance and materiel, stretching British productive capacity of iron, steel, coal, copper, aluminium and high explosive close to its limits. Both nations experienced a contraction in their comparatively low levels of unemployment with the expansion of war industries and the selective call up of reserves. The apparent winding down of the conflict in Korea did not lead to any cancellation of defence orders in the latter half of 1950, given the prevailing thinking that it was but the first stage in a global Soviet threat.

Japan
The demands of the war were also felt adjacent to the battle front in Japan. Just five years after she lay prostrate and defeated at the mercy of the victorious Allies, Japan was experiencing a sharp upturn in economic activity due to huge increases in orders for military supplies, food and all manner of goods. The American, British and Allied military forces all required vast amounts of labour and support services for the construction of facilities, repair of ships, aircraft and equipment and the leisure and recreation of troops rotated back from Korea on leave. The influx of US hard currency and investment kickstarted what would become one of the most protracted economic booms of the 20th century.

Above and beyond these economic boons, there was increasing political support for reversing the previous policies of demilitarization of Japan in light of the shifts in the balance of power in the Far East in favour of China and the Soviet Union. The limited expansion of the infantry forces of the Imperial Japanese Army from a strength of 120,000 to 150,000 was accompanied by the formation of a 200,000 strong National Police Reserve armed with light infantry weapons to deal with internal security. The minesweeping and coastal patrol forces were attached to the Naval Security Force and an Aviation Security Force was established initially equipped with 50 T-6 Texans. It was a small beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.

The War at Sea
Naval operations in October continued at a high pace of intensity, with the major focuses of the campaign being the ongoing air strikes and bombardment missions in aid of the Allied advance into North Korea, antisubmarine operations to maintain control of the seas around Korea and supporting the amphibious landings of X Corps at Wonsan and Hungnam. The pre-Inchon division of responsibilities between the United States Navy in the Sea of Japan and the Royal Navy in the Yellow Sea had been restored with the majority of the American vessels moving back to the east of the Korean peninsula in the first week of October. The West Coast Task Force, or Task Force 85, consisted of the fleet carriers Ark Royal, Victorious, Eagle and Aurora, the battleships Hood, Superb and Magnificent, the five USN escort carriers, 14 cruisers, 25 destroyers and 24 frigates. Its primary mission was close air support and naval bombardment missions in support of the Eighth Army. It’s shore headquarters were the great British base at Kure in Southern Japan and it generally deployed a greater number of strike and attack aircraft onboard its operational aircraft carriers. The East Coast Task Force, redesignated Task Force 77, consisted of the aircraft carriers Boxer, Leyte, Oriskany, Bonhomme Richard and Pelelieu, the battleship Iowa, New Jersey and Wisconsin, the battlecruisers Hawaii and Philippines, 15 cruisers, 39 destroyers and 25 destroyer escorts. Deploying from its forward homeport in Yokosuka, Task Force 77’s aircraft carriers carried a larger number of fighter aircraft to cover the possibility of intervention by the Soviet Pacific Fleet.

The breaking of the Engels Line and the invasion of North Korea was the main preoccupation of aircraft and ships of Task Force 85 in October 1950, but it also marked the completion of the destruction of the remaining vessels of the enemy fleet. At 1046 hours on October 11th 1950, a patrolling Supermarine Attacker off HMS Ark Royal spotted a number of suspicious wakes and indications of activity over an apparently abandoned cove off the Korea Bay. A second lower level pass saw the aeroplane bought under fire from several dozen concealed anti-aircraft guns and Lieutenant Andrew ‘Jet’ Morgan was awarded the DFC for bringing his badly damaged aircraft successfully back to the carrier. The evidence indicated that this was the long-sought hidden fleet base of the North Korean Navy. Within half an hour, the area was under observation by R-236 and a concentrated strike of 125 aircraft was launched at 1324. The first wave of Brigands and Wyverns plastered both sides of the cove with 500lb bombs and napalm, with one lucky hit destroying the entrenched position where the three North Korean sorcerers maintaining the cloak of illusion over the anchorage were sheltering. This revealed the sight of two destroyers, five torpedo boats and one immobile submarine. Within 15 minutes, all the Red vessels had been sunk by 1000lb bombs, strafing and rockets at a cost of 3 aircraft shot down.

Submarine sightings and attacks, both real and suspected, continued to occur off both coasts of Korea and two USN destroyer escorts and one RN frigate were damaged in anti-submarine sweeps. It was estimated that four submarines had been sunk in operations during October, all of them suspected Soviet S-class submarines, several of which were known to have been transferred to North Korea between 1946 and 1949 and a number of others having been sold to China in between 1948 and 1950. Heavy aerial and surface patrols and the introduction of modern anti-submarine vessels to the Far East reduced the threat presented by what was still nominally considered to be North Korean subsurface attacks. The advance of the Eighth Army and X Corps into North Korea made much of the issue moot with the capture of Red naval bases.

The War in the Air
The Allied aerial forces enjoyed air supremacy over Korea and this allowed the deployment of devastating airpower to support the ground offensive. The USAF Sabres and RAF Hunters had little to no opposition in their patrols in the skies above the battlefields and were often employed for strafing attacks of opportunity. The strategic bombing campaign against the Yalu continued steadily without either notable losses or considerable damage to their targets. The main tasks of the hundreds of fighter-bombers and attack aircraft over Korea were close air support and battlefield interdiction.

The most common USAF aircraft in theatre was the F-80 Shooting Star, which operated from bases in Japan and South Korea against a range of targets with a capable bombload. The A-26 Invaders and A-38 Grizzlies proved extremely useful over the battlefield with their lengthy loiter period and considerable firepower. The F-51 Mustangs were beginning to be withdrawn from close air support missions, but were still employed for tactical interdiction and aerial reconnaissance. The English Electric Canberra added to its fearsome reputation as the best medium bomber in the world with a series of long range strikes and displayed excellent versatility on low level attack sorties; the performance of RAF and Commonwealth Canberras over Korea played a major role in the USAF decision to order the aircraft in 1951/52.

North to the Yalu
The bulk of the Eighth Army had faced comparatively light opposition as they pushed up from Pyongyang across the Chongchon River towards the Yalu. The 1st Cavalry division lead I Corps into Taechon on October 25th and IX Corps had established positions between Unsan and the Chongchon. The ROK I and II Corps, although depleted by the hard fighting since the border crossing, were in the vanguard of the advancing Allied force, holding the towns of Huichon and Onjong respectively. The South Korean III Corps was very thinly spread across the largest sector of the front between Huichon and the Chosin Reservoir adjoining the X Corps frontline that extended from the 1st Marine Division positions north of the reservoir to the 7th Infantry Division’s lines 30 miles north of Tanchon. The forces United Nations Command were still divided into two distinct forces by the barrier of the Taebaek Mountains. The Allies stood poised to overrun the remainder of North Korea in fulfilment of MacArthur’s grand strategy.

Reconnaissance patrols, aerial observation and scout groups of light infantry had been reporting the presence of thousands of troops in the mountains of North Korea since October 12th, leading to intelligence reports that indicated that China had entered the war. Wireless monitoring stations aboard USAF airships operating over North Korea had additionally reported an increase in radio traffic between Imperial Army Headquarters in Peking and Manchuria at the same time as a general decrease in radio and signals traffic within the Manchurian Military District. General Walker became progressively concerned with the prospect of a new phase in the war and requested that the suspended deployment of XII Corps be expedited and authorized additional aerial surveillance flights over the area between the Eighth Army front and the Yalu.

The East Awakes
The invasion of North Korea bought about a direct Chinese response. On October 20th, as Pyongyang fell to the Eighth Army, the first of 370,000 Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River under the cover of darkness, travelling upwards of 20 miles in a night under conditions of strict silence and covered by camouflage spells. The initial force was made up of four armies of nine divisions each equipped with mortars, pack howitzers and assorted small arms. A further 900,000 men lay in wait beyond the Yalu in Manchuria. The path of the Dragon Throne had been set.

In Moscow, Stalin agreed to supply further shipments military equipment to China and North Korea, provide air cover over Manchuria and facilitate the transfer of Soviet aircraft to the Imperial Chinese Air Force. The movement of Mongol ‘volunteer’ forces to the Soviet Far East continued throughout the first three weeks of October using a steady flow of Red Army trains and continual convoys of trucks travelling throughout the nocturnal hours. The Pacific Fleet was ordered to continue their programme of special operations.

The war was about to enter a new phase.

[jemhouston]

MacArthur being a prick is a fixed point in time.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

This is a most excellent read!

[Simon Darkshade]

Thank you kindly.

Jem, whilst that might be true about MacArthur regarding his approach, here, both in DE and @, he was correct in his appraisal of the meeting with Truman; it was an ill timed bit of political theatre.

[Simon Darkshade]

Enter the Dragon

Before the Storm
The entry of Imperial China into the Korean conflict was not entirely unpredictable, particularly with the benefit of hindsight, but came as a profound shock when the full scale of its offensive became apparent. The confused fighting in the increasingly wintry conditions in the central mountains of North Korea from October to December 1950 delivered a sharp riposte to Allied plans of a swift conclusion to the war and a reunited democratic Korea. The Chinese strategy was simple and devastatingly effective, aiming to draw in the overconfident Allied forces in the west of Korea with feigned weakness and retreat before sundering their lines with overwhelming force at its most vulnerable point. That lay in the centre of the United Nations Command front in North Korea, held by the South Korean Army in the rough terrain of the Taebaek Mountains. Success there would rupture the entire Allied position and cut off X Corps to the east. The First Phase Offensive would be launched in the final week of October, followed by further attacks that would drive the enemy from North Korea and, if possible, into the Sea of Japan.

The Eighth Army was deployed in four corps in the western half of the Korean peninsula consisting of the Commonwealth Corps at Chongju, the US IX Corps at Taechon, the US I Corps at Yongbyon and the South Korean I and II Corps covering the right flank between Yongbyon and Huich’on. XII Corps was still in the process of deployment and was employed for defence of the Allied lines of communication and the South Korean III Corps had been shifted to the eastern side of the peninsula to support X Corps. The final push onwards to the Yalu was scheduled to begin in mid November when sufficient supplies reached the front. The general mood was one of buoyant optimism and planning for postwar redeployment. Commanders in Korea and Tokyo had largely discounted the possibility of decisive Chinese intervention and shared the belief that the war would be over by Christmas.

Battle of Onjong
The first major blows of the Chinese intervention into the war were to fall upon the ROK II Corps at Onjong, a village situated at an important crossroads in the lower Ch’ongch’on and a key chokepoint for any further advance north to the Yalu. Advanced reconaissance units of the South Korean Army had reached the Yalu River the previous day and had sent a bottle of its waters to President Syngman Rhee as a sign of their forthcoming triumph. Whilst they had encountered consistent indications of the presence of Chinese troops, large scale opposition was not predicted along this section of the front. However, hidden in the hills lay almost 45,000 Chinese troops of the 40th Corps of the 26th Field Army, poised to strike at their outnumbered foe.

The ROK 6th Infantry Division launched a pair of regimental probing attacks by the 2nd and 7th Infantry Regiments towards the villages of Pukchin and Kojang early on the morning of October 25th. The 2nd Infantry Regiment made reasonable progress until they came under sporadic fire 10 miles eash of Onjong. Suspecting the presence of North Korean holdouts, the 3rd Battalion was dispersed to prepare for a flanking attack, but were brought under tremendous small arms, machine gun and mortar fire from three sides as the Chinese 118th Infantry Division sprung their trap. An attempt by the 2nd Battalion to relieve their comrades in the afternoon was unsuccessful and resulted only in it also being surrounded and pinned down by fire. The Chinese 120th Infantry Division then raced forward to cut off their retreat and sealed off Onjong with roadblocks and defensive positions as night fell. The village was overrun by a mass infantry attack at 2200, destroying the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Infantry as an effective combat unit. Of the 3245 men of the regiment, only 1589 made it back over the Ch’ongch’on River to safety.

The 119th and 120th Divisions took up positions around Onjong to spoil any counterattack, whilst the 118th swung around to engage the 7th Infantry Regiment as it pulled back from Kojang. The ROK 19th Infantry Regiment and the 10th Infantry Regiment of the 8th Infantry Division were ordered forward on October 27th to recapture Onjong and allow the withdrawal of the 7th Infantry, but came under an extremely heavy bombardment by mortars and 76mm mountain guns as once again the ambush enveloped its prey. A cacophony of cymbals, bugles, drums and flutes on the night of October 28th heralded a charge by almost 10,000 crack Chinese troops which overran the outnumbered pair of South Korean regiments. The 7th Infantry Regiment managed to escape complete annihilation by scattering into the hills and fleeing south, but was ceased to be a useful combat formation.

Although it was not immediately clear, the ROK II Corps had been effectively destroyed as an organized formation by October 29th, opening up the right flank of the Allied forces in North Korea to Chinese attack and weakening its lines against the planned offensive to come.

Battle of Unsan
The ROK I Corps had been ordered to advanced forward and take the town of Unsan on the 24th of October and completed the task by 0900 the next morning. Forward elements of the 1st Infantry Division encountered heavy resistance from well dug in troops to the east of the town, including heavy artillery fire. The first Chinese prisoners captured in a mid morning skirmish soon put paid to any notion that they were faced with their fellow countrymen, delivering the chilling news that upwards of 20,000 Chinese troops of the 42nd Corps were massing to the north. This presented an immediate danger to the exposed 1st Division, as their left flank was exposed to envelopment, with the nearest Allied unit being the US 24th Infantry Division some 23 miles away. A series of running battles to capture the high ground of the hills overlooking Unsan began just after midday as the South Korean forces threw everything into the task of keeping the road to Yongsang-dong open. The dawn of October 26th saw their hopes crushed with the arrival of the Chinese 39th Corps cutting off their connection with the west and completing their encirclement.

Supplies were airdropped to the trapped division through the day and USAF fighter-bombers plastered the surrounding hills with napalm and cluster bombs. The situation was threatening, but not yet entirely dire, given the presence of the US 6th Medium Tank Battalion and assorted anti-aircraft and artillery units. A lightning bombardment preceded a set piece combined tank-infantry attack that reopened the road early on October 27th and General Walker ordered the US 8th Cavalry Regiment to be redirected to Unsan to relieve the South Korean troops and spearhead the continuing northward offensive. The battered remnants of the ROK 11th and 12th Infantry Regiments were pulled back to refit and rebuild, leaving the defence of Unsan to the 15th Infantry Regiment and the 8th Cavalry. It was felt that such a garrison was sufficient for the immediate future given US superiority in artillery and the devastating firepower available from USAF tactical aircraft.

A major Chinese offensive to take Unsan was launched by the three divisions of the 39th Corps at 1600 hours on November 1st in the midst of unnatural howling winds and dark grey skies. The 117th Infantry Division’s attack on the positions of the South Korean 15th Infantry Regiment was heralded by the scream of rocket artillery and the crackle of spellfire while the 115th Infantry Division thrust up from the southwest to cut off the town. The three battalions of American cavalrymen were assaulted by two regiments of the 116th Infantry Division with considerable mortar support. The 8th Cavalry held its line doggedly against continual massed infantry attacks and a hurricane of machine gunfire, but began to run low on ammunition by midnight. The collapse of the 15th Infantry Regiment under tremendous pressure left the commander of US I Corps, Major-General Frank Milburn, with no alternative other than to order a phased withdrawal. Whilst the initial stages of the retreat were orderly, increased flanking attacks and continual mortar and artillery fire channelled the American troops towards strongly held roadblocks. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 8th Cavalry were forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy weapons and break out through Chinese lines on foot, but managed to reach the safety of American positions by the following afternoon.

The 3rd Battalion of the 8th Cavalry faced a grimmer fate, being cut off and surrounded by overwhelming Chinese numbers. They were subjected to a constant bombardment over the next two days as attempts to force a relief column through to their hilltop position were rebuffed by well positioned Chinese troops. Commandoes disguised as South Korean troops attacked the battalion command post on the 3rd of November, causing chaos and destroying many remaining vehicles and supplies. Soviet supplied rocket propelled grenades were used to subdue American strongpoints in a systematic attack that overran the remaining positions held by the 3rd Battalion on the morning of November 4th. Less than a hundred men managed to break out back to Allied lines. Total American losses were 346 killed and missing, 996 wounded and 389 taken prisoner. South Korean casualties were similarly heavy, with 567 killed and missing, 1122 wounded and 234 captured and the Chinese lost an estimated 700 men.

Battle of Pakchon
The Commonwealth Corps had been ordered to withdraw back from their forward positions at Chongju on November 4th to defend Pakchon and the crossings of the Taedong at Sinanju. The 3rd British Division held Sinanju and the Commonwealth and 4th Indian Divisions held positions on either side of Pakchon stretching back 12 miles to the Taedong River. The Chinese 28th Field Army, having reoccupied Taechon and Kunsong in their push south from the Yalu, launched a number of attacks throughout the day to test the Commonwealth and Indian lines and were solidly rebuffed by a scorching barrage of over one hundred and fifty 25pdrs and the concentrated fire of Vickers heavy machine guns. Their forward positions were broken up in the night by a ferocious attack by two battalions of the 2nd King Edward VIIs Own Gurkha Rifles supported by two dragons. The fighting at Pakchon was primarily a diversionary attack to divert General Walker’s attention to the coastal flank of the Eighth Army, but failed to make an impact on the northfacing positions of the Commonwealth Corps as planned flanking attacks along the road from Chongju were called off due to supply shortages.

The Blunting of the First Phase
Flush with their victory at Unsan, the Chinese 26th Field Army now pressed south towards the Ch’ongch’on River, but struck increased resistance from entrenched US toops supported by extremely heavy artillery fire from US 155mm and 8” howitzers at Kunu-ri and Royal Navy cruisers operating offshore. General Walker elected to stop the Chinese north of the Taedong with a strong positional defence by his four forward divisions while the 23rd and 6th Infantry Divisions were held in reserve by their respective corps. The 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions of US IX Corps had fallen back on Yongsan-dong and dug-in along a line in close contact with the 4th Indian Division on their left. The sheer depth of the American defences proved to be too great for the Chinese infantry to penetrate and the concentrated power of tanks, artillery and mortars inflicted significant casualties. Likewise to their east, the 2nd Infantry Division and the remainder of the 1st Cavalry Division were able to defend their positions around Yongbyon in depth. The 26th Field Army shifted its attacks to the American flank at Won-ni in a final attempt to outflank the Eighth Army.

Battle of Won-ni
The ROK 7th Division and the American 5th Regimental Combat Team blunted several probing attacks at Won-ni from November 3-5 with considerable tank and artillery support and their determined stand prevented a broader envelopment of the Eighth Army’s flank in North Korea. M2 Browning heavy machine guns and 75mm recoilless rifles were used to cut down Chinese infantry in great numbers beyond the range of their effective means of reply and the extreme right of the line was secured by an entrenched tank platoon of M-26 Pershings. A USAF airship operated above the battlefield on the final day and their powerful infravision cameras allowed American artillery to pre-empt Chinese infantry attacks with devastating effectiveness. The Battle of Won-ni would later be overshadowed by the larger engagements of the winter of 1950/51, but it nonetheless marked how well positioned American and South Korean troops could withstand massed Chinese attacks and counter their flanking manoeuvres with aggressive, well-fought infantry actions.

End of the First Phase Offensive
Agonizingly slow progress across the front was made over the next 24 hours at the cost of over a thousand casualties, contributing to the decision of the Chinese commander General Ye Ting to pull back from the Allied lines. USAF attack aircraft carpet bombed the hills around Unsan as the weather gradually improved and naval gunfire remained extremely effective as an area weapon. Shortages of food and ammunition caused by supply bottlenecks at the Yalu resolved the issue and the Chinese forces disappeared back into the mountains, bringing the First Phase Offensive to an end by November 5th. The withdrawal was considered an act of weakness by the Allied command and was interpreted as the limit of Chinese capability. The Chinese forces, shielded by camouflage, shadow charms and the rugged landscape, were far from displeased with the results of the initial fighting. A gap in the Allied line had been identified and tens of thousands of troops streamed south across the Yalu every night, bringing the strength of the Imperial Chinese Army in Korea to over 600,000.

The Thanksgiving Offensive
General MacArthur’s planned Thanksgiving Offensive reached its final stages of preparation in the second week of November. It would consist of a two pronged push to the Yalu aimed at crushing the remnants of the North Korean Army and government and bringing the war to a successful conclusion. X Corps would advance on the east of the peninsula and General Walker’s Eighth Army would push forward in the west. Chinese attacks would result in rapid withdrawal and the use of airpower and operational manoeuvrability to encircle and destroy Chinese lines of supply and communication. It was estimated that the enemy consisted of 90,000 North Korean and 50,000 Chinese troops. The terrain ahead was extremely rugged and temperatures were dropping down to -25° as the winds of winter howled in from Siberia. Walker planned for a steady and cautious push northward across a continuous front of his five corps to a series of specific phase lines, warily cogniscent of the tactics employed by the Chinese earlier in the month. General Almond lacked the numbers to take a similar approach with X Corps, but had encountered limited resistance in operations thus far in north eastern Korea, to the extent that forward companies of the17th Infantry Regiment of the US 7th Infantry Division had already reached the Yalu at Hyesanjin and could could see Chinese sentries patrolling just 120 yards away on the opposite bank.

On the eve of the great advance northward, the American troops on both sides of the Korean peninsula were fortified with a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, a testament to the capabilities of the US military’s logistical support train. The next day, the 24th of November, saw MacArthur and his staff visit Walker’s forward headquarters at Sinanju and issued a confident statement to the troops stating that the final offensive by the Eighth Army would complete the enemy’s encirclement, close the vice on their remaining forces and end the war, bringing peace and unity to Korea. In subsequent conversation with members of his staff, MacArthur quipped that, if the troops went fast enough, some of them would be home in time for Christmas. This expression of rather jocular hopes for an early end to the conflict were seized upon by nearby correspondents, who promptly dubbed the operation the ‘Home by Christmas Offensive’. The general flew back to Tokyo with a short detour over the Yalu, his closely escorted C-54 Bataan II following the river down to the sea and observing a barren and desolate landscape seemingly bereft of troops, vehicles and supplies.

Walker’s advance began at 1000 hours on November 24th along the Ch’ongch’on River. The Commonwealth Corps would advance along the coast, the US I and IX Corps up through the Taeryong and Kuryong river valleys and the South Korean II Corps would move forward from Tokchon to make contact with X Corps. Initial progress was steady, despite the South Koreans faced heavier resistance inland, and a line from Chongju to Yongwon had been established by the afternoon of the next day.
The 4th Indian Division and Commonwealth Division had established a firm defensive perimeter around Chongju and had sent patrols out as far as Sonch’on, encountering increasingly heavy resistance from North Korean and Chinese troops. Aerial patrols by USAF F-86s roamed the skies above the Yalu, but the increasingly bad weather grounded a significant portion of Allied airpower over North Korea on the 25th of November. Shortly before sunset on the 25th of November, the Chinese launched their Second Phase Offensive at the Allied forces along the Ch’ongch’on River.

The Second Phase
Four Chinese field armies, the 17th, 23rd, 26th and 28th, launched a full scale attack along the line at the Eighth Army with a massive frontal attack preceded by a hurricane bombardment by mortars and hidden artillery. The main thrust of the Chinese attack fell upon the I Corps and the South Koreans between Yongsang-dong and Yongwon, while the Commonwealth Corps was held in place by the 17th Army and North Korean forces. The temperatures dropped even further and the centre of the front was hit with bitter snowstorms and thick fogs through the night and radio communications were struck by a dreadful howling sound that impeded their use. Previously concealed heavy 180mm guns struck at headquarters and supply dumps and massed rocket batteries unleashed a storm of fury on the Allied trenches.

Battle of Yongwon
The battered forces of the South Korean II Corps were the first to feel the full brunt of the reinforced 26th Army. The 7th and 8th Divisions were swiftly cut off from each other and surrounded at Yongwon. The sole reserves available to II Corps were a regiment of the 6th Division, which was swiftly committed to the battle, but to no avail as the Chinese 42nd Corps swept past it into the Allied rear. Resistance by the surrounded divisions would continue into the morning of the 26th of November before the survivors broke out towards the south. Already shaken by their defeat at Onjong, their retreat took on all the attributes of a rout, harried all the way by stinging cavalry attacks and ceaseless ambushes. Significant amounts of weapons and supplies were captured by the Chinese as they pushed forward towards the Ch’ongch’on.

The 4th and 5th Divisions of ROK I Corps suffered a similar fate at Tokchon, being surrounded by the 40th Corps and subjected to constant bombardment and waves of infantry attacks through the night. Circles of Chinese wu-shen tore apart the earth and rained down bolts of flame, freezing whirwinds and storms of acid from the dark skies, smashing the outer perimeter of South Korean defences and overrunning their command posts and supply dumps. Individual strongpoints were bypassed by the initial Chinese advance and then reduced by mercilessly effective set piece attacks. Hundreds of ROK soldiers perished on the cold hills around Tokchon in folorn last stands and thousands were captured, leaving them to the uncertain future of a Chinese prison camp in Manchuria.

The effective destruction of I and II Corps broke open the entire right flank of the Eighth Army and tens of thousands of Chinese troops advanced towards the Taedong River with nothing to stop them. The South Koreans losses are estimated as 2894 killed or missing, 11207 wounded and 4619 captured and the loss of virtually all of their heavy equipment and the 26th Army suffered an estimated 6000 casualties in their crushing victory. The full scale of the defeat was only realized on November 28th, leading to the abrupt end of offensive action and a shift towards the preservation of the position of the Allied force in western Korea.

Battle of Kujang-dong
The US 2nd Infantry Division had advanced up the Ch’ongch’on River in the early stages of the Thanksgiving Offensive, lead by the 9th and 23rd Infantry Regiments, before encountering increased Chinese resistance to the north of Kujang-dong. The 38th Infantry Regiment was moved up to cover the division’s right flank at Somin-dong, placing it directly in the path of the advancing Chinese 40th Corps, whose battle plans involved pinning down the American forces before cutting them off from the rear and encircling them. The initial contact came in the hills around Kujang-dong, where the 9th Infantry Regiment was surprised in the night of November 25th by the 120th Infantry Division. Desperate fighting took place across the freezing hilltops through the hours of darkness as American machine gun, rocket and cannon fire from their infantry carriers barely managed to prevent the Chinese from overrunning the entire regiment, but the 9th was reduced to a strength of just four rifle companies. The 23rd Infantry Regiment attacked to relieve them after midnight and cut through the enemy’s rear, accompanied by two platoons of M-48 tanks. Withdrawing from immediate contact with the American forces, Chinese infantry and artillery managed to establish themselves atop a strategic hill dubbed Chinaman’s Hat overlooking the 2nd Infantry Division’s forward lines by the next morning.

At the same time, the 38th Infantry Regiment had come under heavy attack from the 118th Infantry Division and were gradually pushed back to a series of hilltop defensive positions. Divisional artillery was instrumental in halting the Chinese attacks before dawn, but no relief came during the following day as they were continually harassed by mortar and sniper fire. Their ordeal resumed at nightfall with further waves of infantry attacks supported by flamethrowers hammering the American positions. The 9th and 23rd Regiments were forced back from their forward positions and, running low on ammunition due to the intensity of the fighting, were pulled back across the river by their commander, Major General Laurence Kesler in a skilled tactical retreat that came not a moment too soon. The 38th fought its way back to the main body of the division on November 27th at great cost from continual ambushes and relentless Chinese fire. The 2nd Infantry began a fighting withdrawal to Kunu-ri, 32 miles to the south, through a dozen Chinese roadblocks where their tanks, carriers and vehicles came under concentrated bazooka, rocket and grenade fire. They arrived at the lines held by the 12th Cavalry Regiment on the late afternoon of November 28th, having sustained almost 3000 casualties in the process.

Battle of Ipsok
The 6th Infantry Division had been assigned the task of covering the left flank of I Corps’ northward offensive and had pushed up the Kuryong River, meeting little resistance. A reinforced task force drawn from the crack 1st Infantry Regiment and the divisional Ranger company captured the village of Ipsok on November 24th and cautiously occupied the hills to the north. Their positions came under heavy attack by the Chinese 39th Corps the next day, with arcanely disguised commando teams infiltrating American lines and causing widespread chaos. American artillery stabilized the situation, knocking out several batteries of Chinese 76mm field guns in the hills to their north, but marking their position. The main assault came on the night of the 26th of November in a sudden storm of fire from several tremendous explosions that marked the first Chinese use of dragons in the war. Carefully hidden rocket batteries bombarded American artillery positions, drawing their attention away from the support of the infantry. Immense Chinese infantry attacks fell upon the forward American rifle companies from all sides, accompanied by the lightning of wand-wielding wu-shen and a screaming rain of mortar shells filled with a new strange substance that sapped the will of men, leading to wild reports of enemy use of poison gas.

The 20th Infantry Regiment on the division’s right was the first to withdraw back to the Kuryong, although a convoy of wounded was ambushed by the Chinese and destroyed in a brief fire fight that enraged the remaining American troops. The 65th Infantry Regiment and the French Brigade attacked from the Kuryong through to Ipsok to rescue the remnants of the 1st Infantry on November 27th, crashing through Chinese roadblocks with their M-26s and saturating the surrounding hills with 155mm artillery fire as the corps’ heavier guns covered their withdrawal. In the first major engagement of French troops in Korea, the veteran Foreign Legionnaires of the 7th REI, the Royal Musketeers and the Imperial Guard inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese infantry regiment that attempted to surround them due to the heavy firepower of their light machine guns and an aggressive willingness to charge home with sword and bayonet. The 1st Infantry attacked southwards to meet the relief column and the phased withdrawal of the 6th Infantry Division reached Yongbyon by early afternoon.

Battle of Taechon
The 25th Infantry Division had encountered relatively light resistance in the initial phase of its push northward to capture the town of Taechon on the morning of the 24th of November, but as they drew closer, were beset by increasingly heavy mortar and artillery fire, mines, booby traps and ambushes. The Chinese 23rd Army had been massing in the area and the 58th Corps engaged the 24th and 27th Infantry Regiments in a series of running battles in the hills around the town. Numerous infantry and cavalry charges were repulsed by American machine gun teams and steady rifle fire, but their lines were stretched almost to breaking point in the process. The 35th Infantry Regiment attacked up along the Taeryong to outflank the Chinese and achieved substantial early success due to strong tank support. Timely commitment of the full force of the division resulted in the capture of Taechon at 1540 on November 25th, but drew reserves away from the IX Corps flank.

On their left, the 24th Infantry Division’s drive on Kusong had ground to a halt by November 25th. The link between the two forces was held by the 34th Infantry Regiment. A major Chinese attack by the 58th Corps struck the forward lines of the 34th Infantry after midnight on November 26th and pushed them back on the hills behind them, drawing forward divisional reserves and focusing American firepower on the Kusong road. Naval bombardment from HMS Superb 31 miles away offshore broke up several Chinese assaults before the enemy drew too close for the use of heavy guns. The more open countryside was not ideally suited to the Chinese tactics of manoeuvre and infiltration attacks and even the increasingly miserable weather did little to dampen American hopes that victory was in sight. The night of November 27th was broken not only by lightning and a roaring artillery bombardment from the hills to the north, but by even more dire news from the east.

The 23rd Infantry Division, stretched out between Taechon and the Chongchon, was struck by over 200 guns and heavy mortars followed by a huge infantry and cavalry assault by the as-yet undetected the 62nd Corps at Yongsang-dong. Sheer numbers and the shock of the offensive enabled the Chinese to overrun the command posts of the 182nd and 164th Regiments and fatally disrupt the defensive coordination of the 23rd Infantry Division. Their attack featured the heaviest Chinese use of illusion and subterfuge thus far in the campaign, as many Chinese companies were able to approach American lines in the guise and uniforms of fleeing South Korean troops and then strike with varying levels of success. Sorcerous smoke shells lead to the second false report of a gas attack in the day and no positions seemed safe from encirclement.

The fall of Yongsang-dong threatened to cut off the entire of IX Corps from the rest of the Eighth Army and lead to a rapid withdrawal of the 24th Infantry Division back from Kusong. General Walker ordered the remainder of the corps to pull back towards Pakchon and the relative safety of the river, a task accomplished in reasonably good order by November 29th and subsequently viewed as one of the United States Army’s finer moments in the Battles of the Ch’ongch’on. The link up with the 3rd British Division once again established a continuous line of defence to the coast, with the Commonwealth and Indian troops having pulled back in a leapfrog withdrawal from their blocking positions between Chongju and Kwaksan. Reconaissance missions by Bengal Lancers indicated that significant Chinese forces were steadily advancing through the hills to the north of Chongju.

Battle of Kunu-ri
As pressure increased on I Corps, the small crossroads village of Kunu-ri began to take on great significance as the main bottleneck for the withdrawal of Allied troops and the hinge upon which the entire line swung. If the Chinese could break through here, then there was little that lay between them and Anju, a position where they could imperil the retreat of the IX and Commonwealth Corps. All reserves available to I Corps, the Turkish Brigade and the 12th Cavalry Regiment, had been moved forward to take up defensive positions to the east of Kunu-ri to block the Chinese advance. After a confused encounter with a force that turned out to be fleeing South Korean troops, the Turks dug in around Wawon early on the 27th of November and were soon engaged by units of the 114th Infantry Division. Heavy fire repelled initial probing attacks by the Chinese, but the lead battalion of the brigade was soon engaged on both flanks by significant numbers of Chinese infantry. The meeting engagement continued on in the early hours of the 28th and the Turks suffered 400 casualties in the intense hand-to-hand fighting. Turkish commander Mirliva Yazici Pasha ordered a withdrawal back to the village of Sinim-ri, where the Turks once again put up a doughty defence against continual Chinese attacks throughout the night and day. The brigade was running low on ammunition and almost completely surrounded by thousands of enemy troops when a felicitous air strike by 18 RN Hawker Sea Furies heavily loaded with napalm and rockets broke open the Chinese lines and momentarily relieved the pressure. This allowed the surviving Turks to withdraw in good order to Kunu-ri, where the remnants of the 2nd Infantry Division were now dourly preparing to confront the oncoming foe.

On November 28th, the 23rd and 38th Infantry Regiments had taken positions in the hills to the north and east of Kunu-ri alongside the 12th Cavalry Regiment and came into almost immediate contact with two Chinese divisions. American defences held out against the initial waves of attacks and concentrated firepower made frontal offensives murderously costly. The sheer numbers of Chinese ensured that the defenders were eventually outflanked and placed under immense pressure. A large amount of the mortar and artillery shells fired by the Chinese appeared to be duds, providing some small measure of relief. The three American regiments were joined by the Turkish brigade on November 29th, but were severely pressed by attacks from the rear and enfilading fire from the high ground. The 38th Infantry was cut off by Chinese forces by nightfall and had to fight its way out through Chinese lines and across the Kaechon River. Kunu-ri was occupied by the Chinese at 0500 the next morning.

General MacArthur had called a conference in Tokyo on November 28th as the scale of the unfolding disaster became clear. He concluded that the flanking Chinese attack had placed the Eighth Army in considerable danger and that General Walker should break contact with the Chinese and pull back to avoid being encircled. Walker subsequently ordered the Eighth Army to begin to pull back to Sunchon, 48 miles to the south. The IX Corps and Commonwealth Corps crossed the Ch’ongch’on in good order at Sinanju and Anju, but I Corps faced a far more perilous path down from Kunu-ri to Yongwon. Two Chinese divisions had established a 5 mile deep roadblock across the long and winding road and the 2nd Infantry Division was subjected to a tremendous crossfire from both flanks, particularly at night when air cover was unavailable. The blockade was smashed aside by a massed airstrike by over 100 USAF F-84s and A-38s, allowing the hard pressed 2nd Infantry to make it through the deadly gauntlet. In the final gasp of the battle, a massed artillery bombardment using up all ammunition available to the divisional artillery warded off the prospect of close Chinese pursuit.

Retreat
The Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River came to an end on December 2nd, with the Chinese Army having inflicted a devastating defeat on the Eighth Army. The 1st Cavalry and 2nd Infantry Divisions had suffered such heavy losses as to be rendered combat ineffective and the badly damaged six South Korean divisions would need substantial reinforcements and re-equipment before they could take a frontline role.
The chaos of the rapid retreat had prevented any significant reconaissance to determine the position and intentions of the Chinese and rumour and misinformation abounded, in part due to what has subsequently been recognized as an ingenious combination of confusion and fear dweomers and hallucinogenic gasses. What was clear was that the Chinese had committed over 500,000 troops to Korea and that the Allies were poorly positioned to halt them. Faced with a dire strategic situation, General Walker ordered a full withdrawal from North Korea on December the 3rd.

What followed was the longest retreat in the military history of the United States. Several stands were made north of Pyongyang to attempt to hold back the advancing Chinese forces, but to no avail. Covered by Allied airpower and shepherded by tanks, the Eighth Army pulled back nearly 200 miles to the pre-war border in ignominy. Allied forces were beset with poor morale during the ‘Great Bug-Out’ and it was to sink lower with the tragic death of General Walker in an automobile accident two days before Christmas. Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgeway was appointed to the command of a battered army, but one for which all the news was not ill. The American XII Corps was now assembled at Seoul, the British 1st Division and Indian 5th Division were beginning to disembark at Kunsan and fresh Canadian and Australian brigades would arrive early in the new year. He had the numbers and firepower to halt the rampage of the Chinese if momentum could be wrested from them. Intense discussion was underway in Tokyo and Washington regarding the deployment of the weapons that could accomplish that goal, weapons that the Chinese could not possibly respond to.

The Chinese reflection on the lessons of their first two offensives was extremely respectful of American artillery, armour and logistical support and praised the impact of tactical airpower. The enemy infantry had an excellent rate and range of small arms fire, but was prone to collapsing when cut off from the rear and heavily dependent on the other arms of battle. Their performance in night fighting and mountain warfare was seen as less proficient than that of the Imperial Chinese Army and the use of flanking and rear attack was a tactical necessity. No effective means had yet been found to engage British and American tanks other than the use of mines and improvised explosive charges. It was felt that victory could be achieved if pressure was maintained on the retreating Allied armies in terrain that would not allow them to deploy their most powerful weapons.

Battle of the Chosin Reservoir

In the east of Korea, X Corps had advanced from its landings at Wonsan and Hungnam deep inland to the area around the Chosin Reservoir, linking up with the ROK III Corps. Initial contacts between the 1st Marine Division and the Chinese in late October had resulted in an American victory that inflicted heavy casualties on their opponents. The Marines had advanced to positions at Sinhung-ni on the east of the reservoir and Yudam-ni on the western side. In conjunction with the Thanksgiving Offensive of the Eighth Army, MacArthur ordered General Almond to advance westward to take Kanggye and once again link up Allied forces across the peninsula. Almond planned to attack west from Yudam-ni with the 1st Marine Division in the lead while the 7th Infantry Division protected the right flank of the advance and the 3rd Marine Division operated on the left and in the rear of the corps. Unbeknownst to Almond, the Chinese 20th and 27th Armies were massing to the north and west of the reservoir. Both sides lacked firm intelligence on the other, underestimating overall strength and not identifying all supply dumps and airfields. The Chinese plan was to engage and destroy the expected light concentration of enemy forces around the west of the reservoir, lure in the main body of X Corps to Hagaru-ri and cut them off from Hungnam in a grand encirclement.

X Corps’ line of supply ran back down the single, winding, poor quality road to stretching 125 miles back to Hungnam through incredibly harsh terrain. North-eastern Korea was beset with arctic weather throughout November as a cold front from Siberia sent temperatures hurtling down to −40 ° during the nights. Frostbite, frozen earth and icy roads all contributed to casualties in the prelude to the battle and substantial amounts of American equipment simply ceased to function in the extreme conditions. Chinese troops were somewhat better outfitted for the conditions than their American counterparts, but suffered from the same issues of low supplies and exposure. Concentrated US airpower from the Navy’s carriers offshore and the 1st and 3rd Marine Air Wings at Hamhung was well positioned to supply close air support for X Corps in the battles to come and were less affected by inclement weather than their counterparts to the west.

At 2240 on November 27th, a force of 18 Chinese divisions struck down from the hills along a front spanning the length of the Chosin Reservoir, catching X Corps by surprise and surrounding the Marines and soldiers at Yudam-ni, Sinhung-ni, Hagaru-ri and Koto-ri.

Stand at Yudam-Ni
The 5th and 7th Marine Regiments were engaged by two Chinese divisions in their positions on the hills overlooking Yudam-ni and inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers with concentrated machine gun and rifle fire. The 59th Division successfully blocked the road south to Hagaru-ri and cut off Fox Company of the 7th Marines from the rest of the American force. Concentrated 105mm artillery fire and airstrikes from Marine Super Corsairs enabled the surrounded force to hold out over the next four days. The initial rebuff had lead the headquarters of the Chinese 20th Army to realize that it was facing the better part of a US Marine division at Yudam-ni and lead to the focus of the attack shifting to the southern end of the reservoir. As the Eighth Army began to pull back in Western Korea, General Almond was ordered to withdraw his corps back to Hungnam and the 5th and 7th Marines prepared to break out towards Hagaru-ri on November 29th. General Oliver P. Smith, the 1st Marine Division’s commander, quipped “Retreat, hell! We’re not retreating, we’re just advancing in a different direction.” His explanation was not simple braggadocio, but an accurate assessment of the firepower and capabilities of his force, which included battalions of M-26 Pershings and LVT-5 amtracks, detachments of self propelled guns and armoured cars and three circles of USMC battle mages.

On December 1st, a convoy lead by Pershings attacked out towards Chinese lines, preceded by a supporting assault by the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines to capture two key hills overlooking the southward route. The Marines were covered by waves of Super Corsairs strafing, rocketing and bombing all points of Chinese resistance and precarious positions were captured on the forward slops of both Hill 1542 and Hill 1419, permitting the withdrawal to begin. Ferocious Chinese infantry wave attacks threatened to break through the rearguard on numerous occasions through to the morning of the 2nd of December, with only the intervention of Banshee night fighters holding back the tide. The road to Hagaru-ri was opened by a surprise attack by the 1st Marine Raiders on the Toktong Pass, who destroyed many Chinese strongpoints with assault rifle, grenade and bazooka fire and linked up with the advancing Fox Company. Heavy attacks on the withdrawing convoy continued over the next two days despite the ever present Marine Corsairs and road blocks, traps, small arms and mortar fire and the unescapable bone-chilling cold ensured that the retreat could only proceed at an agonizing crawl, which lead to significant casualties. On December 4th, the Marine convoy reached Hagaru-ri in good order.

Task Force Faith
The 31st Regiment Combat Team of the 7th Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Don Faith was given the task of guarding the right flank of X Corps’ advance inland and was spread across the hills to the north of Sinhung-ni. At 2100 on November 27th, the Chinese 80th Division struck the northern most positions held by the 31st RCT along the edge of the hills, separating its three component battalions and almost overrunning several forward positions, particularly those of the 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry around the inlet west of Sinhung-ni. Welcome relief from the initial rage of the offensive came when Chinese troops were diverted by the rich spoils of food and supplies in the US entrenchments and a dawn attack spearheaded by devastating fireballs hurled by the regimental wizard forced the enemy back with heavy losses. General Almond flew in for as fleeting visit to the 31st RCT and ordered them to continue their northward attack and presented the commanding officers with Silver Stars; these were promptly discarded in disgust following his departure.

As night fell on the 28th of November, the Chinese attacked around the inlet once again in the same old fashion and the American soldiers stopped them once again in the same old fashion, inflicting dreadful damage with their M2 .50 calibre machine guns and M249 Vigilante anti-aircraft guns. Elsewhere, they encountered rather more success with coordinated artillery and mortar barrages forcing back the 2nd Battalion from their forward positions. The Chinese came very close to overrunning the American lines just before dawn before being repelled by airstrikes from USN AD Skyraiders. The 31st RCT was left stranded as the Marine withdrawal from Yudam-ni was unable to penetrate through to them, but so long as air and artillery support continued, their position was not doomed. 7th Infantry Division’s commander Major General David Barr flew into the pocket and conferred with Colonel Faith, now in command of the 31st RCT, who informed him that a breakout would be a distinctly difficult manoeuvre given the several hundred wounded who would have to be carried out.

The matter was finally forced by the arrival of the Chinese 94th Division, which increased the pressure on the American lines to the point of breaking. Only the fire of the anti-aircraft guns, a trio of M-26 tanks and the artillery support supplied by the 8” howitzers of the 1st Marine Division at Koto-ri stopped the prospect of a complete breakthrough. Ammunition supplies began to reach critically low levels and, on December 1st, Colonel Faith ordered the regiment to breakout towards Hagaru-ri. Marine airstrikes with napalm and wildfire came alarmingly close to American lines and caused casualties among forward troops, but opened a path for the retreat. Chinese small arms and machine gun fire pinned down the rear guard and ripped into the slow moving trucks and carriers, inflicting heavy losses on the passengers, many of whom were already wounded. The two remaining tanks smashed through two roadblocks before being disabled by a cunning trap before the last obstacle at Hudong-ni. A fierce firefight broke out and Colonel Faith lead the assault, being fatally wounded by a grenade as the last enemies fell. Only 1260 of the original force of 2800 men managed to make it through the gauntlet to Hagaru-ri, with barely 400 of those being fit and battle-ready.

Battle of Hagaru-Ri
Hagaru-ri was an important supply hub for the support of X Corps’ westward offensive and a forward airfield was under construction. It was occupied by the headquarters and support troops of the 1st Marine Division, the 1st Engineer Battalion, the 1st Marine Parachute Battalion and battalions of the 1st and 7th Marines. Patrols and observation flights had noticed the increased numbers of enemy troops in the surrounding hills and it became obvious that a major attack was imminent. All available troops were assigned to frontline defence duties, emphasizing the credo that every Marine was a rifleman. The initial Chinese assault came at 2130 on the night of November 28th, with an estimated force of four regiments striking the western and northern defences of Hagaru-ri. The disciplined rifle and machine gun fire of the entrenched Marines drove back the first three waves, but a heavier Chinese attack at midnight penetrated deep into the defensive perimeter before being destroyed in a series of ferocious counterattacks. In the dawn’s early light of November 29th, it became apparent that only the East Hill on the northern side of the defences had fallen to the Chinese. Marine and Navy airstrikes pounded Chinese positions and formations during the day, spoiling a further attack planned for that very night. Three days of hard fighting lay ahead before reinforcements would cut their way through from Hudong-ni and Yudam-ni and Chinese mortars and rocket artillery inflicted grievous losses.

A final attempt was made to overwhelm the garrison early on the morning of December 1st, with several thousand Chinese infantry launching a surprise charge on the northern perimeter of the defences. Steady small arms fire from the Marines and the welcome support of M-26 tanks of the 31st Tank Company cut down the foe in their hundreds, decimating the Chinese 58th Division. The final blow was delivered by the fires and rage of Pyrausterius the Fell, the United States Marine Corps most fearsome dragon, newly arrived in Korea after flying the entire way across the United States and the Pacific from his lair in Quantico. The Chinese threat to Hagaru-ri was temporarily ameliorated, giving time to evacuate dead and wounded from the hastily opened airfield and to bring in fresh supplies of food and ammunition. The bulk of the 1st Marine Division convoy had arrived by December 4th and the final stage of the withdrawal through the mountain passes to Hungnam could begin.

Break for the Sea
The advance from Hagaru-ri to Koto-ri on December 6th was preceded by the heaviest bombardment of the entire battle and concentrated airstrikes by no less than six Marine fighter squadrons set the surrounding hills ablaze with napalm and rockets. The remaining two battalions of Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller’s 1st Marines doggedly held their positions at Koto-ri at the other end of what would late be known as Hellfire Valley. The 7th Marines and 1st Raiders spearheaded the advance to meet them, clearing Chinese strongpoints from the hills overlooking the narrow road in a series of well-executed firefights whilst Pershing tanks subdued the cunning roadblocks below. The column reached Koto-ri early on December 7th and faced only limited opposition as it pushed through the Funchilin Pass, where USMC wizards conjured a bridge of arcane energy to replace the spans of a destroyed treadway bridge and scoured the enemy from the hills with storms of lightning and great gouts of purple fire. They emerged at Chinhung-ni, bloodied, battered and unbowed.

The 9th Marine Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division now struck northward from Sudong, scattering Chinese resistance and clearing the way for the final leg of the journey to Hungnam, which was reached on December 11th. General MacArthur had ordered that X Corps be evacuated by sea to reinforce the retreating Eighth Army in their defence of South Korea. Naval gunfire from the battleships and cruisers of Task Force 77 and the amphibious vessels of Task Force 90 offshore broke up Chinese attacks before they could seriously incommode the American and South Korea forces arrayed around the port. Over the next thirteen days, over 300 ships evacuated the men and equipment of X Corps and their South Korean comrades, in addition to tens of thousands of Korean refugees. The gallant SS Meredith Victory took on 15,284 civilians on its own for the long voyage to Pusan. The successful withdrawal was completed early on Christmas Eve, with the port thoroughly destroyed by explosive charges and devastating 24” gunfire from the battleships Iowa, New Jersey and Wisconsin. The Hungnam Evacuation can be validly compared to Dunkirk as a fillip to morale for the the American and South Korean populace, being portrayed as a veritable Christmas miracle to warm the cockles of civilian hearts amid the tide of dire news.

The military assessment of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir was somewhat more mixed. General Smith’s forces had escaped the jaws of the Chinese Army’s trap and preserved X Corps for the battles to come, but at a high cost in casualties from both the exertions of battle and the harsh weather. American losses totalled 1829 killed, 4639 missing and 6973 wounded, with many of the dead unrecovered. Chinese casualties totalled nearly 70,000, or over a third of the number thrown into the deadly fray, a factor that would be important in its effect on the Chinese push southward. Fighting around Chosin was considered to be some of the hardest of the war thus far, putting the earlier battles around the Pusan Perimeter in the shade.

Air War
The weather provided the most significant opposition to Allied airpower over North Korea in November 1950. Many airfields on the Korean peninsula were unable to conduct regular operations and long range air support from bases in Japan could only play a limited role in supporting operations in the northernmost reaches of the country. The strategic heavy bombers of the RAF and USAF began to become victims of their own success, as the paucity of available targets resulted in the Superfortresses and Lancasters lying dormant. As the Chinese offensives crashed down upon the Eighth Army and X Corps like a wolf upon the fold, this relative inactivity disappeared as destruction of the bridges over the Yalu assumed utmost urgency. Several Grand Slam bombs hastily flown to the Far East by airship were expended without any decisive result, expediting a programme to rush the guided 12,000lb ASM-A-1 Tarzon into operational service.

American Sabres and British Hunters began to occasionally encounter Chinese and North Korean MiG-9 swept-wing jet fighters in the skies above the Yalu. The limited number of air-to-air engagements reinforced Allied air superiority with 8 enemy planes being shot down without loss. Peking had increasingly pressed the Soviet Union for urgent delivery of their new Mikoyan jet fighter, but it was still encountering extensive troubles with their underpowered engines and would not be operational for some time to come. The F-84 Thunderjet began to arrive in the theatre in significant numbers from late October, replacing the F-51 and some F-80 equipped units as a tactical fighter-bomber. Medium bombers were employed for carpet bombing missions whenever conditions permitted during the November battles and would fill this role until the roles of the B-29s and Lancasters gradually changed in 1951.

War at Sea
The anti-submarine operations that had consumed so much attention in October continued at a high intensity and two suspected vessels were sunk by USN destroyers. The end of the North Korean Navy’s surface threat allowed Task Force 77 and Task Force 85 to concentrate upon the support of troops ashore through naval gunfire and carrier airpower. Typically, two battleships and four cruisers would operate on the gunline off each coast, augmented by numerous destroyers and frigates, and numerous bombardment missions were conducted that proved severely disruptive to Chinese forces. The British and American battleships carried out fire missions up to 58 nautical miles inland and were capable of destroying the most well protected of targets, but their sheer firepower made them occasionally less tactically useful when Chinese forces were able to close with and infiltrate the Allied positions.

Carrier airstrikes did not encounter the same handicaps as land based aircraft from the dire weather, but had less effect than in the previous months due to the poor visibility over the battlefields. Tactical interdiction raids often bombed their targets blind, which reduced some of their efficacy. The fast response time of carrier aircraft made up for any issues of accuracy and were the primary means of battlefield air support for both the Eighth Army and X Corps. USMC Super Corsairs operating from light and escort aircraft carriers were particularly appreciated for their loiter time and firepower.

Conclusion
Withdrawal from North Korea was a bitter pill coming after the succession of victories after the Inchon Landings and caused extreme panic and concern in Tokyo, Washington, London and beyond. The pressing objectives of the Truman Administration were to hold the coalition of Allied forces together, stabilize the frontline and to seek a political solution to the war, but the overall mood was one of pessimism. The strategic surprise of the Chinese offensive would prove to be the cause of the great rupture in relations between General MacArthur in Tokyo and President Truman and his civilian advisors, as both had significantly different interpretations of the future course of the war. Public support for the war in the United States and the Western World was shaken, but not broken by the tremendous setback of the Chinese Second Phase Offensive and all sense that this would be a brief conflict disappeared.

A long and hard winter lay ahead.

[Simon Darkshade]

Winter War

The Bleak Midwinter
It was a stark and cold Christmastide in Korea in those dark days of December 1950. The men of the Eighth Army huddled shivering in their foxholes and trenches, struggling to keep out the bitterness of the freezing wind and incessant snow and warily awaiting the approach of the vast hosts from the north. The crackling sounds of cheerful Christmas music on radios and treasured letter provided some small measure of comfort for the men faraway from hearth and home. The dual blows to their morale of the Great Bug-out and the death of General Walker hung heavily over the haggard and weary men who were now dug in around the 38th parallel and across the centre of the peninsula. Many of the American and Western troops looked forward to an inevitable evacuation to Japan, whilst the battered South Korean units were a shadow of the confident force that had pushed northward such a short time ago. This was a season for suffering and a season for endurance and certainly a less than festive one.

This palpable sense of tension was also felt in Tokyo, where the headquarters of Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur was filled with foreboding at the thought of losing the entire Korean peninsula and perhaps having to conduct another amphibious invasion, this time on a scale of difficulty that would dwarf even Inchon. Orders were drawn up for a withdrawal to the bridgehead of the Pusan Perimeter where favourable geography, air and sea power would negate Chinese numerical advantage and allow a long term stand. Disputes had been growing between MacArthur and the Truman administration regarding the bombing of the Yalu River bridges since early November, with the President and Joint Chiefs of Staff being reticent to violate Chinese airspace. Neither side had directly advocated the use of atomic weapons in Korea or Manchuria to this point, but Truman authorised the movement of bomb casings and B-36 bombers to Guam, whilst keeping the fissile cores in the United States. The debate over the direction of grand strategy extended beyond Korea and even the United States to Europe, where the British government expressed concerns as to the concentration on the Orient and the prospect of evacuation of the Korean peninsula. This exposed long-running threads of difference between the world views and strategic perspectives of the British and American military and political establishments and heightened the growing sense of strain in the Atlantic alliance.

In Peking, the mood was one of enthusiasm and anticipation of a monumental triumph. The unpredicted string of victories and the collapse of the Allied position in North Korea had been hailed as a sign of renewal of the Empire and glory to the Dragon Throne. Chinese losses in the initial phase of intervention in the war in Korea had been considerable and a large part of the total force was either combat ineffective or severely understrength. In spite of this, and the restrictions of logistics, the Emperor’s chief advisors urged a final push in Korea to drive the Allies into the sea and establish Chinese supremacy over the strategic crossroads of North Asia. Backchannel proposals for ceasefires had been cast aside and the scene was set for what would later be known as the New Year or Third Phase Offensive.

For the soldiers and marines on the frontline in Korea, the great issues of global politics, atomic strategy and alliances were as alien and ephemeral as the far-off rings of Saturn. The nature of the fighting was far too direct and personal to give much scope to such considerations. The Allies were hastily entrenched along a defensive line north of Seoul stretching out across the centre of the peninsula. Chinese raids and harassing fire occurred around the clock and the shrill demented choirs of artillery and mortar shells provided a grim prelude to the chilling jangle of the bugles, flutes and chimes that heralded each new charge. The harsh weather and alien conditions of Northeast Asia combined with the drain of constant alert to afflict many with profound combat fatigue. Yet, under the bludgeonings of fate and far from the fields of home, the heads of these young men were bloodied, but unbowed. Despite the fell clutch of circumstance, or perhaps because of it, they held on grimly, heartened by the steady influx of fresh men, material and munitions and the welcome sight of Allied airpower in the skies above. To their north, the soldiers of the Imperial Chinese Army, ostensibly volunteers aiding North Korea at their own volition, were gripped by the shared misery of their conditions and the comparative paucity of their supplies and supporting units. Above and beyond such concerns, they enjoyed a collective buoyancy of expectation drawn from the slashing victories of their first two offensives. Final triumph seemed to be within their grasp.

By the end of December 1950, there were over 1 million Chinese troops in Korea in what was still largely a light infantry-based force, with small but growing numbers of tanks and artillery crossing over the Yalu from Manchuria. The remnants of the North Korean Army had not yet recovered sufficiently from the defeats of autumn to take the field in the same large numbers as in the summer and autumn and were being mustered as a political asset. Soviet MiG-9 jet fighters that had been hastily transferred to the Chinese and North Koreans for air defence of the Yalu stronghold in October now they began to extend the zone of contested airspace further south. The Eighth Army arrayed along the 38th parallel was distinctly outnumbered by the enemy, but still nominally fielded 289,000 men in six corps – the Commonwealth Corps, the South Korean III and IV Corps (formed out of the survivors of the original ROK I and II Corps who had been badly mangled by the initial Chinese offensives) and the US I, IX and X Corps. Elements of three other South Korean divisions held strong positions in the Taebaek Mountains and along the east coast of the peninsula whilst the three American divisions of XII Corps held the rear.

12 American, 8 South Korean and 6 British Empire divisions now stood, in varying degrees of readiness, against the equivalent of 94 Chinese divisions. The Allies could call on far greater numbers of aircraft and had unquestioned control of the seas, but the issue of the war would be decided on the wintry hills north of Seoul. The South Korean III Corps would be anchor the right of the line around the central town of Chuncheon, I Corps and the Commonwealth Corps along the Imjin, IX Corps holding along the Hantan River, while X Corps was reconstituted south of Seoul around Wonju and Yoju as a central reserve and XII Corps continued to build up to combat strength. The Allied air forces had begun an effective campaign of interdiction against the southward advance of the Imperial Chinese Army, but could not bring a decisive blow to bear until the weather improved. The once formidable river crossings were now frozen solid in the subzero winter temperatures and no longer presented an obstacle to the Chinese thrust south. Battle loomed and General Ridgeway correctly predicted that the enemy would strike on New Year’s Eve in the advantageous light of two of the moons. The message to the troops was stark – this would be a stand just as hard and uncompromising as the dark days of the Pusan Perimeter.

Darker than the prospects of a bloody stand against a teeming foe were the confused reports of secret weapons and untold horrors that flowed into Seoul and Tokyo during the race to the south. Many American and Allied troops who survived the long march had now been laid low with mysterious and fell ailments, many of the symptoms of which bore distinct resemblance to the Red Death. It is now acknowledged that these cases were spread by the combination of unsanitary conditions, the collected mass of retreated troops and refugees and Chinese conscripts from the vast hinterland which had been wracked by the plague for years due to the twisted devilry of the IJA in the last war. The Chinese use of confounding gasses in their initial battles and the garbled reports of personnel injured in the hasty destruction of forward stockpiles of sulfur mustard gave rise to speculation that some form of incapacitating agent had been employed, adding to the growing chorus that advocated the initiation of chemical warfare in Korea using the old wartime refrain that “We can cook them better with gas.” Whilst there was no immediate resort to unconventional weapons at this juncture in 1950, these lurid tales and scuttlebutt added to a heated atmosphere in the halls of command.

Across Korea, over a million and a quarter men waited for the storm to break.

Third Phase Offensive: Action on the Imjin
At 1627 on December 31, over 200 Chinese guns and mortars began to pound the positions held by the South Korean III Corps. Their positions were well protected by barbed wire entanglements and minefields supported by machine gun bunkers, but Chinese reconnaissance over the previous weeks and specially trained assault teams of sappers, combat engineers and infantry were able to infiltrate the outer layers of the ROK defences and inflict a withering crossfire on forward units. Each of the three South Korean divisions were attacked by two Chinese corps and these overwhelming numbers soon told, despite many acts of desperate courage and defiance. The flanks of the Korean positions first buckled then crumbled and the battered remnants of the ROK 1st and 6th Divisions were forced into full retreat in an attempt to avoid encirclement. Their movement was checked by the dogged defence of the US 19th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division on their right flank, where concentrated artillery and machine gun fire made progress a slow and deadly proposition. The Chinese advance nevertheless threatened to outflank the Allied defensive line north of Seoul and was exploited by two North Korean divisions, which struck through the Chuncheon gap down towards Hong’chon and cut off the route of retreat of many South Korean troops. Forward elements of the Chinese 39th Corps reached the Pukhan River south of Kapyong early on January 1st, leading to the prospect of Seoul being threatened and the Eighth Army being cut off north of the Han. Ridgway had little choice but to bitterly order a retreat back towards Seoul from their forward lines.

Battle of Uijeongbu
The Commonwealth Division, chosen by virtue of its inland position along the Imjin, acted as the rearguard of the Eighth Army in the pullback to the Han River and rebuffed the initial Chinese pursuit in a sharp meeting engagement at Tokchong on January 1st. The concentrated artillery fire and armoured support of Centurion tanks of the Canadian Brigade bought ten priceless hours, allowing the Anzac Brigade time to dig in at Uijeongbu. The British 3rd Division was given the role of guarding the bridges over the Han and the 4th Indian Division took up positions along the northern perimeter of the capital. Time would be of the absolute essence in the engagement to come, for every hour and day that passed allowed the Allies to reconstitute more forces and build up the defences of Seoul.

The Chinese began to mass in considerable numbers in the Uijeongbu valley and the threat of encirclement was taken seriously by the Anzac Brigade new commander Brigadier Charles Green. The armoured carriers and tanks attached to the brigade were divided out among individual infantry companies and their firepower, in conjunction with the welcome support of offshore naval guns, kept the Chinese at bay throughout the day of January 2. Nightfall saw the now-traditional onslaught of Chinese infantry charges out of the darkness, punctuated by the pounding of long range 180mm guns. The outer defences of C Company of the 1st Royal New Zealand Regiment were overrun shortly after midnight, leading to the commitment of all brigade reserves to prevent the complete destruction of the units. Strafing runs by RAF Meteor night fighters cut a swathe through Chinese numbers and the timely arrival of draconic support sent them streaming back from the New Zealand trenches, closely following by enormous gouts of dragonfire. Sorcerous lightning called down by vengeful wu-shen on the surrounding high ground kept the Australian and New Zealand troops pinned down until dawn, when a flight of Hawker Sea Furies plastered the hilltops with napalm and cluster bombs.

The 3rd of January bought with it the last occurrence that Chinese commanders had predicted – an Anzac combined arms attack. Intended as a spoiling strike to cover their withdrawal back on the South Korean capital, each company struck forward behind a rapidly moving barrage with the cover of tanks and carriers while the heavy guns of the division poured down ruin upon the Chinese rear from their bastions back on the Han. By 1100 hours, the forward positions of the enemy had been thoroughly wrecked and their supply and communications lines thoroughly disrupted. The gradual withdrawal began at 1300 as the guns of HMS Hood kept up a steady bombardment of the Imjin and the roads north. The final elements of the Anzac Brigade rejoined the Commonwealth Division along the Han at 1745 that afternoon.

First Battle of Wonju
In the aftermath of the Chinese victory at Chuncheon, the situation for the Allied front in central Korea was perilous. Many South Korean troops managed to infiltrate back to their own lines over rugged mountain trails, but a substantial number had been cut off by the enemy roadblocks. The North Korean II Corps had infiltrated through the thinly held ROK front in the days leading up to the Third Phase Offensive and now the remnants of the South Korean III Corps were surrounded and subjected to continual attack north of Hoengsong. Ridgway deployed X Corps to take over control of the central sector of the front on January 1st and US M-48 tanks attached to the 7th Infantry Division soon forced open the Red roadblock by 0420 the next morning. Fighting through the hills soon degenerated into a series of bloody hand-to-hand battles where the superior North Korean and Chinese numbers began to tell. The initial positions occupied by American troops around Wonju soon became indefensible as the enemy streamed through the crumbling South Korean forces to the east. A general withdrawal to the 37th parallel was ordered on January 5th, with the salient at Wonju remaining as a dagger thrust into the heart of the enemy.

The strategic significance of Wonju, positioned at the very crossroads of Korea, made it second only to Seoul in importance. The terrain made it next to impossible to defend indefinitely in the face of continued enemy infiltration. North Korean and Chinese frontal assaults were easily rebuffed by concentrated American firepower and artillery superiority, but the tenability of Wonju as a long term bastion was being rapidly eroded by the havoc raised in the rear and the threat of constant ambush and sniper fire. On January 7th, General Almond finally ordered the abandonment of the village for new positions would permit US field artillery to control the crossroads. Whilst interdiction fire was initially successful in this respect, the forced withdrawal of Allied troops to the new defensive lines to the south gave Wonju over to North Korean control.

Fall of Seoul
Faced with the prospect of his left flank being completely enveloped after the slashing Chinese breakthroughs at Chuncheon, Ridgway reluctantly came to the conclusion that Seoul was indefensible and, after consultations with his corps commanders, ordered that the city be evacuated. This was a particularly bitter pill to swallow for the Rhee government, which had only just recently been looking forward to the control of a united Korean peninsula. The Chinese forces lacked the heavy guns necessary for a long siege of the city and had not built up substantial experience in such operations during the Civil War or the Sino-Japanese War, so that the Allied withdrawal came as a pleasant surprise. Concentrated attacks on the retreating Allied forces only began on January 3, the brunt of which fell upon the British 3rd Division and the American 25th Division.

The 29th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Division was dug in around Koyang on the Seoul Bridgehead line. Chinese infantry assaulted the hilltop positions held by the 1st Ulster Regiment and 1st Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, overrunning forward trench lines and pinning down the bulk of both battalions with continual sniper and mortar fire. A trio of elven longbowmen picked off Chinese commanders and machine gun posts in the dark from a mile away, but the British units were at risk of being surrounded. The attack was driven off by the timely intervention of six Churchill tanks, which devastated Chinese positions with their heavy 120mm guns while spearheading a counterattack by the reserve company of the 1st Royal Northumberland Fusiliers supported by the brigade’s 25pdrs and heavy 4.5” mortars. British losses totalled 29 killed, 115 wounded and 26 missing in exchange for over 400 Chinese casualties. The 29th Brigade successfully pulled back over the Han after dark, leapfrogging the other three brigades of the 3rd Division to provide constant coverage.

The U.S. 27th Infantry Regiment was the final UN Command unit to pull back through Seoul and fought its way through several Chinese ambushes as infiltrators streamed down through the abandoned Allied lines. Desperate hand-to-hand combat raged throughout the night on the outskirts of the capital as American wizards blasted back the charging Chinese with lightning, fire and deathfields. One company was almost completely overrun in the confused running battle and had to be rescued by a platoon of M-26 Pershing tanks that crashed through the wreckage of several buildings and drove back the enemy with machine gun fire and canister shot. The last Americans crossed the Han at 1600 on January 4, blowing up the bridges in a final gesture of defiance. Ridgway ordered the destruction of Kimpo airfield and the port facilities of Inchon as the Allies headed back to new defensive positions known as ‘Line D’ along the 37th parallel.

The Chinese and North Korean troops that entered Seoul on the evening of January 4 found a deserted and shattered ruin lit by flickering flames, the wretched inhabitants once again having fled out into the frozen night with their meagre possessions. The North Korean flag was raised over the wreckage of Seoul City Hall to a ragged chorus of cheers at midnight; the opinions of the remaining residents of the city were not recorded. Several divisions were sent to occupy Kimpo Airfield and Inchon and five armies advanced south towards the beleaguered Allies, but the bulk of the Chinese troops remained on the northern bank of the Han, wary of being trapped by another flanking landing in the manner of Inchon.

The Third Phase Offensive came to a successful conclusion with the capture of the South Korean capital. The Eighth Army had been dealt a grievous blow and Ridgway was faced with an uphill task to rebuild its morale and confidence as a fighting force in a scarce few weeks. Yet in the throes of victory, the Chinese had sown the seeds of Allied determination. Thoughts of evacuation or negotiated ceasefire were set aside in favour of striking back against this latest aggressor. The battle had been brief yet bloody, with the United Nations Command suffering 1473 casualties (206 killed, 872 wounded and 395 missing) and the Chinese and North Korean forces 10,267 (1694 killed, 7725 wounded and 848 missing).

In Washington, General MacArthur’s stock had fallen to its lowest ebb and serious questions were being asked by senior civilian officials in the Truman Administration regarding his fitness for the role of Supreme Commander. It was thought that his judgement was increasingly erratic and distinctly at odds with the conception of grand strategy conceived in the White House. More broadly, the loss of Seoul caused shock and anger throughout much of the Western world in a manner that compounded the earlier blow of Chinese intervention and worked to reinforce fears of a general war against the Soviet Union and its allies, boosting the relative power of American leadership. The military high command of the United States and Britain held distinctly less pessimistic opinions on the situation in Korea given the strategic overextension of pursuing Chinese and North Korean forces. The recommendations of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Imperial General Staff were unanimous – the time was ripe for a counterstrike.

Allied Counteroffensive Plans
General Ridgway’s plan for a counteroffensive was a simple one, aiming to clear the enemy from the southern bank of the Han River as the first step towards recapturing Seoul. Heavy emphasis was to be placed on firepower and wearing down the numerically superior Chinese through a strategy of attrition. Fresh British, American and Indian divisions were now available, large convoys of munitions were streaming into Pusan from Japan and the United States and the rage and fury of winter was gradually waning in response to powerful weather spells. In a series of coordinated blows, it was hoped that the enemy could be smashed back, allowing the Allies to once again seize the strategic initiative in the campaign.

The Allied attack would take place across the entire peninsula, with X Corps and the South Koreans attacking up along the east coast, I Corps thrusting through the centre around Wonju and the collected forces of IX Corps and the Commonwealth Corps pushing back to Inchon and Seoul in the west. The medium and heavy bombers of the USAF and RAF would be focussed on interdiction of the battlefield and airstrikes against Chinese lines of communication and supply dumps while the land and sea based tactical fighter-bombers would hammer every enemy troop concentration and strongpoint that weather permitted. Superheavy artillery units newly arrived from the United States and Britain would bring a new dimension to the fighting and ammunition stockpiles were now sufficient for protracted offensive action.

Second Battle of Wonju
The task of opening the offensive fell to the 2nd Infantry Division of I Corps, which had been repositioned along Line D as X Corps moved east to Chongson, and the crack French Brigade. On January 8th, the battle opened with a lightning barrage by over 200 guns and carpet bombing by two squadrons of B-29s. Initial gains by American and French units were considerable, but stubborn resistance by North Korean troops dug in on Hill 247, a major hill that controlled the town of Wonju itself, held up the attack. A terrible snowstorm prevented the use of tactical air support and fighting continued for almost two days. French bayonet charges proved particularly successfully in dislodging enemy positions and heavy artillery fire ensured that there would be no respite. North Korean mortar fire was met with devastatingly accurate counterbattery fire from US 155mm guns, giving the Allied forces a degree of freedom of movement. The ongoing blizzard made vision beyond a few dozen feet next to impossible, although the first few production sets of arcane spectroscopes rushed in from magical laboratories in California gave American troops a noticeable tactical advantage.

The U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment blasted their way up the hill on the afternoon of January 10th, clearing every enemy position with a fearful combination of 360mm bombard fire, flamethrowers and bazookas. Over 1900 North Korean casualties were inflicted as the French pressed in from the east and met the Americans atop the summit. The capture of Hill 247 brought all of Wonju under US heavy artillery and paved the way for the liberation of the town on January 13th as the North Korean V Corps pulled back to the north. Improving weather allowed the full fury of USAF and USN airpower to fall upon the enemy and pinpoint divebombing and rocket strikes eliminated those forces that chose to stand and fight. North Korean light infantry had little answer to the heavily protected M-48 tanks and armoured carriers that now pushed stood poised on the road to Hoengsong. Their retreat was harried by the Indian Scouts of the 96th Infantry Regiment who took the scalps of many a Red soldier.

Yangyang Offensive
The recapture of Wonju allowed X Corps to move forward to Yangyang and eliminate the substantial North Korean guerrilla presence in their rear. This was to be an operation moving in two directions, requiring bold, skilful command and the flexible movement of reserves. The 7th Infantry Division and the 3rd Marine Division began their push north on January 14th with heavy tank and naval gunfire support. Any suspected enemy strongpoint would not be engaged by infantry, but was rather flattened by a merciless artillery barrage. USMC Super Corsairs patrolled the skies above with relentless monotony, ready to strike any targets with rockets, napalm and cluster bombs at a moment’s notice and far above them cruised two USAF airships for any resistance that required even heavier attention. The systematic manner of the advance left nothing to chance and moved forward with steady, insuperable precision. Kangnung fell on January 16th and Yangyang was recaptured by January 20th as the remaining North Korean forces once again melted back to the north rather than face annihilation. The three divisions of the ROK I Corps then moved into the frontline role, allowing the American forces to shift to the west.

To the south, the fighting took on a different complexion. In the confused aftermath of the retreat from the border, substantial numbers of North Korean units had infiltrated through the loose Allied lines. Now, over 25,000 North Koreans occupied the hills around Route 29 as far south as Andong. General Almond deployed the 1st Marine Division, the 65th Infantry Regiment and Greek, Mexican and Yugoslav forces in his rear and ordered clearance operations to begin on January 13th. Running battles between company and platoon sized units followed over the next two weeks as aggressive patrolling slowly destroyed North Korean supply bases and wore down the numbers of guerrillas. Constant pressure was maintained and irregular commando units hunted down their foe using their own methods and disguises. The South Korean III Corps was gradually reassembled and now came forth into the line, tightening the noose around the remaining North Korean guerrillas even further. Cut off from supplies and reinforcements, the Red troops began to try to make their way north with little success; by January 25th, only just over 11000 had managed to retreat back into North Korea.

Operation Thunderbolt
Ridgway’s conception of the offensive was one of a deliberate and painstaking advance that preserved his combat power and maximised enemy casualties. Further reinforcements to Korea and the Far East were limited, given the general position in Washington that the current conflict was but the first step in a broader global conflagration where Europe would be the primary theatre of operations. The main attack by the three westerly corps of the Eighth Army would be codenamed Operation Thunderbolt. The Commonwealth Corps would strike up from Osan through Suwon to Anyang and IX Corps would attack from Chon-ni to the Pukhan River, while I Corps advanced from Wonju to Chipyong-ni to cover the Allied flank. Six specific phase lines every four miles were set as the targets for the offensive, each to be secured before any subsequent advance; no one element would reach the Han solo. The attack would take place in divisional strength in each sector, with subsequent formations to pass through each frontline division as it reached its second phase line. Further back at Taejon, the US XII Corps was kept as a theatre reserve to reinforce success while at Kunsan, the 2nd Royal Marine Division was poised for an amphibious descent around Seoul.

The two weeks leading up to Thunderbolt were characterised by a rapid restoration in the morale of the Eighth Army as fresh troops were rotated onto the front and the sheer bulk of materiel built up unmistakably behind Line D. Continual harassment mortar fire and regular air strikes ensured that the Chinese and North Koreans could not establish firm defences. In the Commonwealth Corps sector, peaceful penetrations by Australian, New Zealand, Gurkha, Sikh and British battalions captured dozens of prisoners on a daily basis, building up a broader intelligence picture of enemy dispositions. On their inland flank, a specialist company of marksmen and sharpshooters attached to the Scandinavian Brigade under the command of legendary Finnish Captain Simo Häyhä claimed twenty six kills of senior enemy officers at distances out to 1.25 miles. Allied wizards maintained a curtain of defensive illusion along Line D and carefully protected frontline positions from penetration by invisible foes with lines of salt and sand and warding dweomers. The Chinese wu-shen to the north were far from inactive and the night skies pulsed and howled with the ghostly imagery of sorcerous duels as they pushed the arcane barriers erected by their opponents.

Operation Thunderbolt began at 0300 on January 24th with a deafening barrage by over 1200 artillery pieces and the scream of multiple rocket launchers building up to the spinechilling crackle of spellfire slashing through the freezing Korean night as hundreds of fireballs and lightning bolts slammed into the enemy frontline. This was followed by the drone of engines from 240 USAF and RAF heavy bombers that proceeded to pulverize Chinese positions south of Seoul with almost 2500 tons of ordnance and the distant thunder of battleship gunfire plastering the north bank of the Han. The Allied infantry then pushed forward carefully with heavy tank support, reducing each enemy strongpoint and bunker with the concentrated application of high explosive. Well laid minefields and enemy mortar, rocket and artillery fire slowed the pace of the advance, but each of the three Thunderbolt columns managed to reach the first phase line on the afternoon of January 25th.

In the Commonwealth Corps sector, strong initial progress was recorded as the Commonwealth Division pushed forward from the start line with Centurion tank support from the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards and the Royal Scots Greys. In the late afternoon, isolated pockets of resistance developed behind the lines and British and Commonwealth troops was involved in several sharp company and platoon level engagements with Chinese forces. Any major obstacles were swiftly reduced by accurate bombardment from two newly arrived batteries of 15” superheavy howitzers rushed out of mothballs in India and Singapore. Progress ground to a halt overnight in accordance with Ridgway’s plan to minimize opportunities for enemy penetration of the main line of advance while artillery and mortar fire continued to batter enemy positions throughout the hours of darkness. The first battalions of the heavily reinforced British 1st Infantry Division reached the second phase line at 0825 on January 27th, grinding through the steady Chinese resistance that gradually melted back towards the Han. The thoroughly wrecked airfield and ruined town of Suwon were preoccupied by the 5th Indian Division later that morning, allowing long range 9.2” guns to bring enemy positions at Seoul, Inchon and Kimpo Airfield under fire. Whilst the terrain was somewhat easier towards the coast, the arrayed enemy forces of the North Korean 8th Corps and the Chinese 46th, 50th and 59th Armies ensured that every yard would be contested.

The first major progress against the stiffening Chinese resistance came in the IX Corps zone. Forward elements of the 24th Infantry Division equipped with new armoured carriers and reinforced by M-48 tanks broke through to reach Kyongan-ni on January 29th and pushed patrols through to within sight of the broken railway bridge over the Han in short order. Ridgway moved swiftly to reinforce success, committing the 23rd Infantry Division, the Turkish Brigade and the Italian Bersagliere Regiment to attack along the shoulders of the salient and focussing the fire of all available heavy artillery and a maximum effort of his air forces on the central sector of the front. The clearing weather permitted the Allies to exercise their massive advantage in tactical airpower over the battlefield and no fewer than nine squadrons of fighter-bombers and two dragons were assigned to the support of each corps. On January 28th, USN AD Skyraiders destroyed a particularly stubborn Chinese fortified postion on a crucial hilltop commanding the boundary between I Corps and IX Corps with a salvo of no fewer than eighteen Tiny Tim rockets. This allowed the advance of supporting South Korean troops who were attached to both corps as second echelon forces and a straightening of the central front along the fifth phase line.

I Corps ground steadily up from Wonju to Chuam’ni through sporadic Chinese resistance by January 29th and established strong blocking positions in a valley before what would later be described as the Twin Tunnels. These were two railway tunnels and a connecting bridge six and a half miles south of the corps objective of Chip’yong-ni, effectively controlling the axis of advance. An initial reconnaissance in force by a company of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division was met with strong Chinese resistance and cut off for several hours throughout the night of January 30th, only being relieved after the direct intervention of a USAF airship forced back the enemy hordes with a hail of ruin from the air. General Milburn ordered the 23rd Infantry Regiment to clear the tunnels and the 3rd Battalion and an attached battalion of Foreign Legionnaires successfully established a defensive perimeter around the objective with heavy tank and artillery support. The inevitable Chinese counterattack began early on February 1st and bitter hand-to-hand combat raged on throughout the day as 105mm howitzers fired canister shot over open sights, machine guns fired until the barrels glowed red and more than 120 air strikes smashed into the hills around the Allied bastion. Nightfall permitted the Chinese to withdraw under cover of darkness, leaving behind over 2000 shattered and broken bodies, while Allied losses amounted to 59 dead, 10 missing and 254 wounded.

Milburn, sensing the opportunity to envelop the enemy below the Han by seizing Chip’yong-ni by coup de main, struck forth in a lightning fast push with the 2nd Infantry Division while the 1st Cavalry and 6th Infantry Divisions advanced steadily to protect its flanks. Chinese resistance was fierce, with every hilltop having to be cleared by artillery fire and the bayonet. A day and a half of hard fighting saw the foe eventually broke before the pitiless American guns, tanks and wands, allowing the 23rd Regimental Combat Team to occupy Chip’yong-ni on February 3rd. They were swiftly reinforced by the First Ranger Company, a detachment of combat engineers, a company of M-48 tanks, the 37th Field Artillery Battalion, several anti-aircraft batteries, a circle of wizards and the crack French Foreign Legion battalion. Their orders were simple – dig in and wait while the final stages of Operation Thunderbolt took place to the east.

Offensive operations by X Corps were coordinated as Operation Roundup. The 1st Marine Division, fresh from its victories against North Korean guerrillas, would advance from the east of Wonju to Hoengsong and thence to Hong’chon, flanked by two South Korean divisions and the 7th Infantry Division. The Marines began moving north of Wonju on February 5th in four massed columns reinforced where possible with tanks, carriers and self-propelled artillery. They were considerably slowed by the extremely rough terrain and conditions, which served as much of an opponent as the elusive Chinese and North Korean forces. Each hilltop defensive strongpoint was cleared laboriously by heavy artillery bombardment and airstrikes followed by well-coordinated infantry attacks. The town of Ch’angbong-n was secured by the Marines by February 8th, supported by elements of the South Korean 5th and 7th Divisions. The American and ROK troops were unable to penetrate further towards Hong’chon despite heavy fighting along the savage ridgelines over the next two days. Arcane intelligence estimates of enemy forces concluded that over 100,000 Chinese troops were concentrated in the mountains to the north, leading Ridgway and Almond to conclude that further advances would open X Corps to possible encirclement. Several superheavy batteries of 240mm howitzers and 360mm bombards at Ch’angbong-n began a long range bombardment of the heights overlooking Hong’chon on February 11th, but, for all intents and purposes, Roundup and with it Thunderbolt had drawn to a what was considered a successful conclusion.

The Eighth Army now consolidated its position along the Han, establishing firm defensive lines across the Korean peninsula and eliminating the spectre of attacks from the rear. The steady progress of Ridgway’s offensive did much to restore the confidence of Allied forces in Korea and secured vital lines of communication to bring up the ever-increasing flow of supplies for the next push northward. The true tally of Chinese and North Korean losses is unknown to this day, but was estimated at over 30,000. Hopes of an honourable, negotiated peace were once again raised and secret contingency plans for the evacuation of the Eighth Army to Japan were once again filed away.

The Mongolian Gambit
The success of Chinese intervention in the conflict was welcomed in Moscow, but was also seen as a potential means of supplanting Soviet influence in North Korea should it not be matched with other means. Chief among these were the massive logistical effort made to supply North Korean and Chinese forces with modern Soviet weapons and the provision of MiG-9, Yak-15 and Su-9 jet fighters for the air defence of Manchuria and the North Korean border, but in January 1951, another significant step was taken as the first Mongol troops crossed the Yalu, clad in North Korean uniforms. Whilst the initial contingent and the majority of subsequent reinforcements were truly Mongolian, they would later provide the means for Soviet intervention on the ground in Korea through the use of Central Asian troops. Regardless of late revelations of their mixed origins, the Mongol Army bought with it a fearsome reputation of savage aggression and fighting skill from their deeds in the Second World War and Sino-Japanese War. They would not see action until the midst of 1951, as Stalin was quite content for the Chinese to take heavy casualties in the process of wearing down Allied forces before he could act decisively.

War in the Air
The bitterly cold winter conditions of December and early January played havoc with the efforts of Allied air forces to support the Eighth Army in the initial battles around Seoul and the Han River. Tactical fighters operated in a limited fashion from Korean airfields, but on many occasions, were unable to operate for most of the day or even reach the frontline combat area. The B-29 and Lancaster strategic bombers operating from Japan and Okinawa fared slightly better, but were constrained by terrific magical snowstorms that prevented access to the mountainous border region of North Korea where the remaining industrial targets of the communist state were clustered.

Matters took a turn for the better in the latter half of January as clearer conditions allowed a resumption of the aerial campaign. USAF and RAF heavy bombers were used extensively for carpet bombing missions prior to offensive ground action as well as night operations against the Yalu River in an effort to confound Chinese and North Korean air defences. The first two RAF English Electric Canberra medium bomber squadrons deployed in Korea itself provided extensive range on interdiction missions, employing new 5000lb Super Blockbusters against North Korean and Chinese force concentrations and supply dumps. Night bombing was no longer the sole domain of the Allies, however, as Chinese and North Korea Il-6s and Tu-2s began high-speed raids to complement the ongoing nuisance attacks of the Polikarpov ‘Bedcheck Charlies’.

The new year bought with it changes in the tactical aircraft inventory of the Allied air forces. The increased numbers of F-84 Thunderjets deployed to the Far East Air Forces allowed the gradual replacement of the F-51 Mustang, so that by the end of December 1950, only four squadrons operated that veteran fighter in Korea. The F-80 was also being progressively phased out from frontline fighter-bomber service, but would be retained as a fast reconnaissance fighter for several years to come, while the A-48 Wolverine took the place of older A-26 Invaders. RAF and RAAF de Havilland Mosquitoes, which had seen early war service as interdiction bombers and strike fighters, were pulled back to the Malayan and Siamese theatres of operations and replaced with Canberras.

Air superiority remained with the Allies thanks to the combination of the speed and firepower of the Panthers, Sabres, Hunters and Rangers with the long range vision provided by airborne radar and control airships. The F-86 in particular was building up a particularly deadly reputation in air-to-air combat with Chinese MiGs in offensive sweeps over North Korea and had the measure of the few Chengdu fighter jets that had ventured over the Yalu thus far. The Soviet Su-9, ostensibly in North Korean colours, was capable of extremely heavy firepower, but was limited by its engines to lower combat altitudes and could be easily outrun by the frontline British and American fighters.

The War at Sea
During the Great Bug-Out back to the Han River, the naval task forces off both coasts of Korea provided constant support through naval gunfire and carrier air strikes to the retreating Eighth Army. The Royal Navy and Commonwealth ships of Task Force 85 were particularly heavily engaged in a series of tactical delaying actions along the west coast of Korea, landing Royal Marines Commandoes to destroy bridges and wreck transport infrastructure and holding up the advancing Chinese through battleship and cruiser bombardment missions. The maze of islands along the Korean coast proved ideal bases for commando and guerrilla actions and these forces were supported by combat air patrols and strikes by the ubiquitous Hawker Sea Furies. When weather conditions permitted, full scale air raids by Ark Royal, Eagle, Victorious and Sydney were launched on railway junctions, supply bases and North Korean cities, smothering all military and civilian activity with a blanket of over 360 naval aircraft. Anti-submarine patrols and minesweeping operations were the focus of the majority of the lighter elements of the task force, given the threats inherent in littoral operations in the Yellow Sea. Beyond the immediate battlefront, long range maritime patrol aircraft of the Royal Naval Air Service and covert submarine reconnaissance kept careful watch on the major Imperial Chinese naval bases at Tsingtao and Port Arthur.

In the Sea of Japan, Task Force 77 maintained a close blockade on Wonsan and Hungnam. The two wrecked port cities were considered to be the key to control of the east coast of North Korea and their defences had swiftly been rebuilt after the Allied evacuation and augmented with further sea mines and coastal artillery. The cruisers and destroyers of TG 77.4, the blockade force, occasionally engaging in duels with shore batteries while the battleships Iowa and New Jersey stood off for heavy support should the need arise. Four USN fleet aircraft carriers operated in pairs 125 miles further out to sea, screened by 2 battleships, 2 battlecruisers, 9 cruisers and 26 destroyers and destroyer escorts, covering the blockade forces, striking shore targets in North Korea and covering the Soviet Pacific Fleet. The long range Skyraider and Mauler attack aircraft onboard the American carriers could strike targets as far north as the Yalu and specialized in destroying truck convoys and trains with rockets, cannon and cluster bombs. As on the west coast, a picket line of submarines screened the task groups from any outside intervention from the north and landed parties of CIA agents and ROK commandoes on clandestine missions inside North Korea.

All the World Wonders
The global reaction to the Allied reverses in Korea following Chinese intervention ran the full gamut from fear to outraged determination. This was in turn tempered by the achievements of Operation Thunderbolt, which gave new hope to the Allied cause and the prospects of a successful conclusion to the conflict. Outside of MacArthur’s circle in Tokyo, few held out realistic ambitions of a total victory that had seemed so inevitable only a few months before. This was not merely due to the entry of China into the war, but also from a perception that Korea was but the first front in a wider global conflict that also incorporated Europe, the Middle East, Indochina and Africa, particularly after the shock of the Soviet atomic bomb test of July 1950. A substantial body of opinion in Washington in both the Truman Administration and the Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the paramount theatre in any future conflict would be Europe, a point of view shared by the British, French and other Western European allies. As a consequence, further reinforcement of Korea was seen as distracting from areas of greater strategic significance and plans for the deployment of further land, sea and air forces were curtailed in favour of contingency planning for the defence of Europe and North America. The United States and the British Empire were now moving through the lengthy processes of mobilisation of industry, manpower and materiel, placing tremendous orders for the production of armaments and reorganising their economies for the challenges ahead. Defence spending was planned to rise significantly and reactivation of reserve forces began to gather pace.

In addition to the broad strategic concerns of global preparedness came the importance of being seen to defend democracy and the international order against aggression. The lessons of the 1930s in Abyssinia, Manchuria and Austria-Hungary were still fresh in the minds of the political and military establishment of the West, as well as the accompanying notion that collective security should not fail this time. If the League of Nations was to succeed and a civilised world order protected, then the world could not fall at the first major hurdle. Should it do so, then the very fate of much of the world was seen to be at stake. Whilst much of the initial idealism of intervention in Korea had been worn down in seven months of bitter fighting on the frozen hills between the Naktong and the Yalu, there was little doubt that this was a test that must be passed through fire and blood.

In early February 1951, the question remained as to which side would do so.

[jemhouston]

Ever wonder what would happen if the Allies stopped about halfway up into North Korea?

[Simon Darkshade]

In @, that was one possible course of action available at two junctures.

Firstly, during the 1950 push up after Inchon, where it was discounted in favour of a drive for all out victory, given the rapid collapse of NK forces.

Secondly, in the UN counteroffensive after the Chinese Spring Offensive was halted and repulsed; then, it was quickly discounted in favour of holding at the Kansas-Wyoming Line whilst negotiations sorted out the details for the rest of the stalemate war. There was no sense spending a huge amount of further blood and treasure on limited gains in Korea from the political perspective.

In Dark Earth, things turn out a bit differently:

- In November/December 1951, the Chinese, North Koreans and ‘Mongolians’ launch another winter offensive until it peters out in the face of terrible weather and strong defences
- January 52 sees the collapse of ceasefire negotiations in Lhasa…
- Followed by another Chinese attack in the spring…
- Then an Allied series of pushes over the summer, characterised by some as ‘bite and hold’
- Winter interrupts, followed by the Chinese attacking in Spring 1953 and a further Allied counterattack
- “ April 26 1953: The US Joint Chiefs of Staff present a special report on Korea to President Taft, consisting of four possible plans to end the war.”
- During 1953, the grind northwards continues, steadily
- Taft chooses Option 4: Drive to the neck of the Korean Peninsula and have the capacity to then go for broke
- The UNC pushes forward in Operations Longbow, Watchman, Vigilant and Nemesis, spearheaded by armoured divisions, among other units
- They break through majorly, in a period of ~100 days
- Some other things happen (Keeping some things for a surprise)
- There is a general ceasefire in August 1954:
August 9: United Nations Command negotiators set out their proposed terms for a Korean armistice: firstly, all Chinese and Mongolian military forces are to withdraw beyond the Yalu; secondly, that there be an exchange of prisoners of war held by both sides; thirdly, that there be an internationally supervised plebiscite regarding the reunification of Korea; and fourthly, that a UNC Army of Occupation remain in place until a final peace treaty is signed.
August 10: Execution of the Imperial Chancellor of China and several other top mandarins by ling chi this action is seen as a sign of apportionment of blame for events in Korea by foreign observers.
- There is a provisional armistice in September, followed by Imperial China getting the bomb and the world getting a tad distracted by Godzilla attacking Tokyo

Long story short, they do go for the neck, then push forward for total victory; by the time they got that far, the shortest way home was north.

[Simon Darkshade]

Over the Han and Far Away (February-March 1951)

Introduction: The Hour of Decision
The successful Allied counterstrokes of Roundup and Thunderbolt had given the Eighth Army a strong morale boost and proved that not only could the Chinese surge be halted, but that it was possible to strike back with confidence. Reestablishment of a continuous line along the Han placed Ridgway’s forces within range of the occupied capital and the prospects of a second liberation of Seoul loomed high in the calculations of American and South Korean commanders alike. The reconstitution of the shattered Republic of Korea Army, which had been so bloodily defeated by the Chinese over the previous three months, was not a task that could be accomplished with any great haste and it was estimated that it would take at least a year and a half before the minimum target force of 18 divisions could be trained and fully supplied by the arsenals and factories of the United States. Strategically, the United Nations Command remained on the defensive, requiring the rebuilding of substantial logistical stocks lost in the long retreat from the Yalu before the Chinese and North Korean advantage in numbers could be adequately countered in steel and high explosive.

Winter’s bitter winds had now passed their worst point, but the frozen landscape still remained a fearsome foe to all men, wherever their allegiance lay. The ordinary peasantry of South Korea were the most wretched of all those on the current battlefield, their homes and lands now the stage upon which the great act of world conflict had come to conflagration. Every day that the war continued on their soil was one further towards the ruin of their livelihoods and that of their country, which had once again had its heart ripped out with the second fall of Seoul. The political dimension was increasingly weighing upon the strategic options and demands of the United Nations Command and General MacArthur, who also faced his own troubled relations with the Truman Administration and their conception of the war.

North of the Han, the Imperial Chinese Army was also engaged in the process of consolidation, but had not yet lost its offensive ardour nor set aside grand plans of expelling the enemy from the Korean peninsula. Their numbers had swelled to almost 1.5 million and despite the aerial interdiction campaign conducted by the Allied air forces, heavier equipment was starting to reach the front in significant amounts. A new offensive was ordered to blunt the unexpected success of the Eighth Army’s counterattacks, preparing the way for the big push planned for the onset of spring. Stalin was as yet unwilling to release the Soviet Union’s newest and most sophisticated equipment for use in the Far East, but improved postwar models of weaponry continued to be delivered to the North Koreans and Chinese in ever increasing quantities. The first blows of the Chinese Fourth Phase Offensive would fall on the centre of the Allied line in a renewed attempt to rupture their forces and allow each component to be encircled and destroyed in detail by superior numbers.

Chinese Fourth Phase Offensive
The Imperial Chinese Army deployed a total of four field armies and twenty two divisions in along the front in Central Korea – the 39th, 40th, 42nd and 66th, which had a total strength of 290,000 men even in their reduced state following the successes of Roundup and Thunderbolt. They had been reinforced by armoured units and further heavy artillery, but were still by and large infantry formations and each army was for all intents and purposes the equivalent of a corps after the winter fighting. Chinese and North Korean airpower had been carefully husbanded in preparation for the twin blows of the Fourth Phase Offensive, which were to fall in the hours of darkness to remove one of the chief Allied strengths, daylight air superiority. Allied intelligence considered a sustained Chinese attack to be unlikely and instead forecast a series of localised tactical manoeuvres aimed at enveloping forward units and positions prior to a pause for resupply and consolidation; the true threat would wait for the spring.

Allied forces in the forward zone of the central area consisted of the US 2nd Infantry Division of I Corps at Chipyong-Ni and X Corps’s ROK 8th Infantry Division at Hoengsong and US 7th Infantry Division at Wonju. To their east lay the ROK III Corps, which was still not considered capable of concerted offensive action and had been subsequently reinforced by the US 3rd Marine Division. The majority of independent tank units and heavy artillery had been mainly concentrated in the rear combat zone to facilitate tactical counteroffensives, but virtually all American and Western infantry battalions had an attached tank company for direct support, in contrast with the less well equipped South Korean forces. This deficiency would be capitalized on by the Chinese in their initial targeting.

In the second week of February, Chinese forces began a number of shaping operations, staging concentrated bombardments and infantry attacks on the flanks of the X Corps tactical area. Night-time raids in the I Corps and ROK III Corps sectors were also stepped up, along with nuisance mortar and sniper fire, feigned attacks and conjuration of fearsome illusionary wisps. Penetration of Allied lines by small commando squads accompanied these steps, with sabotage of lines of communication and small scale ambushes tying down substantial amounts of scarce troops. The final step in tactical deception came in the form of demonstration flights by Chinese dragons over the coast of the Sea of Japan north of the front line, which demanded appropriate countermeasures by the United Nations Command.

Battle of Hoengsong
The opening of the Chinese Fourth Phase Offensive occurred at Hoengsong, where six Chinese divisions attacked the ROK 8th Division at 2030 hours on February 11th. The 21st Regiment was swiftly enveloped by the 198th Division, which swept south along Route 29, surrounding the American 15th Field Artillery Battalion along the way. By the end of the night, all three South Korean infantry regiments were in retreat, having been subjected to relentless mortar fire and human wave attacks. At first this was conducted in good order, but this rapidly disintegrated into an individual free for all under Chinese pressure; it was later surmised by arcane intelligence units that hithertofore unknown fear and chaos spells were employed to great effect in this process. Withdrawal of forward positioned American artillery and support units was also hampered by deference to corps level command and control, a vestige of the successful systems employed in the earlier Allied advance. Guns, tanks, vehicles, supplies and ammunition were abandoned in the retreat southward and several dozen artillery pieces were captured by the Chinese in the process.

The withdrawal of the American Support Force 21 in the early hours of February 12th was to prove one of the most costly phases of the battle. Artillery units in marching order were struck by continued machine gun, grenade, rocket and mortar fire from the steep hills on either side of the narrow, twisting valley that lead southward to Hoengsong and some form of momentary safety. Four accompanying tanks were knocked out by satchel charges and rocket propelled grenades, halting the movement of the column for a crucial hour from 0332. This was followed by infantry and cavalry attacks striking in and out of the darkness, which came close to overrunning the rearguard before being repulsed by a ferocious bayonet charge. American 105mm artillery was bought into action and fired continuously over open sights as troops worked desperately to shove disabled vehicles from the road and round up scattered drivers. Elements of the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion managed to escape their separate position and rejoin the main column at the cost of abandoning their disabled 155mm howitzers before they could be destroyed. Through countless acts of outstanding courage throughout the long, bloody night, the remnants of Support Force 21 under Lt. Colonel John Keith reached the lines of the 3rd Battalion of the 38th Infantry Regiment at the road junction north of Hoengsong at 0900 hours.

This composite force received urgent orders from General Almond within the hour to pull back towards Wonju, abandoning Hoengsong, a step quickly confirmed by General Ridgway. Their withdrawal over five gruelling miles would be protected by the corps reserve of the Spartan Guards Regiment, which launched a covering attack up from Hoengsong at noon on February 12th. Chinese infantry assaults were turned back by concentrated fire by the Spartans, many of whom were hardened veterans with years of experience in mountain warfare. One American sergeant volunteered to remain behind atop Hill 300 to observe the enemy advance and his last action of calling in 40 rounds of high explosive fire on his own position earned him the Medal of Honor for his self-sacrifice. The running of the gauntlet south to Hoengsong had been an extremely bloody affair, costing over 1200 American casualties, including 326 killed or missing in action. Their frozen bodies and the smoking, abandoned vehicles would strewn across the frozen paddy fields and shattered hillsides until early March.

Beyond the immediate circumstances of the American 2nd Infantry Division, the South Korean forces had suffered grievous losses and the 8th Division had been effectively destroyed as a functioning combat unit, taking over 7000 casualties. Diversionary attacks on the ROK III Corps sector had achieved further localised success, resulting in the Mexican Regiment being hurriedly rushed up from X Corps’ lines of communication to provide immediate stiffening of the South Korean lines. Losses of equipment around Hoengsong were particularly heavy, disturbing General Almond and leading to specific steps to prevent future occurences on this scale. Meanwhile, the Chinese offensive stood poised once more before Wonju.

Third Battle of Wonju
Hoengsong fell to the advancing Chinese late on the afternoon of February 12th, but no major push southward to Wonju followed, allowing Almond to move up fresh forces for its defence. General Ruffner was assigned the paratroopers of the 187th Regimental Combat Team to join the South Korean 18th Regiment and the Spartans in the immediate defence of the village, supported by the 7th Infantry Division to the east and elements of the 2nd Infantry Division to the west along the boundary with I Corps. The tactical position around Wonju was therefore already superior to those that had crumbled over the previous day to the north due to improved flank security, although the availability of immediate reserves was still less than optimal. Units of the ROK 3rd and 5th Divisions had been pulled back to Malta-Ri, Chech’on and Yongwol to cover X Corps immediate lines of communication and to maintain contact with the beleagured ROK III Corps to the east.

General MacArthur arrived at Suwon airfield at noon on February 13th to meet with Ridgway, emphasising the vital importance of maintain the line along the Han River. His current strategic approach was based on his belief that decisive and safe offensive operations into North Korea were effectively impossible whilst enemy forces in Manchuria were off limits, but that a concerted push north to the prewar border was necessary to secure the Allied position in Korea. Ridgway was determined to hold along the Han, but the Chinese forces around Hoengsong threatened to enter the Han Valley and envelop the westernmost formations of the Eighth Army. The keys to holding the enemy in place were Wonju and Chipyong-Ni.

As this occurred, the Chinese 66th Army began bombarding forward American and Greek units at Wonju. A battery of American 24” superheavy guns based at Yongju responded and provided some temporary respite, but their utility was progressively lessened once infantry engagements began. Stubborn assaults continued throughout the 13th and 14th of February, but the Allied lines held thanks to concentrated direct artillery and tank support and the inability of Chinese troops to penetrate or overrun their mutually supporting positions. During daylight hours, the attackers were subjected to continued airstrikes, rocket fire and strafing by USAF and USN fighter-bombers, with napalm bombs used to particularly deadly effect. The failure of the Chinese assault on Wonju was later understood in its context as a diversionary attack from the heavier blows at Chipyong-Ni, but the achievements of the US paratroopers and grim Spartans were lauded at the time as evidence of Allied martial superiority.

Battle of Chuam-ni
A gap developed along the Allied frontline between Wonju and Chipyong-Ni that was only lightly covered by forces of the US 2nd Infantry Division and Chinese forces began to move to exploit it from early on the morning of February 13th. L Company of the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment and the divisional reconnaissance company were assigned the mission of covering the gap, taking up hilltop strongpoints overlooking the key supply road of Route 24. A reinforced Chinese regiment struck all three hills at 1648 hours and despite mutually supporting artillery and mortar fire, the American companies were forced to conduct a fighting withdrawal to avoid complete encirclement. Their retreat down Route 24 completed the isolation of the 23rd Infantry Regiment at Chipyong-Ni and also placed them in danger of being overrun on the subsequent night.

The only reserves available to General Milburn was the Italian 3rd Bersagliere Regiment and they were dispatched forthwith to attack up Route 24 to relieve the American troops and clear the route to the 23rd Infantry Regiment. Supported by a company of Pershing tanks, the Italians broke through to the remnants of L Company at 0625 on February 15th and proceeded to advance steadily towards Chuam-ni, despite stiff Chinese resistance. A heavy bombing raid by USAF B-45 Tornadoes eliminated several Chinese positions in the late afternoon, but the pace of advance of the Bersagliere slowed once night fell. Chuam-ni was occupied at 1000 hours on February 16th, allowing consolidation of the Allied line.

Battle of Chipyong-Ni
The American and French forces at Chipyong-Ni had observed the advance of Chinese troops over the course of the 12th of February, but engagements had been limited to clashes between patrols and mortar fire. Colonel Freeman had deployed his four battalions in a square formation around the village, each supported by a troop of M48 tanks and a battery of 105mm howitzers, with the Rangers in central reserve. The rate of enemy attacks mounted over the morning and afternoon of the 13th, culminating in a full scale assault by two divisions after nightfall. Intense mortar fire and the now familiar and chilling chorus of gongs, bugles and chimes heralded the first of many Chinese charges at 2200 hours. Enemy attacks continued throughout the night, not giving any of the four battalions more than momentary respite, but American firepower and cool discipline under pressure kept their foe at bay. Company A of the 1st Battalion of the 23rd Infantry kept their twelve M2 Browning heavy machine guns firing throughout the night, holding off an estimated six Chinese battalions.

Dawn bought a respite from the waves of attacks, as the Chinese command knew well the potency of American tactical airpower, allowing aerial resupply drops by USAF C-119s flying out of Japan and even the evacuation of some serious casualties by helicopter. Enemy attempts to dig in on the slopes surrounding the village were hampered by continued strafing runs by A-38 and A-48 attack fighters. The second night bought even more intense attacks around the entire perimeter, spearheaded by flamethrowers and rocket attacks. Only the commitment of tanks and the Ranger company prevented the northern flank being overrun on two occasions and the eastern line held by the 3rd Battalion turned back a particularly heavy attack just after midnight by the efforts of two U.S. wizards who perished in the frontline of the heavy fighting, hurling fireballs and lightning bolts into the ranks of the enemy with their last ragged breaths.

I Company’s perimeter was breached at 0310 and stubborn Chinese resistance and overwhelming numbers defied American attempts at restoring their lines. Ammunition supplies were running short and USAF airdrops of ammunition were disrupted by massed small arms and machine gunfire, resulting in several C-47s being shot down. At 0425, the French Foreign Legion reserve company launched a diversionary attack against Chinese troops from the corner the western perimeter, drawing off mortar and artillery fire from the north. Heavy hand-to-hand combat and bayonet fighting saw the Chinese flank first overrun and then pushed back in the hour before dawn. A devastating dragonstrike by a pair of USAF wyrms wrecked havoc on enemy forces to the south of Chipyong-Ni and a steadily advancing creeping barrage marked the advance of Task Force Crombez, an armored relief column of the 5th Cavalry.

By 1400 hours on the 15th of February, the last Chinese forces remaining between Task Force Crombez and the defenders of Chipyong-Ni were burnt out of their positions by napalm strikes delivered by USN A-1 Skyraiders. The remaining Chinese forces surrounding the village withdrew within two hours, pursued by concentrated artillery fire from the heavy guns of I and X Corps. Advanced units of the 5th Cavalry linked linked up with the lines of the 23rd Infantry shortly afterwards, the moment being memorably captured by US Army combat film crews. The battle had cost the American and French defenders 65 dead, 52 missing and 298 wounded in exchange for dealing a decisive defeat to the Imperial Chinese Army, inflicting 6000 casualties, an estimated 2000 of which were killed in action.

Victory by an isolated Allied combat team despite the extreme conditions and unfavourable odds provided a much needed boost to the morale of the entire Eighth Army, demonstrating that the Chinese juggernaut could be stopped, held and repulsed without inordinately heavy losses. General Ridgway later characterised the battle as a turning point, hailing both the obdurate defensive spirit and the aggressive offensive action of Task Force Crombez as embodying the transformation that the Eighth Army had undergone since the inglorious defeats and retreats of December and January. In many ways, it represented one of the two high-water marks of the Chinese advance into South Korea.

UNC Counterstrike
General Ridgway decided to follow up the successful containment and repulse of the Chinese Fourth Phase Offensive with an immediate counterstrike by the United Nations Command, catching the enemy on the back foot before they would have the opportunity to shift forces and supplies to defend against an aggressive push towards the border. This would be achieved through two mutually supporting operations, all aimed at clearing out Chinese and North Korean troops from below the Han River and inflicting maximum casualties through Allied superiority in firepower, codenamed Killer and Ripper. A number of phase lines were set as objectives, each named after American states. Ridgway was forced to bring forward his carefully organised plans for the grinding destruction of the enemy inside South Korea, but the carefully husbanded stores of materiel and armaments were to prove decisive in the weeks to come.

Operation Killer
The first stage of the general counteroffensive was Operation Killer, which was to eliminate the enemy salient between Wonju and Yongwol through a general advance by I Corps, X Corps and the ROK III Corps. The objective was Line Arizona, which lay to the north of Hoengsong and Chipyong-Ni and was approximately 15 miles north of the current frontlines. Killer began early on the morning of February 22nd with the bombardment of over 1000 guns and a series of well-coordinated mass airstrikes by Allied tactical fighters, while almost 250 B-29 Superfortresses struck Chinese lines of supply and supporting positions to the immediate north of the battlefront. Heavy magical firepower was bought to bear on the primary and secondary lines of enemy defences and long range fire from superheavy guns and bombards interdicted the few attempts made to reinforce the progressively isolated strongpoints as they were cut off and subjected to a storm of artillery fire. Each American and Allied battalion was copiously augmented with tanks, self propelled guns and infantry carriers and this combination of lethality and mobility proved exceptionally effective.

In X Corps’s central zone, the 1st Marine Division struck forward up Route 29 in the lead of the attack with the 7th Infantry Division in flanking support, whilst to the west, the 1st Cavalry Division and 2nd Infantry Division drove up towards Chipyong-Ni and the South Koreans pushed forth more circumspectly to the east. Progress was deliberately methodical as no efforts were spared in eliminating all pockets of enemy resistance and inflicting maximum destruction of enemy manpower and materiel. As the Marines advanced towards Hoengsong, they were horrified to find the unburied bodies of American casualties from the earlier battle and moved to cold fury to discover the apparent signs of the massacre of helpless wounded men; very few Chinese prisoners were taken in their sector as a consequence.

By March 2nd, all units had reached Line Arizona and had taken minimal losses in the process; American casualties in the ten day operation amounted to 69 killed, 108 missing and 975 wounded in exchange for an estimated 10,000 of the enemy, with only 234 of the latter being taken prisoner. This followed General Ridgway’s operational concept to the letter, inflicting maximum damage on the enemy with minimal risk to Allied manpower through the concentrated application of firepower. Chinese and North Korean troops in the centre of the front had already expended a great deal of their available supplies and ammunition in the abortive Fourth Phase Offensive and had little response to American domination of the skies and the well organised tank-artillery-infantry team on the ground.

Operation Ripper
Immediately following the success of Killer, the Eighth Army launched Operation Ripper, a more expansive and ambitious offensive aimed at driving from the Han River to the prewar border, recapturing Seoul and destroying the largest numbers of Chinese and North Korean troops possible in the process. It would be a full-scale theatre offensive from one side of the peninsula to the other, based on three coordinated thrusts – a coastal assault by the Commonwealth Corps and IX Corps towards the Imjin aiming at encircling Seoul, a central drive by I Corps and X Corps on Hongch’on and a concerted attack by the ROK Army up the east coast to Line Idaho. It would incorporated some of the most complex air-tasking orders yet developed in the campaign, combining the air striking capacity of both carrier task groups off the coasts of Korea and the full force of Allied land-based tactical and strategic airpower. It was emphasised that the acquisition of territory was but a means to the ends of achieving the main objective, which was to kill and destroy as many of the enemy as possible at minimal cost.

The days leading up the beginning of Operation Ripper on March 6th saw round the clock carpet bombing of enemy lines by USAF and RAF heavy bombers and rolling fire missions by American and British battleships deep into the centre of Korea. At 0428 on March 6th, the heaviest bombardment of the entire war began as thousands of Allied guns, mortars, bombards and rocket launchers pounded Chinese lines with high explosive and incendiary rounds; substantial smoke and disorientation ammunition was also employed to add to the sheer chaos of the tumultuous maelstrom of fire. Just over three hours later, over 2000 Allied tanks began to move forward alongside the infantry of twelve divisions as hundreds of tactical fighters swarmed overhead, wings laden with rockets, cluster bombs and napalm. The Han River was swiftly bridged by combat engineer units using new mechanised pontoons and arcane spanning devices and the small pockets of Chinese resistance in the immediate frontline area were quickly overrun by sheer force of UNC numbers.

As the attention of the foe was drawn away to the north, Ridgway’s master plan was put into action with the landing of the 1st and 3rd Brigades of the 2nd Royal Marine Division on either side of Inchon commencing at 0920 hours. Their mission was to seize the high ground surrounding Seoul’s primary seaport and position themselves as if they were poised to descend once again into the city in the manner of Operation Chromite the previous year. The remaining two brigades would be held in floating reserve directly outside the approaches to Inchon for 24 hours, acting as a threat to hold enemy attention, in combination with extremely heavy RN and RAN airstrikes and bombardment by three super battleships. This deception turned out to be mainly effective as elements of the Chinese garrison division were dispatched to reinforce the defences of Inchon and the road to Seoul, but was not truly decisive. The remainder of the division was landed by March 9th and the Royal Marines succeeded in linking up with advanced tank units of the Royal Scots Greys by late on the next day.

In any case, the rapid advance of the Commonwealth Corps towards the Han and Kimpo Airfield made to the Second Battle of Inchon and foregone conclusion. Chinese strongpoints were ruthlessly eliminated by self-propelled artillery and naval gunfire firing over open sights and the awe-inspiring spectacle of dragonfire and flashing heat rays hurtling down from the pairs of RFC great wyrms and RAF skyships cruising above the battlefield. Chinese attempts at nocturnal attacks on the first two nights were repulsed by cheering charges of kukri-wielding Gurkhas only too pleased to come to grips with the enemy in hand to hand fighting and the initial combat debut of the Zulu Regiment filled their opponents with similar dread. The extremely rapid rate of fire of the automatic 25pdrs assigned to the divisional artillery of the Commonwealth Division and British 1st Infantry Division proved to be a most substantial counter to Chinese mortar fire. Skirting the western suburbs of Seoul, the first major objective was reached by March 13th, as Sinwon-ni fell to the Sarac Brigade.

The task of liberating Seoul would fall to the men of the 24th Infantry Division, but, in something of an anticlimax, did not face particularly stubborn resistance as Chinese commanders had already begun withdrawing their shattered forces some days earlier. North Korean guerrilla forces ensured that the capital would not be given up without a fight, but the Victory Division, heavily reinforced with South Korean troops with a full sense of the gravity of their mission, succeeded in destroying or driving out enemy troops by sunrise on March 15th, 1951. This time, the liberation was not greeted with ecstatic celebration but by a more measured sense of thanksgiving and understanding that the task was by no means complete. In the final week of March, IX Corps would continue to push northward to the Imjin River alongside the Commonwealth Corps to the west, providing welcome defensive depth for the security of Seoul. Chinese opposition was apparently crumbling in the face of Allied guns, but this time the mood on the march northward was more circumspect.

I and X Corps ground forward with all the methodical precision that they had demonstrated during Operation Killer and the rough, hilly terrain proved to be only a temporary inconvenience to their reinvigorated forces. Here the Chinese were subjected to new and terrifying weapons systems including the mobile fougasse, automatic anti-aircraft guns employed in an anti-personnel role and the large scale deployment of armoured combat dinosaurs; the psychological impact of a line of two dozen ravenous Tyrannosaurs mounted with multiple machine guns roaring out of the night was considered to be extremely effective. Soldiers and Marines alike proved more than willing to engage Chinese infantry in open, pitched battle, but the parameters of the operation meant that this task was more frequently left to the king of the battlefield, artillery shells being infinitely cheaper than men. By the 31st of March, their advance had pushed beyond Hongch’on to Ch’unch’on and Line Idaho, where work immediately began on strong defensive positions.

The South Koreans, stiffened by the presence of the US 3rd Marine Division, encountered comparatively less resistance on the eastern half of the peninsula, but the disparate units of the North Korean Army put up fanatic resistance at various points, holding villages until blasted and burnt out. There were fewer and older tanks and artillery available, but the weight of materiel was still decisively tilted in favour of the Allies. Line Idaho was reached by March 13th and, by the end of the month, the frontline stood along the objective of Line Cairo, within heavy artillery range of the prewar border. Much of the ROK Army was still recovering from the heavy blows dealt over winter, but the return of victory was a most welcome improvement for their morale and fighting spirit.

Operation Ripper came to a formal end on April 2nd 1951, having succeeded in every parameter, particularly in the infliction of extremely heavy casualties upon the North Korean and Imperial Chinese Armies. Over 20,000 of the enemy had been killed among their estimated 50,000 casualties and this was achieved at the comparatively light cost of 625 killed, 248 missing and 3570 wounded Allied personnel. The enemy had been driven from the majority of South Korean territory and devastating losses had been inflicted for a small cost, vindicating the strategy adopted by the Eighth Army’s new, victorious commander.

Politics
The rapid shift from enthusiastic predictions of victory to the spectre of being driven off the Korean peninsula by the huge armies of China was accompanied by a rapid shift in the political dimension of the war. Western unanimity was shaken by the Chinese intervention and the accompanying increased prospect of the war widening to include the Soviet Union. Back channel communications between China and the Allies had continued over the winter, but neither side was as yet prepared to discuss a potential negotiated armistice.

More significant at this stage was the growing dispute on the conduct of the war between President Truman and General MacArthur. The former was displeased with MacArthur’s increasing number of public statements on the necessity to extend the war into Manchuria, which he believed bordered on the insubordinate. The Supreme Commander regarded Truman’s perspective on the war as one that waxed and waned in line with political fortunes and disliked political interference in what should have been in his view as a purely military matter.

The final component in the increasingly complex political fallout from Chinese intervention came in the form of disagreements between the United States and the European powers, particularly Britain and France, regarding the best course of global strategy. There were significant ongoing concerns that too great a concentration on Korea would great an opportunity for Soviet action in other theatres and these were now joined by profound disagreements on the viability of any evacuation of the Korean peninsula. Churchill was quite forthright in his belief that an Allied presence should be maintained at all costs in order to provide reassurance to the European states that they would not be abandoned in a future conflict.

War at Sea
Allied control of the seas on both coasts of Korea came to the fore in the battles of February and March, permitting a range of raids, demonstrations, air strikes and naval bombardments in support of the successful offensives of the United Nations Command. Amphibious descents took many different forms apart from the second landings at Inchon and several dozen tactical landing operations ranging from platoon to battalion level took place behind North Korean and Chinese lines, leading to the diversion of substantial troops and resources to the task of coastal defence. The fear of a potential strategic outflanking strike was so pronounced that Soviet 240mm and 305mm coastal artillery was installed at Nampo and Kimchaek, despite their position well behind the front line.

Carrier airstrikes from the American vessels of Task Force 77 and the Commonwealth ships of Task Force 85 provided a substantial percentage of tactical air support during Operations Killer and Ripper and undertook deep strike missions well into North Korea to interdict the transport of men and munitions to the frontline. US carrier raids played a major role in the disruption of the eastern railway network and devastated important junctions with attacks of up to 250 aircraft at a time. The Royal Navy and supporting Australian and Canadian aircraft began to specialise in very low level strikes into the north, employing the Blackburn Brigand with particular success. Jet fighters from both major task forces provided an optimal means of air cover above the Central Korean battlefield, allowing USAF and RAF fighters to sortie well into the north and engage Chinese and Red fighters before they could reach Allied positions.

The sheer power of Allied battleships and cruisers inflicted devastating damage on enemy forces that had the misfortune of operating within range of the sea, which comprised a considerable portion of the Korean Peninsula. US battleships rotated off the blockaded ports of Hungnam and Wonsan on a regular basis and the constant threat of bombardment prevented effective repairs over the winter. Tactical naval gunfire was provided by destroyers and frigates, whose lighter guns and higher rates of fire were more suited to close support missions. The United States Navy began an extensive study into the optimum use of naval gunfire support in early February and the long term effects of this scientific approach were to be extremely consequential in years to come.

Air War
The skies above Korea remained under Allied domination at the dawn of 1951, but perhaps the most significant event of the air war in February and March came in the combat debut of the Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter. It had been in service with PVO Strany for some months, but Stalin had been reticent to supply it to the Chinese and North Koreans given its importance to the air defence of the Soviet Union itself. The first MiG-15s were encountered in combat on February 11th over what would later become known as ‘Mig Alley’ in the northwest corner of the Korean peninsula; a fighter sweep by 24 USAF F-86s tangled with 16 MiGs, resulting in two of the latter being shot down. Their operational range soon extended over much of northern North Korea and the introduction of the frontline swept-wing Soviet fighter continued the gradual shift of USAF B-29s to night operations. Both of the premier Allied fighters, the Sabre and the Hunter, seemed to have an edge over the MiG-15 in its early battles, but this margin of superiority was to be reduced with the introduction of veteran Soviet pilots into the conflict.

Superfortresses and Lancasters would remain the mainstays of the Allied strategic bombing campaign over Korea for much of 1951, but plans were already afoot to eventually replace them with faster, higher flying bombers from Britain and the United States when sufficient production of new jet bombers would allow them in turn were shifted to second line operations. Carpet bombing missions above the central battlefield became more and more frequent as strategic targets along the Yalu became more hazardous and this in turn spurred the development of new tactical bombing radar systems to facilitate this role. The changing of the guard would continue over 1951 as the major Allied air forces shifted from structures predominantly based around the aircraft of the last war to more modern planes.

Return to the Border
The conclusion of March saw the forces of the United Nations Command once again reach the 38th Parallel and the Idaho Line after a month and a half of grinding fighting. The Chinese enemy had been dealt a series of profound body blows and the morale of the Eighth Army restored after the bitter wintertide. From the Commonwealth Corps on the Imjin River in the west to the ROK Army on the shores of the Sea of Japan in the east, there was a new sense that victory was, if not directly within their grasps, then certainly back on the table. This confidence was tempered in the higher echelons of command, where knowledge of an inevitable Chinese spring offensive was commonplace and the only significant question or area of debate being on where it would strike.

Around the world, the process of mobilisation accelerated and the United States, Soviet Union, China, Britain and France all continued to build up their production of armaments and war material in anticipation of a long conflict that still looked likely to erupt into a wider conflict. The requirements of logistical support of the Allied armies and air forces in Korea was stimulating the growth of the Japanese economy, allowing it to arise from the ashes of defeat far quicker than otherwise projected. On the other side of Asia, the increasingly independence of India was being pushed forward by the impact of the war, accelerating the timetable for full self-government in light of the threat of open war with China.

In Korea, both sides stood and waited, exhausted for the moment by the advances and retreats of the last days of winter and the rapidly shifting front. As the weather grew milder and the days grew longer, the hour approached when the war would enter a new act with the return of the spring.

[jemhouston]

Good chapter.