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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits
The Outbreak
27 June-15 September 1950
Korea, a small country numbering 30 million people in 1950, lies at the point where three great Asian powers meet- Japan, China, and the former Soviet Union. Japan ruled Korea from 1910 to 1945. Following the defeat of Japan in World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union jointly occupied the country, the United States south of the 38th Parallel and the Soviet Union north. Preoccupied with Soviet intentions in western Europe, the United States attached little strategic importance to Korea in the late 1940s. America did assist the South Koreans in national elections and in formation of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The Soviet Union, on the other hand, took an active role in governing North Korea and in formation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
The United States Army withdrew its combat forces from South Korea in 1949 but left a military advisory group to assist the ROK Army. In early 1950 the Soviets supplied weapons to and assigned several thousand Russian soldiers as trainers for the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA). Armed clashes between North and South Korea were common along the 38th Parallel, but in June 1950 American observers did not anticipate an invasion of the South. Determined to unite Korea by force, the North Koreans invaded South Korea on 25 June. An initially hesitant United States decided that it must take a stand against this armed aggression. American military intervention was ineffective at first, but by September 1950 the combined efforts of the U.S. and ROK Armies, complemented by air and naval superiority, held the North Koreans in check at the Pusan Perimeter.
Strategic Setting
Korea is a mountainous peninsula jutting from the central Asian mainland with a shape that resembles the state of Florida. Water outlines most of this small country, which has more than 5,400 miles of coastline. The Yalu and Tumen Rivers define much of its northern boundary, while major bodies of water are located on its other sides: the Sea of Japan on the east, the Korea Strait on the south, and the Yellow Sea on the west. China lies above the Yalu and Tumen Rivers for 500 miles of Korea’s northern boundary as does the former Soviet Union for some eleven miles along the lower Tumen River.
Korea varies between 90 and 200 miles in width and 525 to 600 miles in length. High mountains drop down abruptly to deep water on the east where there are few harbors, but a heavily indented shoreline on the south and west provides many harbors. Summers are hot and humid, with a monsoon season that lasts from June to September, but in the winter cold winds roar down from the Asian interior. A rugged landscape, a lack of adequate roads and rail lines, and climatic extremes make large-scale modern military operations in Korea difficult. In 1950 the country’s population totaled about 30 million: 21 million south of the 38th Parallel, with 70 percent of the people engaged in agriculture, and 9 million north.
Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and ruled the country until the end of World War II. Unlike the Soviet Union, in 1945 the United States attached little strategic importance to Korea. At the Potsdam Conference Soviet authorities told American representatives that the Soviets would attack Korea after declaring war on Japan, but the collapse of Japan in August 1945 made a major assault unnecessary. As a line to divide Korea into Soviet and American areas for accepting Japanese surrender, the U.S. War Department selected the 38th Parallel, roughly splitting the country in half. The Soviets agreed to operate in the north, and the American forces would operate in the south.
Also in August 1945 the Joint Chiefs of Staff designated General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, to receive the Japanese surrender. MacArthur selected Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge, XXIV Corps commander, to command the United States Army Forces in Korea (USAFIK), which administered South Korea on behalf of the United States. The foreign ministers of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union met in Moscow in December 1945 and developed a plan for a four-power trusteeship of Korea for up to five years. Many South Koreans wanted their independence immediately and protested violently. The Soviets had their own special plans, which involved strong support for the Korean Communist Party that assumed political power in the North under Kim Il Sung.
In August 1947 the United States, Great Britain, and China agreed to reconsider establishment of a four-power trusteeship to facilitate Korean unification, but the Soviet Union refused to cooperate. The United States then proposed that the United Nations (UN) supervise elections in both zones of Korea and that it oversee the formation of a national government. Elections took place in South Korea in May 1948, but the North Koreans neither participated in nor recognized the results of the elections.
The South Koreans chose representatives for the National Assembly of the new Republic of Korea, which then elected Syngman Rhee as its chairman. In July 1948 the assembly produced a constitution and elected Rhee as president of the republic. USAFIK’s governmental authority then came to an end. In September 1948 the North Koreans formed their own government, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, that claimed jurisdiction over all of Korea. The National Security Council recommended that all U.S. combat troops leave Korea by the end of June 1949, and President Harry S. Truman approved the recommendation.
General MacArthur discusses the military situation with Ambassador John J. Muccio at ROK Army headquarters, 29 June 1950.(National Archives)
Attempts to build a native defense force in South Korea began shortly after the end of World War II. In January 1946 the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized General MacArthur to form a Korean police force and, despite problems with equipment and training, the Korean Constabulary grew to 20,000 men by the close of 1947. Washington asked MacArthur about the advisability of creating a South Korean army. MacArthur proposed instead in February 1948 an increase of the Constabulary to 50,000 men. President Rhee asked in November for an American military mission, and the Provisional Military Advisory Group established by MacArthur in August 1948 was redesignated in July 1949 the United States Military Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea (KMAG) and authorized 472 soldiers.
In November 1948 South Korea passed the Armed Forces Organization Act, which created a department of national defense. By March 1949 the South had converted its Constabulary brigades into an Army of 65,000 men assigned to eight tactical divisions—the 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and Capital Divisions. In June 1950 the ROK armed forces consisted of the following: Army, 94,808; Coast Guard, 6,145; Air Force, 1,865; and National Police, 48,273.
In the early summer of 1950 four ROK divisions held positions along the 38th Parallel: the 1st, 6th, 7th, and 8th. The 17th Regiment of the Capital Division was on the western extreme in the Ongjin Peninsula. The other four divisions were scattered about the interior and southern parts of the country. The headquarters of the Capital Division was located at Seoul, the 2d near Taejon, the 3d at Taegu, and the 5th at Kwangju in southwest Korea. When U.S. Armed Forces in Korea withdrew from South Korea in 1949, it transferred equipment to the ROK Army sufficient for 50,000 men. The weapons of the ROK divisions stationed along the 38th Parallel included the American M1 rifle, .30-caliber carbine, 60-mm. and 81-mm. mortars, 2.36-inch rocket launchers, and the M3 105-mm. howitzer.
The South Korean armed forces had no tanks, no medium artillery, and no fighter aircraft or bombers. In October 1949 the ROK minister of defense had requested M26 Pershing tanks from the United States, but the KMAG staff concluded that the rough Korean terrain and inadequate roads would not allow efficient tank operations. In June 1950 the ROK Army possessed some 2,100 serviceable U.S. Army motor vehicles—830 21/2-ton trucks and 1,300 1/4-ton trucks (jeeps). The ROK Air Force consisted of twelve liaison-type aircraft and ten advance trainers (AT6). The ROK Navy had a sprinkling of small vessels that included patrol craft along with mine layers and sweepers.
General Walker (left) is greeted on arrival at Taejon by General Dean. (National Archives)
The North Korean People’s Army was officially activated in February 1948. The Soviets exercised close control over its organization and training, and Soviet advisers worked directly with units. At that time 150 Soviets were assigned to each division; the number dropped to 20 per division in 1949 and to a lesser number by 1950 as trusted North Korean officers were developed. By June 1950 the NKPA and the Border Constabulary numbered about 135,000. The primary tactical units consisted of eight full-strength infantry divisions of 11,000 men each, two more infantry divisions at half strength, a separate infantry regiment, a motorcycle-reconnaissance regiment, and an armored brigade. The NKPA benefited from some 20,000 North Koreans who were veterans of the Chinese civil war of the late 1940s, which gave its units a combat-hardened quality and efficiency.
The Soviet Union supplied much of the materiel for the NKPA. Of primary importance was the T34 medium tank, a mainstay of the Soviet armored force in World War II that weighed 32 tons and mounted an 85-mm. gun. The Soviets also supplied artillery support that resembled the weaponry of the older Soviet division of World War II: 76-mm. and 122-mm. howitzers, 45-mm. antitank guns, and 82-mm. and 120-mm. mortars. At the outset of the war North Korea had about 180 Soviet aircraft- 60 YAK trainers, 40 YAK fighters, 70 attack bombers, and 10 reconnaissance planes. Like the ROK Navy, the North Korean naval forces had only a few small vessels- sixteen patrol craft and several coastal steamers.
U.S. strategic planning after World War II centered on the Soviet Union and its satellite nations. In 1950, as the single most powerful nation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, America gave first claim for its military resources to the defense of western Europe. Not only did the United States give priority to Europe over the Pacific and Far East, in April 1948 President Truman had approved a policy that no problems within Korea could become a casus belli for the United States. In January 1950, in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Dean G. Acheson announced an American defensive strategy in the Far East that excluded both Korea and Formosa.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff had designated General MacArthur as Commander in Chief, Far East Command (FEC), effective January 1947. The boundaries of FEC were not specific, but MacArthur commanded forces in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and other island groups. He was responsible for the American occupation of and for general emergencies in those areas. Along with United States Army Forces, Far East, MacArthur also controlled Far East Air Forces and Naval Forces, Far East.
A 3.5-inch rocket launcher on a battlefield, 20 July 1950 (National Archives)
In June 1950 the active United States Army had an authorized strength of 630,201 with an actual strength of about 591,000 and ten combat divisions. Some 360,000 troops were at home, while the remaining 231,000 were in overseas commands with 80,000 in Germany and 108,500 in the Far East. The force designated to handle the Army’s emergency assignments was the General Reserve, which consisted mainly of five combat divisions stationed in the United States: 2d Armored Division, 2d and 3d Infantry Divisions, and the 11th and 82d Airborne Divisions. The Far East Command had four tactical divisions and a regimental combat team (RCT)- the 1st Cavalry Division, the 7th, 24th, and 25th Infantry Divisions, and the 29th RCT- that operated under the command of the Eighth U.S. Army in Japan.
Each division was short of its authorized war strength of 18,900 by nearly 7,000 men and had major shortages in artillery batteries and equipment. The FEC had received no new vehicles, tanks, or other equipment since World War II. Army personnel stationed in Japan had performed primarily occupation duties, and no serious effort had been made to attain combat efficiency at battalion level or higher. Convinced that a purely occupational mission was no longer needed, MacArthur issued a policy directive in April 1949 that called for an intensified training program for ground, naval, and air units in FEC. By May 1950 Eighth Army’s divisions had reportedly reached combat readiness levels that ranged from 65 to 84 percent.
As early as 1947 the North Korean Communists employed propaganda and even armed violence to instigate the overthrow of the South Korean government. On 3 May 1949, the North Koreans launched their first open attack across the 38th Parallel in the vicinity of Kaesong, but ROK units repulsed them. Hundreds of small-scale assaults occurred across the parallel during the first half of 1950; however, some encounters inflicted heavy casualties on both sides. A series of guerrilla uprisings on the island of Cheju-do spread to the mainland by late 1948, but by June 1950 the ROK Army had virtually eliminated them, claiming to have killed about 5,000 insurgents.
By late 1949 talk of a North Korean invasion was almost routine in intelligence circles, but it went unnoticed against the background of threatening Communist activities in other parts of the world- Southeast Asia, western Europe, and the Middle East. In the early summer of 1950 senior American observers discounted the likelihood of a North Korean invasion. Both Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby, the FEC G-2 (intelligence officer), and the American embassy in Seoul opined that an attack was unlikely and that the North Koreans would continue to employ guerrillas and psychological warfare. The officers of the KMAG felt that an attack by North Korea was not imminent and, if it happened, they thought that the South Koreans could repel it. Since the United States had no plan to counter an invasion, any debate about an American intelligence failure regarding the North Korean attack was academic.
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