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Posted on 07/24/2003 12:00:48 AM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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On Sunday, 6/25/50, preceded by a long and intensive barrage of artillery and mortar fire, 90,000 Russian -armed North Korean (NK) troops in seven assault infantry divisions smashed headlong into totally unprepared units of the army of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The Inmun Gun were led by over 150 T34/85 tanks, and closely supported by seventeen hundred 122mm howitzers and SU76 self-propelled 76mm guns. Over 200 Russian-supplied YAK ground-attack aircraft gave them total domination of the skies. The ROKs had eight divisions, but only four deployed along the 38th parallel, and they only partially. Much worse, they had no air force, only 2.36 inch rocket launchers, no recoilless rifles, no heavy mortars, no medium artillery ... and no armor. The T34s, arguably the best tanks developed in WWII, advanced in a line-ahead formation. After scores of ROKs died under their treads, trying desperately to stop them with satchel charges and hand grenades, the tanks began moving through the survivors as though they weren't there. At the same time, their infantry formations attacked in an inverted Y formation, sweeping around ROK opposition with the arms, encircling them, and finally crushing them.  In two days, Seoul was abandoned to the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Korean People's Army (KPA) divisions, and the KPA 6th division was moving swiftly down east of the rugged Taebaek mountains. In the first week, more than 34,000 ROKs, a third of their army, were killed, captured, or missing. Although the ROKs had fought desperately, inflicting severe losses on the assault troops, this did not slow them down. The high cost of success to the KPA (or NK) wasn't apparent to US observers, an intelligence lack with serious consequences later. By the third week, the NK were brushing aside our own unprepared 24th division. The North Koreans were pros. A third of them fought in the Chinese civil war, and whipped the rest into fighting shape before they crossed the 38th parallel. They wiped out 5 ROK divisions in as many weeks. Had they not paused to re-group, had they simply continued their violent assault until they either won all or lost all, they would probably have captured Pusan and all of South Korea before America had time to marshal enough force to stop them. But they did pause, shortly after meeting American troops.  General Walker (left) is greeted on arrival at Taejon by General Dean. In fact, the NK had easily won most of their initial battles with us. Truman's Secretary of Defense, Louis Johnson, had not only virtually disarmed our ground forces, he had forced a change of mind-set for their training, resulting in an army much more prepared to be friendly garrison troops than to fight for their lives against a fearsome and vicious enemy. The NK simply crushed 24id's 34th Regiment, overwhelming them with numbers, better equipment, and better fighting ability. When this became generally known, the fighting spirit of other US units was sometimes hard to find. The most serious example was 25id's unreliable all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment. 24th Infantry coined the term "Bug Out" and illustrated it, as around Sangju where 24th units abandoned their machine guns and mortars without being attacked. Exposing the flanks of adjacent regiments without warning offered the enemy access around our front lines, endangering all Eighth Army. At Muchon-ni, 3/24 ran so far and so fast their battalion commander needed a full day to find them again (4 miles to the rear at Haman). When our disciplined, competent 27th Infantry re-captured positions fled by 2/24, they found the battalion's abandoned crew-served weapons still in place.  Two American soldiers with a North Korean prisoner of war, 5 August 1950 Even more tragically shameful, when some of our best men in other regiments were wounded, they were abandoned by their comrades to the cruelties of the enemy. I realize these facts are politically incorrect, and many creative attempts are being made today to discount or deny them. Such revisions of history do injustice to those troops who did stand their ground and fight, and may do harm to those who must stand and fight in the future. In the case of the 24th, when it was finally integrated with other infantry units a year later the issue of race began gradually fading into military history ... but the need to always keep our combat troops well armed, physically and psychologically prepared to fight, and to fight as teams, remains a vital lesson for us today, and forever. Note1: Not all the 24th ran. Pfc William Thompson of 3/24 Heavy Weapons was one of our few who are always prepared to fight. Although his whole battalion had fled, he manned his machine gun alone until he was killed. (As I write these notes, I wish with all my heart I could go back in time with a BAR, a bandolier of magazines, a box of Mark IIs, and stand with him. He got The Medal, posthumously, but I think he'd rather have had some help, right then). Note2: True understanding of the concept of "Team" and its vital importance in infantry combat is best gained by study of successful teams in Company or Battalion size. The Marine Brigade and the 27th Infantry Regiment action reports are well worth careful reading between the lines. Although not part of Pusan Perimeter battles, little mentioned at the time but now recognized as a classic example of small unit team coordination in combat is the capture of Maryang San by the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Army. In addition to isolated individuals, 24id's Task Force Smith, 1/21, had earlier fought well, although heavily outnumbered. First Battalion's gallant delay of two NK assault divisions gave the NK their first inkling that the US was entering the war. Going into Korea on July 1 with 16,000 men, the 24th Infantry Division was down to less than 9000 when they were relieved by the 1st Cavalry Division on July 22. By helping cause the NK to re-group before continuing their onslaught, 24id and their 21st Infantry Regiment bought time to help save South Korea.  A 3.5-inch rocket launcher on a battlefield, 20 July 1950 Astonishingly, the US and UN used that time to act rapidly and resolutely. Driven by the energetic UN Secretary-General, Norwegian Trygve Lee, unopposed in the Security Council because of the absence of a petulant USSR, and supported by the belated awareness of the Truman administration of the true Soviet intentions, the UN authorized international use of force to drive the NK back to their borders. With this authorization, in spite of the government's near-emasculation of our Army and Marine Corps, General MacArthur used the time to assemble powerful infantry and armour forces, and move them into an area around the southern port of Pusan, to form a defensive perimeter. The NK used the time to consolidate their gains and stage to continue the attack. The NK seriously began an assault on the Pusan perimeter on August 4. For the next 6 weeks, the issue of whether or not we could hold that perimeter, or would be crushed within it, was in doubt. When they finally crossed the Naktong and began their violent assault along the entire Perimeter, simultaneously, only 98,000 NK were attacking about 180,000 US and ROK troops. We were well equipped, with 600 main battle tanks against only 100 NK T34s, in excellent defensive positions, supported by far superior artillery, and we had overwhelming air superiority. Yet the NK came within a hair of wiping us out. The fighting during the first two weeks of this Second Battle of the Naktong was some of the most violent during the Korean War, with proportionately heavy casualties. For instance, about August 24, near Masan, 7500 NK with 25 tanks daringly attacked 20,000 US troops with 100 tanks, and almost broke through for what would have been a cataclysmic bloodbath at Pusan.  In part, this early NK success was owing to the Truman administration having reduced our Army from tough professional soldiers to poorly armed civilians in uniform, fit for garrison duty but completely unprepared for the savagery of combat. In part, it was because the NK were the reverse. Prepared, veteran, resolute and ferocious. In part, it was because General MacArthur's Intelligence Section grossly underestimated the casualties inflicted on the NK by the ROKs (estimated 31,000 when in reality the NK had taken 58,000 casualties, to about 76,000 ROK casualties) This led to a great over-estimation by Far East Command of NK strength, and a lowered confidence in our front line forces. The NK continued to menace the perimeter in early September. On September 6, they broke through at Yongchon, forcing ROK headquarters to evacuate Taegu. This time, UN forces bent but they didn't break, and on September 7 General Walton Walker finally proclaimed "Our lines will hold". When the 5th Marines, a proud regiment of our best fighting men, were withdrawn from his command, General Walker became less confident. The Marines had been consistently effective during the Naktong Bulge fighting. They usually had won their battles with the NK while Army units usually had not, and often about half of Army casualties were MIAs while the Marines usually had none. But by early September the Army had been able to bring in its better trained infantry units from Hawaii and elsewhere, and was steadily improving in overall combat efficiency.  Medics evacuate wounded of the 5th Regimental Combat Team hit near Masan, 30 August 1950 For example the 35th Infantry Regiment, the 'Rock of the Nam', well deserved the Distinguished Unit Citation it won there. Other units such as our 1st Cavalry Division, our 27th Infantry Regiment, and veteran allies such as the British, were also fighting with determination and effectiveness. Against our larger numbers, superior artillery and armor, and total air supremacy, although the NK were still confident and ferocious they were no longer nearly good enough to seriously threaten Eighth Army. Note: Most of the units I mention are ones I culled from military records only because I remember them from those times. There were many more that fought gallantly in defense of the Perimeter, particularly small units and individuals. Unit for unit, Eighth Army was badly out-fought by the veteran NK, but any man who has faced fire and steel for his country and stood his ground deserves respect. More, in bravery and sacrifice many of our individual soldiers equalled the best fighting men of any army, anywhere, any time. For the Inchon invasion, Army Major General Almond tried to substitute the 32nd Infantry, almost half manned by raw ROK recruits with no amphibious training, for the 5th Marines, but would have had to relieve 1stMarDiv commander General O.P. Smith to push through such an astonishing order. Ultimately, it was decided to let the 5th Marine Regiment mount out with other Marine units at sea, to help formation of the 1st Marine Division and X Corps. On September 15, the 5th led the way when our brilliant General Douglas MacArthur, with statregic prescience and unflinching nerve, sent the 1st Marine and 7th Infantry divisions storming ashore at Inchon, 100 miles behind NK lines, and soon there were no lines. Finally able to fight in the kind of fluid action they were trained for 1st Cavalry division led a breakout, and the Pusan Perimeter battle was soon over. The Road to the Yalu had opened.
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I don't know but I followed him everywhere. LOL.
Isn't that something you find imbedded in snow tires?
So that's where you disappeared that day!!
LOL, or walls.
I'll never tell!
EIGHT Sugars, in one cup???
I may have to rethink even having a cup prepared by you. :)
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