Cover:  South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu


UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR

 

SOUTH TO THE NAKTONG,
NORTH TO THE YALU

(June-November 1950)

by
Roy E. Appleman

 

CMH Logo

 

CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY
UNITED STATES ARMY
WASHINGTON, D.C., 1992


Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 60-60043

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Printed 1961-CMH Pub 20-2-1


For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328
ISBN 0-16-035958-9


UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR

Stetson Conn, General Editor

Advisory Committee
(As of 15 March 1960)

Fred Harvey Harrington
University of Wisconsin
Maj. Gen. Ben Harrell
U.S. Continental Army Command
Oron J. Hale
University of Virginia
Maj. Gen. Even M. Houseman
Industrial College of the Armed Forces
W. Stull Holt
University of Washington
Brig. Gen. Bruce Palmer, Jr.
U.S. Army War College
Bell I. Wiley
Emory University
Brig. Gen. William A. Cunningham III
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
T. Harry Williams
Louisiana State University
Col. Vincent J. Esposito
United States Military Academy
C. Vann Woodward
Johns Hopkins University

 

Office of the Chief of Military History

Brig. Gen. James A. Norell, Chief of Military History

Chief Historian Stetson Conn
Chief, Histories Division Lt. Col. James C. Griffin
Chief, Publication Division Lt. Col. James R. Hillard
Editor in Chief Joseph R. Friedman


 
 









        

...to Those Who Served

 

 

 

 

 


Foreword

At the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, the U.S. Army combat units nearest the scene were the four infantry divisions performing occupation duties in Japan. When the Army of the Republic of Korea, supported only by U.S. air and naval forces, was unable to halt the North Korean aggressors, these divisions, seriously understrength and only partially trained and equipped for fighting, provided the troops that were committed initially to action in response to the call of the United Nations Security Council.

Colonel Appleman's narrative portrays vividly the grimness of "limited war" against a fanatical enemy, and the tragic consequences of unpreparedness. His writing recaptures the dismay that most Americans experienced in the realization that a small, little-known country could achieve military success against a coalition that included this, the world's most powerful nation.

Here is the story of how U.S. Army combat units, thrown piecemeal into the battle to slow Communist advances, fought a desperate and heroic delaying action, buying time until the United Nations forces could attain the military strength necessary to take the offensive. When that offensive was launched, it quickly crushed the North Korean forces, only to be met with the massive intervention of a more formidable adversary, Communist China.

This volume covers U.S. Army action in Korea from the outbreak of war to the full-scale intervention of the Chinese Communists. It is the first of five volumes now planned for inclusion in UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR, a series patterned on the much more voluminous UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II. Subsequent volumes will complete the Korean combat narrative as well as deal with related problems of command, strategy, logistics, handling of prisoners of war, and the armistice negotiations.

Washington, D.C.
15 March 1960
JAMES A. NORELL
Brigadier General, USA
Chief of Military History

 

vii


The Author

Roy E. Appleman, a graduate of Ohio State University, magna cum laude, continued his education at Yale Law School and Columbia University, receiving from the latter the M.A. degree in History and completing all requirements for the Ph.D. degree except the publication of a dissertation.

He entered the United States Army as a private in the infantry in 1942 during World War II and after completing Officer Candidate School the following year was commissioned a 2d lieutenant. After a number of assignments, he was sent overseas to the Pacific theater in 1944, assigned as a combat historian with the United States Tenth Army and subsequently attached to the XXIV Corps. Coauthor of Okinawa: The Last Battle, first combat volume to be published in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, he received the Army Commendation Ribbon in 1945 for performance of duties as combat historian in the Okinawa campaign and his subsequent contribution to the Okinawa volume.

Early in 1951 Colonel Appleman (then a major) was ordered from reserve status to active duty with the Army and sent to Korea as a combat historian for the purpose of studying the action there and preparing the Army's history of the Korean War. A lieutenant colonel, he returned to civilian life in the autumn of 1954. Upon completion of the manuscript for the present work, he received the Secretary of the Army's Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service.

Author of Abraham Lincoln: From His Own Words and Contemporary Accounts, published by the Government Printing Office; coauthor of Great Western Indian Fights, being published by Doubleday & Company, Inc.; and coauthor of History of the United States Flag and Symbols of Sovereignty, being published by Harper & Brothers, Mr. Appleman is presently Staff Historian in the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and holds a commission as lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army Reserve.

viii


Preface

William Napier, upon finishing after seventeen years of painful toil the six volumes of his Peninsular War, wrote in a parody of Chaucer:

"Easy ys myne bake to rede and telleth of moche fyte,
But then your easy rede is damned hard to wryte...."

True it is that a historian's first business is grinding toil and drudgery. All of this it has been to the writer of this book. Nevertheless it was a labor willingly undertaken, but accompanied throughout by the apprehension that he might fail in doing justice to the story of his countrymen who fought in Korea.

First and always, within the limits of his knowledge and ability, the author has neglected no effort nor passed over any evidence that seemed likely to further his purpose of writing a true history of the Korean War. He accepted Parkman's dictum that faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than research, that one who is to write it "must study events in their bearings near and remote; in the character, habits, and manners of those who took part in them . . . and must himself be, as it were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes."

During the first four of the nine years he devoted to writing this book, from 1951 to 1954, the writer was on active duty in the United States Army and completed a first draft of the manuscript. In the following five years, as a civilian in Army reserve status, he devoted the time he could salvage from earning a living to several revisions and final completion of the work.

The writer was not entirely a stranger to Korea when he arrived there early in July 1951. Six years earlier, as a staff officer, he had accompanied Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge's U. S. XXIV Army Corps from Okinawa to Korea in early September 1945. This was at the beginning of United States commitment in Korea, when General Hodge accepted the surrender of the Japanese there at the end of World War II and began the occupation of that country below the 38th Parallel. But it was in 1951 that the writer saw Korea's hills at close quarter and felt his knees tremble and buckle as he climbed the steeply pitched ridges.

Korea was at the same time both beautiful and sordid. The green hills and patchwork-patterned rice paddies have an enchanting beauty when seen from a distance or the relative comfort of a vehicle on the roads. Slogging over this same ground carrying a load of weapons and pack in scorching

ix


heat or pelting rain, or in the numbing cold of a Siberian-type winter, with the enemy waiting around the next bend or over the next rise of ground, is another matter. Then the landscape loses its charm and becomes harsh and deadly to the spirit and exhausting to mind and body.

From Pusan in the south to the United Nations line north of the 38th Parallel, from the Imjin River in the west to the Iron Triangle, to. the mountain line above the Hwach'on Reservoir, to Heartbreak Ridge and the Punchbowl, and on to the high Taebaek Mountains near the east coast in the ROK sector, the writer traveled from command post to command post and often up to battalions and rifle companies on the line. His companion during these travels in Korea was Capt. (now Major) Russell A. Gugeler, an experienced soldier who subsequently wrote Combat Actions in Korea. Whenever possible the earlier, 1950 battlefields were visited. Where lack of time or other circumstances did not permit this, critical terrain was studied from liaison planes that could dip low and circle at leisure around points of interest.

The writer came to know the stifling dust, the heat, the soaking rains, the aching legs, the exhausted body that was the common experience of the men who fought in Korea, although he seldom had to run any risk of known personal danger as did they, and he could always look forward to food at night and a safe place to sleep at some command post, which most of them could not. It is easy for him now to close his eyes and see the rushing torrents in the mountain gorges and everywhere the hills, scantily covered, if at all, in the south, and green with pine in the higher mountains of the north. In the lower ground were the rice paddies, small vegetable patches, the mud-walled and thatched-roof huts. How could one forget this Asiatic land where so many of his countrymen died or were maimed, where they enacted their roles of bravery and fortitude. In a sense, the Korean War experience became a part of him.

Official records are indispensable for fixing dates and time of major events and troop movements. But anyone familiar with the way the records of combat units during battle are made up will know that they seldom tell the essential facts of what happened, and how, and why. They are often the products of indifferent clerks transcribing, at places remote from the scene of action, a minimum of messages for something-anything-that will satisfy the official requirement for a report. Those who know the most about an action or an event seldom take the time to tell, or write, about it. They are too tired, or too nearly dead, or they are dead.

In the early months of the Korean War there was little time for the military organizations committed there to keep adequate records of what they did, even had there been the desire to do so. Always they were stopping only briefly, fighting hazardous rear-guard actions, and then on the run again. No one had time to write down what had happened and why, even if he knew. And no one in the various headquarters had the time or the energy or the will to search out those who survived each action and from them learn firsthand of the event. Everyone was too much concerned with survival

x


or of getting a moment of respite from exhaustion. A record for posterity, for history, weighed the least of many things on their minds. Even when reports of military organizations are models of official records, the author agrees wholly with Marshal Erich von Manstein, who believes that a historian of military matters and campaigns "cannot get the truth from files and documents alone . . . the answer . . . will seldom be found-certainly not in a complete form-in files or war diaries."

How easy it would have been to write a story of the war based on the records alone, never stopping to get beneath that gloss! Such a book might have read smoothly and had a tone of plausibility to all except those whose personal knowledge would have branded it as inadequate at best and as almost wholly false at worst. Rather than produce such a book, the author chose the nine years of work that resulted in this one.

Since it was only from survivors of the early battles in Korea that one could hope to reconstruct the narrative of the first months of the conflict, the writer undertook to get their story. When he arrived in Korea in early July 1951, on active duty with the Army, he had orders from Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, then Chief of Military History, to study the terrain of the action and to interview as many participants, of all ranks, as he could find. He began then a process continued almost to the hour that this manuscript went to press. He talked with hundreds of soldiers, from privates to three- and four-star generals, about particular actions and decisions affecting the action of which each had personal knowledge in some degree. One interview would result in leads to others. Thus the snowball grew. Many officers and soldiers who had information were now in distant lands on reassignment, or otherwise out of reach for personal discussion. To them went letters. Over the years, information came back from many corners of the globe. The response was remarkable. The author had only to ask and he received. The men were eager to tell their story-from the private in the ranks to General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Without this willing help of those who toiled, suffered, bled, and lost their comrades the story of the Korean War in 1950 could never have been told satisfactorily. If this narrative carries the mark of truth, it is to these men largely that it is due. My debt to them is great.

Some major events almost defied comprehension. Such was the battle of Taejon. The author spent seven years in attempting to solve that puzzling and bizarre action. The first draft of the Taejon chapter, based on the official records, was nothing. Knowing this, the author sought out survivors and throughout the years searched for, and gradually accumulated, more information. Missing pieces of the puzzle came to light that made it possible to fit others into place. The author rewrote this chapter eight times. Finally he obtained from Maj. Gen. William F. Dean his comments on the manuscript and a statement of his contemporary thoughts and actions bearing on the events described. Some of them were not calculated to raise him to the level of an all-seeing military commander, but they marked Dean as a man of truth and honor. Then, with General Dean's contributions, the author felt

xi


at last that he had salvaged about all that ever would be learned concerning Taejon from American sources. Many other chapters reached their final form in much the same manner as this one.

The scope and scale of treatment change as the narrative proceeds. At first only two reinforced rifle companies were committed to battle, then a battalion, then a regiment, then a division, finally the Eighth Army and the reconstituted ROK Army. Against them was the might of the initially victorious North Korean Army, and later the light infantry masses of the Chinese Communist Forces. Gradually, United Nations troops from many parts of the world entered the lists, usually in small numbers to be sure, but in the case of Great Britain the force rose from two battalions to a Commonwealth division. As the larger forces came into action against each other the focus of action necessarily broadened and detail diminished. Task Force Smith, for example, in the first week of July 1950, received a detail of treatment that could not possibly be continued for all of the Eighth Army late in the year, nor even in August and September at the Naktong Perimeter. The use of detail necessarily had to be more selective. The ROK Army is treated in less detail than the American organizations, but enough is told to relate its part in the over-all operations. Reliable information on ROK action was nearly always very difficult to obtain, and sometimes impossible.

Throughout, the writer's sympathies have been with the troops who fought the battles at close range-the men who handled the rifles, who threw the grenades, who caught the enemy's bullets, who fought their own fears in the face of the unknown, who tried to do their duty as United States soldiers even though they were fighting for a cause they did not understand, and in a country to whose culture and interests they were strangers. He tried to be there with them.

The writer is indebted to many officers who, while serving in the Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, have read the manuscript in its various stages and offered comments and criticisms. They include Maj. Gen. Richard W. Stephens, a leading participant in the action; Col. George G. O'Connor; Col. S. W. Foote; Col. Carl D. McFerren; Col. Joseph Rockis; Col. Warren H. Hoover; and Lt. Col. Eugene J. White.

The sympathetic and generous viewpoint of Dr. Kent Roberts Greenfield, who gave valuable help in directing the critical panel review of the manuscript and evaluating needed final revisions, is gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Louis Morton gave detailed and critical review to the manuscript. Dr. Stetson Conn, who succeeded Dr. Greenfield as Chief Historian, and his Deputy, Dr. John Miller, jr., have been most helpful in reviewing the final draft of the manuscript.

To Miss Ruth Stout, the editor, and Mr. Thomas J. Seess, the copy editor, the writer especially wants to express his appreciation for their friendly, necessary, and painstaking editing of the manuscript and guiding it through the printer. Mr. Joseph R. Friedman, as Editor in Chief, has contributed from his wide editorial experience and wisdom. Mrs. Norma

xii


Heacock Sherris assisted in finding suitable illustrations for the volume.

Mr. Billy-Mossman, assisted by Mr. Elliot Dunay and the draftsmen who worked under his supervision, produced the maps in this volume. The author turned over to Mr. Mossman a large number of sketch maps and overlays which he had prepared while writing the text. Mr. Mossman, a former infantry officer with World War II experience in the Pacific Theater, and later on active duty in Korea during the Korean War, has a wide knowledge of military matters and of Korea itself. This background combined with his training in military cartography made him an ideal choice for the layout and supervision of the map work on this volume.

Mr. Israel Wice and his staff in the General Reference Section, Office of the Chief of Military History, cheerfully and efficiently gave their services in obtaining official records and other materials requested by the writer for his use. Mr. Stanley Falk prepared a useful digest of the Far East Command Daily Intelligence Summary, July through November 1950, relative to the Korean War. In an early stage of the work, Mrs. Gwendolyn Taylor as typist and general assistant gave valuable help.

The writer is much indebted to Mrs. Joy B. Kaiser. Many a complicated troop movement she has reconstructed on an overlay from coordinate readings given in S-3 and G-3 journals and periodic reports. The author never tried to write up the story of an action until after it had been plotted on a terrain map. Thus, Mrs. Kaiser in a two-year period saved him much labor, doubling as typist for an early draft of the manuscript, preparing overlays from journal co-ordinates, and otherwise contributing to the work.

Another whose dedication benefited the writer is Mrs. Edna W. Salsbury. She assumed the task of typing what turned out to be the last two revisions of the manuscript, and she performed that task ably. Throughout the tedious work of typing a heavily footnoted manuscript she made many suggestions that resulted in improving readability and her careful attention to detail contributed much in maintaining accuracy.

Notwithstanding the considerable assistance given the author by so many individuals and organizations, he alone is responsible for interpretations made and conclusions drawn in this volume as well as for any errors of omission or commission.

The person to whom the author owes most is Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward. As Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, in 1951, he ordered him to Korea to start this work. He opened the door for him to all commanders in Korea and the Far East Command. His experience as Secretary of the General Staff from 1938 to 1941, and subsequently as commander of the 1st Armored Division in North Africa, had given him broad knowledge of military matters and firsthand experience of battle and how it affects men.

General Ward's constant injunction to the author was to seek the truth of the Korean War and to tell it, no matter whom it might touch unfavorably. He wanted the facts made known, because only from them, he thought, could the United States build a better army for its defense. How well the

xiii


writer remembers his statement one day in casual conversation, "Truth is the first casualty in battle." He has tried not to have it the first casualty in this account of the Korean War.

Washington, D.C.
15 March 1960
ROY E. APPLEMAN
Lieutenant Colonel, USAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

xiv


Content

 

Chapter                                                          Page



I. KOREA AND THE BACKGROUND OF CONFLICT .........................   1



II. ARMED FORCES OF NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA .......................   7

        The North Korea People's Army ...........................   8

        The Republic of Korea Armed Forces ......................  12



III. INVASION ACROSS THE PARALLEL ...............................  19

        Invasion ................................................  21

        The ROK Counterattack at Uijongbu .......................  28

        The Fall of Seoul .......................................  30



IV. THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED NATIONS REACT ..............  36

        U.S. and U.N. Action ....................................  37

        Evacuation of U.S. Nationals From Korea .................  38

        KMAG Starts To Leave Korea ..............................  40

        ADCOM in Korea ..........................................  42

        MacArthur Flies to Korea ................................  44

        The President Authorizes Use of U.S. Ground Troops in

           Korea ................................................  46



V. THE NORTH KOREANS CROSS THE HAN RIVER ........................  49

        Deployment of U.S. Forces in the Far East, June 1950 ....  49

        The River Crossing ......................................  52

        ADCOM Abandons Suwon ....................................  55



VI. AMERICAN GROUND FORCES ENTER THE BATTLE .....................  59

        Task Force Smith Goes to Korea ..........................  60

        Task Force Smith at Osan ................................  65



VII. DELAYING ACTION: P'YONGT'AEK TO CHOCH'IWON .................  77

        The Retreat From P'yongt'aek ............................  79

        Night Battle at Ch'onan .................................  82

        The 21st Infantry Moves Up ..............................  88

        The Fight at Chonui .....................................  90

        Choch'iwon ..............................................  96



VIII. IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND ON THE EAST COAST ............ 101



Page xv



Chapter                                                          Page



IX. EIGHTH ARMY IN COMMAND ...................................... 109

        General Walker Assumes Command in Korea ................. 110

        Troop Training and Logistics ............................ 113

        The Port of Pusan and Its Communications ................ 116

        American Command Estimate ............................... 117



X. DISASTER AT THE KUM RIVER LINE ............................... 121

        The N.K. 4th Division Crosses the Kum Below Kongju ...... 123

        The 63d Field Artillery Battalion Overrun ............... 126

        The N.K. 3d Division Crosses the Kum Against the 19th

           Infantry ............................................. 130

        Roadblock Behind the 19th Infantry ...................... 137



XI. TAEJON ...................................................... 146

        Dean's Plan at Taejon ................................... 147

        Taejon—The First Day .................................... 151

        Taejon—The Second Day ................................... 155

        Withdrawal From Taejon—Roadblock ........................ 164

        The 24th Division After Taejon .......................... 179



XII. THE FRONT LINE MOVES SOUTH ................................. 182

        Yongdok and the East Coastal Corridor ................... 182

        Reorganization of the ROK Army .......................... 188

        The U.S. 25th Division at Sangju ........................ 190

        The 1st Cavalry Division Sails for Korea ................ 195

        The 1st Cavalry Division Loses Yongdong ................. 197

        The 27th Infantry's Baptism of Fire ..................... 199

        Retreat ................................................. 203

        "Stand or Die" .......................................... 205



XIII. THE ENEMY FLANKS EIGHTH ARMY IN THE WEST .................. 210

        Walker Acts ............................................. 211

        The Trap at Hadong ...................................... 215

        The N.K. 4th Division Joins the Enveloping Move ......... 222

        The N.K. 4th Division Seizes the Koch'ang Approach to

           the Naktong .......................................... 225

        Chinju Falls to the Enemy—31 July ....................... 227

        Three Pershing Tanks at Chinju .......................... 231

        Colonel Wilson Escapes With the 1st Battalion, 29th In-

           fantry ............................................... 233



XIV. BLOCKING THE ROAD TO MASAN ................................. 285

        The Two Roads to Masan .................................. 235

        The Battle at the Notch ................................. 239

        Colonel Check's Reconnaissance in Force Toward Chinju ... 242

        The Affair at Chindong-ni ............................... 244



Page xvi



Chapter                                                          Page



XV. ESTABLISHING THE PUSAN PERIMETER ............................ 248

        The 25th Division Moves South ........................... 248

        United Nations Forces Withdraw Behind the Naktong ....... 249

        The Pusan Perimeter ..................................... 252

        U.S. Air Action and Build-up in the First Month ......... 255

        Strength of the Opposing Forces at the Pusan Perimeter .. 262



XVI. THE FIRST AMERICAN COUNTERATTACK—TASK FORCE KEAN ........... 266

        Who Attacks Whom? ....................................... 270

        The 5th Marines on the Coastal Road ..................... 274

        Bloody Gulch—Artillery Graveyard ........................ 276

        Task Force Kean Ended ................................... 286



XVII. THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE NAKTONG BULGE ..................... 289

        The Naktong Bulge ....................................... 290

        The N.K. 4th Division Attacks Into the Naktong Bulge .... 291

        The Enemy Gains Cloverleaf—Obong-ni ..................... 298

        Yongsan Under Attack .................................... 302

        Battle at Cloverleaf—Obong-ni ........................... 304

        Marines Attack Obong-ni ................................. 310

        24th Division Attack Gains Cloverleaf ................... 313

        Obong-ni Falls .......................................... 315

        The Enemy Bridgehead Destroyed .......................... 316



XVIII. BATTLE FOR THE EASTERN CORRIDOR TO PUSAN ................. 319

        The Kyongju Corridor to Pusan ........................... 319

        The North Koreans Reach P'ohang-dong .................... 320

        The Air Force Abandons Yonil Airfield ................... 329

        The ROK 3d Division Evacuated by Sea .................... 330

        The North Koreans Turned Back From the Kyongju Corridor . 331



XIX. THE TAEGU FRONT ............................................ 334

        The North Koreans Cross the Naktong for the Attack on

           Taegu ................................................ 335

        Triangulation Hill ...................................... 340

        The Enemy 10th Division's Crossing at Yongp'o ........... 342

        Hill 303 at Waegwan ..................................... 345

        Tragedy on Hill 303 ..................................... 347

        Carpet Bombing Opposite Waegwan ......................... 350

        Bowling Alley—the Sangju-Taegu Corridor ................. 353



Page xvii



Chapter                                                          Page



XX. STALEMATE WEST OF MASAN ..................................... 364

        The Southern Anchor of the Army Line .................... 364

        The N.K 6th Division Regroups West of Masan ............. 365

        Enemy Attacks at Komam-ni (Saga) ........................ 366

        Battle Mountain ......................................... 368



XXI. AUGUST BUILD-UP AND SEPTEMBER PORTENTS ..................... 376

        The Far East Air Forces in August ....................... 376

        Ground Build-up ......................................... 379

        Korean Augmentation to the United States Army ........... 385

        Eighth Army Realignment and Extension Eastward .......... 389

        The North Korean Plan ................................... 392

        

XXII. PERIMETER BATTLE .......................................... 397

        Action in the East—Task Force Jackson ................... 397

        Enemy Breakthrough at Yongch'on ......................... 408

        Back on Taegu ........................................... 411

        Crisis in Eighth Army Command ........................... 415

        The 7th Cavalry's Withdrawal Battle ..................... 417

        Troopers in the Mountains—Walled Ka-san ................. 421

        Hill 314 ................................................ 432



XXIII. NORTH KOREAN BREAKTHROUGH IN THE SOUTH ................... 437

        Midnight Near Masan ..................................... 438

        Agok .................................................... 443

        Task Force Manchu Misfires .............................. 446

        The North Koreans Split the U.S. 2d Division ............ 448

        General Walker's Decisions on 1 September ............... 451



XXIV. THE NORTH KOREAN GREAT NAKTONG OFFENSIVE .................. 454

        The End of Task Force Manchu ............................ 456

        The Battle of Yongsan ................................... 459

        The 23d Infantry in Front of Changnyong ................. 466

        A North Korean Puzzle ................................... 469

        The 35th Infantry—The Rock of the Nam ................... 470

        Counterattack at Haman .................................. 479

        Battle Mountain and Sobuk-san ........................... 483

        

XXV. THE LANDING AT INCH'ON ..................................... 488

        MacArthur's Early Plans ................................. 488

        X Corps Troops Assembled ................................ 489

        The Landing Controversy ................................. 492

        Naval Plans ............................................. 497

        Intelligence Estimate ................................... 500

        The Ships Load Out ...................................... 501

        Preliminary Bombardment ................................. 502

        Securing the Inch'on Beachhead .......................... 503

        Capture of Kimpo Airfield and Advance to the Han River .. 509

        

Page xviii

     

Chapter                                                          Page



XXVI. THE CAPTURE OF SEOUL ...................................... 515

        The Capture of Yongdungp'o .............................. 516

        Securing the Southern Flank ............................. 520

        Seoul's Western Rampart ................................. 523

        The 32d Infantry Enters Seoul ........................... 527

        Battle of the Barricades ................................ 531

        MacArthur Re-establishes Syngman Rhee in Seoul .......... 536

        The Blocking Force South of Seoul ....................... 538

        The X Corps Situation ................................... 540



XXVII. BREAKING THE CORDON ...................................... 542

        The Eighth Army Plan .................................... 542

        The Enemy Strength ...................................... 545

        United Nations' Perimeter Strength ...................... 547

        The 38th Infantry Crosses the Naktong ................... 548

        The 5th Regimental Combat Team Captures Waegwan ......... 552

        The 24th Division Deploys West of the Naktong ........... 554

        The Indianhead Division Attacks West .................... 558

        Encirclement Above Taegu ................................ 560

        The Right Flank ......................................... 567

        The Left Flank—The Enemy Withdraws From Sobuk-san ....... 568



XXVIII. PURSUIT AND EXPLOITATION ................................ 573

        The 25th Division Crosses Southwest Korea ............... 574

        The 2d Division Pushes West ............................. 579

        Taejon Regained ......................................... 582

        From Tabu-dong to Osan—Eighth Army Link-up With X Corps . 588

        The ROK Army Arrives at the 38th Parallel ............... 598

        The Invaders Expelled From South Korea .................. 600



XXIX. THE PLAN FOR COMPLETE VICTORY ............................. 607

        MacArthur's Plan of Operations in North Korea ........... 609

        Eighth Army Deploys for the Attack ...................... 612

        The ROK I Corps Captures Wonsan and Hungnam ............. 614

        The X Corps Prepares To Move Amphibiously to North-

           east Korea ........................................... 618

        

XXX. EIGHTH ARMY AND X CORPS ENTER NORTH KOREA .................. 622

        Eighth Army Crosses the Parallel—The Kumch'on Pocket .... 622

        The X Corps Moves to Northeast Korea .................... 631

        Mines at Wonsan Harbor .................................. 633

        The X Corps Ashore ...................................... 635

        

XXXI. THE CAPTURE OF P'YONGYANG ................................. 638

        The Logistical Situation ................................ 638

        Sariwon Scramble ........................................ 640

        Into P'yongyang ......................................... 646



Page xix

        

Chapter                                                          Page

        

XXXII. UP TO THE CH'ONGCH'ON .................................... 654

        Airborne Attack: Sukch'on and Sunch'on .................. 654

        The Enemy Blocking Force Destroyed ...................... 658

        Death in the Evening .................................... 661

        The Advance Continues ................................... 663

        

XXXIII. THE CHINESE INTERVENE ................................... 667

        American Optimism at End of October ..................... 669

        Continuation of the Pursuit ............................. 671

        ROK Troops Reach the Yalu ............................... 672

        Chinese Strike the ROK II Corps ......................... 673

        Unsan—Prelude ........................................... 675

        On the West Coastal Road ................................ 681

        The X Corps' Changing Mission ........................... 684

        The CCF Block Way to Changjin Reservoir ................. 686

        

XXXIV. UNSAN .................................................... 689

        North of the Town ....................................... 691

        Roadblock South of Town ................................. 696

        Ordeal Near Camel's Head Bend ........................... 700

        

XXXV. EIGHTH ARMY HOLDS THE CH'ONGCH'ON BRIDGEHEAD .............. 709

        Action North of the River ............................... 709

        MIG's and Jets Over the Yalu ............................ 715

        

XXXVI. THE CHINESE APPRAISE THEIR FIRST PHASE KOREAN ACTION ..... 717

        

XXXVII. GUERRILLA WARFARE BEHIND THE FRONT ...................... 721

        

XXXVIII. THE X CORPS ADVANCES TO THE YALU ....................... 729

        ROK I Corps Attacks up the Coastal Road ................. 729

        U.S. 7th Infantry Division Reaches Manchurian Border .... 732

        3d Infantry Division Joins X Corps ...................... 738

        7th Marines Clear Road to Reservoir ..................... 741

        The Gap Between Eighth Army and X Corps ................. 745



XXXIX. THE BIG QUESTION ......................................... 749

        The Chinese Communist Forces ............................ 749

        Eighth Army Estimate of CCF Intervention ................ 751

        The X Corps Estimate .................................... 755

        The Far East Command's and MacArthur's Estimates ........ 757

        Actuality ............................................... 765

        Conclusion .............................................. 769

        The Pregnant Military Situation ......................... 770

        

Page xx

        

Chapter                                                          Page



SOURCES ......................................................... 777



GLOSSARY ........................................................ 779



BASIC MILITARY MAP SYMBOLS ...................................... 783

        

INDEX ........................................................... 785

        

 Tables 

No.

1. ROK Combat Divisions, 1 June 1950 ............................  15

2. ROK Army, 26 July 1950 ....................................... 191

3. Estimated U.N. Strength as of 30 September 1950 .............. 605

4. Postwar Tabulation of U.N. Strength in Korea as of 

   30 September 1950 ............................................ 606

5. Organization of the XIII Army Group .......................... 768



 Maps 



No.                                                              Page

        

1. The North Koreans Cross the Han, 28 June-4 July 1950 .........  54

2. Task Force Smith at Osan, 5 July 1950 ........................  67

3. Delaying Action, 34th Infantry, 5-8 July 1950 ................  78

4. Delaying Action, 21st Infantry, 8-12 July 1950 ...............  91

5. The U.S.-ROK Front, 13 July 1950 ............................. 103

6. Defense of the Kum River Line, 34th Infantry, 14 July 1950 ... 124

7. Defense of the Kum River Line, 19th Infantry, 13-16 July 1950  131

8. Task Force Kean, 7-12 August 1950 ............................ 268

9. North Korean Forces Enter the Naktong Bulge, 5-6 August 1950 . 292

10. Destroying the Enemy Bridgehead, 17-19 August 1950 .......... 311 

11. The Threat to the Eastern Corridor, 10 August 1950 .......... 322 

12. Eliminating the Threat, 11-20 August 1950 ................... 328

13. The N.K. Attacks on Taegu, 4-24 August 1950 ................. 386

14. The N.K. Attacks in the East, 27 August-15 September 1950 ... 399

15. The N.K. Attacks on Taegu, 2-15 September 1950 .............. 412

16. The Inch'on Landing, 15-16 September 1950 ................... 504

17. Breaking the Cordon, 16-22 September 1950 ................... 549

18. The Kumch'on Pocket, 9-14 October 1950 ...................... 624

19. The Capture of P'yongyang, 15-19 October 1950 ............... 641

20. Airborne Attack on Sukch'on and Sunch'on, 187th Airborne RCT,

    20 October 1950 ............................................. 655

        

Page xxi

        

No.                                                              Page

        

21. Advance of United Nations Command Forces, 20-24 October 1950  665

22. The Chinese Intervene in the West, 25 October-1 November 1950 673

23. The Unsan Engagement, 8th Cavalry Regiment, Night, 1-2 

    November 1950 ............................................... 692

24. The Ch'ongch'on Bridgehead, 3-6 November 1950 ............... 710

25. X Corps Advances to the Yalu River, 25 October-26 November 

    1950 ........................................................ 730

        

 Color Maps 

No.                                                              Page

        

   I. The North Korean Invasion, 25-28 June 1950 ................  21

  II. The Fall of Taejon, 20 July 1950 .......................... 150

 III. The Front Moves South, 14 July-1 August 1950 .............. 182

  IV. The Pusan Perimeter, 4 August 1950 ........................ 236

   V. The North Korean Naktong Offensive, U.S. 25th Division 

          Sector, 31 August-1 September 1950 .................... 438

  VI. The North Korean Naktong Offensive, U.S. 2d Division 

          Sector, 31 August-1 September 1950 .................... 443

 VII. The Capture of Seoul, 19-28 September 1950 ................ 511

VIII. The Pursuit, 23-30 September 1950 ......................... 574



 Illustrations

        

South Korean Troops .............................................  14

Uijongbu Corridor ...............................................  25

Brig. Gen. John H. Church .......................................  42

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur ...........................  45

Maj. Gen. William F. Dean .......................................  60

American Combat Troops Arriving at Taejon .......................  63

Road Leading to Suwon ...........................................  64

Task Force Smith Position .......................................  66

Traffic Jam  ....................................................  85

South of Ch'onan ................................................  87

Lt. Gen. Walton H. Walker .......................................  89

Defense of Choch'iwon ...........................................  97

General Walker and Col. Alfred G. Katzin ........................ 111

Main Rail Line out of Taejon .................................... 117

Moving Across the Kum River Bridge .............................. 125

Kum River Bridge Explosion ...................................... 127

Dike Position near Taep'yong-ni ................................. 152



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Chapter                                                          Page



Aerial View of Taejon Airfield .................................. 148

Machine Gun Emplacement ......................................... 149

Aerial View of Taejon City ...................................... 151

The A-Frame ..................................................... 183

Strafing Attack ................................................. 188

Naktong River at Andong ......................................... 189

Cavalrymen Preparing for Action ................................. 198

Hadong  ......................................................... 218

Hadong Pass  .................................................... 219

Moving Up From Chinju ........................................... 237

Pier 2 at Pusan ................................................. 260

60-Ton Crane at Pusan ........................................... 261

Fox Hill Position ............................................... 273

Point of a Combat Column ........................................ 305

Marines on Hill 311 ............................................. 317

Aerial View of P'ohang-dong ..................................... 326

Triangulation Hill .............................................. 341

Waegwan Bridge .................................................. 346

Maj. Gen. Paik Sun Yup .......................................... 350

The Bowling Alley ............................................... 356

Tank Action in the Bowling Alley ................................ 358

Enemy Side of the Rocky Crags ................................... 872

Rocket and Napalm Attack ........................................ 378

Exploding Phosphorus Bombs ...................................... 379

South Korean Recruit ............................................ 387

Assault Troops of Company K ..................................... 403

1st Cavalry Observation Post .................................... 413

General Walker Crossing the Naktong ............................. 418

Ruins of Ancient Fortress on Ka-san ............................. 422

D Company, 8th Engineer Combat Battalion ........................ 423

Mountain Mass West of Haman ..................................... 439

Defensive Position in Front of Changnyong ....................... 451

U.N. Troops Cross Rice Paddies .................................. 463

Battle Trophy ................................................... 471

2d Battalion, 27th Infantry ..................................... 474

27th Infantry Command Post ...................................... 481

Veteran of the 5th Regimental Combat Team ....................... 486

Wolmi-do ........................................................ 505

Landing Graft and Bulldozers .................................... 507

Marines on Wolmi-do ............................................. 508

Destroyed Enemy Tanks ........................................... 510

Kimpo Runway .................................................... 513

Top-Level Briefing .............................................. 514

Marines on Hill 125 ............................................. 517

American Troops Move on Seoul ................................... 526



Page xxiii



Chapter                                                          Page



Seoul as Seen From the Air ...................................... 529

Tanks Entering Seoul ............................................ 533

The Battle for Hill 201 ......................................... 552

Crossing the Kumho River ........................................ 557

Ponton Treadway Bridge .......................................... 558

Advancing to the Crest of Hill 201 .............................. 560

View From the Crest of Hill 201 ................................. 561

40-mm. Antiaircraft Battery ..................................... 564

Enemy-Held Area ................................................. 569

Kumch'on From the Air ........................................... 584

On the Outskirts of Kumch'on .................................... 585

Col. Lee Hak Ku ................................................. 589

Captured Enemy Equipment ........................................ 601

Tank Troops of 1st Cavalry Division ............................. 613

3d ROK Division Officers and KMAG Advisers ...................... 617

ROK Troops ...................................................... 618

Kumch'on, North Korea ........................................... 631

Landing Craft Approaching Beach ................................. 636

Tank-Supported Convoy ........................................... 648

Burning Enemy Tank .............................................. 649

5th Cavalry Troops .............................................. 650

Capitol Building in P'yongyang .................................. 651

Kim Il Sung's Desk .............................................. 653

Mass Airdrop Near Sunch'on ...................................... 656

Artillery Airdrop Near Sukch'on ................................. 657

North Korean Atrocity Site ...................................... 662

The Middlesex 1st Battalion ..................................... 664

Supply by Air in Unsan Area ..................................... 678

The 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry ................................ 734

Looking Across the Yalu ......................................... 735

On the Banks of the Yalu ........................................ 738

Ox-Drawn Sleds .................................................. 739

Chinese Communist POW's ......................................... 743

Chinese Communist Flag .......................................... 751

Chu Teh ......................................................... 752

Lin Piao ........................................................ 753

Chou En-lai ..................................................... 758

Kim Il Sung ..................................................... 767

Peng Teh-huai ................................................... 769

General MacArthur ............................................... 771

Insignia of Major U.S. Ground Force Units ....................... 775



 Illustrations are from Department of Defense files.



Page xxiv