Prelude To Tragedy
|
7/24/45 |
|
8/6/45 |
Atomic bomb
dropped on Hiroshima
|
8/8/45 |
120,000
Russian troops invaded Manchuria and
Korea
|
9/9/45 |
US accepts
Japanese surrender in Korea, South of 38th parallel
|
11/14/47 |
U.N.
Resolution to remove troops from Korea after
national elections.
|
2/8/48 |
North Korean
People's Army (NK) officially
activated
|
4/8/48 |
|
8/15/48 |
The Republic
of Korea was proclaimed. Syngman Rhee was elected
first president
(by a legislature formed by
popular elections conducted in May)
|
9/9/48 |
Democratic
People's Republic of Korea claims jurisdiction
over all Korea
|
1/10/49 |
Mao
Zedong's Chinese Communist Forces (CCF), without control of the air, trapped
a half-million-man Nationalist army between the
Huai River and the Lung Hai Railway and killed or
captured them all.
Chiang Kai-shek defeated Mao in
1934 but 10,000 of Mao's 80,000 guerillas
survived fifteen major battles in the 8,000 mile
"Long March," gained strength fighting
Japan, and forced Chiang's retreat to Taiwan
(Formosa) after Huai-Hai.
|
6/29/49 |
Last US
troops leave South Korea
Korean Military Advisory Group
formed (KMAG, 200 men)
|
8/5/49 |
Truman's
Secretary of State Dean Acheson said China's
leaders had foresworn their heritage
Said they had become subservient
to a foreign power, Russia.
|
10/1/49 |
|
1950
|
1/12/50 |
US has no contingency plans should North Korea invade
|
2/14/50 |
China and
Russia sign a "Mutual Assistance"
agreement if involved in a "State Of
War"
Mao agrees to Kim Il Sung's
plan to invade South Korea.
|
6/1/50 |
NK strength at 135,000, with seven
assault divisions and 150 T34 tanks
|
6/25/50 |
|
6/25/50 |
|
6/25/50 |
Yak-9P fighters strafe Kimpo and Republic of South Korean (ROK) Air Units at Seoul
|
6/25/50 |
UN Security
Council demands NK stop its attack and return to
its borders
|
6/28/50 |
B-26 aircraft
of the 13th and 8th Bomb Squadron suffer casualties
at Han
|
6/29/50 |
ROK Capitol
Seoul falls, Han River bridges destroyed
Most of ROK army's best
trapped on northern side.
|
6/30/50 |
NK 3rd
Division (NK-3) crosses Han River; NK drives down
Peninsula
|
6/30/50 |
|
7/2/50 |
MacArthur
asks Washington for a Marine
Regimental Combat Team
|
7/3/50 |
ROK forces
mistakenly attacked by US and Australian Air
Units
|
7/5/50 |
|
7/6/50 |
Mobile Army
Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit in Taejon, with 12 Army
Nurses.
|
7/7/50 |
United
Nations Command created, under General Douglas
MacArthur
|
7/8/50 |
|
7/10/50 |
Fifth Air
Force destroys many North Korean tanks and troops
at Pyongtaek
US troops retreat along the
Seoul-Taejon road.
|
7/12/50 |
US Eighth
Army takes command of ground operations in
Korea
|
7/13/50 |
Lt. General
Walton Walker takes command of ground forces in
Korea
US & ROKs form line from Kum
river through Chongju to coastal Pyonghae-ri
NK begin general assault along
the Kum river section around Taejon
|
7/12-23 |
|
7/18/50 |
8th Cavalry
Regiment lands, leading unit of 1st Cavalry
Division
|
7/20-30 |
ROK 3rd
Division, in desperate fighting, make first
successful holding operation on
Peninsula
|
7/24-25 |
NK-3 defeats
8th and 5th Cavalry Regiments, and captures
Yongdong
Halts its attack after taking
2,000 casualties, mostly from artillery
NK-2 defeats 27th Infantry
Regiment, 25th Division, in their first
action
|
7/13-26 |
|
7/13-26 |
NK-6 outflanks Eighth Army unnoticed
down West Coast, captures Chonju
NK-6 positioned to drive to Pusan
cutting off all UN forces in Korea
|
7/26/50 |
Eighth Army
ordered back to prepared defenses
|
7/25-31 |
NK-6 defeats
19th Regiment, 24th Division and captures
Chinju
|
7/29/50 |
|
7/31/50 |
9th Infantry
Regiment 2nd Infantry Division, lands at
Pusan
|
8/2/50 |
|
8/1-3 |
A defense line anchored
in the west along the Naktong river.
NK nears the high-water mark of
its invasion success.
|
8/8/50 |
In secret Politburo meeting, Mao
decided that China must
protect its borders if UN threatened to win
China seemed clearly aware we
might hold at Pusan and then
counter-attack decisively
China's decisions always
reflected knowledge of US military strength and
plans, presumably provided by Philby, Burgess,
American espionage sources, and the USSR.
|
8/8/50 |
6th (M46 Pattons), 70th (M26 Pershings
and M4A3 Shermans) and 73rd (M26) medium tank
battalions land at Pusan, followed August 16 by
72nd med tank bn. and two 2id tank companies.
UN forces outnumber the NK in
tanks,
troops, artillery, and have total air
supremacy.
|
8/7-14 |
Task Force Kean - 25th Infantry
Division makes first US counter attack. Though
opposed only by NK-6, about 7,500 troops, and given
crucial support by the Marine Brigade, the attack
eventually fails.
25id does get needed combat
experience and, except for its 24th Regiment,
performs well in remaining Perimeter
battles
|
8/5-19 |
NK-4 forces
three crossings of the Naktong against the 24th
Division and ROK 17th Regiment.
Heavily outnumbered, NK-4 still
almost breaks through, but US and ROKs hold.
The Marine Brigade again attacks,
closely supported by two Carrier-based Corsair
Squadrons
They throw NK-4 back across the
Naktong, eliminating them as a fighting force.
NK-4 did not re-group until after
the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) enter the
war.
|
8/17/50 |
Massacre of
US prisoners at Hill 303.
|
8/18-22 |
In savage
fighting ROKs stop NK-8, NK-12 and NK-5 in
eastern Kyongju Corridor
|
8/28/50 |
FEC
intelligence estimated China had 246,000 PLA and
374,000 militia near the Korean border.
|
8/29/50 |
British
Commonwealth 27th Brigade lands at Pusan
|
8/27-9/15 |
Continuous
Fighting around Pusan Perimeter
|
9/1-5 |
NK makes 5
simultaneous assaults along the Naktong
|
9/3/50 |
US attacks
around Yongsan
|
9/4/50 |
5th Marines
withdrawn to mount out for end-run at
Inchon
|
9/8/50 |
CIA discounts
China's troops in Manchuria as normal, not
evidence that China would intervene.
|
9/15/50 |
Arguably
the greatest amphibious assault of the
century.
|
9/17/50 |
Mission:
Evaluate and prepare the battlefield for military
action.
|
9/16-23 |
UN breaks the
Pusan Perimeter
cordon
|
9/19-29 |
Seoul recaptured
in the north, savage infantry fighting, heavy
Marine casualties
Mop-up starts in the south as
surviving NK forces flee east coast
roads.
|
9/27/50 |
General
MacArthur given permission to cross the 38th
Parallel into North Korea
|
9/29/50 |
General
MacArthur and ROK President Syngman Rhee enter
Seoul
|
9/30/50 |
The JCS
instructs MacArthur to continue his advance north
to destroy the NK armed forces.
|
9/30/50 |
|
9/30/50 |
ROK troops
cross 38th Parallel
|
10/3/50 |
Zhou En-lai
notifies India that, if American Forces cross the
38th Parallel, China will intervene.
Mao had already informed Russia
of this decision.
|
10/9/50 |
|
10/12/50 |
CIA says
full-scale Chinese intervention not probable,
barring Russia deciding on global war.
Stalin tells Mao Russia will
provide aircraft and other support of China's
intervention.
|
10/14/50 |
|
10/13-14 |
The 38th,
39th, and 40th Chinese Field Armies entered
Korea.
|
10/15/50 |
Truman and triumphant MacArthur meet on Wake Island
Agents report Chinese
troops moving into Korea but CIA gives no alert
|
10/19/50 |
NK capitol
Pyongyang falls
|
10/20/50 |
187th ARCT
airborne assault north of Pyongyang
|
10/24/50 |
RISK:
Global nuclear war.
US had eleven Infantry and one
Armored Divisions World-wide. He was committing
seven of these to possibly face a Manchurian force
of 500,000 backed by a 5,000,000 man Chinese army. If Russia
attacked anywhere in the world, our only defense
option would be a nuclear WWIII.
REWARD: Possibly occupy all North Korea before
China intervened effectively.
ALTERNATIVE: Declare objective of preserving South
Korea reached.
Resource-preserving fighting
withdrawal from forward positions while
constructing a Pyongyang-Wonsan stop-line, and
fight from in-depth, defensible positions until war
resolved by diplomacy.
|
10/24/50 |
|
10/25/50 |
ROK 6th Division first UN
troops smashed by elements of CCF 42nd Field Army
around Chosan
|
10/26/50 |
1st Marine
Division lands on east coast at Wonsan joining X
Corps. The four divisions attack north.
|
10/29/50 |
Advanced ROK
units in the west routed by elements of CCF 38th
and 40th Field Armies.
|
10/29/50 |
General
Willoughby says only Chinese "stragglers,"
are in Korea, not PLA
|
11/1-6 |
Only 30,000
lightly armed troops of their unsuspected 150,000
man deployment strike
They ambush The Cav and the ROKs,
driving us back to the Chongchon river
Intended as a Reconnaissance
probe, the easy victory helped China assess our
weaknesses
|
11/2-3 |
In the east,
the 7th Marine Regiment crushes the
CCF 124th Division in the only UN
success
|
11/4 |
MacArthur
intensifies bombing of communications routes to the
Yalu
|
11/5 |
Mao assigns
an additional twelve CCF divisions to destroy First
Marine Division and X Corps.
|
11/8/50 |
F-80 of 51st
FIW downs MiG-15 in first all jet
dogfight
|
11/21/50 |
US 17th
Regiment reaches The Yalu
|
11/24 |
That same
day, the Second Phase of China's offensive Plan
began
|
11/25/50 |
|
11/26-30 |
Start of a route that became
the longest retreat in US history.
|
11/27-30 |
All the
CCF Armies ... 300,000 troops ... had infiltrated
North Korea essentially undetected
|
11/30 |
President
Truman threatens use of atomic bomb against
CCF
|
11/30-12/11 |
1st Marine
Division fights through encircling CCF forces to
reach our 3rd Infantry Division lines.
The 10 CCF divisions attacking
the Marines in Chosin required complete
rebuilding
|
12/11/50 |
UN Naval
forces begin evacuation at Hungnam
|
12/14/50 |
UN passes a
Cease Fire resolution
|
12/23/50 |
General
Walker is killed in accident,
General Matthew Ridgway assumes Eighth
Army command
|
12/24/50 |
105,000
troops, 98,000 civilians, 17,500 vehicles, and
350,000 tons of cargo
|
12/30/50 |
MiG-15 jets
begin attacking UN airplanes over North
Korea
|
12/30/50 |
Photo
Review 1950
|
1951
|
1/1/51 |
Photo
Preview 1951
|
1/3/51 |
CCF and NK renew their
offensive. Seoul is again abandoned.
|
1/14/51 |
Over his defeatist
Staff's objections, Ridgway stabilizes UN lines
along the 37th parallel with an army that was
gradually becoming hardened. Within six months they
developed into a force that could meet and defeat
the enemy, man to man. From this time, the
slaughter and agony of warriors and civilians alike
would be the price paid for politicians to
painfully grope their way to a
cease-fire.
|
1/25/51 |
UN
counterattacks in the 'Ridgway' offensive,
Operation Thunderbolt, over a
carpet of dead CCF.
Twin Tunnels Ambush
|
2/11-12 |
CCF
counterattacks at Hoengsong, destroys ROK 8th
Div.
|
2/14/51 |
23rd RCT
and French Infantry Battalion hold on Wonju
Line
Ridgway
says successful defense at Chipyong-ni is
'turning point'
|
2/18-3/17 |
Ridgway's
Operation Killer. IX Corps has
limited success.
|
3/6-31 |
Eighth Army
(1st Cav, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry
Divisions and 1st Marine Division) re-cross Han
Operation Ripper
Chunchon recaptured and line
Idaho reached against weak opposition, as CCF
regroups.
|
3/18/51 |
UN forces
retake Seoul again
The last
time we had to do the job in Century XX
|
4/1-22 |
Operations
Rugged and Dauntless drive 15 miles north of
Line Kansas, our Third Line of
Defense
A row of tall hills nicknamed
"Yamas", about 5 miles behind the front
line
|
4/11/51 |
|
4/15/51 |
General James
Van Fleet assumes command of Eighth Army
|
4/19/51 |
General MacArthur at
Congressional hearings on his dismissal
|
4/22/51 |
CCF begins
spring offensive with 27 Divisions of 250,000 foot
infantry, smash Line Kansas, drive through 2nd,
3rd, 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions towards
Seoul
|
4/24-25 |
Second Batt,
Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry,
Third Batt Royal Australian Regiment and A Company
72nd US Medium Tank Batt, heavily outnumbered, stop
CCF at Kapyong.
|
4/30/51 |
CCF and NK
pull back to re-group
|
5/10-6/5 |
Second CCF
Spring Offensive begins, with the 'May
Massacre'
|
5/20/51 |
CCF offensive
stopped, after penetrating 30 miles on the
east-central region
|
Mid May |
US privately changes objective in
Korea from victory to political
solution.
|
5/23-6/1 |
UN resumes
attack north, regains both Line Kansas and the
Wyoming bulge by mid-June.
CCF 180th Division totally
destroyed.
|
6/10-16 |
Punchbowl,
near the Hwachon Reservoir. 1st Marine Division
reaches northen ridges against NK
|
6/13/51 -
7/27/53 |
The enemy
uses respite from relentless assault to reinforce
and strengthen defenses
Toward the end of the KW,
artillery barrages would sometimes exceed WWI
|
6/13/51 |
Fighting
lapses to patrolling and small-unit actions.
|
6/23/51 |
USSR UN
Delegate Jacob Malik proposes truce
|
7/10/51 |
This is a tragic comment on Truman's
tactics
|
8/1-10/31 |
Limited UN
attacks in vicious small-unit actions to
consolidate positions
|
8/23/51 |
Communists
break off talks
|
8/17-9/6 |
Battle of Bloody Ridge
|
9/5-23 |
Battle for Heartbreak
Ridge
|
10/3-23 |
Operation
Commando. Five UN Divisions, including the British Commonwealth Division attack
elements of Four CCF Armies, to adjust Corps
boundaries.
In the successful but savage
fighting, I Corps estimates 21,000 CCF and over
4,000 UN casualties.
|
10/25/51 |
Communists
resume talks
After
their most casualties and lost terrain in
negotiations period
|
11/27/51 |
Truce talks
continue at Panmunjom and a cease-fire line agreed
on
|
51-53 |
Talks at
Panmunjom drag on until 7/27/53
Localized battles and slaughter continue all along
the MLR
|
12/18/51 |
Exchange of
POW lists
|
1952
|
1/1/52 |
Photo
Preview 1952
|
1/2/52 |
UN POW
Exchange Proposal
|
1/3/52 |
POW Exchange
Proposal rejected by Communists
|
2/18/52 |
Riots in
Koje-do prison camp
|
3/13/52 |
Another major
riot at Koje-do
|
3/21/52 |
Outpost Eerie, a typical post between
the two opposing MLRs in the bloody Outpost
War
|
5/7 |
General Dodd
captured by Koje-do POWs.
|
5/12-6/12 |
General
Haydon Boatner replaces General Colson at Koje-do
and ends rioting.
General Mark Clark assumes FECOM
from General Ridgway.
|
5/27/52 |
Syngman Rhee
declares martial law at Pusan
|
6/23/52 |
General Clark
orders bombing of NK power plants
|
7/23/52 |
Air strikes knock out North
Korea's hydroelectric power for over two
weeks
|
6/52-10/52 |
Vicious, bitter localized fighting
along MLR as truce talks drag on.
|
8/12-25 |
Marine
reinforced company capture Bunker Hill (hill 122
east of Panmunjom), and holds it against
battalion-level CCF counter-attacks.
|
8/29/52 |
Largest air
strike of war, 1400 aircraft hit
Pyongyang
|
9/17-24 |
Puerto Rican
65/3id lost Outpost Kelly to the more experienced
CCF 384th Regiment.
|
10/8-11/18 |
Truce talks
halted. General Clark initiates Operation Showdown
|
10/6-15 |
Battle
ofWhite Horse Hill - ROK 9th
Division inflicts 10,000 casualties on CCF while
repelling repeated ferocious assaults
|
10/26-28 |
The Black
Watch and BCD tanks and Infantry fight off the CCF
in the Battle of The
Hook
|
11/3/52 |
2/160/40id
fight for Heartbreak Ridge, Hill
851
|
11/15-27 |
Communist
stage propaganda "POW Olympics" at Camp 5,
Pyoktong
|
12/25/52 |
38/2id fights
off savage CCF assault at T-Bone Hill
|
12/1-31 |
|
1953
|
1/1/53 |
Photo
Preview 1953
|
1/25/53 |
31/7id
assaults Spud Hill, enemy strongpoint at T-Bone, in
Operation Smack.
In spite of strong tank and air
support the 31st was repulsed with heavy
casualties
Press falsely castigates the
assault as unnecessary loss of life staged for
visiting brass.
|
2/11/53 |
General
Maxwell Taylor takes command of Eigth
Army
|
3/5/53 |
New USSR
Premier Georgi Malenkov speaks of peaceful
coexistence
|
3/28/53 |
NK Premier
Kim Il Sung and CCF Peng Teh-huai agree to POW
exchange
|
3/30/53 |
Truce talks
resume at Panmunjom
|
3/1-4/31 |
More savage
fighting around Old Baldy, T-bone, outpost Eerie
and Pork Chop.
CCF-141 and CCF-67 take the Old
Baldy - Pork Chop region from 7th ID and hold
it.
Exchanging countless thousands of
artillery rounds, the CCF took the Vegas and Reno
outposts from the 5th Marines on March 26, but the
Marines re-took Vegas and held
it against determined attacks until the CCF broke
off the action.
|
3/17/53 |
9/2id loses
and retakes portions of Little Gibraltar
|
3/1-4/31 |
More savage
fighting as UN forces lose Old Baldy and Eerie
rather than inordinate sacrifice of life for ground
during final stages of truce talks
|
4/16-18 |
17th and 31st
Infantry Regiments suffer heavy casualties at Pork
Chop Hill
|
4/20-26 |
Exchange of
sick and wounded POWs
|
4/23/53 |
Panmunjom
talks resume
|
6/6-10 |
7th Infantry
Division suffer more heavy casualties at Pork Chop
Hill and are withdrawn
|
6/14/53 |
Communist
attack drives back ROK positions
|
6/18/53 |
ROKs release
27,000 NK POWs who refuse repatriation.
Communists again break off truce
talks
|
6/25/53 |
CCF sends 3
armies, almost 100,000 troops, against 5 ROK
divisions totaling half their number, driving the
ROKs back several thousand yards. The CCF drive
stops under staggering UN artillery barrages, about
2.7 million rounds in June alone.
|
7/10/53 |
Truce talks
resume after UN assures ROK acceptance of
cease-fire terms
|
7/24-25 |
Aussies
and Marines inflict terrible casualties and
hold
Our enemies finally realize that the UN may
sacrifice ground in some areas, but will make the
loss in life to the attackers hideously out of
proportion to any gains
That was the
alternative MacArthur and his
Superiors ignored three bloody years
earlier
|
7/27/53 |
Shooting
Stops. The question, for how long?
|
9/4/53 |
Repatriation
of POWs starts at Freedom Village,
Panmunjom
|
Over 53,000
ROK and UN troops, including over 8,000
Americans, are MIA. One assumes the great
majority of them were murdered by North Korean
soldiers after surrendering, or being found
wounded, or in the (often death) camps for
POWs.
Though most
attention has focused on the Korean War's
first year, bloody fighting persisted throughout
the entire war. Half of our dead were killed
after the truce talks began, while
people talked and postured, at Panmunjom.
Artillery
concentrations on the small outposts and
contested hills of the MLR exceeded anything in WWI
or WWII; typically a thousand rounds exploding in
10 minutes or so, followed by battalion- and
regiment-scale assaults against positions
scarcely large enough to hold a company. The
Marines fought for Bunker Hill, Reno, Carson and
Vegas; the ROKs for Sniper Ridge, Triangle Hill
and Big Nori; our 2nd Division fought for Old
Baldy, Arrowhead and Pork Chop, as did our 7th
Division in their turn.
Dozens of
other obscure, torn landscapes soaked the blood
of other valliant infantrymen.
Some of the
most dangerous and important sections of the MLR
were held valiantly by the ROKs and our UN
allies.
Causes of the Korean Tragedy ... Failure of Leadership, Intelligence and Preparation
The Foundations of Freedom are the Courage of Ordinary People and Quality of our Arms
|