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History  Bert '53  On Line

Map of Korea, ca 1950

As seen in the photograph below, Korean terrain dictated an Infantry war. Some corridors did permit some deployment of armor, but the rugged mountains everywhere permitted infantry to occupy formidable defenses which could command those corridors, giving a great advantage to the veteran Chinese Guerilla armies over our more mobility-organized forces. These features eventually led to an artillery-blasted line of defense across the entire country, and constant blood baths until a cease fire could be arranged by diplomatic means.

Map of Korea, ca 1950

Before daylight on Sunday, June 25, 1950, Kim Il Sung, the North Korean Premier, hurled eight veteran Infantry divisions South across the 37th parallel.

Led by 120 Soviet T34 medium tanks and extensive mobile artillery they quickly crushed the valiant South Korean defenders, and butchered their way down the peninsula until stopped by United Nations forces at the Pusan Perimeter.

General MacArthur counter-attacked with our Marines at Inchon, far behind North Korean lines, routed them, and our Eighth Army struck back across the parallel almost to the Yalu river and China.

But, in November 1950, China entered the war in force. Our armies were ambushed and again driven deep back into South Korea.

The battle-lines raged back and forth, but by mid-1951 settled roughly along the original Korean border, in about the same positions the armies fought over for the next two years until the Cease-Fire.
B29

B29 view of Korean Terrain - an Infantry War

Until US infantry got physically conditioned for the mountainous terrain and extreme weather conditions, both in winter and summer, they suffered as much from them as from the enemy.

Causes of the Korean Tragedy ... Failure of Leadership, Intelligence and Preparation

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