North Korea launched its invasion of the South
with every confidence that they would win the war in a
month or two. They were well armed by the USSR, their
ranks filled with battle-hardened veterans of
China's Civil War, and the Truman administration
had deliberately withheld effective weapons
from the Republic of Korea, believing that nuclear
weapons had made large scale infantry warfare obsolete.
As the ROKs were essentially helpless in the face of
the North's coordinated air, armor and infantry
onslaught, the NK did initially run amok, capturing or
destroying everything they attacked, and murdering
thousands of "political' enemies. They seemed
unstopable, and total NK victory assured.
But ... things changed. The UN, mainly
supported by the United States, managed to put enough
troops into the Pusan Peninsula to delay the NK drive,
with overwhelming air supremacy which delayed it still
more. And then MacArthur and a few Marines made their
brilliant end run around the NK troops, to invade
Inchon. When X Corps landed far behind the
North Korean lines on September 15, 1950, within two
weeks the North Korean army (NK) was largely made
ineffective. The way to the Yalu, and total destruction
of North Korea's military power, seemed virtually
unopposed. Intoxicated with apparent victory, Truman
and the UN authorized crossing the 38th parallel and
Eighth Army stormed toward the Yalu ... intending to
get "Home by Christmas."
But again, things changed. With
hundreds of thousands of tough, veteran foot Infantry,
China struck.
Totally crushing Eighth Army in the west, China also
drove our great First Marine Division out of the
Taebeck mountains back to Hungnam, and forced
evacuation of X
Corps. Now it was China's turn to be seduced by
the tantalizing prospect of total victory, over the
best the entire United Nations could bring against
them. Given China's history of oppression by
foreign powers and her desperate need to finally be
recognized as a great member of world nations, the
temptation was impossible to resist. In her turn,
China drove across the 38th parallel,
pursuing the shattered Eighth Army and again capturing
Seoul
But, the tide turned yet again. Eighth
Army used the time the CCF had spent chasing them past
the Han to re-group. With a new Commanding General, the
UN forces began a determined counter-attack which again
re-crossed the Han, re-captured Seoul, and again
reached the 38th Parallel, tentatively preparing a
defendable line.
But ... things changed yet again. The
CCF launched its Fifth phase offensive, forcing Eighth
Army to retreat yet again, threatening encirclement of
our forces yet again, and threatening to capture Seoul
yet again.
But ... things changed still again. In
May, 12 full-strength Chinese divisions, supported by
40,000 North Korean troops, attempted to destroy the US
Second Infantry Division in an assault on the scale of
Chosin. 2nd ID was well dug in, behind fields of mines
and barbed wire, and held fast although the hard-hit
ROKs fell back and exposed 2id's right flank. They
were strongly supported by the French and Dutch
Battalions, their tank battalions, five battalions of
massed artillery, B-26 bombers, their right flank was
re-occupied by the the 3rd Division, and the 1st
Marines protected their left flank, enabling full use
of their 9th Infantry Regiment. The result is known as
the May Massacre. Shocked by such heavy
losses the CCF now fled from our troops just as we had
so often fled from theirs as Eighth Army drove the CCF
and NK forces back across the 38th parallel once again.
This time, the UN halted significant offensive
operations and began the construction of a trench line
the width of Korea. After their last bloodbath, the CCF
seemed to rethink their situation, entered into truce
negotiations and began digging in their own trench
lines.
The opposing lines were both defensive,
mostly north of the 38th parallel, and the war settled
into disjoint, vicious battles around a relatively
stable Main Line of
Resistance while truce
talks began and slowly ground their way to
agreement over the next two years. China, the USSR and
the UN all took care to limit their reactions. We
declined to use Chinese Nationalist forces, and China
declined to menace Taiwan with invasion, and our
staging base of Japan was never threatened. The
escalation to a general global conflict never occurred.
Whether this was really a possibility, or whether it
was ultimately better not to have forced the issue in
any case, may never be known for certain.
In the event, the fighting reduced to
bitter, small scale actions, mostly around Combat
Outposts (COPs). About half the total casualties of the
Korean War occurred in this wasted, futile, terrible
two year period. To illustrate the futile savagery,
during the truce talks from March 1952 to July 1953
more than thirteen thousand Marines were killed,
wounded or captured. The time is sometimes known as the
Outpost War, since most of its major battles were
fought over outposts in front of the main lines.
UN forces were not permitted to advance
or capture any significant new territory. The MLR was
to be held at all costs, but the actual fighting
generally took place around OPs, ranging up to 5,000
yards in front of the MLR the width of Korea. These OPs
commanded high ground from which we could observe,
control and raid the enemy, or which covered ground
over which the enemy could pass to assault our own OPs
and the MLR itself. These OPs ranged from squad to
company size, some were constantly manned, and others
manned only either day or night.
These OPs were fought over, gained or
lost, regained or relost, for well over a year. Always,
at the cost of lives and worse.
