Chapter Twenty-Seven - The de Riberas and the Korean War (June 25, 1950 C.E.-July 27, 1953 C.E.)

Thanks to all of those sources provided by the Internet and used in this chapter

With this submission of this my last chapter of the family history of the de Ribera’s, Chapter Twenty-Seven - The de Riberas and the Korean War (June 25, 1950 C.E.-July 27, 1953 C.E.) - We fought for the Right reasons, at the Right time, in the Right place, I’m saying good bye to many years of effort and the joy of finding one’s ancestral roots. Like many of the hedonistic children of the 1950s C.E. and 1960s C.E., I gave little thought to my family’s past. I lived in the present and planned for the future. Before this effort the word “family” was just a cliché. The word family now has a markedly different meaning for me.

What a gift this work has been. I can now almost feel the presence of those many ancestors I researched. I feel that I know them and have learned to love them. So here, I say “à plus tard,” until later, rather than “Adieu,” to this work. It would only be appropriate to thank Mimi Lozano Holtzman and her husband Win of Somos Primos E-Magazine fame for her kind support and insightful guidance into the world of history and genealogy. I call Mimi “Dearest” because she’s a dear soul! Without her this homage to my Mums family, the de Riberas, would never have been written.

Now to the de Riberas and the Korean War!

As Chapter Twenty-Seven - The de Riberas and the Korean War (June 25, 1950 C.E.-July 27, 1953 C.E.) is the last chapter of the book of the Family History of the de Riberas of New Mexico, I wish to present some personal insight as to why this Hispano American family fought so willingly for the United States of America (U.S.).

Firstly, I would suggest that it was the yearning for “Freedom.” It should be remembered that the de Riberas and many of the other founding families of Nuevo Méjico were Sephardim or Spanish Jews and also Conversos. During the Spanish Period, they had escaped España and its religious and political elite to the safety of the Nuevo Mundo, the Américas. The family made its way ever northward within the Virrey of Nuéva España, until reaching Nuevo Méjico. In that desolate place they found safety as hidden Jews, away for the Inquisición Española. It was there that these Sefardita Jews who immigrated into northern areas of the Virrey of Nuéva España became los Manitos de Nuevo Méjico. They then ventured to south and central Tejas, and later to parts of southern Colorado and beyond. They would eventually be called, Los Tejanos y los Manitos de Nuevo Méjico or The Texans and the brethren of New Mexico. There in what is today the American Southwest the Sephardi Españoles found the freedom they so desperately wanted.

The de Ribera blood lines of the North American Continent began when el Imperio Español sent an expedition under Don Juan de Oñate to establish the Spanish provincia de Santa Fé de Nuevo Méjico in 1598 C.E., with a capital founded near Ohkay Oweenge Pueblo, which he called San Juan de los Caballeros. De Oñate later attempted to establish a settlement in Arizona in 1599 C.E., but failed. They turned back due to inclement weather. By 1610 C.E., Santa Fé was founded, making it the oldest capital in U.S. After arriving, these Españoles took what they wanted from the indigenous without regard for their needs and wants.

To be sure, during the 17th-Century C.E., they would have heard the news of the de Ribera family in the capital of Nuéva España, Méjico City, having been arrested in connection with the trial of Gabriel de Granada by the Inquisición in Nuéva España, now Méjico. In that trial (1642 C.E.-1645 C.E.) there appeared as "accomplices" in the observance of the Law of Moses and as Judaizing heretics, the names of Doña María, Doña Catalina, Clara, Margarita, Ysabel, and Doña Blanca de Rivera, all of whom seem to have been natives of Sevilla. Another person mentioned in the same connection is Diego López Rivera, one of the Sefarditas from his native Portugués. The name is frequently written "Ribera."

The reality of religious intolerance and the fear of the Inquisición Española had never left them. These Sephardic families understood the imperfections of el Imperio Español and the orthodox Católicos of the Church. The threat these powerful entities represented to the precious freedom these Sefardí had sought was palpable.

Almost immediately after the 1821 C.E. invasion by the Méjicanos, the Españoles could see the failings of el Imperio Méjicano, and later its replacement governments called the Méjicano Republics. The de Riberas were forced to accept their conquest and repression by a foreign power. This continued until Méjico lost the northern reaches of what had been once the Virrey of Nuéva España to the Américanos in 1846 C.E.

By 1846 C.E., the Américanos arrived taking the land and making it part of the U.S. I think that they understood and liked these strong, open, and resourceful Américanos who were driven by their “American Dream.” I believe this is why the de Riberas accepted this new government and became Américanos. Over time, the many generations of the de Ribera family were not unlike other Americans. To be sure, they understood the difficulties of a nation that was ever changing and given to mistakes, but also one which moved ever forward improving itself and the lives of its people. This was also their dream. Now as Américanos, they were free to live as they wanted.

I feel it was that belief in “freedom” and in the “American Dream” that drove their ready participation in the many American wars, in service to these ideals even, if the nation itself had glaring faults.

Finally, the de Riberas had always been soldados. They had served el Imperio Español, el Imperio Méjicano and later its replacement governments, and now they entered military service of this great nation, the U.S. of America. The family served their new country in every war, including the Korean War. Why would they have done this? I believe it was their love of country, a belief in “freedom,” and faith in the “American Dream.”

After 1920 C.E., the family like many other Americans suffered and served through WWI, the bad economic conditions of the Great Depression, and WWII. By the time of the Korean War in 1950 C.E., the de Riberas of New Mexico had generations of American military service. They understood what was at stake. Once again, they were willing to serve and die if necessary for the “Dream.” I am positive that they would have agreed with this quote by Thomas Jefferson. “With all the imperfections of our present government, it is without comparison the best existing, or that ever did exist.” Thomas Jefferson also said this, “We will be soldiers, so our sons may be farmers, so their sons may be artists.” This the de Riberas had always done.

Here, I must say that I’ve been asked several times why I refer to the de Riberas of New Mexico as a “Clan.” The Rivera (originally de Ribera) family name is listed in the New Mexico Office of the State Historian as one of the founding families of the state. Salvadór Matías de Ribera (later spelled Rivera) was the founding progenitor of the New Mexico Riberas. Salvadór served in the Spanish Military at the Presidio in Santa Fé. He was born in Puerto de Santa María in Southwest España near Cádiz. The town of Ribera, New Mexico, is named after him.

In New Mexico, those of the Spanish-speaking population of colonial descent such as the de Riberas are referred to by the predominant Spanish term Hispano. This is analogous to those from California, Californio, and those from Texas, or Tejano. In New Mexico, this Spanish-speaking population was always proportionally greater than those of California and Texas. The term is commonly used to differentiate those who settled the area early, around 1598 C.E. to 1848 C.E., from later Mexican migrants.

Currently, the majority of the Hispano population is distributed between New Mexico and Southern Colorado. A community of people in Southern Colorado who migrated there in the early 19th-Century C.E. are descended from Hispanos from New Mexico. Most of New Mexico's Hispanos, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, live in the northern half of the state. The predominant ancestry claimed by the state's citizens is that of descendants of Spanish settlers.

It is accepted that the de Riberas of New Mexico and Colorado are a group of families the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor, Salvadór Matías de Ribera. This group of people is of a common descent, a family, a clan.

These are just a few of the de Ribera Clan who fought in both WWII and Korea.

In Korea, “We fought for the Right reasons, at the Right time, in the Right place”

One of the de Ribera Clan fought in both WWII and Korea. His name, U.S. ARMY S SGT Philip Fidel Rivera Santa Fé, New Mexico, enlisted on January 6, 1941 C.E.

Philip Fidel Rivera Santa Fé, New Mexico

Santa Fe National Cemetery
501 North Guadalupe Street
Santa Fé, NM 87501

Section: V

Site: 1873

Birth: May 1, 1918

Death: September 21, 1970

Age: 52

Branch: U.S. ARMY

Rank: S SGT

War: WORLD WAR II, KOREA

SANTA FE NATIONAL CEMETERY

501 North Guadalupe Street Santa Fé, NM 87501

A second member of the de Ribera Clan Porfirio Estrada Rivera fought in both in WW II and Korea. In Korea he served in the U.S. Navy.

Porfirio Estrada Rivera Santa Fé, New Mexico

Santa Fe National Cemetery
501 North Guadalupe Street
Santa Fé, NM 87501

Section: 9

Site: 103

Birth: September 15, 1925

Death: July 10, 1995

Age: 69

Branch: US ARMY, US NAVY

Rank: CPL, AD3

War: WORLD WAR II, KOREA

Porfirio Rivera CPL, AD3, Santa Fé, NM

A third member of the de Ribera Clan António Rivera fought in both Korea and Vietnam. He served in the U.S. Army.

Another member of the de Ribera Clan Pete D. Rivera fought in both Korea and Vietnam. He served in the U.S. Navy.

Another of the de Ribera Clan who served in the Korea War was U.S. Army Private Gavino J Rivera of Santa Fé, New Mexico, born October 4, 1929 C.E. Rivera, Gavino J, b. 10/04/1929, d. 08/17/1996, US Army, PVT, Res: Albuquerque, NM, Plot: 9 0 2660, bur. 08/21/1996.

Corporal Eugene C. Rivera was another member of the de Ribera Clan from Santa Fé, New Mexico, served in the Korea War. He was a Communications Chief and U.S. Army Ranger serving with the 8th Ranger Company (Airborne) during the Korean War. On April 25, 1951 C.E., the 8th Ranger Company found itself heavily engaged with PAV forces as they provided forward reconnaissance during the withdrawal of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division near a Korean terrain feature designated Hill 628. Rivera operating the only remaining radio adjusted artillery fire upon the enemy. While doing so, the unit found itself trapped. Despite their best efforts, friendly troops were unable to break through the Chinese lines to reconnect with the isolated unit. As casualties mounted, the Rangers were encouraged to, "Get out the best you can."

Not willing to abandon any soldier, the Rangers prepared to make their final stand as CPL Rivera spotted American tanks. To save his fellow Rangers, CPL Rivera of Santa Fé, New Mexico, bravely climbed a desolate hill, and while under relentless fire from the enemy, established and maintained radio contact with the U.S. Army tank platoon leader, Lieutenant David Teich. Teich was in a tank company near the 38th parallel in 1951 when a radio distress call came in from the Eighth Ranger Company. Wounded, outnumbered, and under heavy fire, the Rangers were near Teich's tanks, and facing 300,000 Communist troops, moving steadily toward their position. Teich wanted to help, but was ordered to withdraw instead, his captain saying "We've got orders to move out. Screw them. Let them fight their own battles."

Teich went anyway and led four tanks over to the Rangers' position. The tanks then took out so many Rangers on each tank that they covered up the tank's turrets. Eugene C. Rivera’s selfless act allowed the M46 Patton, tiger-striped tanks of the Sixth Tank Battalion to break the enemy encirclement and evacuate the wounded.

Following are more members of the de Ribera Clan from New Mexico, that served during the Korea War in the armed forces branches of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force:

The Hispano Americans of New Mexico and other locales gave their all, and in some cases, their lives during these wars. I often wonder what these men and women would think of the 21st-Century C.E. if they were able to be brought back to life. If they saw and heard this generation’s questioning the need for patriotism and its mistrust of government and its officials, and less than civil public discourse, would they be confused or angered? Or would they agree?

I agree with President Theodore Roosevelt’s statement when he said, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.” 

I. Introduction

In this Chapter, I cannot hope do justice to all of the men and women of all races and ethnicity who served in this heroic effort. One would hope that others will attempt to write about these other men and women. As this is the family history about a Hispano family, the de Riberas of New Mexico, I have identified those fellow Hispanos from the state of New Mexico who were casualties of the Korean War and placed their names and information in the months in which they fell during the war.

As the de Riberas are also Hispanic Americans, I chose to include other non-Hispano Hispanic military personnel.

A. The Power and Failure of the American Elite

The Korean War began when the ongoing civil war escalated into open warfare. On June 25, 1950 C.E., Communist North Korean People's Army (NKPA) forces supported by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and China invaded the Democratic south. This was in an effort to unite the entire peninsula under one Communist government. This was not about freedom.

The Korea Peninsula had been ruled by Japan from 1910 C.E. until the closing days of World War II. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) then an Allied power declared war on Japan in August 1945 C.E. After having reached an agreement with the U.S., the USSR then liberated Korea north of the 38th parallel. By liberation, I mean to say that the Soviets liberated all possessions from all parties and controlled the means of any and all production.

It should have been understood by the American Elite that by allowing, giving, providing  the USSR Communists a foothold anywhere on the Korean Peninsula was to pretend that what they were doing in Eastern Europe of the time was a one-off situation. Clearly history proved the Elites wrong! The Communists had every intention of subverting any authority that was not acceptable to them. Does the term “Comintern” strike a familiar note!

The Comintern or Communist International was an international Communist organization founded by Vladimir Lenin the Russian communist revolutionary and head of the Bolshevik Party. He rose to prominence during the Russian Revolution of 1917 C.E. The Comintern was established in Moscow, USSR in 1919 C.E. It was officially dissolved in 1943 C.E. 

This ultra-radical organization degenerated under Joséph Stalin who served as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party USSR from 1922 C.E. to his death on March 5, 1953 C.E. The Comintern became a political instrument of USSR which was used to unite Communist groups in various countries. In effect, the Comintern continued the promotion of Revolutionary Marxism, including on the Korea Peninsula.

By 1948 C.E., U.S. forces moved into the Korean south. The splitting of Korea into two separate governments was a product of the Cold War between the USSR and the U.S. Both governments claimed to be Korea’s legitimate government. Also, neither side accepted the existing border as permanent.

Here it is important to clarify that before and after the Korean War, the American elite or upper-class controlled and directed U.S.’ foreign and domestic policy. Good or bad, every nation on the face of the earth has its elite. The American elite or upper-class thought itself to be as an aristocratic group, controlling society's means of production. This included those who gain this position due to socioeconomic means and not personal achievement.

The idea that the American cosmopolitan elite having controlled and dominated American foreign policy and diplomacy is a reality. Why is this important? It was this social stratum of American society, and not the average man on the street, that assessed, planned, and implemented the military engagements of the Korean War.

For the purpose of this chapter, the term, "elite" describes a person or group of people who are members of the uppermost class of society. In the U.S., this archaic society was based upon lineage from parents or grandparents of the Revolutionary War and passed-on. American elitists for a time were almost exclusively, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs). They were the social group of wealthy and well-connected white Americans of Protestant and predominantly British ancestry, many of whom trace their ancestry to the American colonial period.

The American elitist’s belief and attitudes about themselves was that they were a select group of people of a superior ancestry, of intrinsic quality, of high intellect, wealth, special skills, or experience. As such, they felt that they were more likely to be more constructive for society as a whole. Therefore, they deserved more influence and greater authority than the common working man.

It was to the elites that the American people of the 1940s C.E. and 1950 C.E. willingly left the all important decisions of war. That includes the Korean War. I am not for one moment saying that to enter the Korean Peninsula in the defense of its people was unwise or unwarranted. What I am saying is that the elite decision-makers failed to understand the entire scope of the conflict before entering into that civil war. The American Elite’s strategic military approach became one of changing plans in mid-stream which eventually resulted in a tactical stalemate.

This elitist control would continue until at least the 1960s. The group dominated American society and culture and dominated in the leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties. They were very well placed in major financial, business, legal, and academic institutions and had close to a monopoly of elite society due to intermarriage and nepotism.

During the latter half of the 20th-Century C.E., others of different ethnic and racial groups would grow in influence and WASP dominance would begin to weaken. These Elites of the WASP American families would remain as "the Establishment,” however, their historical dominance and control over the financial, cultural, academic, and legal institutions of the U.S. would gradually decline.

As opposed to the Elite, the average American who had little power or control in the U.S., simply fought and died in Korea for ideals. The ideals of "Freedom” and the “American Dream” are the national ethos of the U.S. It’s a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity, success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children. At its base is that belief that it is achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. About these good souls, I agree with Sargent Shriver’s comments. “The only genuine elite are the elite of those men and women who gave their lives to justice and charity.”

II. Hispanic American Patriotism and the Korean War

Hispanics have fought in every American war since the Revolutionary War. Many Hispanic Americans would again come forward during the Korean War. They would give their all despite the racial and ethnic prejudice existing in the nation which negatively impacted them.

Hispanics and other minority groups did not suffer from naïveté. They understood that the Native Americans had been placed on reservations and that African Americans were relegated to the edge society. Hispanics had seen Asian Americans deported or placed in detention camps, or allowed work as gardeners and cooks. The Hispanics also had been isolated into their barrios where they forgot their historical and cultural roots. In short, to be an American, meant to be perfectly American and Hispanics were clearly not. During that time, under the best of circumstances every non-White racial and ethnic group was tolerated. American society created a place for each group which was not necessarily equal.

Now I return to the proposition that when and where practicable, as Américanos, these Hispanics were free to live as they wanted. Their innate belief in America, its sense of “freedom” and the “American Dream” is what drove them to readily participate in the many American wars. Their adherence to those ideals led the de Riberas to service America in Korea. This they did despite America’s glaring faults.

Unfortunately after World War II ended, the regular U.S. military had been considerably downsized. General MacArthur's request for more troops was approved, but in order to meet his needs quota, it became necessary to activate thousands of National Guardsmen from all across the U.S. From then on, our nation's National Guard played an important role in the Korean War.

According to the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia, when war be out in Korea about one third (138,600 men) of the Army Guard's total strength was mobilized. Forty-three units, including two infantry divisions, actually served in Korea. Other guard units were deployed to stateside and worldwide locations close to and far away from Korea.

There was more than National Guard manpower needed. Some 67 percent of the Army National Guard's equipment was also mobilized for war. The Army National Guard and the Air National Guard gave up motor vehicles, tanks, and other ground weapons, and light aircraft. This included 156 M-26 tanks and some 592 M-4 medium tanks. The Air National Guard provided its F-84 and F-74 jet fighter aircraft, spare parts for these aircraft including the F-51 aircraft, life vests, and life rafts for the active forces.

Elements of the Air National Guard would also be deployed. By the fall of 1950 C.E., about one sixth of the Air National Guard would be activated. During 1951 C.E., 22 of the 27 Air National Guard wings, with supporting units, would be called up. These Guardsmen left post-World War II civilian jobs, new brides, young children, college studies, and many hopes and dreams when their units were activated for the war.

In the American Southwest, the War Department had earlier directed the reorganization of the New Mexico Guard in March 1947 C.E. This order gave the State five separate Anti-Aircraft Battalions, one Operations Detachment, two Signal Radar Units, one Engineer Searchlight Maintenance Unit, and three Ordnance Companies.

The Korean War caused activation into Federal service of the 716th AAA Gun Battalion along with the 726th and 394th Signal Radar Maintenance Unit. The 188th was also activated during the conflict. New Mexico units furnished individual members, many Hispanos, as replacements to units engaged in active combat.

One group of American Hispanics that heard the nation’s call and reported for duty was the Puertorriqueños. Puerto Rico’s 65th Infantry in an exercise involving the 65th in February 1950 C.E. changed the minds of many Army leaders about the 65th's usefulness. The 65th held off the entire 3rd Infantry Division in a successful defense. Pentagon planners took note. With the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 C.E., the 65th was ordered to Korea and assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. Brigadier-General Juan Codero, Puerto Rico's Adjutant General commanded the 296th Infantry when it was mobilized in 1950 C.E. and was one of the commanders of the 65th in Korea, making him, perhaps, the only Guard member to command a regular regiment in Korea.

While the 65th was on its way, its sister Puerto Rico Guard unit, the 296th Infantry, was mobilized. Like many Guard units, the 296th was tasked to provide replacements. Brigadier-General Juan Codero commanded the 296th Infantry when it was mobilized in 1950 C.E. and was one of the commanders of the 65th in Korea, making him, perhaps, the only Guard member to command a regular regiment in Korea.

The 65th Infantry had always lived up to its motto of "Honor and Fidelity."  It would fight in some of the toughest battles of the Korean War. The Unit would earn two U.S. Presidential Unit Citations, two Republic of Korea (ROK) Presidential Unit Citations, two U.S. Meritorious Unit Commendations, and the Greek Gold Medal of Bravery. Four of its soldiers would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor.

Shortly after the 65th arrived in ROK, its commander, Colonel William Harris, was approached by Eight Army commander Lieutenant-General Walton Walker. The general asked, "Will the Puertorriqueños fight?" "I and my Puertorriqueños will fight anybody," replied Harris proudly. Walker then pointed to a waiting northbound train and ordered, "Get on, and then go that way." For the next three years the men of the 65th would fight their way up and down the Korean Peninsula.

Any doubts about their fighting ability would be quickly dispelled. The regiment would earn a distinguished combat record. Fighting in some of the toughest battles of the Korean War, the 65th would earn two U.S. Presidential Unit Citations, two Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations, two U.S. Meritorious Unit Commendations, and the Greek Gold Medal of Bravery. Four of its soldiers would be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for valor.

Colonel Harry Micheli, later the senior Army instructor at the Antilles Military Academy in Puerto Rico, reported to the 65th as a new second lieutenant in the fall of 1951 C.E. He stated, "I remember that the 65th was reorganizing after a year of heavy combat. Many of the old-time regulars had left as casualties. They were replaced by Puerto Rico Guardsmen, non-Hispanic Guardsmen from various states, and The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) replacements from ROK. We trained until we were a cohesive unit," he added, "and then we reentered combat."

III. A prelude to the Korean War - U.S. Political Events 1940-1950 C.E.:

A. The World of WWII

I provide the following so that the reader might have a better understanding of America and the world at large prior to the Korean War. I start after the Europeans had begun WWII and continue until the start of the Korean War. The world during this period was an ugly, vicious, and cruel place. All nations involved suffered. Why?  WWII started because the great European powers had unnecessarily forgotten the lessons of WWI. Just four years before the Europeans repeated the errors of WWI in 1939 C.E, Winston Churchill gave a speech attempting to remind his audience of past mistakes which led to War earlier.

In a 1935 C.E. House of Commons speech after the Stresa Conference, Churchill suggested that failure to act quickly in considering the future, not necessarily a failure to adequately ruminate upon the past, will result in history repeating itself. Churchill said, "Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong — these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.” WWII was a result of that repetition of history.

By 1940 C.E., with Europe at war, everything had changed. European countries were desperate for goods to use in the war effort. They spent millions of dollars on American steel, ammunition, weapons, and food. Yet private businesses were slow to react to the demands of war. Many manufacturers continued to make consumer goods when military hardware was most needed. Shortages of raw materials also held up the recovery. Rather than issuing government orders or taking control of industries, the Roosevelt administration chose to guide private industry into producing what was required. It struck deals with private businesses to boost wartime production. This mixture of private money and federal incentives became the model for the American economy for the next thirty years. Yet that same year, the federal government estimated that more than half the families in the U.S. were below the poverty level.

Between 1940 C.E. and 1945 C.E., American industry would produce eighty-six thousand tanks, thirty thousand aircraft, and sixty-five hundred ships. U.S. Steel would make twenty-one million helmets for the army. Quality improved as well. Aircraft would fly farther and faster than ever. The General-Purpose vehicle, known in soldier slang as the GP, or Jeep, grew tougher. Advances were made during wartime that helped American industry reach its dominant postwar position. 

Though these wartime production levels had finally put an end to the Great Depression, in 1941 C.E., eight million Americans remained out of work. Another eight million made less than the legal minimum wage. Nearly 40% of America lived in poverty. The median salary was less than 2,000 dollars per year. Despite all government efforts to keep supplies steady, the war continued to create shortages. In order to make sure essential supplies were shared fairly, many items, including meat, sugar, butter, and canned goods were rationed. Every U.S. citizen was given a book of stamps. These stamps had to be handed over by the customer when he or she bought rationed goods. Many suppliers made extra money by illegally selling rationed goods to customers who did not have enough stamps, charging them extra. Gasoline was also rationed, but in a different way. Every vehicle was rated A to E, and carried a sticker in the window with a letter on it. Those rated "A" were private automobiles, and were entitled to very little gas. Emergency vehicles were rated "E," and could take as much as they needed. Others fell in between. Before long, there was a thriving black, or illegal, market in gasoline and other rationed goods.

The 1940s C.E. would also witness a new regime of Mexican expulsion or “Repatriation” from within the U.S. to Mexico. Between 1941 C.E. and 1950 C.E., U.S. federal authorities would deport more than 1.3 million Mexican nationals. Interestingly, this included the time of WWII and the begining of the Korean War. By the mid-1940s, continued annual arrests and expulsions of Mexicans illegally present in the U.S. exceeded 60,000 per year. Did Hispanics understand this was happening? The answer is, yes. Did they serve and fight in WWII anyway? Again, the answer is, yes!

By 1943 C.E., the American economy was more productive than it had ever been. Unfortunately, there were still shortages at home.

Outside of the U.S., in some Latino Américano countries the life of most inhabitants seemed little changed in 1945 C.E., at the end of World War II, from what it had been in 1910 C.E.

Latino Américano economies remained hindered by backwardness. In the Andean countries and Central América, urban dwellers were a decided minority even at the end of World War II, in 1945 C.E. Moreover, the usual pattern was that of a single primate city vastly overshadowing lesser urban centers. Paraguay was still overwhelmingly rural and isolated, as was Honduras, except for its coastal banana enclave. Even in Brasil, the sertão, or semiarid backcountry, was barely affected by changes in the coastal cities or in the fast-growing industrial complex of São Paulo. But in Latino América as a whole more people were becoming linked to the national and world economies, introduced to rudimentary public education, and exposed to emerging mass media.

At the Yalta Conference in February 1945 C.E., Soviet leader Joséph Stalin pledged that his nation would declare war on Japan exactly three months after Nazi Germany was defeated.

By that time, Korea had been a Japanese possession since the early-20th-Century C.E. During World War II, the Allies, the U.S., USSR, China, and Great Britain (GB), made a somewhat hazy agreement that Korea should become an independent country following the WWII. As the war progressed, U.S. officials began to press the USSR to enter the war against Japan.

The Korea of 1945 C.E. was still was a remote country known only to a small number of missionaries and adventurous businessmen. It held little importance in the official scheme of things. Though the U.S. had proposed the thirty-eighth parallel as a dividing line between the two occupation armies of the U.S. and the USSR, U.S. policymakers still were unsure of the strategic value of ROK. Formulating a U.S. policy for Korea was difficult due to the intensification of the confrontation between the U.S. and the USSR and the polarization of Korean politics between left and right. U.S. policy toward Korea became even more uncertain after the deadlock of the U.S.-USSR joint commission.

B. The End of WWII

In Europe, German cities would be in need of clean up and rebuilding. During the WWII, approximately 50 percent of Nazi Germany's infrastructure was destroyed. Dresden was one of the hardest hit cities. Eight square miles of Dresden, which had boasted some of the most beautiful baroque architecture in Europe, were destroyed when Allied bombers dropped more than 5,000 tons of high explosives and incendiary bombs on the city in February 1945.

WWII was declared final or at its end on victory in Europe Day on May 8, 1945 C.E. At this point the war in the Pacific had not yet ended.

The Potsdam Conference (July 17, 1945 C.E.,-August 2, 1945 C.E.,) was held near Berlin. It was the last of the WWII meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state. Featuring U.S. President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (and his successor, Clement Attlee) and Soviet Premier Joséph Stalin, the talks established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany. The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries, and war reparations. Although talks primarily centered on postwar Europe, the Big Three also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan. That unconditional surrender would bring further complication. Korea was to become such a complication. In the years before and during WWII, both the U.S. and USSR had worked to liberate the region from the Japanese.

Also at the Potsdam Conference it was agreed that USSR troops would occupy the northern portion of Korea, as Japan was then occupying the Korean Peninsula. The USSR was to invade the northern half of Korea and take it from under Japanese control as agreed during the Potsdam Conference. The American forces would liberate the southern half of Korea soon thereafter. This was to be done in order to secure the area and liberate it from Japanese control. The occupations were to be temporary, and Korea was to eventually decide its own political future. Also, a date was not set for the end of the U.S. and USSR occupations. Thus the upcoming conflict in Korea would have its beginnings in 1945 C.E. 

Early in August 1945 C.E., two young State Department aides, Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel, consulted a National Geographic map of Asia to determine the postwar dividing line between USSR and U.S. zones of control in Korea. Neither was an expert on the country. Failing to find any obvious natural barrier between the North and the South, they selected the 38th parallel. This new post-WWII border which would become the dividing line between U.S. and USSR control zones in Korea had been tentatively proposed after the Potsdam Conference. The division placed the capital city of Seoul in the American zone, just 35 miles south of the dividing line. On August 8, 1945 C.E., the USSR declared war on Japan. By August 9th, USSR forces invaded northern Korea. A few days later on August 14, 1945 C.E., the Empire of Japan surrendered.

The People's Republic of Korea (PRK), a short-lived Korean provisional government was organized on that same day of August 14, 1945 C.E. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile, based in Shanghai, China, and later in Chungking, during the Japanese Korean period of 1910 C.E. through 1945 C.E. On April 11, 1919 C.E., the provisional constitution was enacted, and the national sovereignty was called "Republic of Korea (KPG)" and the political system was called "Democratic Republic." It introduced the presidential system and established three separate systems of legislative, administrative and judicial separation. The KPG claimed that it inherited the territory of the former Korean Empire. It actively began supporting an independence movement under the Provisional Government. KPG received economic and military support from the Kuomintang of China, the USSR, and France.

The Provisional Government resisted Japanese colonial rule of Korea and coordinated the armed resistance against the Japanese Imperial Army during the 1920s C.E. and 1930s C.E. This struggle culminated in the formation of Korean Liberation Army in 1940 C.E., which brought together many if not all Korean resistance groups in exile. With the liberation of Korea from Japanese occupation at the end of World War II, the Korean Provisional Government came to an end.

After the Surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945 C.E., the Provisional Government of the KPG was dissolved. Its members then returned to Korea, where they began to put together their own political organizations in what came to be South Korea and competed for power. On August 15, 1948 C.E., Syngman Rhee a Korean a politician in the south, became the first president of the Provisional Government of the KPG. The Constitution of South Korea stated that the Korean people inherited the rule of the KPG.

C. Post WWII World

1.0  The USSR Enters the Korean Peninsula

On August 18, 1945 C.E., several USSR amphibious military landings were conducted ahead of the land campaign. The three landings took place in northern Korea. One landing was at South Sakhalin. A second landing took place in the Kuril Islands, in preparation for USSR 25th Army troops coming overland. The third landing was in South Sakhalin and the Kurils, located directly to the north of Japan and east of Sakhalin. The purpose was the establishment of USSR sovereignty. Next, the USSR military land advance was stopped a good distance short of the Yalu River. There the Korean Peninsula starts.

Over the next few years, the situation in Korea would steadily worsen. A civil war between communist and nationalist forces in southern Korea would result in thousands of people killed and wounded. With forces in Korea, the USSR was able to establish control in the Peninsula's northern area and immediately establish a headquartered at P’yŏngyang for a period. In accordance with arrangements made earlier with the American government to divide the Korean Peninsula, USSR forces stopped at the 38th parallel, leaving the Japanese still in control of the southern part of the Peninsula. They had agreed to temporarily to divide Korea at the 38th parallel of latitude north of the equator.

The USSR would continue in its steadfast refusal to consider any plans for the reunification of Korea. This policy division would eventually result in the formation of two countries. In the north, above the 38th parallel was communist Korea under the leadership of Kim Il-Sung supported by the Soviets. To the south was to be a democratic Korea headed by Syngman Rhee supported by the U.S. Like the American forces in the south, USSR troops remained in Korea after the end of the war to rebuild the country. The Soviets were also instrumental in the creation and early development of the NKPA and Korean People's Air Force (KPAF), as well as for stabilizing the early years of the Northern regime. 

Japan formally signed surrender documents on September 2, 1945 C.E., WWII was formally at an end. That same month, in North Korea the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was established. Korean leaders and exiles abroad, mainly in China, had earlier established self-governing bodies, or people's committees, and organized the Central People's Committee. These exiles had sustained a skeletal organization in other parts of China until 1945 C.E., awaiting their return to Korea. These proclaimed the establishment of the "Korean People's Republic" on September 6, 1945 C.E.

2.0  The U.S. Enters the Korean Peninsula

On September 7, 1945 C.E., U.S. General Douglas MacArthur announced that Lieutenant-General John R. Hodge was to administer South Korean affairs. Keeping to their part of the bargain, U.S. forces entered southern Korea under Lieutenant-General Hodge and landed in Inch’ŏn the following day of September 8, 1945 C.E., the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was established as the official ruling body of the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. With this in place, U.S. troops in Korea began their postwar occupation.

The Lieutenant-General, commander of the U.S. occupation forces in Korea would be obliged to work under a severe handicap. His mission was to maintain peace and order until the international conflict over Korea was resolved. His administration possessed very limited resources, yet Hodge was expected to pursue the "ultimate objective" of fostering conditions which would bring about the establishment of a free and independent nation. In addition, Lieutenant-General Hodge had to contend with hostile Korean political groups.

The months after Hodge’s arrival, he would witness a vast inflow of population. South Korea's population, estimated at just over 16 million in 1945 C.E., would grow by 21 percent during the following year.

The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, sent a delegation with three interpreters to General Hodge, but he refused to meet with them. The U.S. recognized neither the republic nor the provisional government headed by Syngman Rhee, its first president, and Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik, premier, and vice premier, respectively. The U.S. would not recognize any group as a government until an agreement was reached among the Western Allies. The exiles were appeased by the favorable treatment they received when they returned to South Korea, however, they were now incensed by the U.S. Military Government in Korea's order to disband. The U.S. Army military government that administered the American-occupied zone proceeded to disband the local people's committees and impose direct rule, assigning military personnel who lacked language skills and knowledge of Korea as governors at various levels.

On September 12, 1945 C.E., the People's Republic of Korea (PRK) was again proclaimed, as Korea was being divided into two occupation zones, with the USSR occupying the north, and the U.S. occupying the south. In the north, the Soviet authorities co-opted the committees into the structure of the emerging DPRK (North Korea). It was based on a network of people's committees and presented a program of radical social change.

Although the U.S. and USSR occupations were supposed to be temporary, the division of Korea quickly became permanent. At this juncture, each side was willing to make accommodations.

3.0 Ratification of the United Nations

In the world at large, the United Nations (UN) Charter was ratified by its five permanent members the U.S., GB, France, China (the non-Communist Republic of China), and the USSR on October 24, 1945 C.E. It was to become the international stage for resolving disputes peacefully.

The Korean Communist Party was resuscitated in October 1945 C.E. with the help of the Comintern. It had been a major force behind the Central People's Committee and the "Korean People's Republic." It quickly built a substantial following among the workers, farmers, and students.

On November 13, 1945 C.E., the Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle was named president of France's Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944 C.E.-1946 C.E.). With WWII over, France was ready to rebuild.

On November 20, 1945 C.E., the Nuremberg Trials opened. For the next 10 months, a tribunal comprised of Allied jurists would pass judgment on scores of Nazi war criminals.

4.0 The Moscow Conference and the Division of Korea

The decision for the final division of Korea would be made at the Moscow Conference in December of 1945 C.E., between the U.S., the USSR, GB, and the Republic of China. At that time, the Republic of China was a sovereign state in East Asia founded in 1912 C.E., after the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty, was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. It occupied part of territories within modern China, Mongolia, and Taiwan.

These parties would have Korea ruled over by a trusteeship for five years starting in 1946 C.E. The eventual goal was to be an entirely independent Korea.

The Americans selected the 38th Parallel for the dividing of Korea when the onslaught of the USSR offensives in Asia threatened to turn the whole peninsula of Korea into a Communist state. It was believed that the USSR would attempt to take the entire Korea Peninsula forcing the U.S. to leverage the fact that it had fought for most in the Pacific and therefore deserved rights to the entirety of Korea. This was the same argument the Soviets used with Eastern Europe. The Soviets accepted this remedy. Why were the Soviets so accepting of half of Korea rather than its entirety? It allowed the Soviets to have a Communist partner in Asia. It should be remembered that the Soviets to have even half a Communist country in Asia, was better than having nothing at all. At that time, the Soviets were still awaiting the outcome of the Chinese Civil War and Vietnam remained a French colony. The USSR would later try to gain the entirety of Korea through its backing of Kim il-Sung and the Korean War.

In international affairs, the U.S. government committed to a multibillion-dollar loan to prop up the British economy on December 6, 1945 C.E. U.S. President Truman ended the wartime Lend Lease arrangements abruptly in August 1945 C.E. Suddenly, GB found it did not have enough dollars to make expected payment for undelivered supplies, bankruptcy loomed. As GB emergency measure, the government sold gold and minerals, this GB could not do for long. GB attempted negotiations on the matter expecting a gift in recognition of the country's contribution to the war effort. Despite three months of hard wrangling, the Anglo American Agreement produced a business loan instead of a subsidy, with additional conditions in America’s favor. In December 1945 C.E., the British Government succumbed, agreeing to not only a U.S. loan of $4.34 billion, then double the size of the then British economy, but also other onerous stipulations.

GB’s economy had been distorted by six years of total war. GB had given her all for the freedom of the world. Both blood and treasure had been expended in great amounts. During the war, the British economy had been heavily geared towards war production, at approximately 55 percent of her GDP. This was much greater than in the USSR or America. The wartime U.S. Lend Lease arrangements started in 1941 C.E. had helped GB through her wartime difficulties. GB was now in a precarious position. She was exporting only approximately a fifth of what it had before the war and non-military imports were five times higher than in 1938 C.E. 1.4 million people would remain in the armed forces by 1946 C.E.

Meanwhile in Korea’s south, the U.S. military government under Lieutenant-General John R. Hodge, administrator of Korean affairs, refused to recognize the newly formed People's Republic of Korea (PRK) and its People's Committees, and outlawed it on December 12, 1945.

By December 17, 1945 C.E., at the Moscow Conference, the Allies agreed that the U.S., the USSR, the Republic of China, and GB would take part in a trusteeship over Korea. It was to be for up to five years in the lead-up to independence. The Council of Foreign Ministers agreed on Korea having a provisional government, or temporary government, set up quickly before a real government was ready. This would become difficult to do because of the growing Cold War. Though the U.S. officials were pessimistic about resolving their differences with the USSR, they remained committed to the December 1945 C.E. decision of the Allied foreign ministers (made during their Moscow meeting) that a trusteeship under four powers, including China, should be established with a view toward Korea's eventual independence. Thus, U.S. officials were slow to draw up long-range alternative plans for South Korea.

Moreover, as the USSR consolidated its power in North Korea and the Nationalist Party (Guomindang or Kuomintang--KMT) government of Chiang Kai-shek began to falter in China, Theses and other issues caused U.S. strategists to begin to question the long-run defensibility of South Korea.

When the decision to establish a five-year trusteeship in Korea was announced, it exacerbated an already difficult situation. To the Koreans, many who had anticipated immediate independence were humiliated. The initially warm Korean welcome to U.S. troops as liberators cooled. Many Koreans began demanding their independence immediately. The Korean Communist Party, which was closely aligned with the USSR Communist party, supported the trusteeship. Why? They believed that they could later take by force what they wanted.

In the U.S. after 1945 C.E., America’s major corporations began growing larger. With the pressure of growth, corporate America was desperate to separate Americans from the $140 billion they had saved in times of shortage and rationing. Keeping that spending under control would be one of the biggest challenges faced by U.S. President Truman in the late-1940s C.E.

The automobile industry was robust. The number of automobiles produced annually would quadruple between 1946 C.E. and 1955 C.E. At the same time, a housing boom was being stimulated in part by easily affordable mortgages for returning servicemen. This also would fuel the expansion. The rise in defense spending as the Cold War escalated would play a part in economic growth.

Workers found their own lives changing as industrial America changed. Fewer workers produced goods; more provided services. Within the U.S., economic growth was being driven by different sources. By 1946 C.E., unemployment was low, wages were at record levels, and the economy was booming. Labor shortages caused by the war meant that many women and teenagers had entered the labor market. Soon, the returning soldiers would threaten to push unemployment back up after the war. To mitigate this, U.S. President Truman, Roosevelt's successor, used the GI Bill to put the soldiers through college instead. This eased the pressure on the economy and produced a better-educated workforce.

Also in 1946 C.E., the U.S. government closed the internment camps in which some 120,000 ethnic Japanese in the American West had been incarcerated since 1942 C.E. This issue continues to haunt the U.S. even unto our day.

In Europe, after end of WWII, in 1946 C.E., the eight square miles of Dresden ruins would be cleared and replaced by modern structures. The Dresden Frauenkirche, a Lutheran church, was an exception, as its decaying ruins were left untouched. After the reunification of Germany, the church was restored for $175 million.

Homeless German children bartered and begged. Young children sold or bartered whatever they could to survive on the streets of Berlin. A black market developed in Berlin, with cigarettes, liquor, and chocolate as three of the commodities most sought by Berliners from occupation troops. For many months after the war, German children would roam the streets scavenging or beg for food.

Regarding Asia, by early 1946 C.E. the USAMGIK responsible for the governance of the south had come to rely heavily on the advice and counsel of ideologically conservative elements within Korea. These included landlords and other propertied persons.

A Joint USSR-U.S. Commission met in 1946 C.E. and later in 1947 C.E. to work towards a unified Korea administration. Unsurprisingly, it failed to make progress. This was due to increasing Cold War antagonism and to Korean opposition to the trusteeship. Meanwhile, the division between the two zones was deepening as the difference in policy between the occupying powers led to a polarization of politics. It was also to be the genesis of the future transfer of population between North and South.

By 1947 C.E., these divisions in Korea were causing social unrest. Only approximately half the Korean labor force of 10 million was gainfully employed. Labor strikes and work stoppages were occurring. Demonstrations orchestrated by the communists against USAMGIK's policies drew large crowds. Temporary stoppages of electricity--supplied from the northern areas--in the early part of 1946 C.E. and later in late-1947 C.E., plunged the southern region of Korea into darkness on both occasions. Also the economic situation was at this point nearly as difficult in the north as it was in the south. During Japanese occupation of the peninsula they had concentrated agriculture in the south and heavy industry in the north. A complete transition of the existing infrastructure was needed. There was a deepening despair affecting the Korean people and they were becoming disillusioned and disconcerted. Koreans began to pay close attention to political leaders of various persuasions who offered new ways of solving the Korean problem.

In Japan, on January 1, 1946 C.E., Emperor Hirohito addressed his subjects and stated that he was not, contrary to popular belief, a divine being. This proposition was unfathomable for most Japanese to accept. 

The Korean Communist Party had been taking various stances on the idea of trusteeship. It once again changed its stance on trusteeship and came out in support of it on January 3, 1946 C.E. The Party remained under the control of the USSR command in P’yŏngyang. Should it be necessary for the Party to come into disagreement later, it could be used to come into direct confrontation with the U.S. military government.

On the world stage, on January 17, 1946 C.E., the UN Security Council (UNSC) convened in London to agree on procedural rules for the international body. A week later, on January 24, 1946 C.E., the International Atomic Energy Commission was established to help regulate emerging nuclear weapons technology.

In North Korea, in February 1946 C.E., a provisional government called the Provisional People's Committee was formed under Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (April 15, 1912-July 8, 1994). He had spent the last years of WWII training with Soviet troops in Manchuria. Conflicts and power struggles would later ensue at the top levels of government in P’yŏngyang as different political aspirants maneuvered to gain positions of power in the new government.

By March 1946 C.E., the Provisional People's Committee instituted a sweeping land-reform program. Lands belonging to Japanese and collaborator landowners was divided and redistributed to poor farmers. The Communists next organized the many poor civilians and agricultural laborers under the People's Committees. Soon, a nationwide mass campaign began to control the old landed classes. Landlords were allowed to keep only the same amount of land as poor civilians who had once rented their land, thereby making for a far more equal distribution of land. As a result, former village leaders were eliminated as a political force without resort to bloodshed, precluding their return to power. The new landowning farmers responded positively. This North Korean land reform was achieved with little violence. Also, northern Korean key industries were nationalized.  

Many of the Japanese, collaborators, and former landowners in the north fled to the south. The U.S. military government estimated that 400,000 northern Koreans moved to the south as refugees. There some of them obtained positions in the new South Korean government.

In another part of Asia, on March 2, 1946 C.E., the Communist revolutionary nationalist leader Hồ Chí Minh (May 19, 1890 C.E.-September 2, 1969 C.E.) became the Chairman and First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam. Earlier, following the August Revolution (1945 C.E.) organized by the Việt Minh, Hồ Chí Minh had become Chairman of the Provisional Government.

He was also President (1945 C.E.-1969 C.E.) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the foundation of the People's Army of Vietnam. 

The intensification of the confrontation between the U.S. and the USSR had only continued to worsen. The Capitalist Western Bloc (the U.S, its allies, and others) now understood the challenge being presented by the Communist Eastern Bloc (the USSR, its satellite states, and the communists in China). On March 5, 1946 C.E., former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his seminal "Iron Curtain" speech at Missouri's Westminster College. It is considered one of the most famous orations of the Cold War period. Churchill condemned the USSR’s policies in Europe and declared, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” This Churchill speech is considered one of the opening volleys announcing the beginning of the Cold War.

Frustrated by Japan's lack of progress with creating a new constitution, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur assigned the role to members of his own staff. The result was a constitution based more on British parliamentary rule than on the U.S. model. The document limited the “human” Emperor of Japan to a symbolic role. It also gave women the right to vote. Women reacted enthusiastically. In April 1946 C.E., for the first time in their nation's history millions of Japanese women voted in the election that gave Japan its first modern prime minister, Yoshida Shigeru. Japanese women vote in Japanese election. When Japan’s women cast their votes, it was perhaps the most visible sign of Japan's postwar political transformation to the modern age.

On April 28, 1946 C.E., the Allied International Military Tribunal for the Far East indicted Japanese war minister Tojo Hideki as a war criminal. It charged him with 55 counts. He would later be sentenced to death in November 1948 C.E.

In May 1946, it was made illegal to cross Korea’s 38th parallel without a permit. Both sides were consolidating control of their borders. Also, in May of 1946 C.E. and later, in April 1947 C.E., the U.S. supported the returned Korean exiles and the conservative elements. To facilitate this, the U.S. military government tried to mobilize support behind a coalition between the moderate left represented by Yo Un-hyong, who had been the figurehead of the Central People's Committee, and the moderate right, represented by Kim Kyu-sik, vice premier of the exiled government.

During the movement to unify Korea’s political left and the political right, Lyuh Woon-hyung represented the center-left. Specifically, he occupied a position on the center between the left and the right. Lyuh’s political stance was attacked by both the extreme right and the extreme left. This made his efforts to pursue a centrist position increasingly untenable by the political realities of the time. As for Kim Kyu-sik of the right-wing group, this leader had been the clear choice of the U.S. military government. He, however, could not be dissuaded from his fruitless trip to P’yŏngyang in the north, leaving in place a political standoff. These attempts only intensified the existing splits within the left-wing and right-wing camps. It produced no positive results.

During that month, there were many other problems facing the U.S. South Korean left-wing and right-wing groups frequently engaged in violent clashes and not only on ideological grounds, but also because of their opposing views about the trusteeship decision. The moderates took the position that Koreans should oppose the trusteeship. This was unacceptable to the other parties. Communist leaders were driven underground in May 1946 C.E. after the discovery of a currency counterfeiting operation run by the Party.

By June 1946 C.E., the ardent anti-communist Syngman Rhee wanted the immediate independence of Korea, even at the price of indefinite division. He campaigned actively for this within Korea and the U.S.

In the U.S. of the postwar years, the consumer age had begun. Americans were buying huge numbers of cars, refrigerators, televisions, and other household appliances. Price controls imposed by the Office of Price Administration (OPA) ended on July 1, 1946 C.E. Almost immediately, prices increased. This time, American industry was ready to respond. It increased production of consumer goods forcing prices back down.

Also on July 1, 1946 C.E., on the military front the U.S. detonated a plutonium bomb "Able," off Bikini Atoll. It was a part of Operation Crossroads, an effort to learn more about the power of the atomic bomb. The U.S. postwar nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll were designed to examine the effects of atomic bombs on naval vessels. Bikini's 167 inhabitants had been forcibly relocated in early-1946 C.E., and 71 surplus and captured ships were anchored in the lagoon to serve as targets. Other targets included planes and 5,400 rats, goats, and pigs.

In Europe, a little after a years of the War’s end, on July 4, 1946 C.E., a false kidnapping allegation fueled an anti-Semitic pogrom in Kielce, Poland, claimed the lives of some 40 Jews. It is only fitting that their fellow travelers, forty-three members of the Waffen-SS, were sentenced to death on July 16, 1946 C.E. for the December 1944 C.E. Malmedy Massacre of American prisoners-of-war (POWs) during the Battle of the Bulge. They would eventually be released.

In Korea, on July 19, 1947 C.E., Lyuh Woon-hyung who represented Korea’s political center-left, specifically, a position on the center between the left and the right, was assassinated in Seoul by a 19-year-old man named Han Chigeun. The 19-year-old was a recent refugee from North Korea and an active member of a nationalist right-wing group. There is no question in my mind that the Communists orchestrated that foul act.

On July 25, 1946 C.E., a second U.S. nuclear detonation, code-named "Baker," took place. The two separate atomic blasts sank ships and left others heavily contaminated with radiation. Whatever the scientific gains, the highly public tests only exacerbated deteriorating relations between the U.S. and the USSR.

In September 1946 C.E., thousands of Korean laborers and peasants rose up against the USAMGIK, but the uprising was quickly quelled. Much to the communists’ chagrin it failed to prevent scheduled October elections for the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly. Also that month, the ardent anti-communist Syngman Rhee, and first president of the Provisional Government became the most prominent politician in the South. He would later work as a pro-Korean lobbyist in the U.S. pressuring the American government to abandon negotiations for a trusteeship and create an independent Republic of Korea in the south. 

The communists in South Korea participated in another serious riot in October 1946 C.E. Soon, most of their leaders left for the north. Again, their attempt to stop the October elections for the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly failed.

In Europe, on October 1, 1946 C.E., high-ranking Nazi officials, including Hermann Göring, Hans Frank, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart, were sentenced to hang by the Allied court at Nuremberg. The Nazis were being given their well earned rewards for the holocaust.

Only Göring would escape his fate by the taking of his own life shortly before his scheduled execution.

November 3, 1946 C.E., a new Japanese constitution, one that resolves that the nation will never again "be visited with the horrors of war through the action of government," was proclaimed by Emperor Hirohito. He was the very person responsible for that horrible war in the Pacific and in Asia.

In December 1946 C.E., the USAMGIK established the South Korean Interim Legislative Assembly. It was to formulate draft laws which would be used as the basis for political, economic, and social reforms. South Korea's substantial problems, however, required solutions at a much higher level. Earlier during the Korean-Japanese Period, Japan had developed Korea's economy as an integral part of their empire, linking Korea to Japan and Manchuria. Even if the U.S. Military occupation forces had arrived with a carefully developed economic plan, the situation would have still been difficult. The division of the two Koreas into two zones at an arbitrary line further aggravated the situation. These and many other inherent problems in the building of a self-sufficient economy in the southern half of the peninsula imposed a great burden.

Most of the heavy industrial facilities were located in northern Korea, in the USSR zone. These included the chemical plants that produced necessary agricultural fertilizers. Southern Korea’s light industries were dependent on electricity from the hydraulic generators located on the Yalu River on the Korean-Manchurian border. Electric generating facilities in the south supplied only 9 percent of the total need. Railroads and industries in the south also had been dependent upon bituminous coal imported from Manchuria, Japan, and the north.

These problems were aggravated by the fact that most of Korea's mines and industries had been owned and operated by Japan. In the months following the start of the American occupation, the U.S. military government allowed 700,000 Japanese to depart from South Korea. This left almost all of the mines and factories without managers, technicians, and capital resources. This situation was now causing severe problems of unemployment and material shortages.

The conservative Korean Democratic Party, supported by landlords and small-business owners, opposed the assembly because their principal leaders were excluded from it. Although many of the assembly's forty-five elected members were conservatives, most of the forty-five appointed members were moderates nominated by Kim Kyu-sik, who had emerged as Hodge's choice for political leadership. Unfortunately, Kim lacked dynamism and broad support among the masses. These circumstances threw South Korea's economy into complete chaos. The left-wing political groups being consolidated and trained by the South Korean Workers' Party a communist party in South Korea (1946 C.E. to 1949 C.E.), simply ignored the assembly.

On December 31, 1946 C.E., U.S. President Truman issued a presidential proclamation declaring an official end to WWII. With that war behind them, the Allies faced great almost insurmountable economic problems. The European partner economies were in a shattered state and their ability to help themselves out of this crisis was negligible. It was now up to the U.S.!

The year 1947 C.E., has commonly been established as the beginning of the Cold War. It is believed that it began with the announcement of the Truman Doctrine, a U.S. foreign policy pledging to aid nations threatened by USSR expansionism. The capitalist Western Bloc had little choice but to act. The Communist Comintern was active everywhere.

During President Truman’s administration, the U.S. embarked upon economic reforms in occupied territories to promote a wide distribution of ownership of the means of production. It believed that economic equity would fend off revolutionary sentiment and undergird democracy. The U.S. conducted these programs in Korea to stop the expansion of revolutionary appeals and laying groundwork for democracy to thrive. Plans for U.S.-sponsored land reform policies in South Korea should be understood in the context of the 1947C.E.-1948 C.E. period of Cold War which brought a needed clampdown on burgeoning left-wing revolutionary radicalism.

The U.S. Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) and South Korean authorities began carrying out a land reform. Its intent was to retain the institution of private property. They confiscated and redistributed all land held by the Japanese colonial government, Japanese companies, and individual Japanese colonists. The Korean government also carried out a reform whereby Koreans with large landholdings were obliged to divest most of their land. Under the economic program of land reform land was sold cheaply to tenants, who represented nearly half of all farmers. This program fostered economic growth. SCAP tried to break up the large corporations, but fewer than 30 of the originally targeted 1,200 were dissolved. Anti-monopoly and fair trading laws were passed to promote industrial change. Some labor reform was enacted, such as independent labor unions.

Due to the Cold War’s political competition, on February 17, 1947 C.E., The U.S. launched its “Voice of America,” a pro-West radio station, to broadcast to the USSR and Eastern Europe. This was to keep the politically and physically controlled peoples informed. The Voice of America was then an arm of the U.S. State Department. Much of the first program offered brief summaries of current events, a discussion of how the U.S. federal budget and political system worked.

Even with the pressures of the Cold War, the disbanding of the WWII Empire of Japan had to be addressed. It involved the demilitarization, dismantling armaments industries, and the demobilizing the armed forces. It also placed great importance upon purging 200,000 wartime government officials. As a part of this massive military restructuring, 25 war leaders were being brought to trial for war crimes. In addition, it was essential for the democratization of Japan that a new constitution, effective from May 1947 C.E., be implemented. The constitution renounced war and armed forces. During this time the emperor lost his divine status and Universal suffrage was enacted. Social legislation benefited women, as the civil code announced equality between the sexes and equal inheritance rights. Coeducation became the norm, and education was democratized and generally improved at all levels.

In Europe, on June 14, 1947 C.E., the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum was opened for its first permanent exhibition on the seventh anniversary of the arrival of the Nazi camp's first prisoners.

In Korea, the moderate left-wing camp was in disarray after their leader, Lyuh Woon-hyung, was assassinated on July 19, 1947 C.E. Woon-hyung was one of the Korean politicians who argued that Korean independence was essential to world peace. He had also been advocating for the independent reunification of Korea since its national division in 1945 C.E. Clearly the USSR and Korean Communists had been unhappy with his efforts.

In July 1947 C.E., in an article printed in the journal Foreign Affairs, senior U.S. State Department official George Kennan (under the alias "X") expressed his theory for containing USSR expansion. This policy of “containment” would become the basis of the Truman Administration's foreign policy. The blueprint for U.S. policy for the Cold War was now in place.

On the world front, in an effort to stem the tide of Jewish nationalism in GB's Palestinian mandate, on July 18, 1947 C.E., the British navy sent the ship President Warfield and its 4,500 Jewish refugee passengers back to Germany. That same month in India, the fight for independence from GB continued. Indian statesmen and National Congress Party leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Gandhi viewed WWII as an opportunity to shed the yoke of British colonialism and establish an independent India.

Earlier in 1939 C.E., the British governor-general used his own authority to bring India into the war. At the time, Indian leaders pushed for self-government in exchange for cooperation. By 1942 C.E., the British Cripps Mission instituted an interim government and promised full independence after the end of WWII. More than two million Indians eventually served on the Allied side during the war, and 24,000 were killed. When the war ended in 1945 C.E., Indians pressed for the independence that was promised. On August 15, 1947, power was finally transferred and India was declared a free nation.

At the final meeting of the Joint Commission in September 1947 C.E., USSR delegate Terentii Shtykov proposed that both USSR and U.S. troops withdraw and allow the Korean people an opportunity to form their own government. This was rejected by the U.S. and was a clear failure by the Joint Commission to make progress on Korea. The U.S. next submitted the Korean problem before the UN that month. Additionally, in an atmosphere of scarcities of food and other commodities and runaway inflation in Korea the U.S. was forced to scuttle its earlier plan to provide $500 million over five years for South Korean development.

In November 1947 C.E., the UN General Assembly recognized Korea's claim to independence. It also began making preparations for the establishment of a government and the withdrawal of occupation forces. The USSR was opposed any such UN involvement in Korea. At that time, with the U.S. having more influence over the UN than the USSR, the UN passed a resolution on November 14, 1947 C.E., declaring that free elections should be held and foreign troops should be withdrawn. It also established that a UN commission for Korea, the UN Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK), should be created. The USSR boycotted the voting and did not consider the resolution to be binding, arguing that the UN could not guarantee fair elections. In the absence of USSR cooperation, it was decided to hold UN-supervised elections in the south only. 

UN efforts were being made across the globe. For the Middle East the body had a partition plan for Palestine. UN Resolution 181 was passed and approved by the General Assembly on November 29, 1947 C.E. The Arab states would later invade the new Jewish state on May 15, 1948 C.E.

In 1948 C.E., the rebuilding of post-WWII Europe was an important issue. U.S. President Truman signed into law legislation for the Marshall Plan. Quite simply, a weak Europe meant a strong and dangerous USSR.  That same year, the USSR implemented the Berlin blockade. The action underscored the problems arising from the Cold War. It was now clear to all that the Cold War geopolitical tensions between powers of the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc were growing. These tensions would eventually split the temporary WWII alliance which had been created to war against Nazi Germany. After WWII, the USSR and the U.S. were the only superpowers. Unfortunately, they had profound economic and political differences. It dramatically emphasized the need for the democracies to remain strong.

In Korea, after more than a millennium of being unified was now officially split into two halves along the 38th parallel with separate governments. This north and south division was seen as controversial and temporary by both regimes. From 1948 C.E. until the start of the civil war on June 25, 1950 C.E., the armed forces of each side would engage in a series of bloody conflicts along the border. North Korea would soon be led into war by Kim Il-Sung, who ruled over the country as a communist dictator. South Korea would be forced to fight for its existence as an independence democracy with President Syngman Rhee, an anti-communist statesman, at its head.

The U.S. again offered to hold Korean national elections in 1948 C.E. The USSR refused the offer. Despite this, UN-supervised elections were held that year in the U.S. occupied south. Syngman Rhee won the election and his government received a popular mandate. This led to the establishment of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in South Korea.

The USSR refused to recognize Rhee’s government and insisted that Kim Il-Sung in the north was the true leader of all Korea. The decision to proceed with separate elections was unpopular among many Koreans, who rightly saw it as a prelude to a permanent division of the country. General strikes in protest against the decision began in February 1948 C.E. This was promptly followed by the establishment of the DPRK in the North with Kim Il-sung appointed as its leader. The U.S. now supported the South and the USSR supported the North, with each government claiming sovereignty over the whole Korean peninsula. Having secured the establishment of a communist government in North Korea, Soviet troops soon withdrew.

In April, Jeju islanders rose up against the looming division of the country. ROKA troops were sent to quell the rebellion on the island which lies in the Korea Strait, south of South Jeolla Province. Tens of thousands of islanders were killed and by one estimate, 70% of the villages were burned by the ROKA troops. The uprising would flare up later with the outbreak of the Korean War.

Also in April 1948 C.E., a conference of Korean organizations from the north and the south met in P’yŏngyang the capital of the north. The right-wing southern politicians Kim Kooand Kim Kyu-sik attended the conference and boycotted the elections in the south, as did other politicians and parties. The conference called for a united government and the withdrawal of foreign troops. Syngman Rhee of the south and U.S. General Hodge denounced the conference. Kim Koo would be assassinated the following year.

On April 3, 1948 C.E., the U.S. Marshall Plan was signed into law by President Truman. It would ultimately provide more than $13 billion for the reconstruction of war-torn Europe. Why? With the Cold War growing colder, the U.S. and its allies of WWII wanted a strong Europe as a bulwark against USSR communist expansionism. The USSR would now need to formulate a response!

In May 1948 C.E., the UN’s UNTCOK arrived to supervise the election of a national assembly which was to be held. The USSR objected to the UN resolution and refused to admit the commission to the USSR-controlled zone in the north. It was becoming increasingly clear that two separate regimes would be established on the peninsula. The prospect of perpetuating the division of Korea catapulted some of the southern political leaders to action, significantly altering the political landscape there. The choice they faced was between immediate independence at the price of indefinite division, or postponement of independence until the deadlock between the U.S. and the USSR was resolved.

Rhee had been campaigning actively within Korea and the U.S. for the first alternative since June 1946 C.E. Other major figures in the right-wing camp, including Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik, decided to oppose the "separate elections" in the south, hoping to resolve the international impasse by holding talks with their northern counterparts.

Communists in the south also boycotted the May 1948 elections, and were discredited when P’yŏngyang the capital of North Korea cut off electricity, leaving the anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee a clear field though he lacked grass roots support apart from the Korean Democratic Party. By this time, the communists in the south had lost much of their political following, particularly after a serious riot in October 1946 C.E.; most of their leaders congregated in the north.

On May 10, 1948 C.E., Korea’s south held its general election. It took place despite widespread violence, intimidation, and a boycott by opponents of Syngman Rhee. Soon thereafter, the elected National Assembly adopted a constitution setting forth a presidential form of government and specifying a four-year term for the presidency. Syngman Rhee, whose supporters had won the elections, became head of the new assembly.

On May 14, 1948 C.E., GB's mandate to govern Palestine expired. Palestine is divided into the State of Israel and an Arab state. The Jewish National Council then proclaimed the independent State of Israel. The next day on May 15, 1948 C.E., Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian forces invade the one-day-old State of Israel. Israel resisted and soon went on the offensive.

This was yet one more manifestation of the Cold War. The official USSR ideological position on Zionism condemned the movement as bourgeois nationalism. Lenin had rejected Zionism as a reactionary movement, "bourgeois nationalism," "socially retrogressive," and a backward force that deprecates class divisions among Jews. Soviets believed that the main objective of the Zionist movement was to bring about a mass immigration of Jews from countries where they had been scattered among the general population into Israel. Under Stalin's rule limited emigration of Jews from the USSR into Israel was initially accepted. This was done in order to invest in what he hoped for would be a socialist Israel. Later, with the exodus of Jews from the USSR Jewish emigration to Israel was interpreted as a damaging due to the loss of Jewish intellectual capital negatively affecting the communist nation.

On June 25, 1948 C.E., U.S. President Truman signed the Displaced Persons Act which allowed more than 200,000 European refugees to settle in the U.S. Clearly it was a stop-gap measure to lessen the economic burden on European nations until the Marshall Plan could take effect. The USSR was unhappy with the U.S.’s decision to rebuild Europe. It much preferred a weak Europe to a strong one which was seen as more dangerous to it. Two days later, the Western Blok countries of the U.S., GB, and France were forced to respond to the USSR’s blockade of Berlin on June 27, 1948 C.E. They immediately implemented an airlift of supplies to the two million people in the city's western sector.

5.0 The ROK and the DPRK Proclaimed

The "ROK (South Korea)" was proclaimed and formally took over power from the USAMGIK with Syngman Rhee as the first president on August 15, 1948 C.E. Four days after the proclamation, Communist authorities completed the severing of north-south ties by shutting off power transmission to the south. Within less than a month, on September 9th, a communist regime, the DPRK, would be proclaimed under Premier Kim Il Sung as prime minister. He then claimed authority over the entire country. This he stated was by virtue of elections conducted in the north and the underground elections allegedly held in the south. The ROK would scarcely have time to get its political house in order before North Korea launched its attack on South Korea less than one year later.

After the election’s unrest had continued in the South. In October 1948 C.E., the Yeosu–Suncheon Rebellion took place in the southern part of the peninsula in Yeosu, Suncheon, and various surrounding towns in the South Jeolla province of South Korea. The rising anti-government sentiment towards the Syngman Rhee regime finally ignited into a rebellion.  Some ROKA regiments based in the Yeo-Sun area with left-leaning soldiers raised arms in opposition to the Rhee government's handling of the Jeju Uprising, which occurred just months earlier in April. About 2,000 soldiers rebelled against the government. This Communist-led revolt by some army regiments consumed much of the army's attention and resources.

Later in the aftermath of that revolt, a massive purge would weaken the South’s entire military establishment. Given South Korea's precarious future and continuing communist victories in China, the U.S. was no longer as eager to continue providing Korea with support.

After Truman's November 1948 C.E. election victory, Dean Gooderham Acheson (April 11, 1893 C.E.-October 12, 1971 C.E.) would become his secretary of state on January 21, 1949 C.E. He was an anti-Communist who believed in patience. Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer who had earlier helped to design the Marshall Plan and was a key player in the development of the Truman Doctrine. As U.S. Secretary of State in the administration of President Truman from 1949 C.E. to 1953 C.E., he would play a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO would be signed on April 4, 1949 C.E. Acheson's most famous decision would be convincing President Truman to intervene in the Korean War.

December 9, 1948 C.E., the UN General Assembly (UNGA) enacted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Three days later on December 12, 1948 C.E., the UNGA accepted the report of UNTCOK and declared the Republic of Korea to be the "only lawful government in Korea." None of the members of UNTCOK considered the election as having established a legitimate national parliament. For one, the Australian government, which had a representative on the commission declared that it was "far from satisfied" with the election.

After Nazi Germany's collapse earlier in 1945 C.E., it had transformed the face of Post-WWII Europe. As a result of Germany's fall, Europe's new boundaries were redrawn and Germany was partitioned into four zones of occupation. Millions became refugees as national boundaries were created. The Allied Zones merged into the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 C.E., while the USSR occupied zone became the German Democratic Republic. In the east, the USSR expanded its borders at the expense of a now defunct Nazi Germany, Finland, and Poland. They also annexed the Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. These new Communist states in the east as part of the Eastern Bloc would soon confront the western democracies. Communism in Europe was on the march.

In 1949 C.E., while the U.S. continued training and supplying South Korea’s military, Washington did not want the ROK making trouble by invading the North. To prevent such an invasion of the North it kept the ROKA's military capacity limited. It left Syngman Rhee's government with just enough military strength and resources to combat leftist communist guerrillas fighting his government in the South.

That same year of 1949 C.E., South Korea’s Syngman Rhee government established the Bodo League in order to keep an eye on its political opponents. The majority of the Bodo League's members were innocent farmers and civilians who were forced into membership. The registered members or their families would be executed later at the beginning of the Korean War. Having secured the establishment of a democratic government in South Korea, U.S. troops withdrew that same year. The USSR took notice as did the communists in China.

The trial of Axis Sally, a Nazi propagandist to American troops in Europe, began on January 25, 1949 in Washington, D.C. Born Mildred Elizabeth Sisk (November 29, 1900 C.E.-June 25, 1988 C.E.) in Portland, Maine, she took the surname Gillars in 1911 C.E. after her mother remarried. Mildred Elizabeth Gillars would be convicted of treason by the U.S. in 1949 C.E. following her capture in post-war Berlin. On March 10, 1949 C.E., a jury would convict Gillars on just one count of treason for making the Vision of Invasion broadcast. She was sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison and given a $10,000 fine. By 1950 C.E., a federal appeals court would uphold the sentence. Gillars served her sentence at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia. She would be become eligible for parole in 1959 C.E., but would not apply until 1961 C.E. She would later be released on June 10, 1961 C.E.

In 1918 C.E., Mildred Elizabeth Gillars enrolled at Ohio Wesleyan University to study dramatic arts, but left without graduating. In 1934 C.E., she moved to Dresden, Germany, to study music, and was later employed as a teacher of English at the Berlitz School of Languages in Berlin.

By 1940 C.E., she obtained work as an announcer with the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), German State Radio.

In 1941 C.E., the U.S. State Department was advising American nationals to return home. However, Gillars chose to remain because her fiancé, Paul Karlson, a naturalized German citizen. He had told her that he would never marry her if she returned to the U.S. Shortly afterwards, Karlson was sent to the Eastern Front, where he was killed in action.

Axis Sally’s became an American broadcaster employed by the Third Reich in Nazi Germany to disseminate propaganda during World War II. He career changed in 1942 C.E., when Max Otto Koischwitz, the program director in the USA Zone at the RRG, cast Gillars in a new show called Home Sweet Home. She soon acquired several names amongst her GI audience, including the Berlin Bitch, Berlin Babe, Olga, and Sally, but the one most common was "Axis Sally."

In Tokyo, Japan, General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific, wanted Washington to give more importance to developments in Asia. He saw communism as more of a threat in Asia than it was in Europe. In March, 1949 C.E., seven months before Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC), MacArthur had described the U.S. defense parameter in the Far East as starting in the Philippines, running through Okinawa and the other Ryukyu islands to Japan and then to the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. Unfortunately, MacArthur had left China and Korea on the Asian continent outside of the U.S. defense parameter in the Far East. The communists took notice and misread U.S. military defense policy and the intent of his statements regarding Korea. They believed that the U.S. might not defend Korea if invaded.

6.0 The New North Atlantic Treaty Organization

In 1949 C.E. talks soon began on a new intergovernmental military alliance which between North America’s U.S. and Canada, and several Western European nations. Earlier in 1948 C.E., the Treaty of Dunkirk, a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance, had been expanded to include the Benelux countries, in the form of the WU. The WU or the Brussels Treaty Organization (BTO) was a European military alliance established between France, GB and the three Benelux countries earlier in September 1948 C.E. in order to implement the Treaty of Brussels signed in March the same year. Earlier, on March 4, 1947 C.E., the Treaty of Dunkirk was signed by France and the United Kingdom as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of a possible attack by Germany or the USSR in the aftermath of World War II.

NATO became a reality with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949 C.E. by the member states of the Western Union (WU) and the U.S., Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The new NATO organization would constitute a system of collective defense whereby its independent member states agreed to a mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. It was to be a bulwark against communist aggression. NATO would eventually become a military alliance between 29 North American and European countries.

The Western Bloc Cold Warriors were now establishing a cohesive, coordinated military defense posture and an organization to carry it off.

By May 1949 C.E., the USSR now realized that their blockade of western Berlin had only strengthened the resolve of the other former WWII Allies and led directly to the formation and establishment of NATO. The Soviets then decided to lift it. Again, they had misread the stability and fortitude of the Western Bloc nations. The Cold War was now beyond a thaw.

Israel signed the third of three armistice agreements, with Syria, to end the 1948 War, on July 20, 1949 C.E. Agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, and Transjordan had been signed earlier in the year. Communist USSR had failed to bring down the new state of Israel.

Regarding Korea, the Russians had announced the pull out of their troops from North Korea back in late-1948 C.E. By now, the Truman administration was eager to pull its troops out of South Korea and give the ROK an image of greater independence. By June 29, 1949 C.E., the majority of U.S. military occupation forces were withdrawn and only an advisory group of about 500 military advisers left there. It must be remembered that the ROK had earlier been placed outside of the U.S. defense perimeter. What the USSR and the rising communists of China saw was a U.S. in retreat!

Soon, North Korea's communist leader, Kim Il-sung, journeyed to Moscow, USSR, to meet with its dictator Joséph Stalin. There, he requested aid so he could unite Korea by force. In response to Stalin’s blunt questions, Kim replied that he was confident that he could defeat the forces of South Korea. At that time, Stalin advised against it as he did not want to provoke the Western Bloc. He told Kim that it was important that the division between the North and the South at the 38th parallel remain peaceful.

B. The USSR has the Atomic Bomb

On August 29, 1949 C.E., the USSR detonated its first atomic bomb at its Kazakhstan test site. This changed everything. It came as a great shock to the U.S., as she did not expect the USSR to possess nuclear weapon knowledge that soon. This USSR atomic bomb explosion brought with it military parity, a game changer. Why? The USSR’s Communist Party dominated the economy, the military, the press, and many other organizations. Outside of Russia it controlled the other satellite states in the Eastern Bloc. At this time, the USSR was also funding communist parties around the world, sometimes in competition with communist China. It wanted and needed to be in possession of the atomic bomb which gave the USSR more military stature and parity with the U.S. It also sent the message that it was ready to compete with the U.S. on a more equal footing. The Cold War had just become even colder.

The U.S. Western Bloc stood in opposition to the USSR Eastern Bloc. These two blocs were also political and ideological opponents. The U.S. is a federal republic with a two-party presidential system. The First World nations of the Western Bloc were generally liberal democratic countries with a free press and independent organizations. These were economically and politically entwined with a network of republics and some authoritarian regimes throughout the Third World. Most of these Third World nations had previously been former colonies of Western Bloc members. There was also a Neutral Bloc of nations which came about which sought good relations with both Blocs known as the Non-Aligned Movement.

These two superpowers had never engaged directly in full-scale armed combat. For a time, only the U.S. had Nuclear weapons. Now with the Soviets having the bomb, the Western Bloc was more vulnerable. This was on the chessboard of military supremacy a “Checkmate.” In the geopolitical game between the U.S. led Western Bloc and the USSR led Eastern Bloc this new USSR game position placed the U.S.’s king (being the only holder of a nuclear weapon) in check. Simply put, once the USSR had this weapon there was no way to remove the threat without an all out war. Having checkmated the Americans the Soviets won this game.

C. China now a Communist Nation

October 1, 1949 C.E., China's Communist Party achieved a resounding victory over Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang regime. Support from the Allies had been enough to prop up Chiang Kai-shek in the face of eight years of Japanese aggression. Clearly, however, the Western Blok was not as fortunate. The Kuomintang Nationalist economy was now ravaged by inflation. It infrastructure had been devastated during WWII and the communist movement had regained new strength during that war. The two generations of civil war finally ended with a Kuomintang withdrawal to Taiwan, leaving the communists in control of the mainland. It was then that Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the PRC in Beijing. The communists had taken control in China. Now that China was a communist nation, U.S. President Harry Truman became concerned that other countries around the PRC might also become communist. The Cold War was now further intensified and the environment of political weather was decidedly not getting warmer. 

The PRC and the DPRK exchanging diplomatic recognition on October 6, 1949 C.E. was purposeful. It was a signal to the USSR and the U.S. that it had an interest in its Asian neighbor.

The ongoing aggression by the USSR during the Cold War would become an important cause of the Korean War. Relations between the two occupying powers, the U.S. and USSR, had become steadily worse. Now, five years after WWII, the American Army was about one twelfth of the size it had been. Joséph Stalin had recently lost a Cold War dispute over the Berlin Blockade and subsequent airlift and wanted revenge. With Mao Zedong’s victory in China, Stalin needed to immediately improve his standing in the communist world.

With the Communists having acquired power in China, in December 1949 C.E. the U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson stated that this new China situation was something that Americans would need to accept for at least a while. He also said that people should learn to live with evil and observed that it had been around since the fall of Adam and Eve. This gave little comfort to the member states of the Western Bloc.

On December 24, 1949, the ROKA massacred citizens or their family of Mungyeong suspected of being Communist sympathizers. They then affixed the blame to Communists.

By the end of the decade of the 1940s C.E., there were now two competing states on the Korean Peninsula separated by the border of the 38th parallel. In the south, the anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee enjoyed the support of the American government. In the north, the Communist dictator Kim Il Sung enjoyed the support of the Soviets. Unfortunately, neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the border. With border skirmishes having been common for some time, nearly 10,000 North and ROKA soldiers had been killed in battle before the upcoming Korean War had even begun.

In the 1950s C.E., another wave of America’s major corporations growing larger would occur. New conglomerates, firms with holdings in a variety of industries, would lead the way. Large corporations also developed holdings overseas, where labor costs were often lower.

Unlike the Eastern Bloc countries and the other Communists states, as the Cold War unfolded in the half decade after World War II, the U.S. experienced phenomenal economic growth. The war brought the return of prosperity, and in the postwar period the U.S. consolidated its position as the world's richest country. It’s Gross National Product, a measure of all goods and services produced in the U.S., jumped from about $200 thousand-million in 1940 C.E. to $300 thousand-million in 1950 C.E.

Also by 1950 C.E., the U.S. poverty rate was about 30 percent. About one-half of American seniors would remain in poverty in the early-1950s C.E.

In 1950 C.E., arrests of Mexicans living illegally in the U.S. reached 458,000 individuals. Here we must remember that just as had happened the period just before America’s entrance into WWII, Hispanic Americans were aware of this current intensely difficult issue of “Repatriation.” Once again, Hispanics were expected to accept injustices. This they did for love of country.

That year, the fear of Communist expansion had reached a fevered pitch. Many believed that sedition and treason were everywhere within the U.S. After all, Eastern Europe had fallen and so had China. Stoking these fears was the Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin Joséph McCarthy. He was gaining political power, and McCarthyism (1950 C.E.-1954 C.E.) had begun. McCarthyism would become the practice in the U.S. of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term refers to U.S. senator Joséph McCarthy and had its origins in the period in the U.S. known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late-1940s C.E. through the 1950s C.E. It was characterized by heightened political repression as well as a campaign spreading fear of Communist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents. It would later become known as the McCarthy era. Was it factual? The American left says no! Were there communist in the U.S. government? The answer was proven to be, yes!

In Latino América things had improved little economically. In Argentina, Brasil, and Cuba the number of immigrants had been significant up to the time of the Great Depression. In Cuba’s case, they arrived from the neighboring West Indies and, above all, from España. Population growth continued to be mainly from natural increase. It was still not explosive. While birth rates in most countries remained high, death rates had not yet been sharply reduced by advances in public health. But it was steady. The total Latino Américano population rose from roughly 60 million in 1900 C.E. to 155 million at mid-20th-Century C.E. The urban proportion had reached about 40 percent, though proportion differed among countries.

The U.S. was seen by Latino Américanos as their only possible hope for stability through commerce, trade, and their resulting jobs.

By 1950 C.E., South Korea’s economy was under stress. More than 1 million workers had returned to Korea from Japan, 120,000 from China and Manchuria, and 1.8 million from the North Korea to the south. The annual rate of increase of births over deaths continued at about 3.1 percent. At the time, rural areas were inhospitable to newcomers, as a result most of the refugees settled in urban areas. Seoul received upwards of one-third of the total. An already difficult situation was further aggravated by the scarcity of food and other commodities. There was also runaway inflation caused in part by the fact that the departing Japanese had flooded Korea with newly printed yen.

By January 1950 C.E., The USSR and the newly minted Communist China recognize the Communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam. These two military powerhouses were intent upon the gradual takeover of Southeast Asia. The U.S. did have a response? Yes, partially!

That response was a document fundamental to the Truman Administration’s foreign policy. It was the National Security Council (NSC) 48/2. The document focused on stopping communist expansion by giving economic and military aid to various countries. Support would be given to France for their fight against Ho Chi Minh, to the Philippines government for in struggle with the Huk guerrillas, and to GB for their in their efforts against guerrillas in Malaya. In the document there was no mention of U.S. military intervention anywhere including defending Chiang's Taiwan military forces. This was another American international military policy faux pas.

On January 10, 1950 C.E., after the UN retained Nationalist China as the holder of China's UNSC seat, the USSR delegate walked out of the UNSC in disgust. It was yet one more Communist ruse meant for public consumption. The USSR hardly expected the U.S. and its allies to hand over the seat to a Communist China.

Two days later on January 12, 1950 C.E., in a speech to the National Press Club briefing, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson outlined current U.S. Pacific defense posture, spoke of American interests in the Far East, and described a defense parameter that was similar to MacArthur's. In his presentation he included Japan and the Philippines, but not South Korea explicitly. Acheson said nothing about defending South Korea from an attack by North Korea, but he believed this was needed no more than he had to mention defending New Zealand or Australia. In short, this was interpreted as implying that South Korea is not under the protection of the U.S.

The understanding gained by of the communists of the USSR, China, and North Korea of the Acheson speech was that apparently Washington would not be sending troops to defend the Republic of Korea.  Soon, Kim Il-sung the Supreme Leader of North Korea was complaining to the USSR that peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula was impossible. He had been encouraged by the Communist victory in China. Kim Il-sung’s position was that the Korean people want liberation and would not understand why the opportunity to have it was missed. Soviet premier Joséph Stalin was also impressed by the Communist Chinese victory. Perhaps with his newly possessed atomic bomb, he was interested in having another success for anti-capitalism.

Concerns about the USSR and China taking an overt anti-capitalist stance which included military interventions caused the U.S. to change course. After Acheson's comments on January 12th came signs of Washington changing its strategy regarding the Far East. Two days later on January 14, 1950 C.E., the U.S. recalled all consular officials from China after the seizure of the American consul general in Peking.

Things regarding Korea had changed rapidly. On January 17, 1950 C.E., North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung proposed the “liberation” of South Korea to Soviet officials. Following weeks of telegram exchanges between Beijing, Moscow, and P'yŏngyang by March in early spring, Kim would secure assurances of support for his invasion of South Korean from Soviet premier Joséph Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

In the Middle East, Israel's Knesset proclaimed Jerusalem the capital of Israel on January 23rd by a vote of 60-2 with members of Mapam and Herut abstaining. Interestingly, during the vote, an amendment was proposed by Herut. The amendment would have made the resolution applicable to all of Jerusalem, including the Old City which at the time was occupied by Transjordan. It was defeated. The two members who voted against the proposal were from the Communist party which supported an International trusteeship for the city as had been proposed by the UN. Evidently, the USSR was behind yet another divide and conquer scheme, this time in the Middle East.

Off-the-record testimony was given by General Omar Bradley of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee two days later on January 25th. He stated that a potential enemy, Communist China, possessing Taiwan would be a threat to America's position in the Pacific. This clearly was an indication that the Americans were coming to understand the threats to democracy in Asia and beyond.

On that same day, January 25th, U.S. government official Alger Hiss, an alleged USSR spy who escaped a treason trial earlier due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, was sentenced to five years for perjuring himself while under investigation. Hiss an American government official had been accused by Whittaker Chambers, a former U.S. Communist Party member of being a Soviet spy on August 3, 1948 C.E. Chambers testified under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Hiss had secretly been a Communist while in federal service. Called before HUAC, Hiss categorically denied the charge.

Chambers produced new evidence during the pretrial discovery process indicating that he and Hiss had been involved in espionage, which both men had previously denied under oath to HUAC. A federal grand jury then indicted Hiss on two counts of perjury. Chambers admitted to the same offense. As a cooperating government witness, he was never charged.

It should be noted that, before Hiss was tried and convicted, he was involved in the establishment of the UN both as a U.S. State Department official and as a U.N. official. Thus, there were communists in the U.S. government. He was one!

January 27th, Emil Julius Klaus Fuchs a German theoretical physicist who had helped the U.S. and GB build atomic bombs, confessed to passing nuclear secrets to the USSR. While at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fuchs was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first nuclear weapons and, later, early models of the hydrogen bomb. He would later be convicted of supplying to the USSR during and shortly after the Second World War information from the American, British, and the Canadian Manhattan Project. After spending nine years' imprisonment in GB, Fuchs would immigrate to Communist East Germany where he would resume his career as a physicist and scientific leader.

D. USSR Agrees to Help the DPRK with its Plan of Attack on the ROC and to Unify Korea

On January 30th, USSR Premier Stalin informed Kim Il-sung in a telegram that he was now willing to help Kim in his plan of attack on the south to unify Korea. In the discussions with Kim that followed, Stalin suggested that in return for his support he would like a yearly minimum of 25,000 tons of lead. He also advised the Supreme Leader of North Korea to minimize his risk. Stalin apparently believed that it was possible to win a quick victory in Korea and present the world with a fait accompli.

His fledgling competition within the communist world, Chinese leader Mao Zedong and his associates concurred in this. Mao had advised Stalin that the U.S. would not intervene in Korea. A quick victory in Korea would further his advance against his enemy Chiang Kai-shek, now in Taiwan which he saw as a part of China. The Chinese leader also believed that the U.S. would not intervene in a Taiwan military intervention by China.

The alliance between China and the USSR was signed in February. It alarmed U.S. strategists in Washington, so much so that a revised bill on Korean aid reached Congress and was signed into law by President Truman later that February. The Chinese were now making the Cold War even colder!

On February 9th, in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S. Senator Joséph McCarthy (R-WI) asserted that Communists had infiltrated the State Department. This played to concerns held by the American public that saw signs of these activities as reported earlier by the press. Her it must be said that, the past of the American “Left” had been largely unexamined about its collaboration with the Communist Marxist-Leninism in the 1930s C.E., 1940s C.E., and up to the 1950s C.E. It would appear that while anti-communist liberals and leftists condemned the communists, there was a formulaic, transparent insincerity about much of left-liberal anti-communism.

In April, Former Nazi scientist Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was appointed director of development operations of the U.S. Redstone Arsenal's Army Ballistic Missile Agency in Huntsville, Alabama. He had been a German aerospace engineer and space architect. Von Braun had been the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Germany. While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and develop the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. He would later be considered the father of rocket technology and space science in the U.S. The Cold War had made fast friends of enemies of an earlier time.

In April 1950 C.E., a U.S. National Security Council (NSC) report known as NSC-68 recommended that the U.S. use military force to “contain” communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring, “regardless of the intrinsic strategic or economic value of the lands in question.” There was no longer a question of which Western democracy was to be attacked, or why, it was only a question of when the communists would strike next. The Cold War was now frozen in place.

April 1, 1950 C.E., the 1950 Census count found the U.S. a population to be over 150 million people. The 14% increase since the last census now showed a count of 150,697,361. The most populous state in the U.S. was New York, now followed by California. The geographic center of the U.S. population had now moved west into Richland County, Illinois, 8 miles north-northwest of Olney. The U.S. was thriving.

In May 1950 C.E., North Korea's Prime minister Kim Il-sung secretly visited Beijing to brief the Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders on his Korean War plans for the South.

In early June, the Acheson State Department sent its bi-partisan Republican operative, John Foster Dulles, to South Korea. His trip reflected increasing concerns over Korea. Dulles was ordinary American. He was a grandson of the former Secretary of State John Watson Foster and the nephew of Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State Robert Lansing. Dulles had been surrounded by members of the foreign affairs community from an early age. In short, he was a member of the American Elite. Dulles would later be appointed Secretary of State by President Dwight Eisenhower on January 21, 1953 C.E. 

On June 6th, SCAP Douglas MacArthur banned communists from public service positions in Japanese government. The following day, of June 7th, in Tokyo, Japan, General MacArthur ordered the Japanese Government to remove from public life the seventeen top members of the staff of the Communist party's official propaganda organ Akhata or Red Flag. The Americans were no longer tolerating the maneuvers of the Comintern in their Bloc.

Republican John Foster Dulles was invited to the 38th parallel on June 17th, on behalf of the U.S. State Department and there he spoke of America's determination to stand by South Korea. On this mission to Korea, he was to assess the situation there. The crucial question was whether the U.S. was now, should include Korea within its region of interest. He would carry out several important diplomatic missions for the Truman administration.

Back in the U.S., on June 17th, Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage, based on David Greenglass' confession. The American citizens Julius and Ethel Rosenberg had been suspected of spying, with others, for the USSR. Later, they would be tried, convicted, and executed by the federal government of the U.S. They were accused of providing top-secret information about radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and transmitting nuclear weapon designs to the USSR. At the time of their treason the U.S. was the only country in the world with nuclear weapons. To say that this helped world communism would be an understatement.

At this juncture, we should pause to consider the reality of the world of 1950 C.E. The Cold War was an incontrovertible truth. The Comintern was an active, worldwide communist conspiracy to bring down all non-communist nations and their governments. They and their adherents were actively destabilizing governments both from within and from without. These communists and their intellectually sympathetic fellow travelers were actively practicing sedition and inciting those that they could against the status quo of capitalism, authority, and order in targeted countries. They were challenging the establishment wherever and whenever possible. They were also treasonous, involving themselves in collusion with any anti-national force available through the providing of material support to people and groups working against any nation which was not under communist control and domination. Their every action had been, and was, to undermine and weaken democracies and other forms of government before they took armed action.

As for the U.S., it was not prepared for war. American military and civilian leaders were caught by surprise. Their only recourse was to intervene in Korea with poorly trained and equipped U.S. garrison troops from occupied Japan. Why? Because immediately after WWII the armed forces of the U.S. were vastly reduced in number and defense spending was dramatically cut. Despite this, the American military establishment remained confident in its capabilities. Unfortunately, it also had little knowledge of NKPA and Chinese Communist forces or military doctrine. This intertwined with a well-known disregard for the Asians and the Chinese as soldiers became the basis for the American military’s approach to the Korean War. There were also strategic intelligence blunders.

American civilian and military leaders involved were all products of WWII. The earlier attack on Pearl Harbor had clearly demonstrated the requirement for intelligence collection and analysis. The answers to why it happened were simple and they held lessons for America. The role of intelligence in America’s national security existed within the context of domestic U.S. political perception. With the defeat of Japan five years earlier, American historical isolationism moved quickly inward again. U.S. intelligence resources had been reduced at the end of the war. The looming conflict with Communism was seen as being focused on Europe, our traditional geographic area of interest.

To add to this dilemma, U.S. and USSR troops had been withdrawn from their respective parts of Korea. The USSR, however, left behind a well-equipped and trained NKPA. On the other hand, the U.S. had provided its South Korean ROKA military forces with only light weapons and little training. The one bright spot was that as U.S. forces withdrew, General MacArthur had instructed General Charles A. Willoughby to establish a secret intelligence office in Seoul. This was known as the Korean Liaison Office (KLO). Its responsibility was to monitor troop movements in the North and the activities of Communist guerrillas operating in the South.

By late 1949 C.E., the KLO was reporting that the Communist guerrillas represented a serious threat to the ROK. The office had also noted that many of the guerrillas were originally from the South, and thus were able to slip back into their villages when hiding from local ROKA security forces. In short, the U.S. was not prepared or capable of defending the ROK! While all along communist North Korea had been preparing for this adventure.

By June of 1950 C.E., humanity at large was under the cloud of the Cold War. Less than five years after WWII, the political and economic world was divided into two competing entities, the U.S.’s capitalist Western Bloc and the USSR’s communist Eastern Bloc. At risk were the Non-Aligned Bloc and those other countries which the two Bloc which were in the process of defending and or fighting over. The USSR, then the dominant communist state, jealously guarded its leadership position within the communist camp against the newly created PRC. The USSR led the communist worldwide campaign to overthrow any country which it sought after. While not directly confronting the West, it became adept at the use of political and military surigates to achieve its ends.

In the beginning of the Korean War the USSR chose to promote the war between the north and south through subterfuge, the providing of armaments, and with some air cover. It would not place boots on the ground other than advisors. Later, the PRC would enter upon the scene with men and arms when the NKPA was faltering and in danger of defeat. It would then move to directly challenge the forces of the UN, which included the U.S. The PVA troops would prove formidable!

Our American soldiers, including the de Ribera Clan’s soldados and those of its extended families of New Mexico, were about to face their worse military nightmares. They were out classed, out gunned, out generaled, and out of luck even before they set foot on the Korean Peninsula. The only thing, the greatest thing they had going for them was being Americans, and Americans never gave up!

IV. The Korean War

On June 25, 1950 C.E., the communist North Koreans attacked South Korea in a surprise onslaught. From that day until the armistice on July 27, 1953 C.E., Koreans would endure mass destruction, pain, and suffering. The events of the Korean War would also reveal the continued evil and darkest of man’s heart. By the end of the war, more than three million Koreans would be dead. Millions of refugees would remain homeless and distraught. About one million Chinese would sacrifice their lives during that war. American casualties would number fifty-four thousand two hundred and forty-six dead.

“If the best minds in the world had set out to find us the worst possible location in the world to fight this damnable war,” U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1893 C.E.-1971 C.E.) once said, “… the unanimous choice would have been Korea.”

The Korean War can be viewed in three parts.

·       The First Phase began on June 25, 1950 C.E., and ended on the day UN forces moved into North Korea's territory.

·       The Second Phase was essentially the South Korea’s attack and retreat from North Korea.

·       The Last Phase of the war saw "see-saw" fighting on the thirty-eighth parallel, stalemate, and negotiation talks.

A. The Korean War begins

1.0 Background

The Korean War would be the first major conflict following the end of World War II. It would also be the first war of the Cold War and a proxy war between the U.S. and USSR. At the point of the unwarranted attack, the U.S. had little choice but to intervene militarily in Korea. The U.S.’s “Containment Policy” against USSR Communism had to be upheld for the purpose of doing everything possible to keep Communism from spreading around world. There was also the “Domino Theory.” It was a popular belief within the U.S. which would be accepted from the 1950's C.E., until the end of the Cold War. The theory held the idea that if USSR Communism was able to spread into a single country, then it had the potential to spread to all of the other surrounding countries. At its base was the idea that the America needed to prevent the first domino from falling to the spread of communism. If a country in a given area or region turned to communism, others in the area would follow.

By June of 1950 C.E., the conflicts along the North-South border had escalated dramatically prior to the North Korean forces invading South Korea, triggering the Korean War. At this point in time, the NKPA military forces totaled nearly 200,000 soldiers including a tank division and an air force division. In comparison, Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) forces totaled less than 100,000 and lacked any tanks. They had a small air force that paled in comparison to the North Korean Air Force (NKAF). 

2.0 The First Phase of the Korean War

On June 25, 1950, at 4 a.m., the Korean War began when seventy thousand NKPA troops of the DPRK supported by the USSR and China launched a full-scale invasion of the nation's neighbor to the south, the pro-Western Republic of Korea. Ten divisions moving in six columns poured across the 38th parallel invading South Korea. Backed by USSR weaponry, the NKPA utilized a blitzkrieg style invasion using T-34 tanks supported by artillery catching the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (South) by surprise. When a massive NKPA artillery barrage began the incursion quickly escalate into open warfare.

The NKPA strategy was to aggressively pursue ROKA forces on all avenues of approach to the south and engage them. From their initial offensive in July, and through early-August, the NKPA would use flanking tactics to defeat the ROKA forces and later the UN forces they encountered and push the ever southward. They attacked from the front and initiating a double envelopment of both flanks of the defending units, which allowed the NKPA to surround and cut off the opposing ROKA troops, forcing them to retreat in disarray.

At this juncture, it should be obvious that the North Korean invasion came as an alarming surprise to American government officials. As far as they were concerned, this was no longer a simply a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships on the other side of the globe. American officials believed it was now a war against the forces of international communism itself. Many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. For this reason, nonintervention was not considered an option by many top decision-makers. “If we let Korea down,” President Harry Truman said, “the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another.”

President Truman immediately appealed to the UN to take "Police Action" against the "unwarranted" North Korean attack. This led to the UNSC recognizing the act as a North Korean invasion of South Korea. The UNSC then adopted Resolution 83 on June 27, 1950 C.E. It authorized UN member states to provide military assistance to South Korea and intervene and assist South Korea in the conflict. The UN next set about creating a force to intervene in the region. It authorized the formation of UN forces and dispatched them to South Korea to repel the North Korean invaders. Twenty-one countries of the UN would eventually contribute to the UN force, with the U.S. providing around 90% of the military personnel.

The USSR could have vetoed the UN resolution. But at the time, they were boycotting the proceedings because the Nationalist Chinese government on Taiwan still occupied the “China seat” on the UNSC.

On that same day of June 27, 1950 C.E., understanding the greater Communist plan for world domination, thirty-five U.S. military advisors were sent to South Vietnam to give military and economic aid to the anti-Communist government.

Meanwhile in South Korea, as the ROKA forces blew up the bridge across the Han River, they trapped their own soldiers and killed hundreds of refugees evacuating the city of Seoul. The South Koreans had no method of stopping the onslaught of the T-34 tanks as they lacked anti-tank weapons and had no tanks of their own, resulting in a rout. The NKPA captured portions of South Korea's capital of Seoul by June 28th, forcing the government and its shattered army retired in good order in retreat further south.

Here it is important to remember that the initial attacks by NKPA forces were successful against the south due to their overwhelming military advantage. The NKPA was larger and better equipped than the ROKA. Stalin had supported the war effort by sending hundreds of advisors in the form of Soviet Generals who had extensive experience from World War II. The smaller ROKA suffered from widespread lack of organization and equipment, and was unprepared for war. The numerically superior NKPA forces destroyed isolated resistance from the 38,000 ROKA soldiers on the front before it began moving steadily south. Most of ROKA forces retreated in the face of the invasion.

On June 29th, the NKPA captured all of Seoul and pressed southward.

Under the "name of the United Nations," just three days after the resolution was passed, on June 30, 1950 C.E., the U.S. President Harry S. Truman dispatched land, sea, and air forces to the peninsula to beat back the NKPA attack and to prevent South Korea's collapse. The U.S.' Seventh Fleet dispatched Task Force 77, led by the fleet carrier USS Valley Forge; the British Far East Fleet dispatched several ships, including HMS Triumph, to provide air and naval support. Although the navies blockaded North Korea and launched aircraft to delay the NKPA forces these efforts alone did not stop the NKPA juggernaut on its southern advance.

J.R.R. Tolkien, in his the second volume of the high fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, said it best. “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” 

By June 30th, U.S. ground forces and air strikes were approved against North Korea. President Truman orders U.S. President Truman ordered ground troops into the country to supplement the air support. In Tokyo on that same day, Division commander, Major-General William F. Dean of U.S. 8th Army determined that the 21st Infantry Regiment was the most combat-ready of the 24th Infantry Division's three regiments. Dean decided to send the 21st Infantry's 1st Battalion from the formation because its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Bradford Smith, was the most experienced leading man, having experience at the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. General MacArthur then instructed Lieutenant-General Walton H. Walker, U.S. 8th U.S. Army commander, to order the 24th Infantry Division, stationed on Kyushu, to Korea at once. It must be stated that the strength of U.S. forces in the Far East had steadily declined since the end of World War II and the closest unit was the 24th Infantry Division of the U.S. 8th Army, headquartered in Japan. Cuts in U.S. military spending had resulted in the Division’s being under strength and using outdated equipment.

Major-General William F. Dean, commander of the 24th Infantry Division, was to send a delaying force of about 500 men immediately to Korea. He had C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft airlift one battalion from the Division garrison under Major-General Smith's command into Korea (Task Force Smith). The battalion was to be deployed quickly to block advancing NKPA forces and perform a holding action while the remainder of the Division could be moved to South Korea by sea. Major-General Dean's orders to Major-General Smith, “When you get to Pusan, head for Taejon. We want to stop the NKPA as far from Pusan as we can. Block the main road as far north as possible. Make contact with General Church. If you can't find him, go to Taejon and beyond if you can. Sorry I can't give you more information - that's all I've got. Good luck, and God bless you and your men!”

The first units of the 24th Infantry Division, Task Force Smith, named for its commander Major-General Smith left Itazuke Air Base in Japan arrived in South Korea on June 30th. The Task Force consisted of 406 men of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, as well as 134 men of A Battery, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller O. Perry. The forces were both poorly equipped and under strength. 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry had only two companies of infantry (B and C Company), as opposed to the regulation three for a U.S. Army battalion.

The 1st Battalion had only half of the required number of troops in its headquarters company, half of a communications platoon, and half of a heavy weapons platoon, which was armed with six obsolescent M9A1 Bazooka rocket launchers, two 75mm recoilless rifles, two 4.2 inch mortars, and four 60mm mortars. Much of this equipment was drawn from the rest of the under strength 21st Infantry. A Battery, which formed the entire artillery support for the Task Force, was armed with six 105mm howitzers. These howitzers were equipped with 1,200 high explosive (HE) rounds, but these were incapable of penetrating tank armor. Only six high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds were issued to the battery, all of them allocated to the number six howitzer sited forward of the main battery emplacement. A Battery also had four .50 caliber M2 Browning heavy machine guns.

To make matters worse, most of the soldiers of the Task Force were teenagers with no combat experience and only eight weeks of basic training. Only one in six enlisted soldiers had combat experience. The soldiers were each equipped with only 120 rounds of ammunition and two days of C-rations. Only one third of the officers in the task force had combat experience from World War II. Many of them nevertheless volunteered to join the task force.

Task Force Smith order of battle

1st Battalion, 21st Infantry

Headquarters Platoon

B Company

C Company

Heavy Weapons Platoon

52nd Field Artillery Battalion

A Battery

The mission was to get the Communists out of South Korea. Given the UN’s military disadvantages, the war was to begin for the Allies as a defensive one. The NKPA were so successful that they were able to push back South Korean and later the Task Force Smith American troops to the Pusan Region in southeast Korea and came dangerously close to capturing the entire Korean peninsula. 

By July, more American troops entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. Rhee’s ROKA forces, were by contrast frightened, confused, and seemed inclined to flee the battlefield at any provocation. It was also one of the hottest and driest summers on record. In the begining, the desperately thirsty American soldiers were often forced to drink water from rice paddies that had been fertilized with human waste. The result was dangerous intestinal diseases and other illnesses being a constant threat.

By July 1, 1950 C.E., a complete Task Force Smith arrived in South Korea and briefly established a headquarters in Taejon. The Task Force soon after began moving north by rail and truck to oppose the NKPA. Task Force Smith took the initial "shock" of NKPA advances, delaying much larger NKPA units with the goal of buying time to allow more U.S. units into Korea. Its mission was to move as far north as possible and begin engaging the NKPA to stem their advance so that the rest of the 24th Infantry Division could be moved into South Korea to reinforce it.

It was the 24th Division’s commander, William F. Dean, who personally ordered Smith to stop the NKPA force along the highway from Suwon and "as far from Pusan" as possible.

The Battle of Osan

The Battle of Osan would be one of the first Korean War engagements. It would be fought in the village of Osan was. On July 4, 1950 C.E., Task Force Smith’s was one of the first Korean War engagements. The force was moved to Osan, south of the South Korean capital Seoul, and ordered to fight as a rearguard to delay advancing NKPA forces while additional U.S. troops arrived in the country to form a stronger defensive line to the south.

Task Force Smith consisted of 400 infantry supported by an artillery battery dug in on two hills straddling the road north of the village of Osan, 6 miles south of Suwon and about 25 miles south of Seoul. These ridges rose up to 300 feet above the road, providing visibility almost the entire distance to Suwon. The battalion set up a 1 mile long line over these ridges.

Task Force Smith artillery contingents were placed along the road with the infantry formations on the two hills, five of the howitzers sited 1 mile behind the infantry, and the sixth with its six HEAT shells positioned halfway between the infantry and the other five field artillery pieces.

As they waited to meet the advancing NKPA forces heavy rain made air support impossible so Smith and Perry pre-registered the artillery battery in the hope that that target registration point (TRP) for that special location on the battlefield for an artillery strike would be just as effective. That TRP's exact location and distance was known to both the spotters and the firing element. This would allow 52nd Field Artillery guns to place fire there with almost no time spent once they receive the orders to fire.

The task force lacked both anti-tank guns and effective infantry anti-tank weapons, having been equipped with obsolescent 2.36-in. rocket launchers and a few 57 mm recoilless rifles. Aside from a limited number of HEAT shells for the unit's 105-mm howitzers, crew-served weapons capable of defeating the T-34 Soviet tank had not been distributed to U.S. Army forces in Korea. This was a recipe for disaster.

In the very first encounter, a NKPA tank column equipped with ex-Soviet T-34/85 tanks overran the Task Force Smith and continued its advance southward. After the NKPA tank column had breached U.S. lines the Task Force opened fire on a force of some 5,000 NKPA infantry approaching its position, temporarily holding up the NKPA advance. NKPA troops eventually flanked and overwhelmed American positions and the remnants of the task force retreated in disorder.

Eloy Herrera was born 1928 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on July 5, 1950 C.E. His home was in Union, New Mexico.

U.S. ARMY PFC Eloy Herrera, who joined the U.S. Army from New Mexico, served with Task Force Smith. On July 5, 1950 C.E., Task Force Smith, the first U.S. ground element to engage NKPA troops, was defending a position north of Osan, South Korea. The Task Force’s goal was to delay enemy forces by blocking their movement down the road south from Suwon to Taejon, which was a major avenue of advance for the NKPA. That morning, the Task Force was engaged by a column of enemy tanks. The anti-tank weapons that the infantrymen employed were ineffective, and a large number of tanks broke through their position. Task Force Smith was forced to withdraw to the south, suffering heavy casualties in the process. 

At around 0730 on July 5th, Task Force Smith spotted a column of eight NKPA T-34/85 tanks of the 107th Tank Regiment, NKPA 105th Armored Division heading south toward them. The NKPA forces, driving south from Seoul, were in pursuit of retreating ROKA forces.

At 0816 the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion‘s, A battery fired its first rounds at the advancing NKPA tanks. The tanks were approximately 1.2 miles from the U.S. infantry force when hit with numerous 105mm howitzer rounds, but were unaffected. When the tanks closed to 2,300 feet of the U.S. force the 75mm recoilless rifles fired, scoring direct hits on the lead tanks. No damage was done to them. The NKPA tanks returned fire, but they were unable to locate the American positions and gun emplacements, and their fire was ineffective.

Once the NKPA tanks reached the infantry line, the U.S. troops fired some 22 2.36-inch rockets at a range of 15 yards from his M9A1 launcher tube. Some of these rockets failed to ignite. The remainder did and several struck the rear plate armor of several T-34s, where their armor was thinnest. Unfortunately, the warheads failed to penetrate the armor. Without damage, the NKPA tanks continued their advance, ignoring the roadblock and continuing down the road. The operators assumed the roadblock was manned by ROKA troops, and ignored it since it did not pose them a serious threat. When the tank column came over the crest of the road, the forward howitzer, commanded by Corporal Herman V. Critchfield, Chief of Section and 5 cannoneers, fired its HEAT rounds, damaging the first two tanks and setting one of them on fire. One of the crew members of the burning tank emerged with a PPSh-41 and killed a member of an American machine gun crew before being killed himself. That American became the first casualty of Korean War ground combat.

The howitzer, depleted of HEAT rounds, began firing high explosive rounds before being destroyed by the third T-34. The tanks then advanced, continuing to ignore the American howitzer and bazooka fire. U.S. forces managed to disable another NKPA T-34 when a 105mm shell struck and damaged its tracks. Unfortunately, the tracks of the T-34 tanks cut communication signal wires between the U.S. infantry and artillery forces, further compounding the confusion. Lieutenant-Colonel Perry was wounded in the leg by NKPA small arms fire as he was attempting to get the crew of the disabled tank to surrender. His artillery Section continued firing at the NKPA tanks with no effect.

A second column of 25 NKPA T-34 tanks approached the Task Force within an hour. This second T-34 formation advanced singly or by twos, and threes, close together with no apparent formal organization. The A Battery’s howitzer hit another tank from this column in its tracks, disabling it, and damaged three more. The NKPA tanks destroyed the forward number six howitzer and wounded one of its crew members. They also killed or wounded an estimated twenty infantrymen and had destroyed all the parked vehicles behind the infantry line. At the main battery position one of the five remaining 105mm guns had been slightly damaged by a near-hit. Several of the men in the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion began deserting their positions but Perry managed to convince most of them to return.

The ineffectiveness of the 2.36-inch bazooka had been demonstrated repeatedly during World War II against German armor. Post-WWII peacetime defense cutbacks resulted in the 24th Infantry Division having never received improved U.S. M20 3.5-inch bazookas with M28A2 HEAT antitank ammunition, capable of defeating USSR tanks.

After the last NKPA tanks passed the U.S. lines, no NKPA forces were spotted for around an hour. At approximately 11:00, three more NKPA tanks were sighted advancing from the north. Behind them was a column of trucks 6 miles long under the command of Major General Lee Kwon Mu which were advancing from Seoul. These carried two full infantry regiments, the 16th Infantry Regiment and the 18th Infantry Regiment of the NKPA 4th Infantry Division, amounting to almost 5,000 troops. The column apparently was not in communication with the tanks that had preceded it and the NKPA infantry was not aware of the UN troop's presence.

At 11:45, when the NKPA column had advanced to within 1,000 yards of the U.S. troops, Major-General Smith gave the order for the Task Force to open fire with everything it had. The mortar, machine gun, artillery, and rifle fire destroyed several trucks, scattering the column. The three lead tanks moved to within 980 feet of Task Force Smith and opened fire. Behind them, around 1,000 of the NKPA infantry formed in the rice paddies to the east of the road in an attempt to envelop the U.S. forces but were repulsed. Smith attempted to order artillery fire on the NKPA force but runners were unable to get back to the field artillery positions, and so he assumed they had been destroyed by the tanks.

Within 45 minutes, another enveloping NKPA force formed to the west of the road, forcing Smith to withdraw a platoon to the east side of the road. Quickly thereafter the U.S. infantry began taking mortar and artillery fire from the NKPA.

American withdrawal

Soon, soldiers of the U.S. 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Division, were captured and executed by NKPA forces. This outright murdering of Americans tells a great deal about what these Hispano Americans were up against. The NKPA were butchers, pure and simple!

Then the retreat of the U.S. force began which quickly became a confused and a disorganized rout. Task Force Smith suffered its highest casualties during this withdrawal as its soldiers were most exposed to enemy fire. The surviving members of Task Force Smith reached Battery A's position. The artillerymen disabled the five remaining howitzers by removing their sights and breechblocks and retired in good order the northern outskirts of Osan with the remains of the Task Force on foot. There most of the unit's hidden transport vehicles were found intact. The vehicles, unmolested by the NKPA forces, departed for Pyongtaek and Cheonan, picking up stragglers along the way. Eventually joining units of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division would establish a second line of defense.

Two-hundred fifty of Task Force Smith's force had returned to the American lines before nightfall. About 150 of the force were either killed, wounded or missing. Most of the other stragglers found their way into the American lines over the next several days. The last stragglers from 2nd Platoon, B Company, reached Chonan five days later, only 30 minutes ahead of the NKPA army. Task Force Smith suffered 60 dead, 21 wounded and 82 captured, 32 of whom would eventually die in captivity. This casualty count accounted for 40 percent of Task Force Smith.

Later, U.S. troops advancing northward during the Pusan breakout offensive would discover a series of shallow graves containing the bodies of several soldiers of the 24th Infantry Division. All had been their hands bound behind their backs with communications wire and shot in the back of the head. This continued butchery by the NKPA should dispel any notions that the communists were anything less than evil! The Americans would see a great deal more of this type of war crime.

The NKPA casualties were approximately 42 dead and 85 wounded, with four tanks destroyed or immobilized. The NKPA advance was delayed for approximately seven hours.

Aftermath

The Battle of Osan showed the U.S. forces to be weak, unprepared for the war, were provided with only outdated weapons which were insufficient to overcome NKPA armor, poorly trained, and the inexperienced. U.S. units were at that point no match for better-trained NKPA troops. These undisciplined U.S. troops had abandoned their positions prematurely, leaving equipment and wounded for NKPA troops to capture. The force had also stayed too long in its position, allowing NKPA troops to envelop the force. It was all of this that caused heavy casualties as it retreated. These types of weaknesses would play out with other U.S. units for the next month as NKPA troops pushed the U.S forces further back. The disparity in the number of troops engaged by the NKPA certainly had a profound effect on the outcome of this and future battles.

Though the Task Force Smith was badly defeated it accomplished its mission of delaying NKPA forces from advancing for several hours. During the battle, the 24th Infantry Division's 34th Infantry Regiment was able to set up in Pyeongtaek, 15 miles to the south. Over the next month, the U.S. 24th Infantry Division would fight in numerous engagements to delay NKPA forces with similar results. The NKPA, overwhelming U.S. forces time and again, would be able to push the U.S. 8th Army all the way back to Pusan, where the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter would culminate in the eventual defeat of the NKPA .

In the Middle East, on July 5th, the Law of Return, which opened Israel to worldwide Jewish immigration, was passed by the Israeli Knesset. This threatened her Islamic neighbors and played into the hands of the USSR.

The Battle of Pyongtaek July 6, 1950 C.E.

The Battle of Pyongtaek was the second engagement between UN and NKPA forces during the Korean War. It occurred on July 6, 1950 C.E. in the village of Pyongtaek in western South Korea. There, the U.S. Army's 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division was assigned to delay elements of the NKPA's 4th Infantry Division as it advanced south following its victory at the Battle of Osan the day before. The regiment emplaced at Pyongtaek and Ansong would form a line to hold the NKPA in an area where the terrain formed a bottleneck between mountains and the Yellow Sea.

Soon half of the Regiment's strength was ordered to retreat from its position before the NKPA force was encountered, leaving the flank open for the remaining force, 1st Battalion at Pyongtaek. The Battalion encountered NKPA forces the morning of July 6th. After a brief engagement it was unable to repel them effectively. The Battalion then mounted a disorganized retreat to Cheonan several miles away.

Aftermath

The Regiment had failed to significantly delay the NKPA forces in their movement south. The fight ended in a North Korean victory following unsuccessful attempts by American forces to inflict significant damage or delays on advancing NKPA units, despite several opportunities to do so.

Planned Assault on Inchŏn Code Name Operation Bluehearts Abandoned

On July 10th, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, General J. Lawton Collins the Army Chief of Staff, and Admiral Forrest Sherman Chief of Naval Operations held a meeting in Tokyo, Japan, to convince other military leaders that an assault on Inchŏn was necessary. The planned assault on Inchŏn code named Operation Bluehearts was abandoned when it became clear that the 1st Cavalry Division would be needed on the Pusan Perimeter.

Ernest Montoya was born 1916 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Sergeant with the 21st Infantry Regiment: A. He was a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on July 10, 1950 C.E. KIA. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

Gilbert Gutiérrez was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Private With the 21st Infantry Regiment: L and a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on July 7, 1950 C.E. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

Manuel A. Barraza was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Private with the 21st Infantry Regiment: I and a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on July 12, 1950 C.E. His home was in Grant, New Mexico.

Battle of Taejon which lasted from July 14th through July 21, 1950 C.E.

Servando González was born 1929 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC with the 3rd Engineer’s and a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on July 16, 1950 C.E. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

The U.S. 24th Infantry Division was again defeated by the NKPA during the Battle of Taejon which lasted from July 14th through July 21, 1950 C.E.

The Battle of Taejon was another early battle of the Korean War between UN and NKPA forces. Forces of the U.S. Army attempted to defend the headquarters of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division. The entire 24th Division was gathered to make a final stand around Taejon, holding a line along the Kum River to the east of the city. The 24th’s troops were already exhausted from the previous two weeks of delaying actions to stem the advance of the NKPA. The Division was also hampered by a lack of communications, equipment, and a shortage of heavy weapons to match the KPA's firepower. This was the plight of the outnumbered, ill-equipped, and untrained American forces.

As the battle progressed at the riverbank near the City of Taejon, after several days, the the 24th Infantry Division was overwhelmed and pushed back by a militarily and numerically superior force of NKPA. What followed was the fighting of an intense urban battle to defend that major city and transportation hub of Taejon. After a fierce three-day struggle, the UN forces withdrew.

Aftermath

Unfortunately, during the action the NKPA captured Major-General William F. Dean, the commander of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division, and highest ranking American prisoner during the Korean War. Although the 24th could not hold the city, it achieved a strategic victory by delaying the NKPA. This at least provided time for other U.S. divisions to establish a defensive perimeter around Pusan further to the south. The delay imposed at Taejon probably prevented what could have been a U.S. rout during the subsequent Battle of Pusan Perimeter.

Pre-battle Preparations for the Battle of Inchŏn

The landing at Inchŏn was not the first large-scale amphibious operation since World War II. That distinction belonged to the UN landing that took place on July 18, 1950 C.E. at Pohang, South Korea. That operation, however, was not made in NKPA-held territory and was unopposed. This would not be the case with the Inchŏn landings.

Days after the beginning of the Korean War, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the U.S. Army officer in command of all UN forces in Korea, envisioned an amphibious assault to retake the Seoul area. The city had fallen in the first days of the war in the First Battle of Seoul. MacArthur later wrote that he thought the ROKA would push the NKPA Army back far past Seoul. He also said he decided days after the war began that the battered, demoralized, and under-equipped ROKA, many of whom did not support the ROK government put in power by the U.S., could not hold off the NKPA forces even with U.S. support. MacArthur felt that he could turn the tide if he made a decisive troop movement behind NKPA lines, and preferred Inchŏn over Chumunjin-up or Kunsan as the landing site. He had originally envisioned such a landing, code named Operation Bluehearts, for July 22nd, with the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division landing at Inchŏn.

Louis V. Acevedo was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He with the Unit 21st Infantry Regiment: C and died of wounds in Korea on July 20, 1950 C.E. His home was in Cháves, New Mexico.

Joe L. Madril was born on September 3, 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC with the 19th Infantry Regiment: H and a casualty of the Korean War. He was Declared Dead on July 20, 1950 C.E. His home was in Torrance, New Mexico.

Joe E. Montoya was born 1927 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC with the 19th Infantry Regiment: H and a casualty of the Korean War. He was KIA, Declared Dead died in Korea on July 20, 1950 C.E. His home was in San Miguel, New Mexico.

Code-name Operation Chromite a New Plan for an Amphibious Assault of Inchŏn

On July 23rd, MacArthur formulated a new plan, code-named Operation Chromite, calling for an amphibious assault of Inchŏn by the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division and the U.S. Marine Corps's 5th Marine Regiment in mid-September 1950 C.E. This too fell through as both units were moved to the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur decided instead to use the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division, his last reserve unit in East Asia, to conduct the operation as soon as it could be raised to wartime strength.

Rudy Velásco Trujillo Mesa was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Private and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on July 27, 1950 C.E. His home was in Grant, New Mexico.

Ernesto Jr. García was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC with the 29th Infantry Regiment: and casualty of the Korean War. He was MIA on July 27, 1950 C.E. till 11/04/50 and died in Korea KIA. His home was in Mora, New Mexico.

Juan Quintana was born April 4, 1929 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on July 28, 1950 C.E. His home was in Quay, New Mexico.

Reynaldo Sedillos was born 1927 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Private was with the 52nd Field Artillery: A and a casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on July 30, 1950 C.E. KIA. His home was in Grant, New Mexico.

With the establishment of the UN Pusan Perimeter in August, UN forces held a continuous line which the NKPA could not flank. The NKPA advantages in numbers decreased daily as the superior UN logistical system brought in more troops and supplies to the UN forces.

In preparation for the Inchŏn invasion, General MacArthur activated the U.S. 8th Army's X Corps to act as the command for the landing forces, and appointed Major-General Almond, his chief of staff, as corps commander, anticipating the operation would mean a quick end to the war.

Throughout August, General MacArthur faced the challenge of re-equipping the U.S. 7th Infantry Division as it had sent 9,000 of its men to reinforce the Pusan Perimeter and was far under strength. He also faced the challenge that the U.S. Marine Corps, reduced in size following World War II, had to rebuild the U.S. 1st Marine Division, using elements of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade fighting at Pusan as well as the 1st U.S. Marine Regiment and the 7th Marine Regiment, which pulled U.S. Marines from as far away as the Mediterranean Sea to Korea for the task. MacArthur ordered Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA) troops, ROKA conscripts assigned to U.S. Army units, to reinforce the U.S. 7th Infantry Division, while allocating all equipment coming into Korea to U.S. X Corps, despite it being crucially needed by the U.S. 8th Army on the front lines.

Herman J. Luján was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on August 2, 1950 C.E. His home was in Quay, New Mexico.

When the NKPA approached the Pusan Perimeter on August 5th, they attempted the same frontal assault technique on the four main avenues of approach into the perimeter. Throughout the remainder of August, they conducted direct assaults resulting in the First Battle of Naktong Bulge, the Battle of Taegu, Battle of Masan, the Battle of the Bowling Alley, and the Battle of Battle Mountain.

The First Battle of Naktong Bulge fought from August 5th through August 19, 1950 C.E.

The First Battle of Naktong Bulge was an engagement between United States and NKPA forces August 5th through August 19, 1950 C.E. in the vicinity of Yongsan and the Naktong River in South Korea. It was a part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously.

On August 5th, the NKPA 4th Infantry Division crossed the Naktong River in the vicinity of Yongsan, attempting to cut U.S. supply lines to the north as well as gaining a bridgehead into the Pusan Perimeter. Opposing it was the U.S. 24th Infantry Division of the U.S. 8th Army. Over the next two weeks, U.S. and NKPA forces fought a bloody series of engagements inflicting heavy casualties on one another in a confusing series of attacks and counterattacks. Neither side was able to gain the upper hand. In the end, the U.S. forces, aided by reinforcements, air support and heavy weapons, destroyed the invading NKPA force which was hampered by lack of supply and high desertion rates.

Aftermath

The battle ended in a victory for the U.S. after large numbers of U.S. reinforcements destroyed an attacking NKPA division. The battle was a turning point in the war for NKPA forces, which had seen previous victories owing to superior numbers and equipment. The U.S. forces now had a numerical superiority and more equipment, including tanks and weapons capable of defeating the NKPA T-34 tanks.

The Battle of Taegu fought from August 5th through August 20, 1950 C.E.

The Battle of Taegu was an engagement around the city of Taegu, South Korea, between UN and NKPA forces. The fighting would continue from August 5th through August 20, 1950 C.E. It was a part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously.

Right at the center of the Pusan Perimeter, Taegu stood at the entrance to the Naktong River valley. It was also the major transportation hub and last major South Korean city aside from Pusan itself remaining in UN hands. There, Commander of the U.S. 8th, Army Lieutenant-General Walton Walker, had established Taegu as the 8th's headquarters. The natural barriers provided by the Naktong River to the south and the mountainous terrain to the north converged around Taegu. Unfortunately, it was an area where NKPA forces could advance in large numbers in close support.

From south to north, the city was defended by the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, and the ROKA II Corps’ ROKA 1st Division and ROKA 6th Division. 1st Cavalry Division was spread out along a long line along the Naktong River to the south, with its 5th Cavalry Regiment and 8th Cavalry Regiment holding a 79,000 foot line along the river south of Waegwan, facing west. The U.S. 7th Cavalry held position to the east in reserve, along with artillery forces, ready to reinforce anywhere a crossing could be attempted. The ROKA 1st Division held a northwest-facing line in the mountains immediately north of the city while the ROKAA 6th Division held position to the east, guarding the narrow valley holding the Kunwi road into the Pusan Perimeter area.

Five KPA divisions, the 10th, 3rd, 15th, 13th, and 1st Divisions, amassed to oppose the UN at Taegu. From south to north, these five KPA divisions occupied a wide line encircling Taegu from Tuksong-dong and around Waegwan to Kunwi. The KPA planned to use the natural corridor of the Naktong valley from Sangju to Taegu as its main axis of attack for the next push south, so the divisions all eventually moved through this valley, crossing the Naktong at different areas along the low ground. Elements of the DPRK 105th Armored Division also supported the attack.

In a series of engagements, each of the NKPA divisions attempted to cross the Naktong and attack the defending forces. The success of these NKPA attacks upon UN forces varied by region. But attacks in the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division sector were repulsed and the attacks in the ROKA sector were more successful.

During the battle on August 17th, however, NKPA troops were able to surprise U.S. troops on Hill 303 and capture them. Late in the battle, these troops were machine gunned in the Hill 303 massacre. On Hill 303 at Waegwan, on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea, forty-one U.S. Army POWs were shot and killed by troops of the NKPA during one of the numerous smaller engagements of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter. Operating near Taegu during the Battle of Taegu elements of the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, were surrounded by NKPA troops crossing the Naktong River at Hill 303. While most of the U.S. troops were able to escape, one platoon of mortar operators misidentified NKPA troops as ROKA reinforcements and was captured. NKPA troops held theses Americans on the hill and initially did try to move them across the river and out of the battle. Unfortunately, they were unable to do so because of a heavy U.S. counterattack. U.S. forces eventually broke the NKPA advance, routing the force. As the NKPA began their retreat one of the officers ordered the POWs to be shot so they would not slow the NKPA down.

Here, I must stress that killing one’s enemy when wounded and helpless has been done in all wars. There is the desperation of combat, the lack of provisions for caring for the wounded, and often no troops to spare to guard them. Some would say that this is a practical necessity, however horrible. For most soldiers, there is an enormous difference between killing during the confusion and peril of combat and the murder of a fellow soldier when safe from retribution. The latter is simply unforgiveable.

Despite these setbacks, the UN forces were successful in driving most of the NKPA away, but the decisive battle to secure the city would occur during the Battle of the Bowling Alley.

Aftermath

The battle ended in a victory for the UN after their forces were able to drive off an offensive by NKPA divisions attempting to cross the Naktong River and assault the city.

The Battle of Masan fought between August 5th and September 19, 1950 C.E.

The Battle of Masan was an engagement between UN and NKPA forces, which took place between August 5th and September 19, 1950 C.E., in the vicinity of Masan and the Naktong River in South Korea. It was part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously. Operating as the extreme southern flank of the Pusan Perimeter, the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division placed its regiments around the South Korean city of Masan, with the U.S. 24th Infantry Regiment and U.S. 5th Regimental Combat Team based in Haman and nearby Sobuk-san, and the U.S. 35th Infantry Regiment based along the Nam River to the west of the city. Throughout the six-week battle, the NKPA 6th and 7th Divisions attacked the U.S. 25th Division's regiments in an attempt to break through the UN forces and attack Pusan.

An initial UN counteroffensive out of Masan proved ineffective in stopping the NKPA from advancing. In the subsequent fight, the U.S. 35th Infantry was able to repel the NKPA at the Battle of Nam River and were highly regarded for these actions. However, the U.S. 24th Infantry performed very poorly at the battles of Blue Mountain and Haman, forcing the U.S. 25th Division to muster reserves to counter the NKPA gains against the U.S. 24th.

Aftermath

The UN units were able to defeat and repel the NKPA repeatedly, including through a coordinated offensive across the entire perimeter. In delaying and pushing back the NKPA, the U.S. 25th Infantry Division was able to buy time for the buildup of UN forces to in the Pusan Perimeter and the mounting of the counterattack at Inchŏn.

The battle ended in a victory for the UN after large numbers of U.S. and ROKA troops were able to repel the repeated attacks of two NKPA divisions.

Juan Luján was born 1932 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC the 34th Infantry Regiment: HMtr, part of the 24th Division, and a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on August 6, 1950 C.E. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

Casimiro Pachéco was born 1928 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC with the 34th Infantry Regiment: Company L, part of the 24th Division, and a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on August 8, 1950 C.E. His home was in Mora, New Mexico.

On August 11, 1950 C.E., Ethel Rosenberg was arrested after a grand jury appearance.

José l. Archuleta was born September 10, 1929 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Private and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on August 11, 1950 C.E. His home was in Taos, New Mexico.

The Battle of the Bowling Alley took place from August 12th through August 25, 1950 C.E. 

The Battle of the Bowling Alley took place from August 12th through August 25, 1950 C.E. UN forces engaged the NKPA near the city of Taegu, South Korea. The battle took place in a narrow valley, dubbed the "Bowling Alley," which was north of Taegu. It followed a week of fighting between the NKPA’s 13th Division and the ROKA 1st Division along the latter's last defensible line in the hills north of the city. Reinforcements, including the U.S. Army's 27th and 23rd Infantry Regiments were committed to bolster the South Koreans' defenses. This battle and several others were smaller engagements of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter.

For another week, NKPA divisions launched all the troops they had in massed attacks against the ROKA and U.S. lines. Their attacks, which usually occurred at night and were supported by armor and artillery, advanced with infantry and tanks in close support of one another. Each NKPA attack ran into well-established UN lines, where U.S. tanks, mines and entrenched infantry were positioned to counter them. Strikes by U.S. aircraft ravaged the attacking NKPA. The fighting was fierce with many casualties on both sides, particularly where the North and South Koreans fought one another.

Aftermath

The repeated attacks eventually broke and pushed back the NKPA forces. They continued their push against the Pusan Perimeter until they were outflanked in the Battle of Inchŏn.

The Battle of Battle Mountain from August 15th through September 19, 1950 C.E. 

The Battle of Battle Mountain was an engagement between UN and NKPA forces from August 15th through September 19, 1950 C.E., on and around the Sobuk-san mountain area in South Korea. It was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter.

Operating in defense of Masan, the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division placed its 24th Infantry Regiment and 5th Infantry Regiment on Sobuk-san to defend its two peaks, P'il-bong and Hill 665, which would later be known as "Battle Mountain." What followed was a month-long struggle with the NKPA's 6th Division, in which Battle Mountain changed hands 20 times. During the deadlock, neither side was able to secure a definite victory in capturing the mountaintop.

Aftermath

The U.S. forces succeeded in their mission. The battle ended in a victory for the UN after large numbers of U.S. and ROKA troops were able to prevent a NKPA division from capturing the mountain area and from advancing beyond Battle Mountain. This helped pave the way for the NKPA eventual defeat and withdrawal from the area after the Battle of Inchŏn.

Xavier P. Martínez was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC with the 5th Infantry Regiment: Company B RCT and casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on August 22, 1950 C.E. His home was in Doña Ana, New Mexico.

The Battle of P'ohang-dong from August 5th-August 20, 1950 C.E.

At the Battle of P'ohang-dong from August 5th through August 20, 1950 C.E., on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. It was a part of the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, and was one of several large engagements fought simultaneously. ROKA forces supported by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force defended the eastern coast of the country as a part of the Pusan Perimeter. The area contained the vital supply line to the main UN force at Taegu. When several divisions of NKPA crossed through mountainous terrain to push the UN forces back, a complicated battle ensued in the rugged terrain around P'ohang-dong. The engagement was continuous for 5 days around the town of P'ohang-dong, South Korea.

For two weeks, NKPA and ROKA ground units fought in several bloody, back-and-forth battles. During the fight, there was the taking and retaking of the same ground, with neither side able to gain the upper hand. Finally, following the breakdown of the NKPA supply lines and amidst mounting casualties, the exhausted NKPA troops were forced to retreat.

Aftermath

The battle ended in a victory for the UN after its forces were able to drive off an attempted offensive by three NKPA divisions in the mountainous eastern coast of the country. The battle was a turning point in the war for North Korean forces, which had seen previous victories owing to superior numbers and equipment, but the distances and demands exacted on them at P'ohang-dong rendered their supply lines untenable.

All along the front NKPA attacks stalled as UN forces repelled these attacks. The NKPA troops reeled from these defeats the first time in the war NKPA tactics had failed.

Late August, finally brought some hope to the leadership of UN forces in the shape of a plan code named Operation Chromite. On August 23rd, the U.S. commanders held an amphibious assault of Inchŏn meeting at MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo. The Battle of Inchŏn was to be an amphibious invasion involving 261 naval vessels. Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army General Joséph Lawton Collins, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Forrest Sherman, and U.S. Air Force operations deputy Lieutenant-General Idwal H. Edward all flew from Washington, D.C., to Japan to take part in the briefing; Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force General Hoyt Vandenberg did not attend. The responsible U.S. Marine Corps staff to lead the amphibious assault of Inchŏn and landing was not invited to the briefing. This was to become a contentious issue.

General MacArthur had earlier decided to use the Joint Strategic and Operations Group (JSPOG) of his U.S. Far East Command (FECOM). The initial amphibious assault of Inchŏn plan was met with skepticism by the other generals because Inchŏn's natural and artificial defenses were formidable. The approaches to Inchŏn were two restricted passages, which could be easily blocked by naval mines. The current of the channels was also dangerously quick – three to eight knots. Finally, the anchorage was small and the harbor was surrounded by tall seawalls. U.S. Navy Commander Arlie G. Capps noted that the harbor had "every natural and geographic handicap." U.S. Navy leaders favored a landing at Kunsan, but MacArthur overruled these because he did not think they would be decisive enough for victory. MacArthur also felt that the NKPA, who also thought the conditions at the channel of Inchŏn, would make a landing impossible, would be surprised and caught off-guard by the attack.

During the briefing, nine members of the staff of U.S. Navy Admiral James H. Doyle spoke for nearly 90 minutes on every technical and military aspect of the landing. MacArthur told the officers that though a landing at Kunsan would bring a relatively easy linkup with the U.S. 8th Army, it "would be an attempted envelopment that would not envelop" and would place more troops in a vulnerable pocket of the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur won over Sherman by speaking of his affection for the U.S. Navy and relating the story of how the Navy carried him out of Corregidor to safety in 1942 C.E. during World War II. Sherman agreed to support the Inchŏn operation, leaving Doyle furious.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved MacArthur's plan on August 28th. President Truman also provided his approval.

Pete Torres was born 1932 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on August 31, 1950 C.E. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

By the end of August, General MacArthur was continuing to defend the major strongholds in South Korea and had managed to halt the advance of the NKPA troops and their allies. They had   reached their farthest point inside of South Korea. The NKPA forces had also been pushed beyond their limits. Many of the original units were at far reduced strength and effectiveness. Logistic problems wracked the NKPA, and shortages of food, weapons, equipment, and replacement soldiers proved devastating for NKPA. The NKPA force, however, retained high morale and enough supplies to allow for one more large-scale offensive. By the time, the NKPA invasion force for the offensive reached the “Pusan Perimeter,” its strength had been cut nearly in half and it was almost entirely lacking in armor.

For the UN forces, months of fighting had reduced the area under their control to a 5,000-square-mile rectangle in the ROK centered on the critical southeastern port of Pusan. The only bright side was that thousands of additional UN troops had arrived to reinforce the Perimeter.

At this juncture, there was no certainty within the UN high command that the military security situation at the Pusan Perimeter was controllable or tenable. The arrogance and hubris the UN, U.S., and ROK political and military leadership had diminished. Any reliance on the traditional Western view that the Asians, other than the Japanese, were inferior and could not fight let alone beat a White army was forever discarded. Within a very short period, the NKPA had driven the mighty UN forces almost to the end of the Peninsula. They had proven that they could fight, had fought, and would continue to fight both efficiently and effectively. It was now time for a UN gamble which would place its military back in the game. That gamble was to be Operation Chromite.

North Korea Naval mine clearance

The UN forces only became aware of the presence of mines in North Korean waters in early September 1950 C.E. This revelation raised fears that this would interfere with the proposed Inchŏn invasion. Within weeks of the outbreak of the Korean War, the USSR had shipped naval mines to North Korea for use in coastal defense, with USSR naval mine warfare experts providing technical instruction in laying and employment of the mines to North Korean personnel. Some of the mines were shipped to Inchŏn. It was now too late for the UNC to reschedule the landings. Fortunately, the North Koreans had laid relatively few and unsophisticated mines at Inchŏn.

Destroyers in the UN assault force visually identified moored contact mines in the channel at low tide and destroyed them with gunfire. It was believed that when the UN invasion force passed through the channel at high tide to land on the assault beaches, it would pass over any remaining mines without incident.

In early September of 1950 C.E., a U.S. Air Force 3rd Bombardment Group (Light) B-26 Invader conducted a rocket attack on the rail yard at Iri, South Korea, near Songhak-ri, as part of deception operations to draw NKPA attention away from the planned Inchŏn landings.

With men, supplies, and ships obviously concentrating at Pusan and in Japanese ports for a major amphibious operation, the Japanese press began referring to the upcoming landings as "Operation Common Knowledge." The UN Command (UNC) now feared that it would fail to achieve surprise in the Inchŏn landings. Exacerbating this fear, the leader of a North Korean-Japanese spy ring was arrested in Japan in early September 1950 C.E. In his possession was a copy of the plan for Operation Chromite, and the UN forces did not know whether he had managed to transmit the plan to North Korea before his arrest.

In one last bid to break the Pusan Perimeter, the NKPA threw its entire military into the Great Naktong Offensive on September 1st. It was a five-pronged simultaneous attack across the entire Pusan Perimeter. NKPA troops attacked Kyongju and surrounded Taegu and Ka-san. They also re-crossed the Naktong Bulge, threatening Yongsan. Then they continued their attack at Masan, focusing on Nam River and Haman. The attack caught UN forces by surprise and almost overwhelmed them. Despite the NKPA efforts, however, in one of the most brutal fights of the Korean War, the NKPA were unsuccessful. They simply could not hold their gains. Upon their retreat from the offensive, the NKPA was a much weaker force and now vulnerable to counterattack.

Inchŏn infiltration

Before the main land battle at Inchŏn, UN forces would land spies in Inchŏn and bombard the city's defenses via air and sea. Deception operations were also carried out to draw NKPA attention away from Inchŏn.

On September 1st, fourteen days before the landing at Inchŏn of September 15th, a reconnaissance team was placed in Inchŏn Harbor to obtain information on the conditions there. The team, led by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Eugene F. Clark, landed at Yonghung-do, an island in the mouth of the harbor. From there, they relayed intelligence back to the UNC. With the help of locals, Clark, gathered information about tides, beach composition, mudflats, and seawalls. A separate reconnaissance mission, codenamed Trudy Jackson, was mounted by the U.S. military. Trudy Jackson also dispatched Lieutenant Youn Joung of the ROK Navy and ROKA Army Colonel Ke In-Ju to Inchŏn to collect further intelligence on the area of Inchŏn.

Detailed reports were provided on NKPA artillery positions and fortifications on the island of Wŏlmi-do, at Inchŏn, and on nearby islands. The tides at Inchŏn have an average range of 29 feet and a maximum observed range of 36 feet, making the tidal range there one of the largest in the world and the littoral maximum in all of Asia. Clark observed the tides at Inchŏn for two weeks and discovered that American tidal charts were inaccurate, but Japanese charts were quite good. During the extensive periods of low tide they located and removed some North Korean naval mines, but, critically to the future success of the invasion, Clark reported that the North Koreans had not in fact systematically mined the channels.

When the NKPA discovered that the agents had landed on the islands near Inchŏn, they made multiple attacks, including an attempted raid on Yonghung-do with six junks. Clark mounted a machine gun on a sampan and sank the attacking junks. In response, the NKPA killed perhaps as many as 50 civilians for helping Clark.

Gilberto J. Padilla was born 1929 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 1, 1950 C.E. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

Lupe R. Rodríguez Jr. was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Corporal with 5th Infantry Regiment: F Company RCT and a casualty of the Korean War KIA. He died in Korea on September 2, 1950 C.E. His home was in Doña Ana, New Mexico.

The U.S. Navy was also active on behalf of the upcoming Inchŏn landings. U.S. Navy patrol aircraft, surface warships, and submarines were operating in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Yellow Sea to detect any reaction by North Korean, USSR, or PRC military forces. On September 4, 1950 C.E., F4U Corsair fighters of Fighter Squadron 53 (VF-53) operating from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Valley Forge (CV-45) shot down a USSR Air Force A-20 Havoc bomber after it opened fire on them over the Yellow Sea as it flew toward the UN naval task force there.

On the Inchŏn landings front, UN forces staged an elaborate deception operation in order to ensure surprise during the landings and to draw NKPA attention away from Inchŏn by making it appear that the landing would take place 105 miles to the south at Kunsan.

By September 5, 1950 C.E., aircraft of the U.S. Air Force's Far East Air Forces began attacks on roads and bridges to isolate Kunsan, typical of the kind of raids expected prior to an invasion there.

James Aragón Jr. was born 1929 C.E. He was U.S. Marine Corps Corporal and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 5, 1950 C.E. His home was in Paguate, Cíbola, New Mexico.

A naval bombardment of Kunsan followed on September 6th and on September 11th U.S. Air Force B-29 Superfortress bombers joined in an aerial campaign, bombing NKPA military installations in the area.

José P. Montoya was born 1914 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 6, 1950 C.E. His home was in Colfax, New Mexico.

Cárlos Y. Morales was born 1928 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 8, 1950 C.E. His home was in Doña Ana, New Mexico.

Five days before the Inchŏn landing, on September 10, 1950 C.E. 43 UN warplanes flew over Wŏlmi-do, dropping 93 napalm canisters. Its mission was to "burn out" its eastern slope in an attempt to clear the way for American troops.

By September 12, 1950 C.E., NKPA forces attempted to advance further and were completely halted. It was then that General MacArthur decided to launch an attack at Inch’ŏn. Some 150 miles behind enemy lines, MacArthur knew that the attack at Inch’ŏn would cut off all of the supply lines for the NKPA and force them to retreat even further. The hope was to relieve the pressure in the Pusan region and begin the process of forcing the NKPA out of South Korea.

The flotilla of UN ships that were to land and support the amphibious force during the battle was commanded by Vice Admiral Arthur D. Struble. He was an expert in amphibious warfare. Struble had participated in amphibious operations in World War II, including the Normandy landings and the Battle of Leyte. He got underway for Inchŏn in his flagship, the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Rochester (CA-124), on September 12, 1950 C.E.

Among his ships were the Gunfire Support Group, consisting of Rochester, the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Toledo (CA-133), the British light cruisers HMS Jamaica and HMS Kenya, and the six U.S. destroyers of Task Element 90.62, made up of U.S.S. Collett (DD-730), U.S.S. De Haven (DD-727), U.S.S. Gurke (DD-783), U.S.S. Henderson (DD-785), U.S.S. Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), and U.S.S. Mansfield (DD-728).

As the landing groups neared, cruisers and destroyers from the U.S. and Canada shelled the NKPA fortifications on Wŏlmi-do and checked for mines in Flying Fish Channel. The first Canadian forces entered the Korean War when the Royal Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS Cayuga, HMCS Athabaskan, and HMCS Sioux bombarded the coast. The UN Fast Carrier Force offshore flew fighter cover, interdiction, and ground attack missions. Hundreds of Korean civilians were killed in these attacks on the lightly defended port.

UN forces took other measures to focus NKPA attention on Kunsan. In addition to aerial and naval bombardment, on the docks at Pusan, U.S. Marine Corps officers briefed their men on an upcoming landing at Kunsan within earshot of many Koreans. On the night of September 12th-September 13, 1950 C.E. the Royal Navy frigate HMS Whitesand Bay (F633) landed U.S. Army special operations troops and Royal Marine Commandos on the docks at Kunsan, making sure that NKPA forces noticed.

Before the actual invasion, UN forces also conducted a series of drills, tests, and raids elsewhere on the coast of Korea, where conditions were similar to Inchŏn. These drills were used to perfect the timing and performance of the landing craft, but also were intended to confuse the NKPA further as to the location of the invasion. The port city of Kunsan in particular was subject to a number of UN air strikes.

Bombardments of Wŏlmi-do and Inchŏn

At 07:00 on September 13th, the U.S. Navy's Destroyer Squadron Nine, headed by the destroyer U.S.S Mansfield steamed up Eastern Channel and into Inchŏn Harbor. There it fired upon NKPA gun emplacements on Wŏlmi-do. Between them, the Canadian and U.S. destroyers fired over a thousand 5-inch shells, inflicting severe damage on Wŏlmi-do's fortifications. The attacks tipped off the NKPA that a landing might be imminent, and the NKPA officer in command on Wŏlmi-do assured his superiors that he would throw their enemies back into the sea.

NKPA artillery returned fire, inflicting significant damage on three of the attacking warships, killing one sailor and wounding six others. The U.S.S destroyer Gurke sustained three shell hits resulting in light damage and no casualties. The U.S. Navy destroyer U.S.S. Collett (DD-730) was among the ships damaged during the Wolmi-do bombardment. She received the most damage, taking nine 75-millimeter-shell hits, which wounded five men. These American destroyers then withdrew after bombarding Wŏlmi-do for an hour. The U.S.S. Rochester, U.S.S. Toledo, HMS Jamaica, and HMS Kenya then proceeded to bombard the NKPA batteries for the next three hours from the south of the island.

Meanwhile, back at Inchŏn Lieutenant Clark and his ROKA squad watched from hills south of Inchŏn, plotting locations where NKPA machine guns were firing at the flotilla. They relayed this information to the invasion force via Japan in the afternoon.

During the night of the 13th and 14th of September, Vice Admiral Struble decided on another day of bombardment for Wŏlmi-do Island.

Esmeal López was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 13, 1950 C.E. His home was in Quay, New Mexico.

The U.S. Navy's Destroyer Squadron Nine destroyers moved back up the channel off Wŏlmi-do Island on the 14th of September. They and the cruisers bombarded the island again that day. UN Aircraft Carrier Task Force 77 bombed and strafed the harbor at Inchŏn. It was comprised of three U.S. Navy Essex-class aircraft carriers. They were the U.S.S. Valley Forge (CV-45), the

U.S.S. Philippine Sea (CV-47), the U.S.S. Boxer (CV-21). Valley Forge and Philippine Sea each carried two squadrons of F9F "Panther" jet fighters and two of propeller-driven F4U "Corsair" fighter bombers, plus a squadron of the heavier AD "Skyraider" attack planes. The Boxer had an all-propeller air group: four squadrons of F4Us and one of ADs. Also present was one British carrier, HMS Triumph, with two squadrons of propeller-driven planes. In addition plus the American escort carriers U.S.S. Badoeng Strait (CVE-116) and U.S.S. Sicily (CVE-118), each providing a base for Marine Corps' F4Us, specialists in close-air support for ground forces. Soon, a U.S. tank landing ship entered the harbor at Inchŏn before the landings.

The Inchŏn Landing

The U.N forces had been on the defensive until September 15th. At that time, UN forces under the command of General MacArthur and led by U.S. Major-General Edward M. Almond, staged the successful amphibious landing at Inch’ŏn, near Seoul. The battle began on September 15th as a surprise amphibious assault when U.S. X Corps landing some 75,000 troops on the Korean coast.

It would end 4 days later on September 19, 1950 C.E., as an unqualified, resounding success for the UN and the most decisive and important UN victory of the Korean War. It ended a string of victories by the NKPA. It also partially severed the NKPA's supply lines in South Korea and resulted in a strategic reversal in favor of the UN.

At 00:50 on 15 September 1950 C.E., Lieutenant Clark and his ROKA squad activated the lighthouse on Palmido Island in Jung-gu. Later that morning, the ships carrying the amphibious force followed the destroyers toward Inchŏn and entered Flying Fish Channel, and the U.S. Marines of the invasion force got ready to make the first landings on Wŏlmi-do Island.

The NKPA had not been expecting an invasion at Inchŏn they continued to believe that the main invasion would happen at Kunsan. As a result, only a small NKPA force of the 22nd Infantry Regiment was diverted to Inchŏn before dawn on September 15, 1950 C.E. Unfortunately, for the NKPA the troops already stationed at Inchŏn had been weakened by Clark's guerrillas and napalm bombing runs had destroyed key ammunition dumps. In total, 261 ships took part.

On the day of the invasion, NKPA forces at Wŏlmi-do Island were outnumbered by more than six to one by the UN troops. At 06:30 on September 15, 1950 C.E., the lead elements of U.S. X Corps, and later the others, landed from tank landing ships (LSTs) at "Green Beach" on the northern side of Wŏlmi-do. The landing force consisted of the U.S. 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Taplett and nine M26 Pershing tanks from the U.S. Marine Corps' 1st Tank Battalion. One tank was equipped with a flamethrower and two others had bulldozer blades. The entire island was captured by noon at the cost of just 14 UN casualties. NKPA casualties included over 200 killed and 136 captured, primarily from the 918th Artillery Regiment and the 226th Independent Marine Regiment.

For Red Beach and Blue Beach, Vice Admiral James H. Doyle, Commander of an amphibious ready group, announced that the time of landing or H-Hour, would be 17:30.

The forces on Green Beach would have to wait until 19:50 for the tide to rise allowing the other waves to come ashore at "Red Beach" and "Blue Beach." During this time, extensive shelling and bombing, along with anti-tank mines placed on the only bridge, kept the small NKPA force from launching a significant counterattack.

The NKPA 22nd Infantry Regiment would retreat to Seoul after the main landing that evening.

Red Beach

Late on the afternoon of September 15th, the LSTs approached Red Beach and as the lead ships they came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire from NKPA defenders on Cemetery Hill. Despite the concentrated fire, they disembarked assault troops and unloaded vital support equipment. In addition, their guns wiped out NKPA batteries on the right flank of Red Beach. Three (LST 857, LST 859 and LST 973) of the eight LSTs took some hits from mortar and machine gun fire, which killed a sailor and injured a few others.

The Red Beach forces were made up of the Regimental Combat Team 5, which included the 3rd Battalion of the ROK Marine Corps (MC) or ROKMC. They used ladders to scale the sea walls. Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond L. Murray, serving as Commanding Officer of the U.S. 5th Marines, had the mission of seizing an area three thousand yards long and a thousand yards deep, extending from Cemetery Hill (northern) at the top down to the Inner Tidal Basin (near Tidal Basin at the bottom) and including the promontory in the middle called Observatory Hill. The 1st Battalion would be on the left, against Cemetery Hill and northern half of Observatory Hill. The 2nd Battalion would take the southern half of Observatory Hill and Inner Basin.

Hispanic American Lieutenant Baldomero López of the U.S. Marine Corps scaled a seawall after landing on Red Beach on September 15th. He was killed after covering a live grenade with his body. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

López was born on August 23, 1925 C.E., in Tampa, Florida, and grew up in the neighborhood of Ybor City. His father, also named Baldomero López, had emigrated to the U.S. from the Astúrias region of España as a young man. The younger López attended Hillsborough High School, where he was an accomplished basketball player and a regimental commander in the school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on July 8, 1943 C.E., shortly after graduating from high school, and served until June 11th of the next year.

He was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in the midst of World War II, and because of the ongoing war he and his classmates were placed in an accelerated three-year program. Upon graduating on June 6, 1947 C.E., he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He attended The Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, after which he became a platoon commander in the Platoon Leaders Class Training Regiment.

In 1948 C.E., López went to China, where he served as a mortar section commander and later as a rifle platoon commander at Tsingtao and Shanghai. On his return from China he was assigned to Camp Pendleton, California. He was serving there when, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, he volunteered for duty as an infantry officer in Korea. He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant on June 16, 1950 C.E.

Red Beach forces had suffered eight dead and 28 wounded.

After neutralizing NKPA defenses at Inchŏn on the night of September 15th, UN forces opened the causeway to Wolmi-do Island, allowing the ROKMC 3rd Battalion of the U.S. 5th Marines Regiment and the tanks from Green Beach to enter the battle at Inchŏn.

In the aftermath of the Pusan Perimeter battle, of the 70,000 NKPA troops around Pusan, NKPA casualties from September 1st through September 15th ranged from roughly 36,000 to 41,000 killed and captured, with an unknown total number of wounded. Because UN forces had concentrated on taking Seoul rather than cutting off the NKPA's withdrawal north, the remaining 30,000 NKPA soldiers escaped to the north. They were soon reconstituted there as a cadre for the formation of new NKPA divisions hastily re-equipped by the USSR.

After NKPA resistance was extinguished in Inchŏn

Immediately after NKPA resistance was extinguished in Inchŏn, at the Beachhead the supply and reinforcement process began. Seabees and Underwater Demolition Teams that had arrived with the U.S. Marines constructed a pontoon dock on Green Beach and cleared debris from the water. The dock was then used to complete the unloading of the LSTs and clearing the beach at high tide early on September 16th.

That same morning, Lieutenant-Colonel Murray and Colonel Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller had their operational orders from General Oliver P. Smith. The U.S. 1st Marines and 5th Marines began moving along the Inchŏn-Seoul road. The U.S. 5th Marines (Red and Green Beaches forces) entered the city of Inchŏn, taking it by the afternoon.

That same day, realizing their blunder, sent six columns of T-34 tanks to the beachhead. The columns were without infantry support were spotted by a strike force of F4U Corsairs at the village of Kansong-ni, east of Inchŏn and two flights of F4U Corsairs from U.S. Marine Fighter Squadron 214 (VMF-214). The UN aircraft bombed the attackers and the armored columns suffered extensive damage, while the U.S. forces lost one airplane. A quick counter-attack by M26 Pershing tanks destroyed the remainder of the NKPA armored division and cleared the way for the capture of Inchŏn.

The 1st U.S. Marine Regiment under the command of Colonel Puller landing at Blue Beach, but was much farther south of the other two beaches and was last to reach the shore. Their mission was to take the beachhead and the road to Yongdungpo and Seoul. The 2nd Battalion would land on the left at Blue Beach One and ROKMC 3rd Battalion would land on Blue Beach Two. A little cove around the corner south of Blue Beach Two was called Blue Beach Three. As they approached the coast, the combined fire from several NKPA gun emplacements sank one LST. UN destroyer fire and bombing runs eliminated the NKPA defenses. When the Blue Beach forces finally arrived, the NKPA forces at Inchŏn had already surrendered. The U.S. 1st Marine Regiment spent much of its time strengthening the beachhead and preparing for the inland invasion.

Air attack on U.S.S. Rochester and HMS Kenya

Just before daylight at 05:50 on September 17th, two USSR-made NKPA aircraft attacked the U.S.S. Rochester while she was anchored off Wolmi-do. Initially the aircraft were thought to be friendly until they dropped four bombs over the American ship. All but one missed and the one that did hit dented Rochester's crane and failed to detonate. There were no American casualties in the skirmish. After the aircraft attacked Rochester, she and the nearby HMS Jamaica opened fire on them with antiaircraft guns. The Il-2 then strafed HMS Kenya, killing one sailor and wounding two. At about the same time, fire from Jamaica hit the Il-2 and it crashed into the water. The Yak-9 fled after losing its partner. Rochester's crew later painted a Purple Heart on her damaged crane.

That same day, the U.S. 5th Marines ambushed a column of 6 NKPA T-34 tanks and 200 infantry, inflicting heavy casualties on the NKPA.

Capture of Kimpo airfield

As the work of the UN forces continued on September 17th, General MacArthur made an extremely urgent request for the early capture of Kimpo airfield, the largest and most important in Korea. It was determined that when it was secured, the U.S. Fifth Air Force could bring fighters and bombers over from Japan to operate more efficiently and effectively against NKPA. As a result, the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines were ordered to attack Kimpo airfield that night.

The NKPA forces there were under the command of Brigadier General Wan Yong, commander of the NKAF. He had already begun organizing their defense of the airfield. By that time, several NKPA troops had already fled across the Han River toward Seoul to escape the upcoming fight. What troops he had left were a combination of partially trained combat and service forces. The NKPA defenses and defenders were almost as bad as the morale. The NKPA realized that no help was coming from the North Korean officials at Seoul.

By the night of the 17th, much of Kimpo Airfield had been taken. By that next morning of the 18th, the NKPA were all gone and Kimpo airfield was securely in the hands of the U.S. Marines. Fortunately, Kimpo airfield remained in excellent shape. The NKPA had been unable to do any major demolition. In fact, several NKAF planes were still on the field.

The U.S. Marines were now fully in control of Kimpo Airfield and it would now become the center of UN Allies land-based air operations. Transport planes immediately began flying in gasoline and ordnance for the aircraft stationed there.

Narcisso Pachéco was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Corporal and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 18, 1950 C.E. His home was in Eddy, New Mexico.

Battle of Seoul

Though warned that the process of taking Seoul would allow remaining NKPA forces in the south to escape, General MacArthur felt that he was bound to honor promises given to the South Korean government to retake the capital as soon as possible. The General then personally oversaw the U.S. 1st Marine Regiment’s fight through NKPA positions on the road to Seoul. The NKPA attempted to stall the UN offensive to allow time to reinforce Seoul and withdraw troops from the south. In contrast to the quick victory at Inchŏn, the advance on Seoul was slow and bloody. The NKPA launched another T-34 attack, which was trapped and destroyed, and a Yak bombing run in Inchŏn harbor, which did little damage.

Now having arrived at the battle staging areas, control of Operation Chromite was given to Major-General Almond, the U.S. X Corps commander. Almond now pressed for the capture Seoul by September 25th, exactly three months after the NKPA assault across the 38th parallel.

Before the battle, NKPA had just one under strength division in the City of Seoul. The majority of its forces were south of the capital. The U.S. Marines armed with an M1 rifle and an M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle would engage them in urban warfare during the battle for Seoul, on streets where Korean civilians died in the battle.

On the second day, vessels carrying the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division arrived in Inchŏn Harbor. Almond was eager to get the division into position to block a possible NKPA movement from the south of Seoul. On the morning of September 18th, the division's 2nd Battalion of the 32nd Infantry Regiment landed at Inchŏn and the remainder of the regiment went ashore later in the day.

In Europe, the next day of September 19, 1950 C.E. Communist Party members employed by the West German government were fired from their jobs. The Cold War was now causing removal of communists from sensitive position in the Western Bloc nations.

Back in Korea, on that same day, after having recently surprised the NKPA with the Inchŏn Landings, two UN forces were on a new offensive pushing the NKPA back. UN forces under the command of the U.S. 8th Army, advancing from the south, would meet up with forces of U.S. X Corps, advancing from the north at Osan. This offensive would eventually culminate in a complete defeat of the NKPA in the south.

That morning, the U.S. 2nd Battalion moved up to relieve a U.S. Marine battalion occupying positions on the right flank south of Seoul. Meanwhile, the U.S. 7th Division's 31st Regiment came ashore at Inchŏn. Responsibility for the zone south of Seoul highway was then passed to U.S. 7th Division at 18:00. The 7th Infantry Division then engaged in heavy fighting with NKPA soldiers on the outskirts of Seoul.

That same day of September 19th, U.S. engineers repaired the local railroad up to eight miles inland.  The UNC was already planning for future military actions.

António Sandoval was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PVT and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 22, 1950 C.E. His home was in Harding, New Mexico.

Jesús Rivas was born 1922 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PVT and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 22, 1950 C.E. His home was in Hidalgo, New Mexico.

By September 22nd, the UN forces, U.S. Marines, had also been continuing the unloading of necessary supplies and reinforcements. They would finally unload 6,629 vehicles and 53,882 troops, along with 25,512 tons of supplies. That same day, the determined U.S. Marines entered Seoul to find it fortified. Casualties mounted as the forces engaged in grueling house-to-house combat to clear the city of the NKPA.  

Back in the U.S., on September 23, 1950 C.E. the McCarran Internal Security Act, which called for the registration of all Communist organizations, was passed by Congress over Truman's veto. The Cold War was becoming a deep freeze and communist infiltration of U.S. institutions was now greatly feared.

The 1950 Mckoffie Internal Security Act or Internal Security Act was passed on September 23, 1950 C.E. This was during the height of anti-Communist hysteria in the U.S. But was it hysteria? Was the Comintern not real? Were the USSR and China not engaged geopolitical undermining of legitimate governments in Eastern Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East? Were not the Western Bloc nations finding communist infiltration in every one of their governments?

The act was therefore aimed at furthering a necessary conservative anti-Communist agenda. It sought to eliminate Communist influence in American politics and society through what some on the left described as coercion. The act found it necessary to place some restrictions on particular freedoms such as speech and association due to their connection to sedition and treasonist acts. The left claimed that it was an attempt to criminalize a particular ideology, Communism, and also an assault on private associations that involved no provable criminal activity.

The Internal Security Act made it illegal to pursue a Communist or totalitarian political agenda and required all Communist organizations to register with the U.S. Attorney General. Any organizations that failed to register could be brought before the Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) and forced to register as Communist. Registered organizations were required to label their publications and broadcasts as originating from a Communist organization. Furthermore, members of registered organizations were denied employment in the government or in private firms with federal defense contracts and were prohibited from applying for or using passports.

The act also contained a number of provisions dealing with immigration and naturalization. Aliens who were at any time members of or affiliated with a Communist or totalitarian party were denied entry to the U.S. Those already in the U.S. could be deported without a hearing. Naturalized citizens could have their citizenship revoked if they joined a registered Communist organization within five years of becoming a citizen. Additionally, aliens who were members of newly registered Communist organizations could be denied naturalization unless they were able to prove that they had left the organization within three months of its being registered.

Finally, judicial standards for search and seizure, the use of informants, wiretapping, and other forms of surveillance were relaxed. The act also allowed the president to declare an “internal security emergency,” during which time the Attorney General was empowered to detain anyone who “probably would engage in, or conspire to engage in, acts of espionage or sabotage.” There were provisions for administrative hearings, but not court trials. In this way, Communist organizations remained formally legal, but mechanisms were institutionalized that allowed the indefinite detention of their members without any criminal act being committed and with limited judicial oversight. For some, these were necessary evils given the Cold War. The Cold War had just heated up!

Roberto Rocha Delgado was born 1929 C.E. He was U.S. Marine Corps PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 23, 1950 C.E. His home was in Mesilla Doña Ana, New Mexico.

At the end of the summer, President Truman and General MacArthur, the commander in charge of the Asian theater, had decided on additional war aims. Now, for the Allies, the Korean War was to be an offensive one. It was to be a war to “liberate” the North from the communists. Why? It was now clear to all that the communists had every intention of taking over the entire peninsula. They were not interested in peaceful coexistence. Thus, the north had to be freed.

Initially, their new strategy had been a success. An amphibious assault at Inchŏn pushed the NKPA out of Seoul and back to their side of the 38th parallel. As American troops crossed the boundary and headed north toward the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and Communist China, the Chinese became concerned. They now felt it necessary to protect their country from what they called “armed aggression against Chinese territory.” Chinese leader Mao Zedong then sent troops to North Korea and warned the U.S. to keep away from the Yalu boundary unless it wanted full-scale war

This was something that President Truman and his advisers did not want. They were concerned that such a war would lead to Soviet aggression in Europe, the deployment of atomic weapons, and millions of senseless deaths. To General MacArthur, however, anything short of this wider war represented “appeasement,” an unacceptable surrender to the communists.

Rumaldo Vásquez was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 24, 1950 C.E. His home was in Luna, New Mexico.

Major-General Almond declared Seoul liberated the evening of September 25th, a claim repeated by General MacArthur the following day. At the time of Almond's declaration, however, the NKPA remained in most of the city and U.S. Marines were still engaged in house-to-house combat with them.

The next day on September 26th, the Hotel Bando (which had served as the U.S. Embassy) was cleared by Easy Company of 2nd Battalion, 1st U.S. Marine Regiment. During this fight several marines were wounded.

Juan A. Griego was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on September 27, 1950 C.E. His home was in Sandoval, New Mexico.

It was not until September 28th that the last of the NKPA elements were driven out of Seoul or destroyed.

Pusan Perimeter breakout

Meanwhile, U.S. 5th Marines came ashore at Inchŏn. The last NKPA troops in South Korea still fighting were defeated when Walton H. Walker's U.S. 8th Army broke out of the Pusan Perimeter, joining the U.S. Army's X Corps in a coordinated attack on NKPA forces.

The end of the First Phase of the Korean War was complete. By the end of that phase of the Korean War, one hundred and eleven thousand South Koreans had died and fifty-seven thousand were missing.

3.0 The Second Phase of the Korean War

The PRC had been watching the events and waiting to see what the Americans would do next. They patiently refused to enter the Korean War before American forces under the command of General MacArthur had retaken Seoul. When they next crossed the thirty-eighth parallel on September 30th, the Chinese contemplated their next decision. Whet their assessment told them was that the UN now had other, larger intentions. Perhaps, their real target was China? This brought the PRC leadership to a decision point. They were now awake!

Napoléon Bonaparte the French warrior and great student of history understood China said, “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will move the world.” Even in his day, China saw itself as most superior and special in every way while it saw other nations as backwards. She also had a huge population and a respect for learning and knowledge. When she was awakened, what else would that overly proud nation do after regaining its footing? The world was about to see!

In October 1950 C.E., the PRC was only one year old, and the Beijing regime faced daunting tasks of regime consolidation and economic reconstruction. As a result, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) which had been established earlier in January 1946 C.E. consistently predicted that China would not enter the Korean War, even if the U.S. crossed the 38th parallel. This was to prove to be an egregious error.

Both Stalin and Kim Il-Sung sent messages to Mao in October of 1950 C.E. requesting the PRC’s military assistance in Korea. Stalin wanted to avoid the USSR from getting involved in the conflict and facing off directly against the U.S. Kim Il-Sung was desperate for any assistance he could obtain due to his mounting losses. As a result, this ultimately led to the PRC entering the Korean War on the side of the North Koreans.

The U.S. Government acting on the CIA’s prediction, sent additional American forces into North Korea on October 8, 1950 C.E. C.E. the PRC would prove the CIA’s analysis wrong when it sent masses of troops into Korea late in October, pushing the U.S. force back and south of the 38th parallel before the end of 1950 C.E. Why did the PRC intervene despite all the odds against Beijing?

By mid-October 1950 C.E., after the successful landing at Inchŏn by the U.S. X Corps and the subsequent destruction of the NKPA, the Korean War appeared to be all but over. UN forces were rapidly advancing further into North Korea with the intention of reuniting North and South Korea before the end of 1950 C.E. Unfortunately for the UN North Korea is divided through the center by the impassable Taebaek Mountains. It was this geography which separated the UN forces into two groups. The U.S. 8th Army advanced north through the western coast of the Korean Peninsula, while ROKA I Corps and the U.S. X Corps advanced north on the eastern coast.

Mao Zedong had been reported as saying that the PRC would enter the conflict in Korea militarily if need be. Why? Because Mao wanted to prevent foreign forces, such as the Americans, from occupying territory adjacent to the PRC’s border. These warnings should have made it clear to the UN that the Chinese intended to fight!

Just two weeks after MacArthur, with the support of Defense Secretary George Marshall, had decided it was time to move his troops on the offensive inside North Korea to force the NKPA past the 38th parallel and deep into North Korea, UN forces managed to capture P’yŏngyang, the capital of North Korea, on October 19th, 1950 C.E.

Now, believing his troops had the momentum to carry the battle forward, MacArthur expressed his intentions to carry the war into China. While MacArthur was posturing, PRC officials were busy helping fund and supply the NKPA.  ​

On that same day, following setbacks sustained by the NKPA and the UNC’s crossing of the 38th parallel, the awakened giant, China, entered the Korean War in support of North Korea. In addition to dispatching the PVA to Korea to fight against the UNC, the PRC also received North Korean refugees and students and provided economic aid during the war. Large formations of Chinese PVA troops secretly crossed the border into North Korea. One of the first PVA units to reach the Chosin Reservoir area was the PVA 42nd Corps, and it was tasked with stopping the eastern UN advances.

Nelson R. Romero was born 1929 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on October 21, 1950 C.E. His home was in Bernalillo, New Mexico.

By October 25, 1950 C.E., having destroyed the bulk of the NKPA, the now confident UN troops continued their push deeper into North Korea. With NKPA forces in retreat, ROKA forces were approximately twenty-five miles north of the parallel. They captured Wonson the port city of Wonsan, located on the eastern side of North Korea. Thereafter, they marched toward the Yalu River with almost no resistance from the NKPA units. As the UN ROKA I Corps troops approached the Yalu River they made contact with the PVA 9th Army and halted at Funchilin Pass, south of the Chosin Reservoir.

Mao was also unpleasantly surprised by the U.S. Marine landing at Wonsan. In a telegraph to Commander Song Shilun of the PVA 9th Army on October 31st, he immediately called for the destruction of the ROKA Capital Division, ROKA 3rd Infantry Division, U.S. 1st Marine Division, and U.S. 7th Infantry Division.

Still, the UN assault forces continued north to the Yalu River having no knowledge that the Chinese PVA forces had secretly crossed the Yalu River into North Korea in late October. The major intervention by the PRC in the war was to begin in November 1950 C.E. This unexpected decision of PRC's entry into the war in early October would turn the tide of the war. The Northern units, consisting of Sino (PVA)-Korean (NKPA) troops, would send the U.N. forces retreating again.

With the USSR providing air support, the Sino-Korean troops engaged American forces in a surprise attack on November 1st. Sino-Korean troops under veteran commander General Peng Dehuai inflicted serious losses on the lead units of the UN advance. After being encircled by advancing Sino-Korean troops, the U.S. 8th Cavalry Regiment was forced to retreat to Ch’ongch’on River in North Korea while the Sino-Korean troops withdrew into mountain hideouts. This sudden appearance of Sino-Korean forces sent the main body of UN forces reeling back to the south bank of the Ch’ŏngch’ŏn River, this within days of attack into North Korea by UN forces.

That same day in Washington, the second of two assassination attempts on U.S. President Harry S. Truman occurred on November 1, 1950 C.E. It was carried out by militant Puertorriqueño pro-independence activists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola while the President resided at Blair House during the renovation of the White House. Both men were stopped before gaining entry to the house. Torresola mortally wounded White House Police officer Leslie Coffelt, who killed him in return fire. Secret Service agents wounded Collazo. President Harry S. Truman was upstairs in the house and not harmed. Whether communists were involved one can only guess. Given the state of the Cold War and the stakes involved, Comintern agents may have infiltrated the Puertorriqueño pro-independence parties and in a clandestine fashion had some responsibility in the affair.

Meanwhile in Korea, after the landing at Wonsan, the U.S. 1st Marine Division of the U.S. X Corps engaged the defending PVA 124th Division on November 2nd. The ensuing battle caused heavy casualties among the Chinese.

Elias Eli Torres was born 1931 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY PFC and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on November 5, 1950 C.E. His home was in Mora, New Mexico.

On November 6th, the PVA 42nd Corps ordered a retreat back to the north with the intention of luring the UN forces into the Chosin Reservoir.

Under the PRC Chairman Mao's urgent orders to destroy of the ROKA Capital Division, ROKA 3rd Infantry Division, U.S. 1st Marine Division, and U.S. 7th Infantry Division, the PVA 9th Army was rushed into North Korea by November 10th.

The PVA 9th Corps was one of China's elite formations, composed of veterans and former POWs from the Huaihai Campaign. But it did have several deficiencies which hampered its ability during the upcoming battle. Initially, the PVA 9th Army was intended to be outfitted in Manchuria during November. This was before Mao suddenly ordered it into Korea. The outfitting did not happen. As a result, the PVA 9th Corps Army had almost no winter clothing for the harsh Korean winter. Similarly, poor logistics forced the PVA 9th Corps Army to abandon heavy artillery, while working with little food and ammunition. The food shortage forced the PVA 9th Corps Army to initially station a third of its strength away from the Chosin Reservoir in reserve. Since foraging was not an option in the sparsely populated starvation and exposure soon broke out among the PVA units. By the end of the battle, more Chinese troops would die from the cold than from combat and enemy air raids.

On November 14, 1950 C.E., a cold front from Siberia descended over the Chosin Reservoir, and the temperature plunged to as low as −35 °F. The weather was accompanied by frozen ground. It also created considerable danger of frostbite casualties, icy roads, weapon malfunctions, and medical supplies froze. Morphine syrettes, devices for injecting liquid through a needle were a closed flexible tube much like a typical tube of toothpaste, had to be defrosted in a medic's mouth before they could be injected. Frozen blood plasma was useless on the battlefield. The cutting off of clothing to deal with a wound caused risks of gangrene and frostbite. Batteries used for the Jeeps and radios quickly ran down and did not function properly in the cold temperature. The lubrication in the guns gelled and rendered them useless in battle. Likewise, the springs on the firing pins would not strike hard enough to fire the round, or would jam.

Undetected by UN Intelligence, the PVA 9th Army quietly entered the Chosin Reservoir area on November 17th, with the 20th Corps of the 9th Army relieving the 42nd Corps near Yudami-ni.

Manuel A. López was born 1922 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Sergeant and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on November 19, 1950 C.E. His home was in Doña Ana, New Mexico.

Faced with the sudden attacks by PVA forces in the U.S. 8th Army sector Chosin Reservoir, General MacArthur ordered the 8th to launch the Home-by-Christmas Offensive. To support the offensive, MacArthur ordered the U.S. X Corps to attack west from the Chosin Reservoir and to cut the vital Manpojin-Kanggye-Huichon supply line. As a response, Major-General Almond formulated a plan on November 21st. It called for the U.S. 1st Marine Division to advance west through Yudami-ni, while the U.S. 7th Infantry Division would provide a regimental combat team to protect the right flank at Sinhung-ni. The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division would also protect the left flank while providing security in the rear area. By then the U.S. X Corps was stretched thin along a 400-mile front.

The UN mission responded with MacArthur’s “Home-by-Christmas” offensive on November 24th. It was MacArthur’s hope that the offensive would force the PVA to withdrawal their army from the war and bring an end to the Korean War. In reality, the PRC’s leadership undertook their own offensive campaign called the “Second Offensive Campaign” against the advancing UN forces. The majority of the fighting occurred along the valley of the Ch’ongch’on River between the PVA 13th Army and U.S. 8th Army. While this time, the Americans were able to avoid being encircled, they still suffered heavy losses. As a result, the “Home-by-Christmas” offensive failed. Even with this U.S. forces defeat, on that same day, the U.S. 1st Marine Division occupied both Sinhung-ni on the eastern side of the Chosin Reservoir, and Yudami-ni on the west side of the reservoir.

By November 26, 1950 C.E., Chinese PVA forces opened a counteroffensive in the Korean War while the UN forces were in retreat southward toward the 38th parallel. This PRC action halted any thought of a quick resolution to the conflict.

Blas W. A. Luján was born 1930 C.E. He was U.S. ARMY Corporal and casualty of the Korean War. He died in Korea on November 26, 1950 C.E. His home was in Santa Fé, New Mexico.

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir between November 27th and December 13th

Prelude - Location, terrain, and weather

Chosin Reservoir is a man-made lake located in the northeast of the Korean peninsula and the area around it sparsely populated. The Battle was fought over some of the roughest terrain in Korea and some of the harshest winter weather conditions. The Battle's main focus was around the 78-mile long road that connects Hungnam and Chosin Reservoir, which served as the only retreat route for the UN forces. Through these roads, Yudami-ni and Sinhung-ni, located at the west and east side of the reservoir respectively, are connected at Hagaru-ri. From there, the road passes through Kot’o-ri and eventually leads to the port of Hungnam. The road had been created by cutting through the hilly terrain of Korea, with steep climbs and drops. Dominant peaks, such as the Funchilin Pass and the Toktong Pass, overlook the entire length of the road. The road's quality was poor, and in some places it was reduced to a one lane gravel trail.

Forces and strategies

Map of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir

Under the best of conditions the Battle of Chosin Reservoir would have been a difficult undertaking. Given the need for the battle commanders to be trusting and supportive of each other, anything else would be detrimental. Unfortunately, Major-General Almond of the U.S. X Corps and Major-General Oliver P. Smith of the U.S. 1st Marine Division shared a mutual loathing of each other. The dislike dated back to a meeting before the landing at Inchŏn, when Major-General Almond had spoken of how easy amphibious landings are even though he had never been involved in one.

Major-General Smith believed there were large numbers of PVA forces in North Korea despite the fact that higher headquarters in Tokyo said otherwise. Major-General Almond felt Smith was overly cautious. The mutual distrust between the commanders and their differing assessments of the enemy troop strength caused Smith to slow the U.S. 1st Marine Division's advance towards the Chosin Reservoir in violation of Almond's instructions. Along the way toward Chosin, the cautious Smith established supply points and airfields at Hagaru-ri and Kot’o-ri.

As the U.S. X Corps was pushing towards the reservoir, the PVA were formulating their battle strategy. It was based upon their experiences earlier during the Chinese Civil War. PVA planners worked from the assumption that only a light UN presence would be at the reservoir. Given this, the PVA 9th Corps would first to destroy the UN garrisons at Yudami-ni and Sinhung-ni and then push towards Hagaru-ri. The PVA planners also believed the bulk of the U.S. X Corps would then move to rescue the destroyed UN units. The 9th Army would then move to block and trap the main UN forces on the road between Hagaru-ri and Hungnam. Initially, the 9th Army committed eight divisions for the battle, with most of the forces concentrated at Yudami-ni and Sinhung-ni.

The lack of accurate intelligence about the UN forces left the PVA plan flawed. It is true that the U.S. X Corps was stretched thin over northeast Korea making for difficult defense. The slowness of the U.S. Marine advance, however, allowed the bulk of the U.S. 1st Marine Division, including the U.S. 5th, 7th and 11th Marines, to be concentrated at Yudami-ni where the PVA 9th Army’s eight divisions were.

Smith’s cautiousness and his placement of an airfield and supply dump at strategically important Hagaru-ri was about to pay off. The C-47-capable airfield was under construction and a supply dump being prepared. These sites were only being lightly defended by the U.S. 1st and 7th Marines. Only Regimental Combat Team 31 (RCT-31), an under strength and hastily formed regimental combat team of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division, was thinly spread along the eastern bank of the reservoir. Those units would later take the brunt of the Chinese assaults. None of this was a priority for the PVA forces.

As for the UN forces, the U.S. 1st Marine Division had an effective strength of 25,473 men at the start of the battle, and it was further reinforced by the British 41 Royal Marine Commando and the equivalent of two regiments from the U.S. 3rd and 7th Army Infantry Divisions. This gave the UN forces a combined strength of about 30,000 men during the course of the battle. There was another act up the UN’s sleeve. The UN forces at Chosin were also to be supported by one of the greatest concentrations of air power during the Korean War. The 1st U.S. Marine Aircraft Wing was stationed at Yonpo Airfield. Five aircraft carriers from the U.S. Navy's Task Force 77 were also available and capable of launching 230 sorties daily which would provide close air support during the battle. In addition, the U.S. Air Force Far East Combat Cargo Command in Japan had a capacity of airdropping 250 tons of supplies per-day to resupply the trapped UN forces.

The Chinese PVA’s strength for the battle was estimated at 120,000 troops. This was due to the 9th Army being composed of 12 divisions with the strength of over 10,000 men per-division. Before arriving in Korea, however, the PVA 9th Corps Army was reinforced. Each of its three corps now had four divisions instead of the usual three. Infantry from two formerly surrendered Nationalist divisions had been absorbed earlier. This brought each infantry company up to strength. Some companies had approximately 150 men, but other companies were reinforced with more than 200 men. On average, each division of the 9th Army had more infantry troops than other PVA divisions.

Eventually, all 12 divisions of the PVA 9th Corps Army would be deployed. Eight divisions of the PVA 20th and 27th Corps served as the main attacking force. Four divisions of the PVA 26th Corps initially were held back in reserve, and deployed after 20th and 27th Corps exhausted all their available strength.

Battle of Chosin Reservoir

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir took place about a month after the PRC entered the conflict and sent the PVA 9th Army to infiltrate the northeastern part of North Korea. It would be a decisive battle in the Korean War. Between November 27th and December 13th, 30,000 UN troops under the field command of Major-General Oliver P. Smith were encircled and attacked by about 120,000 Chinese troops under the command of Song Shilun who had been ordered by Mao to destroy the UN forces.

The PVA had set its battle plans in motion. The UN forces were now assessed and appropriate PVA actions and forces applied. The PVA commanders understood the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu very well. They had studied his ancient Chinese military treatise The Art of War dating roughly from 771 to 476 BC. “If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him… If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him… If his forces are united, separate them… Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.”

On November 27, 1950 C.E., PVA forces surprised U.S. Major-General Almond’s command at the Chosin Reservoir area. A brutal 17-day battle in freezing weather followed. The UN forces were eventually able to break out of the encirclement and to make a fighting withdrawal to the port of Hungnam, inflicting heavy casualties on the PVA. U.S. Marine units were supported in their withdrawal by the U.S. Army's RCT-31 to their east, which suffered heavy casualties and the full brunt of the PVA offensive. Following the retreat of the U.S. 8th Army from northwest Korea in the aftermath of the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River, the evacuation of the U.S. X Corps from the port of Hungnam in northeast Korea marked the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from North Korea.

The PVA’s 20th and 27th Corps of the 9th Corps Army launched multiple attacks and ambushes along the road between the Chosin Reservoir and Kot'o-ri on the night of November 27th. At Yudam-ni, the U.S. 5th, 7th and 11th Marines were surrounded and attacked by the PVA‘s 79th and 89th Divisions, while the 59th Division attacking the road between Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri to cut off communication. Similarly, U.S. Army unit RCT-31, later to be called RCT-31, was isolated and ambushed at Sinhung-ni by the PVA 80th, 81st and 94th Divisions. At Hagaru-ri, the U.S. 1st Marine Division command headquarters was attacked by the PVA’s 58th Division. Finally, the PVA’s 60th Division surrounded elements of the U.S. 1st Marines at Kot'o-ri from the north.

Actions at Yudam-ni - Chosin Reservoir

Acting on Major-General Almond's instruction, Smith ordered the U.S. 5th Marines to attack west toward Mupyong-ni on November 27th. The attack was soon stalled by the Chinese PVA 89th Division and forced the U.S. Marines to dig in on the ridges surrounding Yudam-ni. As night came, three PVA regiments of the 79th Division attacked the ridges on the north and northwest of Yudam-ni, hoping to annihilate the garrison in one stroke. Close range fighting soon developed as the attackers infiltrated U.S. Marine positions, but the U.S. 5th and 7th Marines held the line while inflicting heavy casualties on the PVA.

Actions East of the reservoir

RCT-31, later known as "Task Force Faith," was a hastily formed regimental combat team from the U.S. 7th Infantry Division that guarded the right flank of the U.S. Marine advance towards Mupyong-ni. Before the battle, RCT-31 was spread thin, with main elements separated on the hills north of Sinhung-ni, the Pyungnyuri Inlet west of Sinhung-ni, and the town of Hudong-ni south of Sinhung-ni. This placed them in two separate positions along a 10-mile stretch down the east side of the reservoir. Although the PVA believed RCT-31 to be a reinforced regiment, the Task Force was actually under strength, with one battalion missing, due to the bulk of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division being scattered over northeast Korea.

On the night of November 27th, three regiments from the PVA 80th Division attacked the northern hills and the Pyungnyuri Inlet, completely surprising the UN defenders. The ensuing battle inflicted heavy casualties on the U.S. 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry, to the north of Sinhung-ni, while the 57th Field Artillery Battalion and the U.S. 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry, were almost overrun at the Pyungnyuri Inlet to the west of Sinhung-ni. The PVA also sent the 242nd Regiment of the 81st Division towards Hill 1221, an undefended hill that controlled the road between Sinhung-ni and Hudong-ni. As the night's fighting ended, "RCT-31" had been separated into three elements. Believing that the UN defenders had been completely destroyed at the Pyungnyuri Inlet, the PVA stopped its attacks and proceeded to loot the U.S. positions for food and clothing.

As morning came on November 28th, the U.S. 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry (3/31st) Infantry counterattacked the PVA 239th Regiment at the Pyungnyuri Inlet, sending the surprised 239th back in a complete rout.

In the afternoon, U.S. Army Major-General Almond flew into the Sinhung-ni perimeter of U.S. Army unit RCT-31. He was convinced that it was strong enough to begin its attack north and deal with whatever "remnants" of PVA forces in their way. Almond ordered Colonel Allan D. Maclean, the commander of RCT-31, to resume the offensive north while presenting Silver Stars to three of Maclean's officers. In disgust, Lieutenant-Colonel Don C. Faith, Jr., the commander of the 1/32nd Infantry, threw his medal into the snow.

On the night of November 28th, the PVA 80th Division attacked again with four regiments. With devastating fire from the UN force’s M16 and M19 anti-aircraft (AA) guns attached to the 57th Field Artillery Battalion, they swept the PVA ranks at the Pyungnyuri Inlet. The Chinese assault became a disaster as their communications broke down. After the fighting, the PVA 238th and the 239th Regiment together had fewer than 600 soldiers left.

On the other hand, attacks by the PVA 240th Regiment had RCT-31 under siege. Almond finally instructed the U.S. 1st Marine Division to rescue RCT-31 by breaking out of Yudam-ni, an impossible order for Major-General Oliver P. Smith to implement. Only the 31st Tank Company was able to attempt to rescue of the RCT-31 by attacking Hill 1221 from Hudong-ni that day. But without infantry support, the armored attack was stalled by slippery roads, rough terrain, and close infantry assaults.

Actions at Yudam-ni - Chosin Reservoir

While the battle was underway at Yudam-ni, the PVA 59th Division blocked the road between Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri by attacking the defending Charlie and Fox Companies of the U.S. 7th Marines. The successful assault forced Charlie Company to retreat into Yudam-ni, which left Fox Company commanded by Captain William E. Barber isolated on a hill overlooking the Toktong Pass, a vital pass that controlled the road.

On November 29th, several efforts by the U.S. 7th Marines failed to rescue Fox Company, despite inflicting heavy casualties on the PVA. Aided by artillery from Hagaru-ri and Marine Corsair fighters, Fox Company managed to hold out for five days while enduring constant attacks by the PVA 59th Division.

Actions at Sinhung-ni - Chosin Reservoir

On November 29th, the U.S. 1st Battalion managed to break through the PVA blockade and

Colonel Maclean ordered a retreat from the northern hills towards Sinhung-ni. After reaching the Sinhung-ni perimeter, Colonel Maclean was lost when he mistook some Chinese soldiers for Americans.

By the night of November 29th, the PVA finally stopped their attacks and waited for fresh reinforcements.

Order to break out from Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri Chosin Reservoir