Friday, October 11, 2024

Battle of Pork Chop Hill

The Battle of Pork Chop Hill was a long and vicious military engagement fought between the UN forces, under James van Fleet, and Chinese communist troops during the Korean War. It took place from March to July, 1953, in Cheorwon, in the northeast corner of South Korea. It was a long battle of attrition, which cost both sides the lives of thousands of men, with waves of attacks and counteroffensives. However, it was a Chinese victory.

Pork Chop Hill was a 990ft-high ridge, which had been recaptured for the United Nations by the US Army 180th Infantry Regiment in May 1952. The hill was defended by elements of the US 7th Infantry Division, when the Chinese 423rd Regiment launched an attack on the American positions on the morning of March 23, 1953, overrunning and taking a UN outpost. The next day, after savage fighting, most of the ridge summit fell to the Chinese. However, US infantry units counter-attacked and regained the lost positions.

As the Battle of Pork Chop Hill raged on, with particularly intense fighting taking place in April, the hill changed hands several times. Nevertheless, on July 6, Chinese infantry units charged up the hill again during a night attack, overwhelming and permanently capturing the UN positions on top on July 10, after four days of vicious attacks and counter-attacks.

Below, US Army 105-mm howitzers providing fire support to the UN infantry units fighting for Pork Chop Hill.


Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Korean War

The Korean War was an armed conflict fought between North Korea, supported by China, and South Korea, which was backed up by the United Nations. The UN forces were in turn led by the United States of America. It took place on the Korean Peninsula from June 25, 1950, when the North Korean Army crossed the 38th Parallel as they pushed south, to July 27, 1953, when the armistice agreement was signed.

US Marines on a hill on the Pusan Perimeter on the Naktong River in August 1950

Cause

The main cause of the Korean War was the stark ideological differences between North Korea and South Korea; the former ruled by a communist government, while the latter under a conservative capitalist regime. However, the armed struggle historical background was the Japanese invasion of Korea and its annexation in 1905, after the Russo-Japanese War. Japan needed its natural resources, such as coal and iron ore.

As a result, Japan established a protectorate there.During the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States had agreed that the Red Army would invade the northern half of the peninsula of Korea, attacking the Japanese strongholds, thus relieving the American war effort in the Pacific, while the US Army would invade the southern half of the peninsula, which would take place in September 1945. The 38th parallel had been set as the boundary line between the two halves, which would simply be referred to as North Korea, whose capital would be Pyongyang, and South Korea, politically revolving around Seoul.

Supported by the Soviet Union, the communist party of North Korea had set up a socialist government led by Kim Il-Sung in 1948. In South Korea, on the other hand, Syngman Rhee had been elected president of the Republic of Korea (ROK) by a national assembly, influenced by Washington, also in 1948. The following year, both the Soviet Union and the United States withdrew their troops from the peninsula.

Summary

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean Army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded South Korea, with the main units advancing down along the Uijongbu corridor. They moved towards Seoul, the southern capital, in an attempt to reunite Korea. Although the South Korean Army fought back and tried to hold their ground, they were overwhelmed and forced to retreat by superior communist forces.

As the North Koreans advanced relentlessly southwards, all the roads would soon get choked by crowds of refugees and disoriented South Korean troops. On June 27, the communist forces captured Seoul after heavy fighting. On July 5, they defeated a small unit of US Army that had been left behind. On July 20, they beat more determined South Korean forces at Taejon. Meanwhile, the United Nation Security Council had condemned the invasion and appointed General Douglas MacArthur commander of UN multinational forces.

US Army and British and commonwealth forces began to pour in the Pusan Perimeter, in which the routed South Korean Army had been cornered at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. The Battle of Pusan Perimeter began on July 31. By September 16, all communist attacks on the UN armies positions on the perimeter had been repelled. Thus, the Pusan Perimeter had been the farthest advance of the North Korean Army. From then on, the American, British, and South Korean troops would launch counteroffensives to regain enemy-held territory.

On September 15, 1950, a US amphibious force, under MacArthur, stormed ashore on the west coast of the Korean peninsula at Inchon. After ferocious fighting, the Americans managed to recapture Seoul, the capital, on September 26. Meanwhile, UN mechanized divisions moved northwestwards from the south and linked up with American troops at Seoul, encircling large numbers of North Korean troops in a cauldron.

On November 24, 1950, MacArthur launched a powerful offensive against North Korea, crossing the 38th parallel. However, the following day, his central front was breached by a massive communist onslaught carried out by Chinese forces that advanced southwards. The UN troops fell back across the 38th parallel into South Korean. By mid-December, American, British, and Australian divisions were able to organize a defensive line roughly on the 38th parallel, holding off the Chinese onslaught.

By the end of 1950, the initial mobile warfare, which had characterized the first phase of the armed struggle, had become a static war of attrition, which was centered around the 38th parallel.

At dawn, on January 1, 1951, the communists attacked all along the front, pushing UN troops back. Seoul was abandoned once more. However, by January 15, the front had gotten stabilized 40 miles south of the capital under appalling winter weather conditions, with snowstorms and freezing temperatures. On January 25, the UN armies began to push slowly yet relentlessly northwards until April 21, with exhausted Chinese and North Korean troops retreating before them. On March 15, Seoul was retaken once again as American and British troops moved into North Korea. MacArthur had been replaced by Mathew Ridgway in April that year.

By July 1952, both armies had built such strong defensive lines that neither side could undertake major offensives without incurring into unacceptable losses. Supported by artillery, the communists would send infantry units and tanks against tactically important hills along the UN defensive line. When a hill fell into enemy hands, the American and British forces would launch counteroffensives to take it back. These attacks and counterattacks were called the Battles of the Outposts, such as the Battle of White Horse, Battle of Hill Eerie, and the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.

Finally, after costly and vicious fighting, with neither side winning, UN, North Korean and Chinese representatives signed the Armistice at Panmunjom on July 27, 1950, putting an end to the Korean War. Casualties had been high, with 90,000 UN and South Koreans, and 135,000 North Korean and Chinese soldiers killed in action, plus two million civilians.

Below, US Marines watch the F4U Corsairs attack enemy positions with napalm.

General MacArthur, far right, and General Mathew Ridgway, center, with sunglasses, observing the front line in January 1951.


Below, Chinese troops advancing at night to take an American-held hill.

Map of Korean peninsula, which shows the communist forces farthest advance in early September 1950 and the Pusan Perimeter at the beginning of the war. You can also see the site of US Marines landing At Inchon.


Monday, October 7, 2024

Battle of Bowling Alley

The Battle of Bowling Alley was a Korean War battle fought between the North Korean Army and the UN forces from August 12 to August 25, 1950, in Chilgok, in the southern tip of South Korea. This military engagement came about in a barren ravine, which was confined by steep mountain sides. Hence the nickname, "Bowling Alley".

On August 12, the North Korean Army launched a vicious attack on the South Korean positions on the Pusan Perimeter. However, the South Korean 1st Infantry Division, reinforced by the US Army's 27th and 23rd Infantry Regiments, successfully halted a North Korean onslaught in the Bowling Alley. This Communist offensive in this sector was part of the Communist invasion of South Korea, which had begun on June 25, 1950.

Commanders

UN forces: Paik Sun Yuk and John H Michaelis.

Weapons

The UN forces used M46 Pershing heavy tanks; 105mm, 155mm, and 203mm (8in) howitzers; 81mm mortars; rocket launchers; M2 Browning .50-cal machine gun; M1 Garand rifle, Browning Automatic Rifle, M1 carbine; hand grenades. The North Koreans employed Soviet-made T-34 tanks, 152mm and 120mm howitzers guns.

Below, Aerial view of the narrow, steep-sided ravine, called Bowling Alley, where the battle took place.


Saturday, October 5, 2024

Battle of Bloody Ridge

The Battle of Bloody Ridge was a military engagement fought between the United Nation forces and the communist army of North Korea, from August 18 to September 5, 1951, in Gangwon province, about 10 miles north of the 38th parallel, during the Korean War. The UN forces were composed of the US 2nd Infantry Division (8th Army), under the command of General Ruffner, and South Korean troops. 

Summary 

On the morning of August 18, 1951, the 36th Regiment of the 2nd Infantry Division launched an assault on one of the peaks of Bloody Ridge to destroy enemy observation posts, from which the enemy had been directed artillery fire on UN positions.

On August 23, after several frontal attack, the US regiment managed to take the ridge, which would later be called “bloody ridge”. However, they could not secure it as they had to fall back after a vicious North Korean counter-attack.

On August 28, the 9th Regiment (2nd Division) launched another attack on Bloody Ridge; thus, the ferocious fighting between the US infantry and the communists continued for another week.

On September 5, the US 2nd Division troops finally captured the three hills that made up “Bloody Ridge”. The North Korean troops had fled, leaving behind their weapons, and wounded and dead soldiers.

Below, an M-26 Pershing tank provides fire support to US troops fighting against the communist troops on top of on one of the peaks of Bloody Ridge


Thursday, October 3, 2024

Battle of Pusan Perimeter

The Battle of Pusan Perimeter was a long and extensive military engagement between the United Nations forces and the communist army of North Korea. It was fought from July 31 to September 16, 1950, at Pusan and its surrounding area, South Korea, during the Korean War. This battle marked the end of Operation Pokpoong, which was the code-name for the North Korean invasion of South Korea, which had begun on June 25, 1950. The Pusan Perimeter was the furthest reach of this communist invasion and from which the tide of the war would be reverted by the Allies.

The UN forces that stopped the communist offensive and held the Pusan Perimeter consisted of the 1st Cavalry Division, 24th Infantry Division, and the 25th Infantry Division, these three units belonging to the US Eighth Army, under General Walton Walker. Fighting alongside the US forces against the communists were 56,000 South Korean troops. By September 10, these forces had been reinforced by other US and British units, such as the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and the 27th Commonwealth Brigade, which included Australians.

Waves after waves of communist attacks would be launched against the defensive line around Pusan, which was then the last enclave of Western influence in the Korean Peninsula. However, the North Korean Army ferocious assaults on the UN positions would be repelled several times. By September 15, after the Great Naktung Offensive, the last communist assault launched on September 1, the American and South Korean forces, with the vital support of US Navy F4U Corsair fighters, threw the North Korean troops back, launching a counter-offensive that routed the enemy.

Below, soldiers of the 24th Inf. Div., US 8th Army, firing 81-mm mortar shells against enemy positions as they held the line at Pusan Perimeter

Map of Korean Peninsula, showing the advance of the North Korean Army and the city-port of Pusan in the south.


Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Battle of Quang Tri

The Battle of Quang Tri was fought between the South Vietnamese Army, supported by US troops, and the North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces, from January 31 to February 6, 1968, in the City of Quang Tri, during the Vietnam War. The result was a US and South Vietnamese victory.

As part of the Tet Offensive, a combined force of North Vietnamese Army units and Vietcong battalions launched a massive assault on key targets in Quang Tri in the early hours of January 31, 1968. The main objective of this attack was to bring the entire city under communist control.

The sudden assault took the local troops by surprise. Thus, during the first day, they could barely manage to hold the enemy off. Nevertheless, after they got organized, the South Vietnamese troops, supported by the 1st Battalion (12th US Cavalry Regiment) and the 1st Battalion (5th Cavalry Regiment), began to regain lost ground as savage house-to-house fighting raged on.

By February 2, the communist forces had been driven out of the city, leaving behind approximated 1,000 dead bodies. However, the battle continued on the outskirts and peripheral villages, and by February 6, the last enemy pockets had been snuffed out.

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Vo Nguyen Giap

Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) was a Vietnamese General who commanded the Viet Minh forces during the French Indochina War (1946 – 1954) and the Vietnam War (1960 – 1975). He was born in the village of An Xa, Quang Bình province, in 1911. His parents were farmers. Giap was educated at the University of Hanoi where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in political economy and a law degree. After graduation, he taught history for one year at the Thang Long School in Hanoi.

During most of 1930s, Nguyen Giap remained a schoolteacher and journalist and wrote articles for the Tien Dang while actively participating in various revolutionary movements. In 1939, he was arrested but escaped and went to China where he met Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Vietnam Revolutionary League (Vietminh). While in exile his sister was captured and executed. His wife was also sent to prison where she died.

When Nguyen Giap returned to Vietnam in 1944, he helped organize resistance to the Japanese occupation forces. After the Japanese finally surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, the Japanese decided to allow nationalist groups to take over public buildings while keeping the French in prison as a way of causing additional trouble to the Allies in the postwar period. The Viet Minh and other groups took over various towns and formed a provisional government in which Giap was named Minister of the Interior. After World War II, France attempted to reestablish control over Vietnam, but Ho Chi Minh had already announced the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which was a clandestine communist republic not recognized by other nations except China. Thus, the Viet Minh guerrilla movement began carrying out raids and ambushes against the French troops, initiating the French Indochina War.

From 1946 to 1954, Vo Nguyen Giap commanded the Viet Minh forces during this war against the French. From 1949, he had an advantage over the French commanders, for neighboring China had become its major allied and armed supplier. He and his troops received both military training and weapons from China and the Soviet Union. When the French commanders began offensives against the Viet Minh forces, the Vietnamese troops and Giap could always run into their sanctuaries in China. On the other hand, the French were 14,000 miles away from France, making the war against the forces of the Viet Minh costly, and they had no sanctuaries into which they could escape when they were attacked. They had to hang on and fight with the available means they had in Vietnam.

Vo Nguyen Giap took part in the following historically significant battles: Lang Son (1950); Hoa Binh (1951–1952); Dien Bien Phu (1954); the Tet Offensive (1968); the Nguyen Hue Offensive (known in the West as the Easter Offensive) (1972); and the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign (1975). When the war against the American and South Vietnamese forces ended in 1975, Giap became interior minister as well as defense minister in Ho Chi Minh’s government. He also served as Politburo member of the Lao Dong Party.