Information AboutKorean War |
The Korean War, from June 25 1950 to cease-fire on July 27 1953 (the war has not ended officially), was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea . Some consider this Cold War -era conflict to have been a Proxy War between the United States and its allies, and the Communist powers of the People's Republic Of China and the Soviet Union . The principal combatants were North Korea, supported by People's Volunteer Army (PVA; 抗美援朝志願軍) of Communist China, and later Soviet Combat Advisors , aircraft pilots, and weapons; and South Korea, supported principally by the United States (U.S.), the United Kingdom (UK), and the Philippines , although many other nations sent troops under the Aegis of the United Nations (UN). In South Korea, it is often called "6·25" (the date of the start of the conflict), or, more formally, ''Hanguk Jeonjaeng'' ( 한국전쟁 ). In the United States, the conflict was termed a Police Action , as the Korean Conflict, under the aegis of the United Nations rather than a war, largely in order to remove the necessity of a Congressional Declaration Of War . HISTORICAL BACKGROUND :Main articles: Korea Under Japanese Rule , Division Of Korea '' Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 until the end of World War II in 1945. On August 6 , 1945 , the Soviet Union, in keeping with an arrangement made with the United States government, but breaking its 1941 non-aggression pact with Japan, declared war on the Japanese Empire and on August 8 entered Korea from the North. President Harry S Truman ordered the landing of U.S. troops in the South. {Link without Title} On August 10 , 1945 , with the Japanese Surrender imminent, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to Divide Korea along the 38th Parallel and that Japanese forces north of that line would surrender to the Soviet Union and those south of that line would surrender to the United States. The Peninsula was effectively divided into zones of control in the North and South under the administration of the two major powers. However, the U.S. did not consider this to be a permanent partition. In December 1945, the U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to administer the country temporarily. Concurrently, both countries established governments in their respective halves, each one favorable to their political ideology. In the process, the U.S. ran elections supervised by the UN, replacing an indigenous, left-wing government that had formed in June 1945 before the end of the war, with one led by Anti-Communist Syngman Rhee . The southern part's left-wing parties boycotted the elections. The Soviet Union, in turn, approved the seizure of power by a Communist government led by Kim Il-Sung in the northern part. The Allies said that Korea would be a unified, independent country under an elected government but failed to specify the details. South Korean President Syngman Rhee and North Korean General Secretary Kim Il-Sung were each intent on reuniting the peninsula under their own systems. In part because of Soviet tanks and heavy arms, the North Koreans were able to go on the offensive, while South Korea, with only limited American backing, had far fewer options. At the time, the American government believed that the Communist Bloc was a unified monolith, and that North Korea acted within this monolith as a pawn of the Soviet Union (a view that in the case of North Korea is largely substantiated by documents from the Soviet archives showing that Kim Il-Sung, operating with some Soviet assistance, was responsible for the invasion of the South, and discrediting a popular viewpoint of the 1960s and 1970s that the war was just as much caused by South Korean and Western provocation). In 1949, both Russian and American forces were withdrawn. On January 12 , 1950 , United States Secretary Of State Dean Acheson told the National Press Club that America's Pacific defense perimeter was made up of the Aleutians , Ryukyu , Japan , and the Philippines implying that the U.S. might not fight over Korea. This omission, though not deliberate, encouraged the North and the Soviets. ]] The People's Republic of China was wary of a war in Korea. Mao Zedong was concerned that it would encourage American intervention in Asia and would destabilize the region and interfere with plans to destroy the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-Shek which had retreated to Taiwan . In early 1949, Kim Il-sung pressed his case with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that the time had come for a full-scale invasion and take-over of the South. Stalin refused permission, concerned about the relative unpreparedness of the North Korean armed forces and about possible U.S. involvement. In the course of the next year, the Communist leadership built the North Korean army into a formidable offensive organization modeled after a Soviet mechanized force. By 1950, the North Koreans enjoyed substantial advantages over the South in every category of equipment. After another visit by Kim to Moscow in March–April 1950, Stalin approved an invasion. KOREAN WAR (1950-1953) The war begins (June 25, 1950) In the pre-dawn hours of n forces, outnumbered and out-gunned, were in full retreat. As the ground attack continued, the North Korean Air Force conducted bombing on Kimpo Airport in Seoul. Seoul was captured by the North Koreans on the afternoon of June 28 , but the North Koreans had not accomplished their goal of a quick surrender by the Rhee government and the disintegration of the South Korean Army. The invasion of South Korea (Republic of Korea, ROK) came as a surprise to the United States and the other western powers; in the preceding week, on June 20, Dean Acheson of the State Department had told Congress that war was unlikely. Truman himself was contacted hours after the invasion had begun; he was convinced that this was the beginning of World War 3 . Despite the post-World War II demobilization of U.S. and Allied forces, which caused serious supply problems for American troops in the region (excluding the United States Marines , the infantry divisions sent to Korea were at 40% of paper strength, and the majority of their equipment was found to be useless), the United States still had substantial forces in Japan , under the command of General Douglas MacArthur . Apart from British Commonwealth units, no other nation could supply sizeable manpower. President Harry S. Truman , on hearing of the invasion, ordered MacArthur to transfer munitions to the ROK Army (ROKA) and to use air cover to protect the evacuation of U.S. citizens. Truman did not agree with his advisors suggestion to employ unilateral U.S. airstrikes against the North Korean forces, but did order the Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan , thereby ending the policy of the United States of acquiescing to the defeat of the forces of Chiang Kai-Shek . The Chinese Nationalists government, now confined to Taiwan, asked to participate in the war, but their request was denied by the Americans who felt they would only encourage Communist Chinese intervention. The other western powers quickly agreed with the American actions and volunteered their support for the effort, but by August the South Korean forces and the U.S. Eighth Army, which had arrived to help South Korea resist the Communist invasion, were driven into a small area in the southeast corner of the Korean peninsula around the city of Pusan . With the aid of American supplies, air support, and additional reinforcements, the U.S. and ROK forces managed to stabilize a line along the Nakdong River . This became a desperate holding action called the Pusan Perimeter . Although more UN support arrived, the situation was dire, and looked as though the North could gain control of the entire peninsula. Inchon landing (September 15 - September 28, 1950) ''Main article:'' '' Battle Of Inchon '' ( Old Spelling ) In order to alleviate pressure on the Pusan Perimeter, MacArthur, as UN Commander-in-chief for Korea, ordered an Amphibious Invasion far behind the North Korean troops at Inch'ǒn (Incheon 인천 仁川). This was an extremely risky operation, but once the American and other UN troops gained a foothold on the beach, it was extremely successful. United Nations troops landed at Incheon, faced only mild resistance and quickly moved to recapture Seoul . The North Koreans, finding their supply lines cut, began a rapid retreat northwards and the ROK and UN forces that had been confined in the south moved north and joined those that had landed at Inchon. The United Nations troops drove the North Koreans back past the 38th Parallel . The goal of saving South Korea had been achieved, but because of the success and the prospect of uniting all of Korea under the government of Syngman Rhee , the Americans — with UN approval — were convinced to continue into North Korea. Other issues considered included the psychological effects of destroying a Communist nation and the liberation of POWs . This greatly concerned the Chinese, who worried that the UN forces would not stop at the Yalu River , the borderline between the PRK and China . Many in the west, including General MacArthur, thought that spreading the war to China would be necessary. However, Truman and the other leaders disagreed, and MacArthur was ordered to be very cautious when approaching the Chinese border. Eventually, MacArthur disregarded these concerns, arguing that since the North Korean troops were being supplied by bases in China, those supply depots should be bombed. However, except on some rare occasions, UN bombers remained out of Manchuria during the war. The Chinese entry (October, 1950) While the was sent to Moscow to add force to Mao's cabled arguments. Mao delayed his forces while waiting for Russian help, and the planned attack was thus postponed from 13 October to 19 October . Soviet assistance was limited to providing air support no nearer than sixty miles (96 km) to the battlefront. The MiG-15 s in PRC colours were an unpleasant surprise to the UN pilots; they held local air superiority against the F-80 Shooting Star s until the newer F-86 Sabre s were deployed. The Soviet role was known to the U.S. but they kept quiet to avoid any international and potential nuclear incidents. On October 15 , 1950 , Truman went to Wake Island to discuss the possibility of Chinese intervention and his desire to limit the scope of the Korean conflict. MacArthur reassured to Truman that "if the Chinese tried to get down to Pyongyang there would be the greatest slaughter." On October 19 , 1950 , Pyongyang fell to UN forces. The Chinese assault began on October 25 , 1950 , under the command of General Peng Dehuai with 270,000 PVA troops. The Chinese assault caught the UN troops by surprise, as war between PRC and the United Nations had not been declared and the Chinese, employing great skill and remarkable camouflage discipline, concealed their numeric and divisional strength after the first engagement with the UN. After these initial engagements, the Chinese withdrew into the mountains; UN forces ignored the stern warning delivered by the Chinese and continued their advance to the Yalu. In late November, the Chinese struck once more. In the west, along the Chongchon River, the Chinese overran several ROK divisions and landed an extremely heavy blow into the flank of the remaining UN forces; the resulting withdrawal of the United States Eighth Army was the longest retreat of an American unit in national history. In the east, at the Battle Of Chosin Reservoir ( November 26 – December 13 ) a 3,000 man unit from the US 7th Infantry Division , Task Force Faith , was virtually wiped out. The Marines fared better; though surrounded and forced to retreat, they inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese who committed 6 divisions while trying to destroy the Marines. UN forces in northeast Korea withdrew to form a defensive perimeter around the port city of Hungnam , where a Dunkirk -style evacuation was carried out in late December 1950. Approximately 100,000 military personnel and material and another 100,000 North Korean civilians were loaded onto a variety of merchant and military transport ships and safely evacuated to ports in UN-held territory on the southern tip of Korea. On January 4 , 1951 , Communist Chinese and North Korean forces captured Seoul . Both the 8th Army and the X Corps were forced to retreat. General Walker was killed in an accident. He was replaced by Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway , who had led airborne troops in World War II. Ridgway took immediate steps to raise the morale and fighting spirit of the battered Eighth Army, which had fallen to low levels during its retreat from North Korea. Nevertheless, the situation was so grim that MacArthur mentioned that Atomic Weapon s might be used, much to the alarm of America's allies. In March 1951, in Operation Ripper , a revitalized Eighth Army - restored by Ridgway to fighting trim - drove the North Korean and Chinese troops from Seoul. MacArthur was removed from command by President Truman on April 11 , 1951 . The reasons for this are many and well documented. They include MacArthur's meeting with ROC President Chiang Kai-shek in the role of a U.S. diplomat; his increasingly erratic behavior on the battlefield; and his miscalculation at Wake Island when Truman asked him specifically about Chinese troop buildup near the Korean border. Furthermore, MacArthur openly demanded Nuclear Attack on China, despite Truman's desire to avoid escalation into a wider conflict with China and a possible nuclear exchange with the USSR. Truman concluded that MacArthur's actions were in clear violation of Truman's superiority as Commander-in-Chief and of the Constitutional principle of civilian control of the military, and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously upheld Truman's position, despite their respect for MacArthur's accomplishments on the battlefield. MacArthur was succeeded by Ridgway, who managed to regroup UN forces for an effective counter-offensive. A series of attacks managed to slowly drive back the communist forces, inflicting heavy casualties on Chinese and North Korean units as the Eighth Army advanced some miles north of the 38th parallel. Historian and Korean War veteran Bevin Alexander had this to say about Chinese tactics in his book '' How Wars Are Won '': The Chinese had no air power and were armed only with rifles, machineguns, hand grenades, and mortars. Against the much more heavily armed Americans, they adapted a technique they had used against the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War of 1946–49. The Chinese generally attacked at night and tried to close in on a small troop position--generally a platoon--and then attacked it with local superiority in numbers. The usual method was to infiltrate small units, from a platoon of fifty men to a company of 200, split into separate detachments. While one team cut off the escape route of the Americans, the others struck both the front and the flanks in concerted assaults. The attacks continued on all sides until the defenders were destroyed or forced to withdraw. The Chinese then crept forward to the open flank of the next platoon position, and repeated the tactics. Stalemate (July, 1951) , Border between South and North Korea at the DMZ]] The rest of the war involved little territory change and lengthy peace negotiations (which started in Kaesong on July 10 of the same year). Even during the peace negotiations combat continued. For the South Korean and allied forces, the goal was to recapture all of what had been South Korea before an agreement was reached in order to avoid losing any territory. The Chinese did a similar operation at the battle of "The Hook" where they were repelled by British forces. A major issue of the negotiations was repatriation of POWs. The Communists agreed to voluntary repatriation, but only if the majority of North Korean and Chinese POWs would return to China or North Korea. However, when polled the majority elected to not return. The war continued until the Communists eventually dropped this issue. U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 29 1952 fulfilled a campaign promise by travelling to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict. With the United Nations ' acceptance of India 's proposal for Korean Armistice , eventually, a Cease-fire was established on July 27 1953 , by which time the front line was back in the proximity of the 38th parallel, and so a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was established around it, which is still defended today by North Korean troops on one side and South Korean and American troops on the other. The DMZ passes to the north of the parallel towards the east, and to the south as it travels west. The site of the peace talks, Kaesong, the old capital of Korea, was part of the South before hostilities broke out but is currently a special city of the North. No Peace Treaty has been signed up to this day. Western reaction Generals Courtney Whitney , Douglas MacArthur , and Edward Almond in Korea]] American action was taken for a number of reasons. Truman, a Democratic president, was under severe domestic pressure for being too soft on communism (Republican senator Joseph McCarthy stated that the State Department was "infested" with Communists). Especially vocal were those who accused the Democrats of having "lost" China . The intervention was also an important implementation of the new Truman Doctrine , which advocated the opposition of communism everywhere it tried to expand. The Lessons Of Munich in 1938 also influenced the American decision, believing that Appeasing Communism would only encourage further expansion. Instead of pressing for a congressional declaration of war, which he regarded as too alarmist and time-consuming when time was of the essence, Truman went to the United Nations for approval. Thanks to a temporary Soviet absence from the , Australia , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , France , South Africa , Turkey , Thailand , Greece , the Netherlands , Ethiopia , Colombia , the Philippines , Belgium , Luxembourg , and India . Although American opinion was solidly behind the venture, Truman would later take harsh criticism for not obtaining a declaration of war from Congress before sending troops to Korea. Thus, "Truman's War" was said by some to have violated the spirit, if not the letter, of the United States Constitution . The first significant American combat unit to arrive in South Korea was Task Force Smith , part of the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division based in Japan. On July 5 it engaged in the first North Korean-U.S. clash of the war at Osan , and was driven back with heavy losses. The rest of the half strength 24th Division next confronted the North Koreans and was soon overwhelmed and forced to fall back to Taejon , which also fell. At the Pusan Perimeter, American Eighth Army commander Lieutenant General Walton Walker was able to maneuver his forces to successfully confront the North Koreans as they attempted a flanking maneuver instead of concentrating their forces which might have destroyed U.N. forces in the area, but nonetheless, by September, only the area around Pusan, about 10% of the total Korean peninsula, was still in the hands of the coalition. CHARACTERISTICS Air War The Korean War was the last major war where propeller-powered fighters such as the P-51 Mustang , F4U Corsair , A-1 Skyraider (though used with distinction in a ground-attack role in Vietnam), F4U-5N, and Aircraft Carrier -based Supermarine Seafire , Fairey Firefly , and Hawker Sea Fury , deployed by the British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy , were used, as jet fighters ( US Air Force F-80 s, and US Navy or US Marine Corps Grumman F9F Panther s, and McDonnell F2H Banshee s) came to dominate the skies, overwhelming North Korea's propeller-driven Yakovlev Yak-9 s and Lavochkin La-9 s. From 1950, North Korea introduced MiG-15 jet fighters, piloted by experienced Soviet Air Force pilots, a '' Casus Belli '' deliberately overlooked by the UN allied forces who were reluctant to engage in open war with the Soviet Union and China. At first UN jet fighters, which now included Royal Australian Air Force Gloster Meteor Mk.8s, had some success, but the superior quality of the MiGs soon held sway over the first generation jets used by the UN, leading to the loss of 3046 allied aircraft during the Korean war. Even after the USAF introduced the more advanced F-86 , its pilots often struggled against the Soviet jets, as the MiG-15 had an edge in ceiling, acceleration, rate of climb, and armament (3 cannons vs. 6 machine-guns), although overall speed and roll rate were slightly inferior. The U.N. gradually gained a numerical advantage, and their aggressiveness gave them an air superiority that lasted until the end of the war — a decisive factor in helping the U.N. first advance into the north, and then resist the Chinese invasion of South Korea. The Chinese also had jet power, but the American forces had superior training for their pilots. Among other factors which helped tip the balance toward the U.N. jets were the F-86s' better bombers, and primary targets for Sabres were MiG-15s. Recently exposed Soviet documentation claims that 345 Soviet MiG-15s were lost during the Korean war. Soviet sources claimed at that time, however, about 1300 victories and 335 MiG losses. China's official losses were 231 planes shot down in air-to-air combat (mostly MiG-15) and 168 other losses. The number of losses of the North Korean Air Force was not revealed. It is estimated that it lost about 200 aircraft in the first stage of the war, and another 70 aircraft since Chinese intervention. Soviet's claims of 650 victories over F-86s and China's claims of another 211 F-86s in air combats are regarded as exaggerated by the USAF . A recent publication showed that the total number of USAF F-86s ever present in the Korean peninsula during the war was only 674 and the total F-86s losses due to all causes were about 230. With each side making their own claims it is difficult to conclude on the actual losses and kills of the air war. Throughout the conflict, the United States maintained a policy of heavy bombing, especially using , against any and all North Korean settlements. Although images of the civilian victims of the weapon were to be ingrained upon the memory of the world in Vietnam, significantly more Napalm was dropped on North Korea, despite the relative short length of the conflict. Tens of thousands of Gallon s were dropped on targets in Korea each day. In May and June of 1953, the United States Air Force undertook a mission to destroy several key Irrigation and Hydroelectric Dams , in order to critically hamper Agriculture and Industry in the North. The Kusǒng (구성), Tǒksan (덕산) and Pujǒn (부전) River dams were all destroyed, severely Flooding vast areas of land, drowning thousands and ultimately starving many more. :''See also British Commonwealth Forces Korea Atrocities |
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