Mornign Calm
By Grover C. Cooper

   Dedication

         Korea, or its ancient name, Chosan, means Land of the Morning Calm. Korea was not calm on the morning of June 25, 1950 when the massed forces of North Korea surged down across the 38th parallel intent on invading all of Korea. The country as of 1950 was divided into two parts, a northern and a southern section, this the result of agreements between, primarily, the United States and Russia in 1946 at the conclusion of World War II. For over 40 years prior to this time Korea had been under the control of Japan. The Japanese had also in the 1930s taken over China's Manchuria, bordering Korea on the north. On the defeat of Japan, Manchuria had been handed back to China and Korea was divided at the 38th degree parallel, with Russia taking the surrender of Japanese troops north of that line and the United States taking surrender of troops to the south of the line. As it ultimately turned out, the Chinese Communist government controlled Manchuria, while a Russian puppet government controlled North Korea.

         Efforts were made by the United States to unify the two parts of the country with democratic elections as to who would control. But an aggressive, and land acquisitive Russia objected, fearing the democracy would prevail. Russia and the United States had been allies in World War II, but it was an alliance brought on by a common peril and not one of common ideology. Indeed, as had been made manifest two years earlier, when the Russians tried to block its former allies out of Berlin --- resulting in the Berlin Airlift --- they were out to control as much of the post World War II world as possible, and by whatever means.

         In light of this background it should have come as no surprise to the United States and the United Nations, that there would ultimately be aggression by North Korea. Its leader, Kim Il Sung, was a militarist, having been trained by and served in the Russian Army; the North Korean army was completely equipped with Russian weapons, including tanks and fighter aircraft; and almost continuously for the past couple of years there were battles, with the North Korean and the South Korean armies each probing the 38th parallel in the so called "rice wars". Despite this mounting evidence in the period leading up to June 25, 1950, the United States was caught unprepared for war, much as it had been nine years earlier at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese struck.  

         The attack came on the weekend, democracies enemies seeming to realize that weekends are the time when nobody is minding the store. The North Korean invading army consisted of approximately 90,000 front line troops, divided into seven divisions with spearheads aimed south along the 38th. Supporting these troops were some 150 heavy Russian built World War II tanks, the T-34, considered by many to be the best tank of the War. It had a low, swept back silhouette, was very heavily armored and mounted a large 88 millimeter cannon. It was almost impossible to knock out with anything but the heaviest weapons, its only Achilles heel being an air intake system in its rear, not an easy place to access under combat conditions. In addition there was Russian supplied artillery and rocket launchers -- of heavy caliber and long range-- excellent rifles, machine guns and abundant ammunition. Finally, the North Koreans had some 200 Russian Yak, prop driven aircraft, not new but more and better than anything the South Korean, or Republic of Korea (ROK), forces had. In addition to equipment the North Korean forces had some 23,000 men in reserve, plus an 18,000 man police contingent, experienced in border skirmishes.

         Indeed the ROK forces were not only out manned and out equipped, but on June 25, when the attack came, many of their forces were not even on duty. Of the 39,000 ROK front line troops, large numbers were on weekend leave, many at considerable distance from their positions on the parallel. This meant that partially manned, unprepared, and under equipped forces were attempting to stave off a fully prepared war machine which was determined to reunite Chosan by force, and to impose their Communist form of government on the whole. Despite this disadvantage some ROK forces along the eastern side of the parallel, fought bravely and effectively. The North Koreans had concentrated most of their heavy armament and tanks in the west so in the east, it was more soldier against soldier, and the ROK forces performed admirably under bad circumstances. In the west however, the story was different. Seoul was the capital and heart of South Korea, and its largest city. It was on the west and was located about 25 miles inland from the Yellow Sea and some 50 miles south of the 38th. This was the principle initial objective of the invading forces and with their tanks and heavy artillery they rolled over the South Korea forces. In artillery duels the superior range of the North Korean guns permitted them to bombard the ROK gun emplacements without receiving return fire. And most important the columns of North Korean troops were led by long lines of T-34 tanks, which were virtually immune to the weapons the ROK forces had.  

         For example, the 2 1/2 inch bazooka, a man held antitank rocket launcher, which was so effective against the small Japanese tanks, and most of the medium German tanks in WW II, was ineffective against the T-34, its warhead simply bouncing off the heavy machines. As for anti tank field guns, they were limited in number and armor piercing shells were extremely scarce. The sad state of the South Korean army and its equipment on June 25 was in large part due to misjudgment as to what the North might do, and in some part resulted from a fear on the part of the United States as to what South Korea, under its dynamic and aggressive right wing leader Syngman Rhee, might do, if better equipped. It was feared that with enough of a force Rhee might invade the North and precipitate the very kind of thing which was now happening. Moreover, it was felt in US military circles that Korea was definitely not tank country and the North knew it and would not use tanks. Tanks need large, flat or rolling countryside, with more or less solid footing underneath. Korea was the opposite, the land mass being three quarters mountainous, with narrow valleys interlaced with rivers, while the South had a couple of large mountain spines running its length, with wide valleys, the whole of which were divided into diked and flooded fields for growing rice and other crops. This was not tank country. But despite this, the North came down the narrow roads in long columns, all totally contrary to effective tank deployment --- where a disabled tank would stop an entire column, leaving all the column vulnerable - and they were almost unstoppable. They were very effective against a poorly armed defender like the South Korean Army. The result was a virtual rout of the ROK forces down to Seoul, with the capital falling a few days after the fighting started.

         The government of the United States was in a panic as to what action to take. Complicating the matter was a recent speech by the Secretary of State which placed Korea outside of the US's area of vital interest. But on closer look it became obvious that if the US did not support South Korea, its credibility -- in the face of Soviet aggressiveness -- would be highly suspect in all of Asia.. The President accordingly appointed General Douglas MacArthur, then serving as chief of allied forces in occupied Japan, as supreme commander for defending our interests in South Korea. At the time he was probably the most highly regarded US military man, noted for his brilliance and tactical ability. By early July MacArthur flew to an air field near Suwon, about as close to the deteriorating front line as he could land. In fact fearing enemy air attack, the General sent his plane back to Japan while he reconnoitered the situation. It was good he did since during his visit there was an air attack on the Suwon field which resulted in the loss of aircraft on the ground.  

         The net result of MacArthur's visit was his decision to effectuate, some three month later, a daring counter attack against the enemy. In the meantime, until his counter attack forces could be obtained and prepared, he made it known that he expected South Korea to be held and its troops not to be pushed into the sea, in a latter day Dunkirk. To implement this US troops were needed and needed in a hurry. This would seem simple for a country that only four years earlier, had the largest, best equipped army in the world. But it was not simple. In that four years the United States had disarmed and gone back to civilian life with a vengeance. In the first place, you just don't have back to back wars, it was thought. Moreover, the US had the atomic bomb, and that was an Air Force function. No country in its right mind was going to tackle the US with that bomb in its possession and an excellent Air Force to deliver it. Korea then was a lesson we learned for the first time but which was to remain a basic fact from that time forward. Humanitarian reasons aside, you simply could not use the big bomb for regional wars such as Korea. Russia now had a bomb of its own, so there was always the great danger that once the US used one, the matter would be accelerated into a world wide nuclear conflict. Korea had to be fought in the traditional way, with ground troops, navy and air power.

         There was an immediate call put out in Japan and in the United States for troops. In Japan the occupying army was ill prepared for this. The men had not kept up with military skills and were either in poor physical shape or were just out of high school, in the service for a fling, and happy to be in uninhibited Japan. Shoes were shined and beds made by Japanese house boys. At night the barracks were by and large empty, most of the men off base with temporary or permanent girl friends (josans) or drunk in one of the thousands of houses of prostitution, so called "short time houses". Despite this fact of life, an army of sorts was cobbled together in a few days. One of the first men to face this responsibility was Lt. Colonel Charles B (Brad) Smith, stationed on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. Col. Smith and some five hundred young men were hurried over to Pusan, and then by long train ride up to Taejon, and then by truck and foot to Onan, all, on the main road and rail line from the south toward Seoul. Like their ROK counterparts, they were poorly equipped for the job. In addition they were not a trained coherent group, rather were by and large, inexperienced young men who had not expected to fight a war. In addition to lack of training, they were psychologically not prepared to lay their lives down for the flag.  

         Still, under the circumstances they did amazingly well. Lt Colonel Smith was an able and experienced combat officer, and just as important, he had under him a cadre of combat trained non coms. It was this group, called Task Force Smith that received the United States baptism of fire in Korea. This five hundred dug into a defensive position just north of Onan, and had the experience of meeting columns of tanks and North Korean troops for as far as they could see, coming down on them. But they could not hold for long against such overwhelming odds. Their positions were infiltrated, ammunition dwindled, and it became necessary to make staged withdrawals. In all over three hundred of the original five hundred Americans who made up Task Force Smith, became casualties.  

         And this was the story, repeated over and over as more US troops made it up the road from Pusan to the front lines. Some bravery and some ignominious and unnecessary retreats. But as UN forces were pushed farther south, in late July, and August 1950, and as more men and equipment came in through Pusan, and, most importantly, as UN, Air force, Navy and Marine fighters started working in close support of the troops, the lines started to hold. By late August, there was a defensive rectangle on the southeast side of Korea some 50 miles wide and 100 miles long which contained what was left of our holdings in Korea. The North Koreans were hammering mercilessly against the defense perimeter.

         The buildup of equipment in the defense perimeter included tanks, antitank artillery, heavy long range mobile artillery and more and newer light field weaponry. Of particular satisfaction to the front line troops was the arrival of the new 3 1/2 "super bazooka". It along with its deadly armor piercing shells was evening up the odds between the "foxhole troops" and the T-34 tank. Moreover better communications were being established between and among the forces, particularly with the fighter planes, and air strikes could be called in quickly to relieve otherwise hopeless situations. But the big relief to the UN's still tenuous foot hold on South Korea came in mid September, with MacArthur's brilliant encirclement, his amphibious landing at Inchon, on the Yellow Sea adjacent to Seoul, far to the enemy's rear. The counter thrust was entirely successful, and the once confident North Korean Army suddenly found themselves on the verge of being cut off from their supply lines, deep to the south in hostile territory.

         This all becomes more clear when put in terms of a familiar setting. Korea, in shape, size, and extensive sea coast, is quite similar to Florida. Using this analogy, Pusan would be in the approximate location of Miami, and Seoul/Inchon, located about where Tampa is. The 38th parallel would run west to east on a line cutting through Orlando. The main line of the UN's retreat from June through August had been from Tampa (Seoul) southeast following the main rail and road system to the defensive rectangle which included Miami (Pusan). Realizing their danger, the North Koreans started a hurried retreat, back toward the 38th, in an effort to reestablish their supply lines before the UN troops at Seoul could entrap them completely in the South. MacArthur, as the conservative military tactician, was determined to push beyond the 38th, invading all of North Korea to the Yalu River, the boundary between North Korea and Communist China's Manchuria. The arbitrary 38th parallel was an indefensible position, and once he had the enemy on the run, he wanted a final settlement to the war.

         The military and political leaders in Washington were not so sure. Though they recognized MacArthur's brilliance, they were afraid of his headstrong approach to these problems. He had even talked of bombing power plants and troop build ups in Manchuria if necessary. This, Washington feared might result in the spread of the war regionally, and in other parts of Asia. In any event, the problem was solved, albeit regrettably, when in late November 1950, the Chinese crossed the Yalu river and entered the fray. Supported by vast numbers of troops, plus the latest Soviet equipment, including their newest jet fighter the MIG--- many of which were flown by experienced Russian pilots --- they were to prove a formidable enemy. As it turned out then, what was thought to be the near end of the war in Korea in early November 1950, turned out in truth to be the real beginning of the war. Indeed, it was these events which signaled the beginning of the decades long Cold War between the forces of the West and Communism.

         On the Korea scene however the hot war was to continue for an additional three years. In that time there was continuous and internecine fighting for position and territory by the North and the South, with suffering and terrible loss of life and property by both sides. Bevin Alexander, in his definitive book on the history of the War, stated in his preface that during the War, one and one half a million men and women died, and two and one half a million persons were wounded or injured. Of these the United States alone suffered some 139,272 casualties. (Alexander, Korea: The First War We Lost at ix and 483) The forces of democracy, having learned the lessons of appeasement to dictatorial powers in World War II, were now taking a stand in this far away corner of Asia in 1950. The men and women who took that stand for us were there by fate, timing and destiny. They were not all front line fighters, but all were certainly there at varying degrees of danger and sacrifice to their personal lives. They had a duty to perform and most performed that duty well. This is the story of one such group of Americans.

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