The American Military

by Brad D. Lookingbill

  The Truman administration confronted a crisis in Germany, where the Soviets wanted to create a unified but demilitarized regime. On June 24, 1948, they began stopping traffic and electricity flowing into the western sectors of Berlin. General Lucias D. Clay, the American military governor of the U.S. occupation zone, considered testing the Soviet blockade with an armed convoy but instead opted for air transports. For the next 324 days, the U.S. conducted the Berlin airlift to deliver food, medicine, fuel, and supplies. Irrespective of the threats from Moscow to stop them, more than 275,000 flights reached West Berlin. Truman also sent two bomber groups to Great Britain but refused to give the Pentagon control over atomic weaponry. The British, French, and U.S. forces combined their zones into the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany. After the Soviets finally lifted the blockade, a separate “democratic” republic arose in the communist zone of East Germany.

  With relations between the Americans and the Soviets chilling in 1949, the Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. The U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands pledged military cooperation to achieve collective security. Later, Greece, Turkey, and West Germany joined the alliance. Henceforth, an attack on one member would constitute an attack on all. To earmark support for NATO, Truman requested legislation from Congress for Mutual Defense Assistance, or MDA. Composed of Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel, an advisory group assisted a host government and helped to train and to equip their armed forces. By extending the logic of the Monroe Doctrine across the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. pledged to protect anti-communist nations under a nuclear umbrella.

  Late that summer, the nuclear monopoly held by the American military came to an end. Bolstered by the work of “atomic spies,” the Soviets successfully detonated their own bomb on August 29, 1949. To win back the preponderance of power, Truman ordered the construction of a megaton hydrogen bomb and the development of tactical nuclear arms. Under the auspices of the Strategic Air Command, or SAC, the Air Force prepared to conduct offensive strikes inside the Soviet Union as part of a war plan known as Operation Dropshot. With Europe endangered by the threat of Soviet dominance, the Truman administration needed the American military to make containment credible.

  The Soviet gains accompanied another setback for the Truman administration that year. Communists led by Mao Zedong pushed Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek from mainland China. They fled to the island of Formosa, which later became Taiwan. Whereas the U.S. refused to recognize the communist regime on the mainland, the People's Republic of China signed a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union early the next year.

  Shocked by the turn of events, the National Security Council conducted a critical reassessment of American military commitments around the world. They prepared NSC-68, which offered a top-secret “blueprint” for strategic defense. Calling for American rearmament, the document recommended the expansion of national conscription and an increase in federal taxes. Accordingly, the U.S. needed to build more nuclear weapons as well as to expand conventional forces. Defense spending was projected to range as high as $50 billion per year and to generate as much as 20 percent of the gross domestic product. In sum, military strength represented the key to containing the “Soviet totalitariat” during the Cold War.

  Police Action

  Before the 1950s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union temporarily divided the narrow, mountainous Korean peninsula along the 38th parallel. In the south, the Republic of Korea elected its first president, Syngman Rhee, an ardent nationalist with American support. To the north, the Soviet Union and Communist China backed the Democratic People's Republic of Korea led by Kim Il Sung. While communists governed North Korea from Pyongyang, the South Koreans located their capital at Seoul near the dividing line. Although the Truman administration desired Korean reunification, Secretary of State Dean Acheson publicly omitted the peninsula from the American “defense perimeter.”

  Focused on containing communism elsewhere, the Truman administration failed to foresee the aggression of adversaries in Asia. In addition to providing arms and supplies, Stalin helped North Korea design war plans to invade South Korea. The North Korean People's Army, or NKPA, raised 135,000 soldiers and equipped them with Soviet T-34 tanks, heavy artillery, and attack aircraft. Moreover, Mao assumed that Americans would deem any military action “an internal matter” for the Korean people. As Pyongyang sent guerrillas southward with greater frequency, the U.S. downplayed signals that communist forces massed near the 38th parallel.

  At 4:00 a.m. on June 25, 1950, Pyongyang launched an all-out offensive with artillery and mortar barrages near Seoul. The NKPA overwhelmed the 95,000 soldiers of the Republic of Korea Army, or ROKA. In a matter of days, nearly half of the ROKA disappeared from the battlefield. Due to the 14-hour time difference, the news of the sudden attack actually reached Washington D.C. on the afternoon of June 24.

  The next day, the Security Council of the United Nations approved a resolution that censured North Korea. While denouncing the “breach of peace” on the peninsula, the resolution demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities and a communist withdrawal to the 38th parallel. Boycotting the meeting for refusing to seat Communist China in place of Nationalist China, the Soviet delegation failed to veto the resolution. Consequently, the United Nations rallied to the defense of South Korea.

  “Communism was acting in Korea just as Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had acted 10, 15, and 20 years earlier,” concluded Truman, who responded quickly. First, he directed General Douglas MacArthur, head of the Far East Command in Japan, to evacuate Americans from Korea. Second, he ordered U.S. and allied forces to supply South Korea with ammunition and equipment. Third, he redeployed the Seventh Fleet from Philippine and Ryukyu waters to Taiwan. While the Joint Chiefs formulated plans for air and naval operations, Truman's decisiveness surprised communist leaders from Moscow to Peking.

  Since Pyongyang ignored the admonishment of the United Nations, the Security Council passed another resolution on June 27. At the urging of the U.S., it voted for members “to furnish such assistance to the Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security in the area.” Accordingly, Truman dispatched air, naval, and ground forces to Korea without seeking a declaration of war by Congress.

  Conducting a press conference a few days later, Truman declared: “We are not at war.” One reporter suggested calling it “a police action under the United Nations,” to which the commander-in-chief retorted: “Yes, that is exactly what it amounts to.” The phrase “police action” remained in public circulation for years, albeit derisively.

  One of the most controversial military figures in U.S. history, MacArthur wanted to turn the “police action” into a showdown with international communism. In the Cold War, he believed that America's vital interests lay in Asia rather than in Europe. At the age of 70, his headquarters at the Dai Ichi building in Tokyo became a regal palace. Whatever his flaws, his eminence earned him the label, “American Caesar.” Within days of the NKPA invasion, he flew to the Korean peninsula to personally inspect the ROKA defenses near the Han River. While puffing a corncob pipe, he toured the area for eight hours by jeep and returned to the landing strip for a flight back to Japan. “South Korean casualties as an index to fighting have not shown adequate resistance,” he concluded as Seoul fell, “and our best estimate is that complete collapse is imminent.” In a cable to Washington D.C., he recommended the immediate insertion of American troops drawn from the Army of Occupation in Japan.

  Though woefully unprepared for the unfavorable circumstances, the 24th Division deployed from their barracks in Japan to the battlefields of Korea. Their commander, General William F. Dean, established his headquarters at Taejon. On July 5, Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith positioned 403 infantrymen on the main road between Suwon and Osan. Called Task Force Smith, they suffered 155 casualties in a futil
e blocking action. When struck by NKPA tanks and mortars, scores ran for their lives. Dean reported with alarm that “our troops were bugging out.” As the enemy seized Taejon, he hunted a T-34 tank through the streets with a 3.5-inch bazooka. After fleeing to the hills, he became the highest-ranking officer captured by the enemy. In their first encounters with communist forces in Korea, the American lines disintegrated amid haste and uncertainty.

  Figure 13.2 The Korean War

  Trading space for time, the United Nations attempted to form a new defensive line with additional American reinforcements. On July 10, it appointed MacArthur as the supreme commander of UN forces deployed to Korea. General Walton H. Walker took command of the Eighth Army, which protected the southeastern corner of the peninsula and guarded the approaches to the major port at Pusan. However, “bug-out fever” remained an irresistible urge among the ineffective units facing direct fire. Mile by mile and day by day, the ROKA and the American troops fell back to a 140-mile line known as the Pusan perimeter. Near the Natkong River, Walker stiffened the Eighth Army with supplies and replacements. With their backs against the Sea of Japan, UN forces held the Pusan perimeter throughout the summer.

  Given sufficient air and naval support to operate beyond the perimeter, MacArthur acted boldly to reverse the communist tide. He discerned the fragile logistics of the NKPA and decided to flank them up the western coast. Even though the Joint Chiefs in Washington D.C. preferred a less ambitious plan, he vowed to “crush” the enemy. He placed General Edward M. Almond, his protégé, in command of X Corps, which included members of the 1st Marine Division and the Army's 7th Division.

  At 6:15 a.m. on September 15, X Corps launched an amphibious landing at Inchon, the main port closest to Seoul. During Operation Chromite, naval guns blasted the coastal defenses at high tide. Once the Marines took Wolmi-do Island, they faced sporadic resistance at Red Beach and Blue Beach along the Yellow Sea. At the seawalls and piers, officers used bullhorns to direct thousands through the smoke and drizzle. Remarkably, U.S. casualties numbered fewer than 200. While one column struck southward and seized Suwon, the other cleared Kimpo Airfield and crossed the Han River. Moving 25 miles inland, Americans liberated Seoul within two weeks. After initially hoisting the Stars and Stripes, they soon replaced it with the blue flag of the United Nations. In a solemn ceremony, MacArthur returned the capital city to Rhee on September 29.

  While X Corps seized the initiative, MacArthur ordered the Eighth Army to break out from the Pusan perimeter. Maneuvering in a driving rain, Walker steered a synchronized advance northward. The skies cleared to permit bombing by the Air Force, which caused the communist troops to break quickly. With enemy supply and communication lines severed, UN forces captured as many as 100,000 prisoners. By the end of September, the NKPA had ceased to exist as an organized fighting force south of the 38th parallel.

  A New War

  Communist aggression started the war in Korea, but the United Nations acted responsibly to end it. Soldiers from the British Commonwealth, Turkey, Greece, France, Ethiopia, Colombia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the Netherlands entered the fray. While the U.S. provided around 90 percent of the military personnel, 15 countries contributed at least token units to UN forces.

  From his headquarters at the Dai Ichi, MacArthur directed UN forces north of the 38th parallel. The Joint Chiefs approved his military plan to occupy North Korea and to reunify the peninsula. However, they prohibited the use of non-Korean ground troops near the Manchurian and Soviet border. Furthermore, no aerial or naval actions were permitted against communist targets beyond the Yalu or Tumen Rivers. Endorsing the offensive operations of the supreme commander, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution calling for appropriate steps to achieve “stability throughout Korea.”

  Truman summoned the supreme commander to Wake Island for a meeting on October 15, 1950. MacArthur assured the commander-in-chief that China was in no position to intervene, that victory was imminent, and that he harbored no political ambitions. The latter presented the former with a fourth Oak Leaf Cluster to add to his Distinguished Service Medal. Unimpressed by the president's grandstanding, the general left for Tokyo.

  Once again, MacArthur pushed his command to move with audacity. While the Eighth Army pressed northward from Seoul, a ROKA division quickly captured Pyongyang. Unfortunately, the mountainous terrain left UN forces dispersed and isolated. Launching another amphibious assault, X Corps attempted to land at Wonsan, a seaport on the east coast. Because Soviet mines blocked the harbor, the Marines waited offshore for days. They finally landed on October 25, although the ROKA already occupied the town. Indeed, entertainer Bob Hope staged a show for American troops in Wonsan the night before the Marines stormed the beach. At Iwon, the Army’s 7th Division went ashore a few days later. After advancing units reached the banks of the Yalu River, the ROKA sent a bottle of its waters to Rhee in Seoul.

  The NKPA withdrew to the Yalu, where their retreating outfits reformed into new divisions before a winter counteroffensive. Mao dispatched an expeditionary force to support them across the Manchurian border, as hundreds of Chinese units infiltrated North Korea. Dressed in quilted cotton uniforms without rank insignias, the average soldier required little more than 8 pounds of supplies a day. When U.S. commanders on the ground began reporting the presence of the Chinese, MacArthur initially refused to believe it.

  On November 1, the soldiers of the 1st Cavalry Division near Ansung heard the unsettling sounds of Chinese bugles in the darkness. Private Carl Simon, a member of G Company in the 8th Cavalry Regiment, witnessed “mass hysteria” moments later. Waves of yelling communists charged his defensive position while firing rifles and hurling grenades. “It was every man for himself,” the 21-year-old from New York recalled. Along with 35 fleeing comrades, he shuffled southward for 14 days before locating a British brigade in a valley.

  As the Chinese pulled back to the Yalu, MacArthur directed UN forces to regroup and to renew the drive. American troops paused for a Thanksgiving meal on November 24, when the “fanatical hordes” struck them again. As many as half a million Chinese engulfed the ROKA, the Eighth Army, and X Corps. Outclassing the American F-80 Shooting Stars, Soviet MiG-15 jet fighters also appeared in the skies over Korea. “We face an entirely new war,” MacArthur reported to Washington D.C.

  Most of MacArthur's command retreated hundreds of miles during the “Big Bug-out.” After the Battle of the Chongchon River, Walker's withdrawal of the Eighth Army left behind stores of supplies and equipment. The 2nd Division fought a delaying action on the road from Kunuri to Sunchon, where they suffered almost 5,000 casualties while screening the retreat. Already weakened by several days of combat in frigid weather, soldiers staggered southward through a gauntlet of enemy fire that decimated units. Abandoning Pyongyang to the communists, Walker established a new position north of Seoul. Tragically, he perished after his jeep collided with a truck on December 23.

  Elsewhere in Korea, Almond's X Corps narrowly avoided complete disaster. Near the frozen Chosin Reservoir, the 1st Marine Division under General O. P. Smith faced China's IX Army Group. Temperatures dropped below zero in late November, while snow and ice covered the ground. Loading weapons, operating machinery, and digging foxholes became almost impossible. In arguably the worst combat environment ever experienced by the American military, the Marines made a heroic stand in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. Though outnumbered 10 to 1, they demonstrated great individual courage and exceptional small-unit leadership. Marine Colonel Lewis “Chesty” Puller allegedly snarled that “we can shoot in every direction now.” During their breakout from November 27 to December 11, they lost 561 dead, 182 missing, 2,894 wounded, and thousands more injured by frostbite. “Gentlemen, we are not retreating,” Smith remarked at Hagaru, but “merely advancing in another direction.”

  Smith grew insubordinate toward Almond, who foolishly dismissed the capabilities of “a bunch of Chinese laundrymen.” Leading 2,500 men from
the Army’s 7th Division, Lieutenant Colonel Don C. Faith directed Task Force Faith on a retrograde maneuver near the Chosin Reservoir. While Faith died after striking a roadblock, no more than 400 of his men recovered from the Chinese thrust. Finally, MacArthur ordered Almond to withdraw to a beachhead around the east coast port of Hungnam, north of Wonsan. On Christmas Eve, the remainder of X Corps boarded ships at Hamnung and sailed for Pusan.

  By the end of the year, all UN forces had backpedaled to the 38th parallel. The communists drove them from Seoul during the New Year's offensive, but the battle lines stabilized near Suwon. General Matthew B. Ridgway assumed command of the Eighth Army and launched a counteroffensive known as Operation Thunderbolt on January 25, 1951. In the Battle of Chipyong-ni, American troops not only defeated Chinese infantry but also revived their own flagging morale. While inflicting high casualties with heavy artillery and air strikes, Operation Killer led to the reoccupation of the Han River. That March, Operation Ripper resulted in the recapture of the South Korean capital. With their long and vulnerable supply lines exposed, the Chinese and the NKPA withdrew northward under a barrage of massive firepower.

  MacArthur wanted to take full advantage of massive firepower, but the Truman administration insisted upon a limited war. To fight communists in Korea, the supreme commander asked for 34 atom bombs and proposed air strikes on Manchuria. In addition, he suggested a blockade of China by the Navy as well as an invasion of the mainland by Taiwan. With the Joint Chiefs promising no more reinforcements, he complained “off the record” to correspondents about the restrictions imposed upon his command. Civilian authorities desired a negotiated settlement based upon the prewar boundaries, but he publicly remarked that “the concept advanced by some that we establish a line across Korea and enter into positional warfare is wholly unrealistic and illusory.” Disregarding the decisions of Washington D.C., he issued an ultimatum for China to make peace or to face an attack. Finally, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives read aloud a letter from MacArthur, who stated in a defiant tone that “there is no substitute for victory.”