by James Rosone
The Second Korean War
Okinawa, Japan
Camp Butler Marine Base
It was a cool October morning as Lieutenant General (LtGen) Roy Cutter finished his morning run. His command had deployed to Japan two weeks ago, unsure of where they may be headed next. They were just told to be prepared to move when given the order. Then, two days ago, he had been given overall command of all US Marine ground forces in the Korea-China area of operations and told to be prepared to deploy to South Korea.
“I’m glad I got a good run in today,” he thought. “Starting tomorrow, things are going to get really busy.”
Intelligence reports from the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency showed a massive transfer of ordinance and fuel from China to North Korea. Surveillance also showed an increase in general military activity across North Korea, with military units leaving their bases and heading to the field. This could only mean one thing; North Korea was gearing up to invade the South and was being given a healthy supply of fuel and munitions prior to the start of hostilities.
With the deployment of the First Marine Expeditionary Force to Okinawa, there were now 68,000 Marines in Japan. Now, it was Cutter’s job to get them to South Korea and ready to repel one of the largest armies in the world. Fortunately, his Marines would not be the only US Forces in Korea. The Army had 28,000 soldiers already in Korea and another 22,000 more in Japan that were also transferring to Korea.
The South Koreans, unlike their European counterparts, maintained a large standing army and reserve force. The South Koreans had 650,000 soldiers and 3,200,000 reserve soldiers. As the US began to deploy additional troops to Korea in preparation of a North Korean invasion, the country started a full activation of their reserves.
LtGen Cutter was intricately involved with the build-up, every hour of every day. His sleep was starting to suffer. He had been on the battlefield before, but this was the first time he had been in a potential nuclear conflict. As he lay awake at night, he couldn’t stop the racing thoughts. “What happens if the North uses their weapons of mass destruction? Will they resort to using a nuclear weapon against the US forces in Korea or Japan? Will they try and launch an ICBM against the United States?”
Despite his restless tossing and turning, Cutter’s run had helped to wake him up a bit. He chugged a thermos of black coffee to help him all the way back to an alert state. “I don’t have time to be tired,” he thought.
*******
Seoul, South Korea
Yongsan Garrison
Lieutenant General Cutter had flown into Seoul the night before with his staff for an in-person meeting with General John Bennet, the overall commander of US Forces-Korea. This would probably be the last time all of the US and Korean military commanders would meet together in one room prior to any potential conflict. Because this was likely the final meeting before hostilities, it was imperative that the US response to various situations be gone over. General Bennet also wanted to personally meet with the commanders who would be responsible for the defense of South Korea.
As LtGen Cutter and his staff approached the headquarters, they immediately noticed the increase in security. The buildings had been recently reinforced with sandbags and a number of new machine gun positions and other fighting positions; the soldiers on guard around the facility were wearing their full combat loads and had their rifles at the ready. With war a near certainty, General Bennet was not taking any chances on potential saboteurs attempting to take out his command facility before hostilities started.
As they walked towards the entrance, several soldiers snapped to attention, and then proceeded to ask for their IDs. The Marines dutifully handed their identification over to the sergeant of the guard, who began to enter their information into a laptop to verify that they were who they said they were. Once their IDs were verified, they were all asked to scan their biometrics into the computer for one last check. A few seconds later, the system verified that the biometric data matched their identification, and they were allowed inside the facility.
Once they entered the building, an Air Force captain met them in the reception entrance and led them into the facility. After a short walk through a couple of hallways, they finally ended up in the conference room. As Lieutenant General Cutter walked into the briefing room, they took their seats along with their Air Force, Navy and ROK (Republic of Korea) counterparts. A minute later, General Bennett walked in and took his seat at the head of the table.
General John Bennett was a new four-star general, having only pinned on his fourth star just two weeks ago. He was part of the new wave of military generals the President and the SecDef had promoted ahead of some of their peers in a move to advance more aggressive military commanders to frontline commands. After a series of military defeats in Europe, the SecDef and the President had been cleaning house, removing those officers who were placing their careers and political interests above that of the country. Word had it that General Bennet was a hard-charging warrior that liked a good fight. He had a solid reputation from his various commands in Iraq and Afghanistan, though Cutter had personally never worked with him before.
General Bennet was a tough-looking African American man that was an imposing figure at 6’4” and built like a brick house. He looked like the type of guy you wanted on your side in a bar fight, if you had to choose someone. As Bennet surveyed the room of senior military officers from the various branches of service and the South Korean officers, he took a long drink from his coffee mug, which had a picture of a bulldog dressed as a general on it, along with the words, “filled with blood, tears, and whiskey.”
“Oh, I’m going to like this guy,” Cutter thought to himself. “This guy should have been a Marine.”
Bennet cleared his throat and in his harsh gravelly voice he began, “Listen up. I just got done talking with the heads of DIA and NSA. They have actionable intelligence that says the DPRK is going to initiate hostilities within forty-eight hours. The NSA has intercepted direct communications between the Russians and the Chinese about North Korea initiating an imminent attack against the US, Japan, and South Korea, so we know this to be fact. It’s going to happen. Additional messages between the Chinese and the DPRK were just intercepted two days ago; the content of those messages was also about directing North Korea to attack the South.”
He held up his hand to stop any questions. “Before you ask, the NSA only just broke the encryption code on those messages, which is why we are meeting now and not two days ago.” The veins on his hands seemed even more visible as he finished this last sentence; he was clearly personally upset that they were only now getting this critical piece of information.
Bennet paused for a second, surveying the looks of the faces around him; some were surprised, others excited, and a few were unable to hide an expression of dread. No one wanted a fight with the North Koreans. It was believed that they had over 10,000 artillery pieces aimed at Seoul that could flatten the capital, not to mention their ballistic missiles and ICBMs, all nuclear capable.
Seeing their looks, he got right to the point. “No one wants this war to happen, least of all me. The war in Europe is still going on, and frankly, it’s a catastrophe. We cannot afford a war in Korea right now. The Chinese know that, the North Koreans know that, and more importantly, the Russians know that. However, unlike Europe, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has a substantial military force. Japan has also agreed to support the US and ROK forces, and so has Australia and New Zealand. We have plans in place to deal with the DPRK, and we are going to move forward with them,” General Bennet said to his military commanders, eyeing each of them with a gaze that seemed to see right through them.
Bennet took another sip of coffee before he went on. “Because hostilities are imminent, the President has authorized the Secretary of Defense to initiate Operation Hammer. We are not going to sit here and wait for the North to obliterate Seoul, just so we can feel justified in striking back. During the past two days, the A
ir Force has moved the remaining B-1s from the US to Japan, and we’ve relocated our B-2s from Europe to Japan to launch a pre-emptive attack. In twelve hours, the B-2s are going to attempt to decapitate the government. We’ve identified where the ‘Supreme Leader’ is meeting with his generals, and we are going to try and take them out with a single strike. I’m going to turn this part of the briefing over to the Air Force, so they can go over the specific strike packages.” With that, General Bennett turned to his Air Force counterpart, Lieutenant General Alison Forrester, and signaled for her to begin.
The officers in the room all hoped like crazy that the Air Force was able to take the North Korean leadership out quickly. Then they might get lucky and end the conflict before it turned into a nasty ground war.
One of the aides got a PowerPoint presentation pulled up so General Forrester could have the maps up as she began to go over the targets. “As General Bennett said, we are going to launch a decapitation strike against the civilian and military leadership of the government. The B-2s will be carrying out precision strikes against the entire command and control groups of the DPRK throughout the entire country. They will also hit the known and suspected ballistic missile silos, along with any sites associated with their nuclear weapons program.”
She switched the PowerPoint slide before continuing. “The B-52s are going to launch a series of ground attack, standoff cruise missiles. These missiles will be targeted at the North’s air defense systems, mostly near the de-militarized zone and their airbases. They will specifically target the enemies radar and communications systems. We will also have a series of EA-18G Growler aircraft from the Navy, providing us with electronic warfare and countermeasures for the next series of strikes. As the cruise missiles are hitting their targets, the B-1s will go after the North’s artillery positions aimed at Seoul. They will hit the enemy artillery positions with 2,000 lbs. bombs intermixed with napalm and cluster bombs…and yes, I said napalm. At the outset of the war in Russia, the President authorized the production and use of this weapon from the past. Following the B-1 strikes, the B-52s will then continue forward to the frontlines and will conduct a series of arc light missions or carpet bombing runs against the North’s troop formations.”
One of the naval officers asked, “What if the North launches their ballistic missiles at the US, Japan, or the South? What is our response going to be?”
Everyone in the room suddenly sat up a little straighter, wanting to know the response. It was the one question everyone was afraid to ask but still wanted answered. This was one of the big concerns of a war with North Korea. A normal, sane nation state would not willingly destroy its people, even in the face of defeat. North Korea, however, was not a normal sane state actor.
The Air Force officer paused for a second, as if she knew this question might come but had hoped they would not need to discuss it. “The President has authorized the release of nuclear weapons to the Secretary of Defense and General Bennet should the North use a nuclear weapon against US or allied forces. For this purpose, a single B-2 will be held in a holding pattern at an undisclosed location armed with nuclear bombs. The President stressed that the use of nuclear weapons would only be released if a nuclear detonation occurs from a DPRK missile.”
“Although the North Koreans have tested ICBMs that they claim would effectively reach all of the continental U.S., our intelligence shows that they have not completed the process of miniaturizing the nuclear warheads capable of reaching the United States. The main concern right now is Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, and South Korea.”
She paused for a second, then continued, “We are confident the current ballistic missile defense systems we have in place will sufficiently protect our forces. Everyone should be focused on this war staying conventional. Should that situation change, everyone will be notified immediately.”
Several people in the room exchanged some nervous glances, but they were glad this apocalyptic scenario had at least been thought through.
The next couple of slides showed specific targets the ground attack aircraft and fighter bombers would support next.
General Cutter thought to himself, “The whole first strike is a risky proposition. We could get lucky and pulverize the North’s ability to hit Seoul, or we could end up destroying most of the city.”
An Army general was the next to present his information. “To help us beef up the defense of the city, we’ve moved dozens of Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar systems (C-RAM) to intercept the flight paths the enemy’s artillery and missiles would most likely travel to hit Seoul,” he began. “We know they will most likely not get all the enemy artillery positions or missile launchers in our initial strike, but by placing defensive systems along the flight paths incoming rounds would have to take, with any luck we should be able to intercept a large percentage of the enemy’s incoming fire. The C-RAM worked exceptionally well at intercepting incoming rockets and mortar rounds in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in Israel, so they are going to be heavily employed in the protection of Seoul.”
The various generals and aides talked about the most likely scenarios and outcomes each action would have and how they would counter the North’s response. At some point there was an uncomfortable moment as they realized that they were not entirely sure who would be in charge if the decapitation strike worked. One general even asked if they should try to contact the new potential leader to pursue a peace deal before the U.S. launched the ground assault. No consensus was ever reached on this issue though, and they finally decided to put a pin in it and move on.
Lieutenant General Cutter was nervous as he looked at the details of the ground operations for Operation Hammer. While the ROK Army would be the spearhead for the offensive, and would likely be the ones to sustain the largest percentage of casualties, the current plan also called for a large amphibious assault to open a second front. That assault would have to be carried out by his Marines, followed by additional ROK Marines. They would assault North Korea’s west coast, and land their forces near the cities of Namp'o and Onch'ŏn, placing them less than twenty miles from the enemy’s capital. There was also an alternate seaborne invasion plan to land forces on the east coast if the west coast could not be secured or it looked like China might join the festivities.
The west coast assault was a risky invasion in that the first several kilometers inland was mostly rice paddies with limited roads. This would bog down his heavy armor from getting ashore quickly. Intelligence also had very little information about what possible forces or defenses that may be on the small island of Ch’o-do, which would have to be secured prior to the main amphibious assault.
Vice Admiral Dan Kinkaid, the 7th Fleet Commander spoke up next. “Ok, I know any plan is going to have its downfalls, but do you realize that we will have to sail the bulk of our naval force up the Yellow Sea? That is going to place us precariously close to the Chinese mainland at a time when the Chinese have just relocated the bulk of their air force to that region. It’s going to leave my fleet little room to maneuver, and place us in range of land-based anti-ship missiles, in addition to the Chinese Air Force.”
LtGen Cutter nodded in agreement, and then pointed to some of the interactive maps. “Admiral Kinkaid is right. As you can see, the Chinese navy is still steaming towards Taiwan, and the bulk of the PLA is also marshaling around that area. What concerns me most though is the presence of Chinese fighter aircraft in the Jiangsu Province, and the increase in submarines in the Yellow Sea. Both of those factors could have a huge impact on our amphibious assault.”
The debate over the risks went on for some time; ultimately, however, despite the concerns they had, they concluded that this was the best possible plan if they wanted to end this conflict quickly. General Bennet was convincing as he argued, “We can’t let Korea turn into a meat grinder that lasts for months or years…. The war with Russia could resume at any time, and the Chinese look as if they might join in. We need to end this conflict, and quick.”
At
this assertion, any hesitancy that had been present melted away. All that was left was the resolve to win, by whatever means necessary.
The leaders still had many details to work out, and the conversation went on for some time. Just as it seemed that the meeting was wrapping up, a Japanese naval admiral and air force general walked into the room.
General Bennett signaled for everyone to pause their conversations, so they could discuss what the Japanese part in all of this will be. The Korean generals eyed the Japanese with a bit of suspicion, but they were not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They knew they would need all the help they could get in dealing with the North.
The Japanese admiral said whatever polite niceties are required in that situation, and then got right down to business. He informed the group, “The Japanese navy will be taking up positions in the upper portion of the East China Sea to help act as a guard against any potential Chinese intervention. Our air force will be on standby to assist the US navy, should they need it. We have also placed 50,000 soldiers on alert, which could be quickly moved to South Korea to aid in its defense. We want to assure the alliance that Japan will stand strong with the US and the South Koreans, should the Chinese intervene.”
A sense of renewed hope filled the room. The leaders continued to work out details for another hour, but they all left feeling that they at least had a fighting chance of achieving victory.
Opening Salvos
Yellow Sea
It was early October, and though the weather was starting to turn cold, the skies were relatively clear and the seas smooth. Rear Admiral James Lomas looked up to the sky and said a small thank you to the Big Man Upstairs for this little bit of good fortune as his naval task force began to steer towards North Korean waters.