Battlefield Korea

by James Rosone

The senior Korean officer introduced himself. “I am Colonel General Ryu Shin, and I am the senior ranking military member left alive. In the absence of other military commanders from Pyongyang or the other major military headquarters, I have assumed overall command of North Korean forces. I want to discuss terms of surrender with the Marine Commander and find a way to put an end to the killing.”

  This speech caught General Cutter by surprise; he had not expected to be talking with someone who was now implying that he was the overall commander of North Korea. He invited them to sit down, and had some of his aides bring in some hot coffee, tea, and whatever grub they could muster together. The Korean officers gladly accepted the hot drinks, and ate the warm food like men who had not eaten a meal in days.

  While the officers were ravenously chowing down, Cutter excused himself to go make contact with General Bennet and the PACOM Commander. Once General Cutter had explained the situation, Bennet asked, “Can you find out if this man is legit? And can we verify if his claim to be the new overall commander is true? Because if it is, then we might be able to put an end to this conflict sooner rather than later.”

  Over the next couple of hours, the intelligence community, along with the South Koreans, confirmed that they had made a number of signal intercepts that indicated that Colonel General Ryu Shin was, in fact, the new leader of North Korea, or at least he had been asserting himself as such. The South Koreans sent over their terms for what they would accept for surrender, and so did General Bennet and the US PACOM Commander. President Gates and SecDef Castle were also made aware of the development.

  It was determined that these gentlemen should be flown out to the Theodore Roosevelt Supercarrier, where they could meet with senior representatives from the South Korean government and the US Government. By the early hours of the following day, a deal had been reached.

  The North Koreans were set to announce their unconditional surrender, and would make a formal request to the United Nations to have the Chinese withdraw their military forces from North Korea and end the fighting in their country. As hostilities ended between the two Koreas, a transition period would occur, and UN observers would help to disarm the Korean People’s Army. After a three-month period, and full disarmament, the two Koreas would once again be united.

  It was determined that a formal cease-fire and peace agreement would be signed later; it was imperative to get Colonel General Ryu Shin back to his forces, so he could begin to issue the ceasefire orders. While he could not control what the Chinese did, he would do his utmost to have his forces lay down their arms and end the hostilities.

  Within an hour of General Ryu returning to his lines, allied forces intercepted a transmission of him issuing ceasefire and surrender orders to the North Korean People’s Army.

  “The war is lost,” he told his people. “It is now time to start taking care of your families, if they are still alive. The U.S. and South Korean soldiers will begin to bring us food, medicine, and water, but you have to lay down your arms. You cannot fire on them. I hereby order you to surrender and return to your homes.”

  While this order was being carried out, the Chinese government issued a stern warning to the North Korean Army, telling General Ryu that he did not have the authority to surrender to the allies, and that they would shoot any North Korean soldiers who surrendered or abandoned their posts. They also began to pour more of their own soldiers across the border, in an attempt to hold the country together while they worked on pushing the Americans back across the DMZ.

  As the war now dragged on into its 18th day, dozens upon dozens of North Korean military units began to surrender in droves, many of them trying to capitulate before the Chinese army was able to assume control of them. It was a crazy 48 hours as nearly 300,000 Korean soldiers tried to surrender while the Chinese Army raced to get its own military commanders to take charge.

  With nearly half of the Korean People’s Army killed during the short 18 days of fighting, close to half of the forces that had survived surrendered before the Chinese assumed control. However, China made it much farther south than the Americans anticipated to be possible.

  The rest of the North Korean soldiers ended up being rounded up by the People’s Liberation Army. Although there were many North Korean soldiers in terms of sheer numbers, the vast majority of them were hungry, demoralized, and lacked adequate weapons to be considered combat effective. As the Chinese moved farther into North Korean territory, these ragged soldiers were marched back towards the Chinese border, where they would be re-equipped, and reorganized into new units with Chinese officers and NCOs before they would be thrown back into the fighting.

  New Day, New Alliance

  Washington, DC

  White House

  Situation Room

  President Gates was glad to finally be back in the White House after having to essentially go into hiding. He had only been back in the White House for three days when word came in about the North Koreans seeking terms of surrender. As Gates walked into the Situation Room, everyone rose. He quickly signaled for them to sit back down, and took his own seat at the head of the table.

  “OK everyone, bring me up to speed on what’s going on in Korea before we transition to anything else. Do we have a ceasefire in place, and what are the Chinese doing in response?” the President asked, wanting to get right down to business.

  Admiral Peter Meyers, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, answered this question. “Mr. President, we have confirmed that Colonel General Ryu is the highest-ranking military commander left alive in North Korea. He has largely assumed control of the government and military, and they have responded back by acknowledging him as their new commander. Upon reaching a ceasefire agreement with our forces and the South Koreans, he has agreed to surrender the military and the country. By and large, hundreds of thousands of Korean People’s Army units have been surrendering. The units in the far north and units that have linked up with the Chinese Army have been unable to surrender--the Chinese have now assumed control of the remaining KPA forces and have said they will continue to fight on and unify Korea under their communist rule.”

  Secretary of Defense Castle piped in at this point, “This was a huge political and strategic victory, Mr. President. While the Chinese plan on continuing the fight in Korea, we have gotten the DPRK to officially surrender within eighteen days of combat. Casualties have been high, but not nearly as high as we had anticipated. As of right now, we have lost 21,248 killed in action, most of those deaths occurred when the Kunson Airbase was nuked. We have also suffered roughly 42,345 wounded, with roughly 60% of them returning back to duty within the next couple of weeks.”

  His demeanor darkened. “Sir, I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but the real fighting is still ahead of us as the Chinese continue to pour over 100,000 soldiers across the border. The Air Force is doing their best to bomb and harass them as they make their way down the peninsula, but we are also suffering horrific aircraft losses.”

  The President’s National Security Advisor posed a question to the group, “With the losses we are sustaining in Korea, how is that going to affect our efforts in Europe?”

  “That is a good question, Tom,” said the President. “We have a major offensive underway in Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic States. We are starting to sustain some heavy losses there, both in troops and equipment. The last 18 days of fighting in Korea has also cost us dearly in the way of equipment, aircraft and soldiers. How are our armed forces fairing with all of this? Are we on the verge of an utter collapse? Do we need to take a pause in operations to get new trainees deployed and additional equipment built and replaced?”

  Several of the military officers sat back in their chairs, looking at Admiral Meyer to see how he would respond. While the military wanted to keep fighting and stay on the offense, they also knew they were running out of soldiers and equipment. They had already signed a series of DoD contracts to plus-up their support operations and private security contractors at their forward
deployed bases. The need for support and security personnel was crucial; however, getting everyone a security clearance and getting them deployed to where they were needed was proving to be a logistical challenge they were having a hard time meeting.

  Admiral Meyers signaled that he would answer this question, taking the national security advisor off the hook. “We are stretched beyond our breaking point, Mr. President. While we have won a major victory in Korea, the Navy was hit hard. We lost a supercarrier, and the Carl Vinson is going to be out of action for several months while it undergoes major repairs at the shipyard. We’ve hurt the Chinese navy in northern China, but we have not gone after their blue water navy that is now taking up station around Taiwan. That force has already sunk or heavily damaged much of the Taiwanese navy. The continual air and missile bombardment of the country has also caused significant damage to their air force and their ability to defend the island. It is only a matter of time before they launch their invasion.”

  He plowed on. “In Europe, the 82nd Airborne in the Baltic States has neutralized the Russian incursions into those countries. While they have prevented the Russians from capturing them, they are in no position to push across the border into Russia. They are purely just trying to hold the line. Our incursion into Belarus by Three Corps has been met by extremely hard resistance. While we maintained control of Minsk for several days, ultimately our forces were pushed back and forced to give up the city. We had thought Three Corps would have been able to capture the Russian 6th Tank Army, but after they rushed in significant reinforcements including a Russian Spetsnaz brigade and two airborne brigades to Belarus, they have successfully beaten our forces back. In Ukraine, we have bloodied them up, but were unable to obtain a breakthrough.”

  The President sighed heavily, then looked back to his military advisor. “So, what exactly is the problem then? We have the forces in place after weeks of shuffling units around and moving our forces forward. Why are the NATO member states not contributing more forces to help us defeat the Russians? This war has been going on for nearly eleven weeks. The Russians should have been pushed out of Ukraine already. Why haven’t we been able to make that happen?” asked an exasperated Gates.

  The Secretary of State spoke up for the first time since the start of the meeting to address this question. “Mr. President, NATO is a mess right now. We have some member states contributing as much as possible to the alliance--Canada, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Croatia, the Baltic States, and Norway--but these countries’ forces are small. Their air forces have been invaluable, but they have also sustained heavy losses, just as our aircraft have. The unfortunate part is that these nations do not have the financial means or the industrial capability to replace the losses they’ve been sustaining.”

  “Hmm,” said Gates, deep in thought.

  Secretary Johnson continued. “Moving to the larger member states--the UK has committed their two most capable brigades. They’ve been performing exceptionally well and been a huge help, but even with the activation of their reserves, their forces are just not large enough to be a turning point in the war. The RAF has been a huge help, they are performing better than expected, but again they are limited in the number of aircraft they can provide. The Royal Navy is in even worse shape. Their aircraft carrier is still not operational yet, they lack the aircraft to support it, and they only have three escort ships available for it. We are not sure when their navy will be able to get into the war.”

  “As to Germany, the units they have committed have performed exceptionally well, but they have also sustained heavy casualties. Chancellor Schneider has announced a conscription of two million men and women into their military. They have also begun to start a retooling of their industry to start cranking out military equipment. The Germans are no longer sitting on the sidelines militarily. It’ll take time, but the German war machine is once again turned back on and will start to make an impact, but it won’t be apparent until sometime in the spring. Moving to France--like the Germans, they are doubling down on their military. They have sent their best units forward and are currently conscripting two million additional soldiers.”

  Johnson then squirmed in his chair for a minute before continuing, “The issue we are having is with Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Hungary. They are not wanting to release their militaries to NATO, nor are they mobilizing their army, or doing anything to increase their military capability or defense readiness. I believe that we need to follow the example of what happened to Turkey, and remove any noncontributing nations from NATO.”

  Gates looked like he wanted to hit something. Fire was burning in his eyes as he sat there and listened to the failings of NATO. “Look, it’s become pretty clear that NATO is just a boy’s club, not a serious military organization. I propose that we end NATO as an organization and we look to create a new global military alliance force that includes countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea along with those European countries that are willing to be a part of the new alliance.”

  The President paused for a minute, thinking about what he wanted to say next. “I believe we should form a new global alliance--one that can address the threats of the 21st century, and will work together for the common good. For name sake, let’s call it the Global Defense Force or GDF. Like NATO, an attack on one would be considered an attack on all, but unlike NATO, it would be US-led. Participating nations would have to commit 3% of GDP to military spending and a minimum troop count level. The members would be required to maintain a certain force composition and structure, so they could effectively contribute to the alliance. Thoughts on this?” asked the President, looking for some feedback.

  Admiral Meyers was the first to speak, “I believe this could be great. We could integrate new members that are not geographically dependent but willing to be a part of an alliance of mutual defense.”

  Secretary Castle was next to speak up. “I have to agree with Admiral Meyers; I say we move forward with this. This conflict has shown us how ineffective NATO has become and we are going to need to think globally and look to integrate new allies that share our same global interests and goals.”

  For the next thirty minutes, everyone discussed this new proposition and came to the conclusion that it should be formally developed and created. The President signaled for them to get to work on creating this alliance while he directed the rest of his military leaders to continue to execute the war. The plan in Europe was to slow things down while they waited on the new troops to finish their training and for additional equipment to be produced. It was already mid-November, and winter was starting to set in. It was a good natural time to pause the conflict and consolidate their positions while they rebuilt the military. Meanwhile, the war in Korea would continue to progress as the Chinese tried to secure as much of the country as possible.

  Battle of Hwangsuwon Airbase

  Hilltop 079

  After ODA 1110’s initial strike against the KPA’s mobile ballistic missile launchers a couple of days ago, CW4 Charles Lee (call sign “Chucky”) moved his team to Hilltop 079, overlooking the Hwangsuwon Airbase. Their new over watch position sat above a small reservoir and dam that also gave them a view of not just the base below (which had already been bombed multiple times) but also the main highway that ran from north to south across the country. The Chinese army would have to move through this path if they were going to secure the lower half of the Korean peninsula and prevent the Marines from establishing a solid foothold behind the KPA frontlines. ODA 1110’s new mission was to continually monitor the traffic on the road and call in airstrikes as often as possible.

  Sergeant First Class Mark Wilson (call sign “Maverick”) placed his small utility shovel down on the small dirt mound in front of him and took a long drink of water. Since arriving at their hilltop observation point a day ago, they had been hastily digging in and creating a defensive perimeter. While they had no plans to stand and fight against a larger force should they be discovered, it would have been foolish t
o not prepare some fighting positions in case it became necessary.

  Technical Sergeant Jordan Mitchel (“Jordy”) moved over to Chucky and announced, “I just received a situation report from Henhouse. They said we have a large formation of Chinese soldiers heading towards the airbase. They want to know if we can be ready to call in a series of airstrikes as they start to arrive.”

  Chucky nodded. “Tell them we’ll be ready. Make sure you get a good idea on what strike packages we have on hand. Also, find out from Henhouse if we need extraction, what’s the plan? I don’t like not having an exit strategy this deep behind enemy lines,” he said, speaking in a low enough voice that only he and Jordy could hear.

  A couple of hours went by, and then they spotted the first columns of Chinese soldiers. It looked to be a mechanized unit of some sorts; they had armored personnel carriers, a myriad of air defense vehicles, tanks, and other troop transport vehicles. It looked to be at least a battalion in size, maybe more.

  Chucky turned to Jordy, signaling him silently with his hands, and asking if he had a good grid on the targets for an airstrike. Jordy just smiled and nodded in reply. Chucky then indicated he should go ahead and call in the strike. The entire ODA team had gone silent and was only communicating with hand signals at this point, and if necessary, very quietly through their throat mics.

  “Henhouse, Watchman Five. We have positive ID on a Chinese armored column at grid November Kilo 764 576 on main road heading towards destroyed DPRK airbase, Break…. We observe multiple IFVs, MBTs, and anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery vehicles. How copy, over?” Jordy said over his mic.

  Roughly ten agonizing seconds later, Henhouse came back over the radio, “Watchman Five, that is a good copy. Can you give us a better description on the air defense vehicles over?”

  Chucky crawled closer to Jordy at this point and pulled out his binoculars. He began to scan the enemy vehicles, attempting to identify the specific air defense vehicles traveling with the column. Speaking softly into the mic, he described, “They look like SA-22s and SA-19s, so be advised they have air defense support with the column,” he said to whoever it was on the other side of the radio that was asking. He didn’t resent them for wanting more information, it was only fair to pass along as much of information as possible to the pilots who would have to fly in for this mission.