Prelude To Tragedy |
| 7/24/45 | |
| 8/6/45 | Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima |
| 8/8/45 | 120,000 Russian troops invaded Manchuria and Korea |
| 9/9/45 | US accepts Japanese surrender in Korea, South of 38th parallel |
| 11/14/47 | U.N. Resolution to remove troops from Korea after national elections. |
| 2/8/48 | North Korean People's Army (NK) officially activated |
| 4/8/48 | |
| 8/15/48 | The Republic of Korea was proclaimed. Syngman Rhee was elected first president
(by a legislature formed by popular elections conducted in May) |
| 9/9/48 | Democratic People's Republic of Korea claims jurisdiction over all Korea |
| 1/10/49 | Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Forces (CCF), without control of the air, trapped a half-million-man Nationalist army between the Huai River and the Lung Hai Railway and killed or captured them all.
Chiang Kai-shek defeated Mao in 1934 but 10,000 of Mao's 80,000 guerillas survived fifteen major battles in the 8,000 mile "Long March," gained strength fighting Japan, and forced Chiang's retreat to Taiwan (Formosa) after Huai-Hai. |
| 6/29/49 | Last US troops leave South Korea
Korean Military Advisory Group formed (KMAG, 200 men) |
| 8/5/49 | Truman's Secretary of State Dean Acheson said China's leaders had foresworn their heritage
Said they had become subservient to a foreign power, Russia. |
| 10/1/49 | |
1950 |
| 1/12/50 | US has no contingency plans should North Korea invade |
| 2/14/50 | China and Russia sign a "Mutual Assistance" agreement if involved in a "State Of War"
Mao agrees to Kim Il Sung's plan to invade South Korea. |
| 6/1/50 | NK strength at 135,000, with seven assault divisions and 150 T34 tanks |
| 6/25/50 | |
| 6/25/50 | |
| 6/25/50 | Yak-9P fighters strafe Kimpo and Republic of South Korean (ROK) Air Units at Seoul |
| 6/25/50 | UN Security Council demands NK stop its attack and return to its borders |
| 6/28/50 | B-26 aircraft of the 13th and 8th Bomb Squadron suffer casualties at Han |
| 6/29/50 | ROK Capitol Seoul falls, Han River bridges destroyed
Most of ROK army's best trapped on northern side. |
| 6/30/50 | NK 3rd Division (NK-3) crosses Han River; NK drives down Peninsula |
| 6/30/50 | |
| 7/2/50 | MacArthur asks Washington for a Marine Regimental Combat Team |
| 7/3/50 | ROK forces mistakenly attacked by US and Australian Air Units |
| 7/5/50 | |
| 7/6/50 | Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) unit in Taejon, with 12 Army Nurses. |
| 7/7/50 | United Nations Command created, under General Douglas MacArthur |
| 7/8/50 | |
| 7/10/50 | Fifth Air Force destroys many North Korean tanks and troops at Pyongtaek
US troops retreat along the Seoul-Taejon road. |
| 7/12/50 | US Eighth Army takes command of ground operations in Korea |
| 7/13/50 | Lt. General Walton Walker takes command of ground forces in Korea
US & ROKs form line from Kum river through Chongju to coastal Pyonghae-ri
NK begin general assault along the Kum river section around Taejon |
| 7/12-23 | |
| 7/18/50 | 8th Cavalry Regiment lands, leading unit of 1st Cavalry Division |
| 7/20-30 | ROK 3rd Division, in desperate fighting, make first successful holding operation on Peninsula |
| 7/24-25 | NK-3 defeats 8th and 5th Cavalry Regiments, and captures Yongdong
Halts its attack after taking 2,000 casualties, mostly from artillery
NK-2 defeats 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division, in their first action |
| 7/13-26 | |
| 7/13-26 | NK-6 outflanks Eighth Army unnoticed down West Coast, captures Chonju
NK-6 positioned to drive to Pusan cutting off all UN forces in Korea |
| 7/26/50 | Eighth Army ordered back to prepared defenses |
| 7/25-31 | NK-6 defeats 19th Regiment, 24th Division and captures Chinju |
| 7/29/50 | |
| 7/31/50 | 9th Infantry Regiment 2nd Infantry Division, lands at Pusan |
| 8/2/50 | |
| 8/1-3 | A defense line anchored in the west along the Naktong river.
NK nears the high-water mark of its invasion success. |
| 8/8/50 | In secret Politburo meeting, Mao decided that China must protect its borders if UN threatened to win
China seemed clearly aware we might hold at Pusan and then counter-attack decisively
China's decisions always reflected knowledge of US military strength and plans, presumably provided by Philby, Burgess, American espionage sources, and the USSR. |
| 8/8/50 | 6th (M46 Pattons), 70th (M26 Pershings and M4A3 Shermans) and 73rd (M26) medium tank battalions land at Pusan, followed August 16 by 72nd med tank bn. and two 2id tank companies.
UN forces outnumber the NK in tanks, troops, artillery, and have total air supremacy. |
| 8/7-14 | Task Force Kean - 25th Infantry Division makes first US counter attack. Though opposed only by NK-6, about 7,500 troops, and given crucial support by the Marine Brigade, the attack eventually fails.
25id does get needed combat experience and, except for its 24th Regiment, performs well in remaining Perimeter battles |
| 8/5-19 | NK-4 forces three crossings of the Naktong against the 24th Division and ROK 17th Regiment.
Heavily outnumbered, NK-4 still almost breaks through, but US and ROKs hold.
The Marine Brigade again attacks, closely supported by two Carrier-based Corsair Squadrons
They throw NK-4 back across the Naktong, eliminating them as a fighting force.
NK-4 did not re-group until after the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) enter the war. |
| 8/17/50 | Massacre of US prisoners at Hill 303. |
| 8/18-22 | In savage fighting ROKs stop NK-8, NK-12 and NK-5 in eastern Kyongju Corridor |
| 8/28/50 | FEC intelligence estimated China had 246,000 PLA and 374,000 militia near the Korean border. |
| 8/29/50 | British Commonwealth 27th Brigade lands at Pusan |
| 8/27-9/15 | Continuous Fighting around Pusan Perimeter |
| 9/1-5 | NK makes 5 simultaneous assaults along the Naktong |
| 9/3/50 | US attacks around Yongsan |
| 9/4/50 | 5th Marines withdrawn to mount out for end-run at Inchon |
| 9/8/50 | CIA discounts China's troops in Manchuria as normal, not evidence that China would intervene. |
| 9/15/50 | Arguably the greatest amphibious assault of the century. |
| 9/17/50 | Mission: Evaluate and prepare the battlefield for military action. |
| 9/16-23 | UN breaks the Pusan Perimeter cordon |
| 9/19-29 | Seoul recaptured in the north, savage infantry fighting, heavy Marine casualties
Mop-up starts in the south as surviving NK forces flee east coast roads. |
| 9/27/50 | General MacArthur given permission to cross the 38th Parallel into North Korea |
| 9/29/50 | General MacArthur and ROK President Syngman Rhee enter Seoul |
| 9/30/50 | The JCS instructs MacArthur to continue his advance north to destroy the NK armed forces. |
| 9/30/50 | |
| 9/30/50 | ROK troops cross 38th Parallel |
| 10/3/50 | Zhou En-lai notifies India that, if American Forces cross the 38th Parallel, China will intervene.
Mao had already informed Russia of this decision. |
| 10/9/50 | |
| 10/12/50 | CIA says full-scale Chinese intervention not probable, barring Russia deciding on global war.
Stalin tells Mao Russia will provide aircraft and other support of China's intervention. |
| 10/14/50 | |
| 10/13-14 | The 38th, 39th, and 40th Chinese Field Armies entered Korea.
|
| 10/15/50 | Truman and triumphant MacArthur meet on Wake Island
Agents report Chinese troops moving into Korea but CIA gives no alert |
| 10/19/50 | NK capitol Pyongyang falls |
| 10/20/50 | 187th ARCT airborne assault north of Pyongyang |
| 10/24/50 | RISK: Global nuclear war.
US had eleven Infantry and one Armored Divisions World-wide. He was committing seven of these to possibly face a Manchurian force of 500,000 backed by a 5,000,000 man Chinese army. If Russia attacked anywhere in the world, our only defense option would be a nuclear WWIII.
REWARD: Possibly occupy all North Korea before China intervened effectively.
ALTERNATIVE: Declare objective of preserving South Korea reached.
Resource-preserving fighting withdrawal from forward positions while constructing a Pyongyang-Wonsan stop-line, and fight from in-depth, defensible positions until war resolved by diplomacy.
|
| 10/24/50 | |
| 10/25/50 | ROK 6th Division first UN troops smashed by elements of CCF 42nd Field Army around Chosan |
| 10/26/50 | 1st Marine Division lands on east coast at Wonsan joining X Corps. The four divisions attack north. |
| 10/29/50 | Advanced ROK units in the west routed by elements of CCF 38th and 40th Field Armies. |
| 10/29/50 | General Willoughby says only Chinese "stragglers," are in Korea, not PLA |
| 11/1-6 | Only 30,000 lightly armed troops of their unsuspected 150,000 man deployment strike
They ambush The Cav and the ROKs, driving us back to the Chongchon river
Intended as a Reconnaissance probe, the easy victory helped China assess our weaknesses |
| 11/2-3 | In the east, the 7th Marine Regiment crushes the CCF 124th Division in the only UN success |
| 11/4 | MacArthur intensifies bombing of communications routes to the Yalu |
| 11/5 | Mao assigns an additional twelve CCF divisions to destroy First Marine Division and X Corps. |
| 11/8/50 | F-80 of 51st FIW downs MiG-15 in first all jet dogfight |
| 11/21/50 | US 17th Regiment reaches The Yalu |
| 11/24 | That same day, the Second Phase of China's offensive Plan began |
| 11/25/50 | |
| 11/26-30 | Start of a route that became the longest retreat in US history. |
| 11/27-30 | All the CCF Armies ... 300,000 troops ... had infiltrated North Korea essentially undetected |
| 11/30 | President Truman threatens use of atomic bomb against CCF |
| 11/30-12/11 | 1st Marine Division fights through encircling CCF forces to reach our 3rd Infantry Division lines.
The 10 CCF divisions attacking the Marines in Chosin required complete rebuilding |
| 12/11/50 | UN Naval forces begin evacuation at Hungnam |
| 12/14/50 | UN passes a Cease Fire resolution |
| 12/23/50 | General Walker is killed in accident, General Matthew Ridgway assumes Eighth Army command |
| 12/24/50 | 105,000 troops, 98,000 civilians, 17,500 vehicles, and 350,000 tons of cargo |
| 12/30/50 | MiG-15 jets begin attacking UN airplanes over North Korea |
| 12/30/50 | Photo Review 1950 |
1951 |
| 1/1/51 | Photo Preview 1951 |
| 1/3/51 | CCF and NK renew their offensive. Seoul is again abandoned. |
| 1/14/51 | Over his defeatist Staff's objections, Ridgway stabilizes UN lines along the 37th parallel with an army that was gradually becoming hardened. Within six months they developed into a force that could meet and defeat the enemy, man to man. From this time, the slaughter and agony of warriors and civilians alike would be the price paid for politicians to painfully grope their way to a cease-fire. |
| 1/25/51 | UN counterattacks in the 'Ridgway' offensive, Operation Thunderbolt, over a carpet of dead CCF.
Twin Tunnels Ambush |
| 2/11-12 | CCF counterattacks at Hoengsong, destroys ROK 8th Div. |
| 2/14/51 | 23rd RCT and French Infantry Battalion hold on Wonju Line Ridgway says successful defense at Chipyong-ni is 'turning point' |
| 2/18-3/17 | Ridgway's Operation Killer. IX Corps has limited success. |
| 3/6-31 | Eighth Army (1st Cav, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions and 1st Marine Division) re-cross Han
Operation Ripper
Chunchon recaptured and line Idaho reached against weak opposition, as CCF regroups. |
| 3/18/51 | UN forces retake Seoul again The last time we had to do the job in Century XX |
| 4/1-22 | Operations Rugged and Dauntless drive 15 miles north of Line Kansas, our Third Line of Defense
A row of tall hills nicknamed "Yamas", about 5 miles behind the front line |
| 4/11/51 | |
| 4/15/51 | General James Van Fleet assumes command of Eighth Army |
| 4/19/51 | General MacArthur at Congressional hearings on his dismissal |
| 4/22/51 | CCF begins spring offensive with 27 Divisions of 250,000 foot infantry, smash Line Kansas, drive through 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions towards Seoul |
| 4/24-25 | Second Batt, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Third Batt Royal Australian Regiment and A Company 72nd US Medium Tank Batt, heavily outnumbered, stop CCF at Kapyong. |
| 4/30/51 | CCF and NK pull back to re-group |
| 5/10-6/5 | Second CCF Spring Offensive begins, with the 'May Massacre' |
| 5/20/51 | CCF offensive stopped, after penetrating 30 miles on the east-central region |
| Mid May | US privately changes objective in Korea from victory to political solution. |
| 5/23-6/1 | UN resumes attack north, regains both Line Kansas and the Wyoming bulge by mid-June.
CCF 180th Division totally destroyed. |
| 6/10-16 | Punchbowl, near the Hwachon Reservoir. 1st Marine Division reaches northen ridges against NK |
6/13/51 -
7/27/53 | The enemy uses respite from relentless assault to reinforce and strengthen defenses Toward the end of the KW, artillery barrages would sometimes exceed WWI |
| 6/13/51 | Fighting lapses to patrolling and small-unit actions. |
| 6/23/51 | USSR UN Delegate Jacob Malik proposes truce |
| 7/10/51 | This is a tragic comment on Truman's tactics |
| 8/1-10/31 | Limited UN attacks in vicious small-unit actions to consolidate positions |
| 8/23/51 | Communists break off talks |
| 8/17-9/6 | Battle of Bloody Ridge |
| 9/5-23 | Battle for Heartbreak Ridge |
| 10/3-23 | Operation Commando. Five UN Divisions, including the British Commonwealth Division attack elements of Four CCF Armies, to adjust Corps boundaries.
In the successful but savage fighting, I Corps estimates 21,000 CCF and over 4,000 UN casualties. |
| 10/25/51 | Communists resume talks After their most casualties and lost terrain in negotiations period |
| 11/27/51 | Truce talks continue at Panmunjom and a cease-fire line agreed on |
| 51-53 | Talks at Panmunjom drag on until 7/27/53Localized battles and slaughter continue all along the MLR |
| 12/18/51 | Exchange of POW lists |
1952 |
| 1/1/52 | Photo Preview 1952 |
| 1/2/52 | UN POW Exchange Proposal |
| 1/3/52 | POW Exchange Proposal rejected by Communists |
| 2/18/52 | Riots in Koje-do prison camp |
| 3/13/52 | Another major riot at Koje-do |
| 3/21/52 | Outpost Eerie, a typical post between the two opposing MLRs in the bloody Outpost War |
| 5/7 | General Dodd captured by Koje-do POWs. |
| 5/12-6/12 | General Haydon Boatner replaces General Colson at Koje-do and ends rioting.
General Mark Clark assumes FECOM from General Ridgway. |
| 5/27/52 | Syngman Rhee declares martial law at Pusan |
| 6/23/52 | General Clark orders bombing of NK power plants |
| 7/23/52 | Air strikes knock out North Korea's hydroelectric power for over two weeks |
| 6/52-10/52 | Vicious, bitter localized fighting along MLR as truce talks drag on. |
| 8/12-25 | Marine reinforced company capture Bunker Hill (hill 122 east of Panmunjom), and holds it against battalion-level CCF counter-attacks. |
| 8/29/52 | Largest air strike of war, 1400 aircraft hit Pyongyang |
| 9/17-24 | Puerto Rican 65/3id lost Outpost Kelly to the more experienced CCF 384th Regiment. |
| 10/8-11/18 | Truce talks halted. General Clark initiates Operation Showdown |
| 10/6-15 | Battle ofWhite Horse Hill - ROK 9th Division inflicts 10,000 casualties on CCF while repelling repeated ferocious assaults |
| 10/26-28 | The Black Watch and BCD tanks and Infantry fight off the CCF in the Battle of The Hook |
| 11/3/52 | 2/160/40id fight for Heartbreak Ridge, Hill 851 |
| 11/15-27 | Communist stage propaganda "POW Olympics" at Camp 5, Pyoktong |
| 12/25/52 | 38/2id fights off savage CCF assault at T-Bone Hill |
| 12/1-31 | |
1953 |
| 1/1/53 | Photo Preview 1953 |
| 1/25/53 | 31/7id assaults Spud Hill, enemy strongpoint at T-Bone, in Operation Smack.
In spite of strong tank and air support the 31st was repulsed with heavy casualties
Press falsely castigates the assault as unnecessary loss of life staged for visiting brass. |
| 2/11/53 | General Maxwell Taylor takes command of Eigth Army |
| 3/5/53 | New USSR Premier Georgi Malenkov speaks of peaceful coexistence |
| 3/28/53 | NK Premier Kim Il Sung and CCF Peng Teh-huai agree to POW exchange |
| 3/30/53 | Truce talks resume at Panmunjom |
| 3/1-4/31 | More savage fighting around Old Baldy, T-bone, outpost Eerie and Pork Chop.
CCF-141 and CCF-67 take the Old Baldy - Pork Chop region from 7th ID and hold it.
Exchanging countless thousands of artillery rounds, the CCF took the Vegas and Reno outposts from the 5th Marines on March 26, but the Marines re-took Vegas and held it against determined attacks until the CCF broke off the action. |
| 3/17/53 | 9/2id loses and retakes portions of Little Gibraltar |
| 3/1-4/31 | More savage fighting as UN forces lose Old Baldy and Eerie rather than inordinate sacrifice of life for ground during final stages of truce talks |
| 4/16-18 | 17th and 31st Infantry Regiments suffer heavy casualties at Pork Chop Hill |
| 4/20-26 | Exchange of sick and wounded POWs |
| 4/23/53 | Panmunjom talks resume |
| 6/6-10 | 7th Infantry Division suffer more heavy casualties at Pork Chop Hill and are withdrawn |
| 6/14/53 | Communist attack drives back ROK positions |
| 6/18/53 | ROKs release 27,000 NK POWs who refuse repatriation.
Communists again break off truce talks |
| 6/25/53 | CCF sends 3 armies, almost 100,000 troops, against 5 ROK divisions totaling half their number, driving the ROKs back several thousand yards. The CCF drive stops under staggering UN artillery barrages, about 2.7 million rounds in June alone. |
| 7/10/53 | Truce talks resume after UN assures ROK acceptance of cease-fire terms |
| 7/24-25 | Aussies and Marines inflict terrible casualties and hold Our enemies finally realize that the UN may sacrifice ground in some areas, but will make the loss in life to the attackers hideously out of proportion to any gains That was the alternative MacArthur and his Superiors ignored three bloody years earlier |
| 7/27/53 | Shooting Stops. The question, for how long? |
| 9/4/53 | Repatriation of POWs starts at Freedom Village, Panmunjom |
Over 53,000 ROK and UN troops, including over 8,000 Americans, are MIA. One assumes the great majority of them were murdered by North Korean soldiers after surrendering, or being found wounded, or in the (often death) camps for POWs. Though most attention has focused on the Korean War's first year, bloody fighting persisted throughout the entire war. Half of our dead were killed after the truce talks began, while people talked and postured, at Panmunjom. Artillery concentrations on the small outposts and contested hills of the MLR exceeded anything in WWI or WWII; typically a thousand rounds exploding in 10 minutes or so, followed by battalion- and regiment-scale assaults against positions scarcely large enough to hold a company. The Marines fought for Bunker Hill, Reno, Carson and Vegas; the ROKs for Sniper Ridge, Triangle Hill and Big Nori; our 2nd Division fought for Old Baldy, Arrowhead and Pork Chop, as did our 7th Division in their turn. Dozens of other obscure, torn landscapes soaked the blood of other valliant infantrymen. Some of the most dangerous and important sections of the MLR were held valiantly by the ROKs and our UN allies.
Causes of the Korean Tragedy ... Failure of Leadership, Intelligence and Preparation
The Foundations of Freedom are the Courage of Ordinary People and Quality of our Arms
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