The Korean War by Michael Hickey

Author:Michael Hickey [HICKEY, MICHAEL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS000000, HIS027020, HIS027000
ISBN: 9781468305579
Publisher: The Overlook Press
Published: 2012-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

With the first signs that the dreadful winter was giving way to spring, the front began to move forward once more. Seoul fell on 14 March as the UN forces cautiously probed across the Han and into a devastated city. The great castellated gates and ancient palaces, though battered by shellfire, had survived, as had the Japanese-built capitol, city hall and railway station. The Anglican and Catholic cathedrals, holed by shot, were still standing, but the rest of the city was in ruins, those of its inhabitants who had stayed in their homes groping around the barely recognizable streets as allied tanks and vehicles picked their way through the rubble. A few enemy stragglers and rearguards sniped vainly at the advancing troops, and as darkness fell, American tanks, giant tigers’ heads emblazoned on their frontal armour, fired their main armament and machine-guns up the wide boulevards around the capitol in a Wagnerian demonstration of victory.

One North Korean formation had been fighting in the south ever since it had been cut off by the Inchon landings in the previous September. This was the NKPA’s 19th Division, which marched north as the allies re-entered Seoul, found a gap in the UN lines, and rejoined the NKPA north of the Imjin river after a masterful and daring operation which did much to restore North Korean morale.

In an attempt to cut off the retreating enemy field army before it could regroup, Ridgway decided to drop the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team north of Uijongbu, near Munsan-ni. Although Operation ‘Tomahawk’, as it was codenamed, failed in its objective, it demonstrated the ability of an élite American formation to cope with a situation which almost went badly wrong. The operation had to be laid on at short notice and only four days were available for planning. The original drop zone had to be changed at the last minute as UN ground forces had got there first. The actual drop was successful and took place on 23 March, although a navigational error resulted in one battalion landing on the wrong zone, where another unit had just landed and was sorting itself out. What made the operation so critical was the fact that the 187th landed amidst a determined enemy rearguard whose positions appeared to have been prepared for some time and who were not in the least abashed by the sudden arrival of three battalions of paratroops.

Initial congestion on the overcrowded drop zones was quickly dealt with by the experienced troops. Ridgway, unable to suppress his excitement at seeing his old comrades in action again, arrived shortly after the drop in a light aircraft and joined Brigadier-General Bowen, the regimental commander, in his command post, which was under accurate sniper fire. One rifle company was pinned down for some time as it landed, but by 5.30 p.m. all initial objectives had been taken and the battalions were ordered to dig in for the night, during which the link-up with friendly ground troops was achieved. This produced some

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