Page 129 - NS-2 Textbook

122 MARITIME HISTORY

1948. Not until U.S. forces began their evacuation did an Forttmately, at this point American reinforcements
American advisory group start to train an ROK army. This and equipment began pouring into the Pusan Perimeter.
was still ill-equipped and poorly organized when the last Aided by naval bombardment, air strikes, and U.S.
of the American garrison forces departed in June 1949. marines, the defenders began to inflict severe casualties
American lack of resolution had set the stage for another on the attacking North Koreans. By the third week of Au-
war involving American servicenlen. A year later, on 25 gust, after being stalled for three weeks on the Pusan
June 1950, the North Korean army crossed the thirty- Perimeter, the North Korean drive started to lose steam,
eighth parallel in a full-scale invasion of South Korea. and General MacArthur began plans for possibly the
most daring amphibious assault ever conceived.
THE KOREAN WAR
OPERATION CHROMITE: INCHON
The North Korean invasion of South Korea in June 1950,
backed by the Soviet Union and the Chinese Commu- By September 1950 General Walker had consolidated
nists, had two main purposes. The first was to unify the Pusan Perimeter and made it nearly impossible to
Korea into a Communist state. The second purpose \vas penetrate. A stalemate had been reached. The UN forces
to establish a geographic dagger pointed at the center of were growing ever stronger and could undoubtedly
Japan, where General MacArthur's occupation rule pre- have broken through the weakening North Korean lines
vented Communist subversion from gaining a foothold. but at great cost. General MacArthur did not want to
U.S. State Department spokesmen had suggested that incur those losses, so he proposed an exceptionally
Korea was not important to American strategic defense. complex amphibious assault on lnchon, the port of
This implied that the United States would not oppose an Seoul. The objective was to capture Inchon and Seoul,
invasion, and undoubtedly encouraged the North Ko- and thus cut the North Korean supply line to theu'
rean leaders to try open aggression. armies on the Pusan Perimeter. This would isolate over
As soon as President Truman learned of the invasion, 90 percent of the North Korean army and, for all practi-
he directed the u.s. delegate to the United Nations Secu- cal purposes, destroy North Korea's capability for
rity Council to call an emergency meeting. The USSR was making war.
boycotting the cotmci1, and with no Soviet veto to hurdle, The proposed landing at lnchon, however, presented
the Security Council condemned the North Korean act as extreme difficulties. The only approach to the port was
a breach of world peace and ordered military sanctions. through the FlYUlg Fish Charme1, a torttlOUS 30-mile run
The United States undertook the direction of military op- tluough mud flats that became visible each day at low
erations. President Truman ordered the Joint Chiefs of tide. The range of tide at Inchon is one of the greatest in
Staff to take any action necessary to aid South Korea and the world-29 feet on the average, and sometimes as
repel the invasion. The Joint Chiefs named General much as 36 feet. It was this tide, howevel~ that made the
MacArthur commander in chief, Far East. He was later landing feasible, for it allowed the LSTs to go right up to
named supreme commander of United Nations forces. Inchon's waterfront to disembark troops and vehicles.
The UN Security Council called on other member na- The troops, though, would have to use ladders to scale a
tions to come to the aid of South Korea and to assist the seawall. Worst of all, if the landing were unsuccessful,
United States with military forces. Eventually fourteen not only the troops but also the LSTs would be lost, since
other countries--Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New the ships would later be trapped, sitting high and dry on
Zealand, France, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Nonvay, Swe- the tidal mud flats.
den, the Netherlands, Thailand, Colombia, and the D day for the lnchon landing was set for 15 Septem-
Philippines-sent military and naval contingents, and ber, because it was only on the three days beginning 15
many others sent medical and material aid. September that the tides would meet amphibious re-
The South Koreans were soon overrun by fifteen quirements. The Marine brigade, a key force in General
well-equipped North Korean divisions. Seoul fell only Walker's successful defense of the Pusan perimeter, was
three days after the invasion} and the "Reds," as the withdrawn to form the nucleus of the First Marme Divi-
Communists were called, proceeded southward with lit- sion, which would spearhead the landing.
tle opposition. General MacArthur committed three of Vice Admiral Arthur Struble, commander of the Sev-
the four American occupational divisions in Japan to enth Fleet, was in overall command. Carrier ali support
stem the tide and gain some time for UN forces to build was provided from three u.s. carriers in Task Force 77.
up strength through the port of Pusan. U.S. general Wal- The First Marine Division was to make the first landing,
ton Walker and the remnants of the ROK army fought followed by the u.s. Seventh Infantry Division, an air-
hard but retreated steadily. By late July only an area borne regiment, and a South Korean marine regiment.
about 25 miles west by 80 miles north of Pusan remained These ground forces made up the X Corps, commanded
in allied hands. This was called the Pusan Perimeter. by Major General Edward Almond, USA.