Most Americans believe that our involvement in the war was a complete waste of time and men. The US joined the war effort due to the hundreds of years of cruelty the nation of Korea had been facing. The Soviet Union saw Korea's history and thought that it would be easy to invade. They chose to fight against the spread of Communism and paid an enormous toll. The US began to plan to help Korea gain independence shortly after using atomic bombs on one of it's long time enemies, Japan. Our involvement in th Korean War was almost as substantial as our involvement in WWI. It is the fourth biggest war effort the US has been involved in.
The Korean people were poor and rice fields were seen in every direction. Troops tried to avoid farmland as much as they could, possibly due to the moist nature of most rice paddies and the disturbing sight of evacuating refugees. The Korean terrain was mountainous and deathly cold in the winter time. The higher an elevation reached in Korea, the more difficult the land became to navigate. There was an overall lack of forestry and fields were thick with grass and shrubs. Troops had to worry more about navigation than actually fighting. Due to the cold temperatures, most of the war was fought without the luxuries of modern warfare. Planes and tanks were rarely seen. Grenades, bayonets, and landmines were used left, right, and center.
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Prior to the Korean War, the US and the Soviet Union were on good terms. Leaders of both nations attended political conferences to discuss world affairs. Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time, had stated at one of these conferences that he would respect Korea as an independent country. The duties of the US troops about to be deployed were also discussed at these conferences. It was decided that the duties of the Korean and American soldiers would be decided geographically. The nation of Korea was divided in half horizontally. This small strip of land was named the 38th Parallel. Stalin used this information to form an excellent attack plan. On August 12, 1945, 100,000 Russian soldiers invaded Korea from the North. The closest US troops were in Okinawa, Japan. By the time they had made it to Korea, The 38th Parallel was a protected border and Soviet Soldiers were teaching Korean children how to use firearms.
The US soldier easily forced the Soviets out of Korea. All US troops were brought home while both Korean nations continued to fight each other. In a vicious attack beginning on June 25 of 1950, the North Korean forces were able to push all South Koreans to the bottom right corner of the country, just in the span of 4 days. The North Korean army continued to grow while South Korea struggled. US reinforcements began to arrive on June 29th. 15 more nations began to send supporting troops to South Korea at this time. A shortage of fuel for the tanks and trucks plagued the North Korean army throughout the beginning of the war. Both sides began to take prisoners, especially the North. The war was a stand still the entire Summer.
The US troops were led by General Douglas MacArthur. He made the controversial choice of splitting his duties with General Edward Almond due to the quality of the roads making communication difficult. Troops began to drive the North Koreans back on September 15. The Soviet Union began to use Chinese troops, but China denied this fact until the war had ended. Chinese soldiers arrived by posing as AWOL North Koreans and infiltrating ROK (Republic of Korea) battalions. By the end of November, North Korean forces had been pushed to the 38th parallel, but the arrival of Chinese Soldiers kept the southerners from entering. Thousands of lives were lost due to the freezing temperatures.
Chinese troops began to Attack the south on the first day of 1951. From this point on, North Korean troops would be exclusively Chinese. They easily captured the cities of Seoul and Suwon. The war had reached a stalemate that would reoccur quite often throughout the rest of the war. The South lacked troops and the North lacked vehicles. Schools across Korea were shut down to be occupied by soldiers. Many US soldiers were shocked by the poor conditions of the schools and failed to realize quite how poor the country was until that moment. Many soldiers felt guilty for their actions due to the site of Korean refugees. The cold took many of the refugees' lives. Segregation in the US military ended in 1951.
The US Air Force played a great role in the Korean War, beginning in 1951. By March, the chinese troops were attacking at night time and the South Korean forces were struggling to adapt. General Mathew Ridgeway took over for General MacArthur in April. Chinese troops began to attack again on April 22 but the US scored a huge defensive victory. The Korean War was the first war to ever have violent Jet battles, but these were only really seen during 1951. The war raged on for 2 more years but military officials failed to take command. This made for large amounts of casualties with no effect on the war.
The famous battle of Heartbreak Ridge began on September 13 and lasted an entire month. The Chinese were experts with camouflage and could hide their command posts and gun positions. North Korean powers were located deep inside of hillsides to protect them from bombings. The US incessantly bombed the North and it is unbelievable that the Chinese were able to receive supplies throughout the end of the war. If General MacArthur was given full approval, he most likely would have been able to end the war victoriously.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars and lives were taken from the US during the Korean War, only to save a small amount of land from communism. 450,000 tons of bombs had been dropped by the US by the end. About 136,000 US soldiers were killed. Officials spent almost 2 years negotiating a truce to the war. On March 28, 1952, Operation Little Switch exchanged 684 prisoners from the allied nations for 6,670 ill or disabled prisoners taken by the communists. Operation Big Switch took place on July 27, 1953. All remaining prisoners were exchanged. Tens of thousands of North Korean prisoners went unaccounted for. They were most likely tortured and then killed. The Korean War ended 12 hours after the announcement of Operation Big Switch. The 38th Parallel is armed to this day and if North Korea ever invaded South Korea, it would be the US´s job to defend them.
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