He had a history of at times being a “loose cannon” and on occasion needed “adult supervision…” They left him to run the show without at least carefully reviewing what might be involved. But both he and the Pentagon had “dropped the reins” and they were giving MacArthur his head. The UN (at that point) would follow the lead of the American President. They were engaging in a giddy view of things rather than considering strategic realities. General MacArthur and the South Korean government demanded nothing less than a charge to the Yalu… the Chinese border. (The Air Force never caught on until far too late…) MacArthur had told Truman that the Chinese would not commit major forces… and if they did, the Air Force would massacre them. Unfortunately the message was passed by way of an Indian diplomat known to be pro-Peking… The warning was dismissed as either an empty threat or an attempt to separate relatively weak South Korean forces from strong American support. Korea November 1950 Australian Veterans Department that if any forces other than South Korean approached their borders that they absolutely would commit troops. The Chinese were determined for a number of reasons not to have UN forces reach their border. “Ruling the rocks and crags…” It would also leave a buffer area between the new South Korea and China. Any remaining North Korean entity would be a nonviable country without unending aid from China or Russia. The idea would be to advance north of the capital just far enough to have a decent defensive line and run it east across the narrow waist of Korea to the Sea of Japan. (The war finished with the UN forces at such a line.)Ī bit more ambitious, but fairly safe plan would have been advancing to the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. At a minimum, an advance should be made to a reasonably defensible line north of the Parallel. That would have been most unwise…The Parallel was simply a line on a map and was absolutely indefensible. “Quo Vadis…?” (Where to from here?)Ī few naive types in the UN thought that forces would halt when they got to the previous border at the 38th Parallel. The hunt was on and nobody on the UN side was thinking very clearly.
When Seoul was liberated the surviving NKPA units fled North with the Americans and South Koreans at their heels. To see Part I, Part III, Part IV of BOTH SIDES OF THE CHOSIN series. Almond- Noon, 11/28/50 when told of eight Chinese Divisions attacking X Corps at Chosin There aren’t two Chinese Communist divisions in the whole of North Korea…” -Major General Edward M.
Velleius Patercuslus- re Teutoburger Wald, 9 AD “A sense of security is very often the beginning of disaster…” 7th Marine Regiment heading for the Chosin Reservoir some wearing, others carrying cold weather gear (DOD)
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