U.S. ARMY TV SHOW " THE BIG PICTURE - THE COBRA STRIKES " KOREAN WAR 1950-53 80754

by the spring of 1950 only five short years after the last shots of world war two had been fired the United States Army had been reduced to an active force of 600,000 a great number of these were scattered about the world on occupation beauty [Music] but the Armed Forces of the truculent communists Soviet Russia and red China remained on a strong wartime footing and in belligerent posture aggression was soon to come Americans would be fighting against tyranny for the third time in 32 years [Music] Coria a crowded little finger of land but of key importance to the free world in the Far East what happened here opened the next major chapter in the history of the United States Army the war began here at the 38th parallel just how did this imaginary line become the fuse for a three-year explosion before the Japanese surrender in World War two we made an agreement with the Russians who were then our allies when surrender came on the Asian mainland Russian troops would accept the surrender of Japanese forces north of the 38th parallel and we would do the same south of the 38th parallel was chosen because it divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half it was also agreed that free elections would be held and the government of Korea returned to the Korean people in August of 1948 free elections were held in South Korea supervised by United Nations inspectors establishing the Republic of Korea three weeks later communist-controlled elections in North Korea from what UN inspectors were barred established the communist regime and divided the Korean nation not long afterwards the Communists decided their moment for conquest had come in early summer 1950 life was good in the agricultural south there was peace time for living in the quiet ancient way [Music] then suddenly in the pre-dawn darkness of June 25th 1950 [Music] South Koreans were jarred awake by a living nightmare unprovoked and unannounced the Communist latest war of conquest had begun [Music] many thought it was the beginning of World War three it might have been if we had not taken immediate action President Truman ordered our Navy and Air Force to provide cover and support to the Republic of Korea in the United Nations United States delegate Warren Austen spoke for the indignant people of free nations everywhere the armed invasion of the Republic of Korea continues the Republic of Korea has appealed to the United Nations for protection I am proud to report that the United States is prepared to furnish assistance to the Republic of Korea four days after the invasion began the capital city of Seoul fell to the Communists small elements of the United States Army were Allen didn't from Japan to help check the read advance they were greeted with cheers but the cheering was soon forgotten our small forces found themselves greatly outnumbered by communist troops trained and equipped by the Russians our handful of troops fought a delaying action buying precious time until reinforcements would arrive [Music] we showed that the Communists that we had the will to fight aggression wherever and whenever it occurred [Music] on July 10 President Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur commander-in-chief of the United Nations forces which were beginning to assemble for the outnumbered the troops in the field it was fight pull back and fight again more United States forces arrived in Pusan not nearly enough but it was a beginning field commanders like general Walton H Walker and General William F Dean found their task was a gremlin and all-too-familiar historically a holding action with no time and too few men [Music] but American military leadership had only recently been blooded and honed two professional keenness in a greater war to reinforce and complement the top leaders was a hard core of seasoned officers and enlisted men who had won their campaign ribbons on other fields of battle only five or six years before [Music] through July and August of 1950 our small forces were being pushed into a corner the Pusan Perimeter we rushed more troops from Japan again we were faced with an emergency build-up to fighting strength we drew on our citizen-soldiers reserves and inductees within the year our army would grow from 600,000 to more than a million and a Half Men [Music] other United Nations forces began arriving in Korea British troops of the Sutherland and argyle highlanders the International army was beginning to take shape it was none too soon again time was running out the Nakdong river provided an actual defense line around busan it was here that the guts and stamina of the American soldier and his Republic of Korea allies and a protective wall of artillery fire held the communist forces at bay [Music] the build-up of Allied strength was rapidly gaining momentum [Music] in charm September 15 1950 United Nations suddenly took the offensive [Music] General Douglas MacArthur the supreme commander had conceived this daring amphibious strike along the coast of the Yellow Sea just west of Seoul [Applause] [Music] the Marine landing force secured wall me island in just 58 minutes and pushed on into Incheon itself kicking in the backdoor to the enemy's defenses additional Army forces poured in simultaneously they break out from the Pusan Perimeter got underway in the South in a week of heavy fighting our forces drove 20 miles inland from Incheon to Seoul [Music] more than 10,000 North Korean foods were dug in and waiting at every street corner with orders to fight to the death [Music] the United Nations offensive rollback the communist forces sweeping northward past the 38th parallel [Music] first Kaesong Bell then one song on the East Coast [Music] then cognac the North Korean capital itself [Music] [Applause] [Music] psychological warfare played an important part [Music] loudspeaker messages and safe-conduct passes for North Korean troops inviting them to surrender met with striking success [Music] often entire units stacked their weapons and awaited the arrival of UN forces our army units pushed on toward the Yalu River Korea's lava most boundary [Applause] but there were signs of potential trouble ahead some of the prisoners taken in the north wore the quilted uniform of the Communist Chinese army [Music] [Applause] November found elements of the temp pour on the frozen banks of the Yalu River while they ate their Thanksgiving dinner they could look across the river and see Communist China victory seemed too short there was talk of war's end by Christmas but on the other side of the Yalu Chinese armies were massive a whole new war was about to begin [Music] late in November to fall chinese field armies attacked across the Yalu splitting UN forces and rolling them back what President Truman had first called a police action had now become a major war our forces in the West pulled back to the south [Music] elements of the first Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division 10th Corps along with Republic of Korea troops cut off in the northeast fought their way in sub-zero weather toward the port of Hong Nam and evacuation by sea [Music] 100,000 fighting man and their machines were loaded onto waiting ships [Music] more than ninety thousand refugees fled from their homes in North Korea rather than live again under communist rule we gave transportation to freedom to as many of them as we could by see the massive withdrawal moved southward toward ports where the units could land and regroup in the west elements of the Eighth Army withdrew south of the 38th parallel the Chinese forces followed up with their massive New Year's offensive thousands of Koreans choked to the roads leading southward they had seen communism and practice any hardship was preferable [Music] once again Seoul changed hands as we pulled out flowing up the bridges behind us far to the south our units were regrouping [Music] in late February we made a fresh start an operation general Ridgway graphically called operation killer the Chinese armies held a staggering superiority of numbers and ridgeway's intent was simple cut down the odds [Applause] operation killer did just that the enemy lost 10 men for every United Nations casualty what had begun as an attempt to inflict heavy personnel losses on the enemy developed into a ground gaining operations [Music] [Applause] on March 15 Seoul again changed hands South Korean troops entered the deserted streets unopposed the enemy had pulled out to the north [Music] but not for long spring brought with it still another crisis another massive Communist offensive [Music] general Van Fleet fortified the city of Seoul determined not to lose it again the enemy came on in human waves to be met by a storm of fire they lost tens of thousands but still they came on and then suddenly they faltered broke and started pulling back pursued by our Armour again the Communists had run afoul of two things the immense firepower of the Eighth Army and the principles of logistics they were simply unable to supply a large force for a sustained offensive June 2nd 1951 again we cross the 38th parallel a badly battered enemy withdrawing before us Soviet UN delegate Jacob Moloch frankly proposed truce talks suggesting that perhaps a ceasefire could be discussed on July 10 preliminary truce talks were opened in the red held city of Kaesong they were to drag on for two long years while the bloodshed continued the lines of the fighting front became virtually stabilized after 12 days the talks in Kaesong were deadlocked over the issue of a ceasefire line then the Communists broke off the talks in the fall they were resumed at pan moon job [Music] the fighting continued [Music] materials were expended daily and nightly in prodigious amounts massive supply by air was a new military concept that came to full development in Korea airlift and airdrop techniques became a major means of supply in a large-scale combat situation winter 1952 found the talks at pan Moon Jean deadlocked over the principle of prisoner exchange Clio back and forth along the twisted the length of the main line of resistance raged the bitter hill babbles [Music] in March 1953 the Communist world was shaken by the death of Joseph Stalin his successor Georgi Malenkov launched what he termed a worldwide peace offensive its influence would soon be felt in Korea within a month the Communists suddenly took us up on our standing offer to exchange sick and wounded prisoners this was Operation little switch it indicated that a ceasefire might come soon battle weary men listen for word that the shooting was to end [Music] on July 27th 1953 at the UN base camp in Munson II General Mark Clark signed the ceasefire agreement a few miles away the Communists did the same by August 5th operation Big Switch was underway some 13,000 UN soldiers returned from red prison camps General William Dean captured in the battle for tayshaun early in the war returned with his thousands of comrades in arms it was then that the world image of communism received a telling blow for two-thirds of the Chinese prisoners refused to return to Red China and 35,000 North Koreans decided they'd rather live in South Korea [Music] an armistice however is only a ceasefire not peace and in this divided nation the need is for constant watchfulness unending preparedness still remains and may continue for years to come this is true anywhere on earth where people face an aggressive [Music] the Communists had miscalculated in Korea they could not bring themselves to believe that we would spend so much of material and of effort and of pain so far from home that lesson was an important one for all concern once again the United States Army the American soldier had stood foremost in a massive military force on foreign soil but not for conquest as the years passed we began to see that our preparedness would have to be large-scale constant flexible and adaptable they were to be years of Menace bringing into being a new phrase the Cold War [Music]

Channel: PeriscopeFilm

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Length: 28min 33sec (1713 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 23 2021