United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

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KAESONG EHMRO C Seoul. LINE D-UN FRONT LINES 'HAM nos: CHONGJ' U ' ' Amoous WSONG . vonsoox TAEJON ' POHANG YoNscHoN ' ' -meeu ' ENEMY ATTACKS 3l DEC -7JAN -54-

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V most CHAPTER 4 FIRST UNITED NATIONS COUNTEROFFENSIVE 25 January-21 April 1951 The changing fortunes of the contending armies in Korea during the early months of the war have been likened to the swinging of a giant pendulum. At first the hard-smashing North Korean People's Army over- ran the South Koreans and then, the U.S. Army troops were hurriedly thrown into the breach. The only free territory remaining late in August 1950 was that contained within the Pusan Perimeter. With the arrival of United Nations reinforcements the pendu- lum began to swing in the other direction. The North Koreans suffered a humiliating defeat in the Inchon-Seoul operation and during the succeed- ing weeks, as 8th Army forces pounded their way out of the Pusan Perimeter northward toward Seoul, link- ing up with X Corps on 26 September. When the NKPA refused to surrender, the fateful decision was taken by General MacArthur to strike above the 38th Parallel. On 1 October ROK units crossed the Par- allel on the east coast. In the west a multination force drove north and secured the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. On 26 October the ROK 6th Division had the distinction of being the first UN unit to reach the Manchurian border, near Chosan, in the northwest. For a short time it looked as though all North Korea would be brought under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. The entry of the Chinese Communists into the con- flict injected a new factor which caused the pendulum to swing in reverse direction. United Nations forces suffered a disastrous setback toward the close of November and early in December. Separated by pre- cipitous mountains when struck by the Chinese, both 8th Army and X Corps were forced to retreat. The New Year's offensive launched by the Communists forced a further withdrawal, and for a time the United Nations bid to support the Republic of Korea against unwarranted attack seemed frustrated? 1 When Ridgway assumed command of the U.S. 8th Army, MacArthur relinquished personal supervision of 8th Army United Nations Counterojensive On 25 january the pendulum began swinging north- ward once again, as General Ridgway put in motion Operation Thunderbolt, a cautious and methodical advance all along the UN line, designed to clean out the enemy ridge by ridge, phase line by phase line? Meanwhile, still in the south, the lst Marine Division was ordered to the Palgong-San area on 31 January to clean up remnants of the North Korean 10th Divi- sion. Air support proved particularly effective during Thunderbolt, and naval bombardment along the west coast included the massive firepower of the Mighty Mo, the battleship MISSOURI. By 10 February the 25th Army Division had secured Inchon and Kimpo airfield 5 but so great destruction had been wrought in January by the evacuating UN forces that several months elapsed before either was fully opera- tional again. On 16 February the 1st Marine Division, relieved of its antiguerrilla mission, began moving into the Chunjo sector, the lower end of the vertical Wonju- Hoengsong-Hongchon axis in central Korea? The Division was made part of IX Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Bryant E. Moore, which included be- sides, the 24th Infantry Division, the lst Cavalry Divi- sion, the ROK 6th Division, and the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade. .,i .l and X Corps. X Corps was now incorporated into 8th Army, so that the 8th Army commander controlled all ground forces in Korea. The largest unit was the ROK Army, under Ridgway's control but not part of 8th Army. To 8th Army were attached certain Air Force, Marine Corps, and United Nations units. Ridgway commanded at this time about 365,000 troops. So far 15 members of the UN had con- tributed combat forces: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United King- dom, and the United States. See Miller et al., op. cit., p. 4. 2 Ibid., ch. II, esp. pp. 13ff. 3Marine Corps Gazette fFebruary 19521, p. 31, Lynn Montross Buttoning up the Offensive: The Marines in Operation Killer. -53-

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On 21 February, to deny the enemy a chance to re- organize, another general advance was initiated, dubbed Operation Killer.4 The Marines secured their initial objective, the high ground overlooking Hoeng- song, on 24 February, but advance was slow every- where along the line. The weather was still cold, with occasional snow and extensive rain. The begin- ning of the thaw was turning ravines into raging torrents and paddies into beds of slime. Terrain and weather were as troublesome as the enemy. There were no roads worth the name. Nevertheless the UN offensive kept moving, and by March first the Com- munist breakout had been largely repulsed. Killer came to an end on 4 March, with the Marines solidly entrenched on phase line Arizona, a string of five hills north of Hoengsong. The entire area south of the Han River was again in United Nations control. A stable line lying about halfway between the 37th and 38th parallels began at Inchon, moved along the Han, then ran north of Hoengsong, and so northeast- ward out to Kangnung on the east coast. Operation Ripper A new advance, Operation Ripper, began on 7 March, the purpose of which was primarily to keep the enemy under such pressure as to prevent his re- grouping for a counteroffensivef' Again and again General Ridgway insisted that gaining ground was secondary to the destruction of Chinese Communist personnel and equipment. With I Corps and the ROK Army holding the left and right flanks, respec- tively, IX and X Corps, the former including the lst Marine Division, slugged slowly forward in the center against stubborn opposition, the enemy taking advan- tage of the precipitous slopes and lack of roads to hold on as long as possible before pulling back. On 14 March elements of I Corps reentered Seoul and the Republic of Korea flag was hoisted again over the National Assembly building. The Communists now began to pull back all along the line, lighting only delaying actions. The 7th Ma- rines entered the important communication center of Hongchon without a fight. The enemy's object was to reorganize a line just north of the 38th Parallel, based on fortifications apparently constructed before the initial invasion of South Korea in 1950.6 The .Mii 'Miller et al., op. cit., pp. 18f. Also Lynn Montross, Buttoning up the Offensive: The Marines in Operation Killer, Marine Corps Gazette CFebruary 19523. 5Marine Corps Gazette CMarch 19521, Lynn Montross, Advance to the 38th Parallel: The Marines in Operation Ripperu. Also Miller et al., op. cit., ch. III, esp. pp. 21ff. ' Miller et al., op. cit., pp. 24ff. central anchor of this line, dug into rock and protected by log and concrete reinforcement, was the area bounded by Chorwon, Kumha, and Pyonggang. Here, in what became known as the Iron Triangle, lay the hub of protection for the North Korean communica- tion and supply network. Clearly the enemy was preparing to regroup. That he would be ready for a spring advance, with at least some air potential, was clear from intelligence reports. The UN units were by now up against the Parallel again. Thinking it better to keep his advantage, Ridgway, as the responsible field commander, ordered his forces toward the so-called Kansas line, north of the 38th. On 4 April the Marines were among the first UN troops to cross the Parallel. Phase line Kansas,' had been reached by 9 April everywhere ex- cept in the center. On 11 April 1951 General MacArthur was relieved of his command by the Commander-in-Chief, Presi- dent Harry S. Truman, and replaced by General Ridg- way? Lt. Gen. James A. Van Fleet, Ridgeway's successor as 8th Army cormnander, ordered the tactics already in operation to continue. The advance con- tinued toward phase line Utah, and by 21 April UN forces were up against Chorwon, the southwestern pivot of the Iron Triangle. Van Fleet's line now began on the west coast near Kyodong, several miles above Inchon, moved sharply northward in a 450 angle to Chorwon, nearly 40 miles above the Parallel, and then eastward in an irregular line which skirted the Hwachon Reservoir and continued on to the east coast. Along this line forces of the United Nations were to meet the unleashed fury of the Communist counter- attack. Rotation System Beginning in December 1950 the Bureau of Naval Personnel instituted a system of rotation for chaplains sewing with Marines in Korea. All who had had 6 to 8 months of duty during the extremely difficult and hazardous opening months of the war were to be or- dered back stateside. The first to be relieved under the rotation system were the chaplains who had landed at Pusan with the Provisional Brigade. The first re- placements reported for duty on 7 January 1951. i Chaplain Ingvoldstad, Regimental Chaplain of the 5th Marines, was relieved by Chaplain Verner N. Carl- sen, who reported on 7 January. Ingvoldstad was ordered to the faculty of the newly reestablished Chap- ili 7 See M. B. Ridgway, Soldier: The Memoirs of Matthew B. Ridgway fNew York, 1956j, p. 220 and ch. 27. For Ridg- way's account of his months as 8th Army commander, see chs. 23 and following. .-55.-