Korean War
America stopped Communist North Korea from conquering South Korea, but China thwarted our effort to merge North and South Korea into a single state.
Tactics of the Chinese Communists in the Korean War
Excerpt from The Future of Warfare, by Bevin Alexander, 150-52
The first job of Chinese Communist forces when they invaded North Korea [in autumn 1950] was to stop the United Nations advance, which was nearing the Yalu River. Read more >>
Bloody Ridge: a Quintessential Battle of the Korean War
Excerpt from Korea: The First War We Lost, by Bevin Alexander, pages 440-42
Background: In the summer of 1951 positional warfare had come to Korea. The Eighth Army commander, James A. Van Fleet, ordered 2nd Infantry Division of X Corps to eliminate a sag in the line, in the high Taebaek Mountains of eastern Korea. The original target was Hill 983, north of Inje. Read more >>
On the Protective Value of Kimchi
Excerpt from Korea: The First War We Lost, by Bevin Alexander, page 15
Aside from the war itself, there were two aspects of Korea, both olfactory, which kept the country from seeming to be an Eden, at least to Americans and Europeans. Read more >>
MacArthur Torpedoes Truman’s Peace Initiative in Korea
Excerpt from Korea: The First War We Lost, by Bevin Alexander, pages 405-07
Background: The Chinese entered the Korean War in November 1950 and drove United Nations forces back below Seoul in January 1951. By March 1951 UN troops had advanced back north to about the 38th parallel. Read more >>
The Surprising Results of R&R in Japan on Young Soldiers during the Korean War
Excerpt from Korea: The First War We Lost, by Bevin Alexander, pages 396-98
One important reason why morale in Eighth Army had improved so dramatically was that, starting around the first of the year [1951], the army inaugurated a new program of five-day Rest and Recuperation (R&R) leaves in Japan, for which the lowliest GI and the highest officer were eligible. Read more >>
Failed Defense of the Kum River Line, 1950
Excerpt from How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War—From Ancient Greece to the War on Terror, by Bevin Alexander, pages 86-88
[In the first days of the Korean War,] there were two main approaches for the North Koreans to Taejon: through the village of Taepyong-ni on the Kum directly north of the city, and through the village of Kongju eight miles west. The North Korean had two divisions, each with 6,000 men. Read more >>
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