Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 48 i History of War

“THE LAST CHINESE TROOPS HEAD NORTH IN 1958, BUT US TROOPS REMAIN IN SOUTH KOREA. THE TWO KOREAS REMAIN AT WAR TODAY” 15 September 1950 INCHON LANDINGS General MacArthur orders an amphibious invasion of the port city of Inchon while UN forces are besieged in the extreme south east of the peninsula. Two weeks later the pro-American regime of Syngman Rhee is restored in Seoul. 25 June 1950 INVASION OF SOUTH KOREA Armed and trained by the Soviets, the armies of Kim il-Sung storm across the 38th parallel of latitude. Within one day North Korean tanks reach the suburbs of the South Korean capital, Seoul. 27 June 1950 WASHINGTON RESPONDS President Truman orders US air and sea forces to give support to the forces of Syngman Rhee’s Republic of Korea.…

The Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) inspired the 1970 hit movie of the same name, directed by Robert Altman, and a long-running sitcom. Both were based on the experiences of Richard Hornberger, who wrote a satirical novel about his experiences in Korea in 1968. Seven MASH units operated in Korea at various stages of the war. The first was set up on 6 July 1950 in Pusan. The concept of a mobile field hospital had been established immediately after World War II on 23 August 1945. Each MASH unit was planned as a 60-bed truck-borne hospital that could be disassembled and moved at six hours’ notice. They typically operated around 20 miles (32 kilometres) behind the fighting and were served by four Bell H-13 helicopters. By Christmas 1950 there were…

 Deborah D51 was one of 36 fighting tanks from D Battalion of the Tank Corps that spearheaded the attack against the German-held village of Flesquières on the morning of 20 November. She was the second tank with the crew number D51 – her predecessor was been lost during the Battle of Passchendaele three months before. “THE MUSEUM WILL PROVIDE A FITTING FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR DEBORAH – A UNIQUE AND POWERFUL RELIC, AND ALMOST CERTAINLY THE ONLY SURVIVING TANK THAT TOOK PART IN THE HISTORIC ATTACK AT CAMBRAI” Most tanks attacking Flesquières headed off to either side of the village, where many were picked off by German artillery hidden behind the ridge. Deborah was the only one to enter the village but was knocked out by a concealed field gun.…

OPPOSING FORCES FRANCE LEADERS: Gen. Raoul Salan, Gen. Jacques Massu, Gen. Paul Aussaresses, Col. Marcel Bigeard, Col. Yves Godard, Col. Roger Trinquier FORCES: 10th Parachute Division SDECE Action Service Gendarmerie Ultras TACTICS: Mass arrests and detention of suspects. Imprisonment and torture of FLN agents. Executions. ALGERIA LEADERS: Saadi Yacef, Larbi ben M’hidi, Abame Ramdane, Benyoucef Benkhedda FORCES: 1,400 - 1,500 operatives and fighters under the Comite de coordination d’execution. An estimated 5,000 spies and sympathisers spread across Algiers. TACTICS: Bombing and assassination. Avoiding pitched battles. ALGIERS JUNE 1956 - SEPTEMBER 1957 As the Cold War’s chill hung over Europe, former colonies across Asia and Africa stirred from decades – and sometimes centuries – of foreign misrule. On too many occasions nationalist fervour led to unbelievable violence. The British Empire’s relatively…

Although it was replaced in the early 1960s by the tracked FV432 armoured personnel carrier, the 20-year production run of the FV603 Saracen continued until 1972. A total of 1,838 vehicles were completed. The FV603 has remained active in the arsenals of Middle Eastern and Asian countries into the 21st century and served with the British Army in support and civil defence roles throughout the 1980s. It was first deployed with British troops during the 1948-1960 ‘Malayan Emergency’, a protracted anti-communist guerrilla war. The FV603 was also deployed to post-World War II Libya during British military administration of the former Italian colony and during the Radfan Uprising in Aden and southern Arabia in 1963. Its relatively light weight allowed for air transportation, and its complement of machine guns and smoke…

“NAPALM EXPLODED RAPIDLY AND INFLICTED DREADFUL BURNS. AMERICAN FORCES USED IT EXTENSIVELY IN THE IRON TRIANGLE NORTH OF SEOUL” “DUGOUTS AND TRENCHES BECAME WIDESPREAD AFTER MAY 1951 WITH THE WAR IN STALEMATE” NAPALM UNITED STATES 1944-1980 (BANNED BY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION) An incendiary weapon made from gelling agents and fuel, napalm exploded rapidly and inflicted dreadful burns. American forces used it extensively in the Iron Triangle north of Seoul. MARILYN GOES ON TOUR USA 1954 Marilyn Monroe, the icon of the big screen, toured Korea in January 1954 after the official armistice the previous year, performing at ten shows. MINESWEEPERS UNITED STATES, UNITED NATIONS 1950-53 The United States lost five vessels during patrols along the Korean coast. Some skirmishes with North Korean vessels took place in the first weeks of the…

“AS THE PLA ADVANCED SOUTH, TRUMAN GAVE A PRESS CONFERENCE AND STATED THAT HIS ADMINISTRATION WOULD CONSIDER ANY STEPS NECESSARY TO WIN IN KOREA, INCLUDING THE USE OF ATOMIC WEAPONS” When the regime of Kim Jongun issued threats against the United States territory of Guam in 2017, few observers noted that the first B-29 bombers that bombed Korean targets took off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, just a few days after Kim’s grandfather sent his armies into the south in June 1950. North Korea was devastated by the US Air Force campaign. The head of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), General Curtis LeMay, claimed that American bombing killed 20 per cent of the North’s population and left not a single village unscathed. Western media seldom reported the bombings: accounts…

The Siege of Jadotville is one of the most remarkable stories in Irish military history. Between 13-17 September 1961, 156 inexperienced United Nations peacekeepers of A Company, 35th Irish Infantry Battalion fought a heroic defence in the Congo against 2,000-4,000 armed secessionist Katangese gendarmeries and mercenaries. Against all the odds not one member of A Company was killed, while 300-400 of their attackers became fatalities, and approximately 1,000 were wounded. However, the remarkable efforts of the Irish soldiers, led by Commandant Patrick ‘Pat’ Quinlan, were not fully supported by the UN high command, and the garrison was eventually surrounded and forced into a tense captivity by the Katangans. They were eventually released in late October 1961. A Company’s bravery was not just confined to Jadotville (now Likasi): after they were…

THE MIGHTY BATTLESHIP YAMATO Yamato was enormous, measuring 263m (863ft) stem to stern. She displaced 70,000 tons and was 40 per cent bigger than the battleships of the Iowa class, the US Navy’s largest. Its superstructure, dominated by the mast and raked funnel, was like a fortress bedecked with guns. Enough steel went into the hull to lay a railway track between Tokyo and Osaka. Yamato bore a full load of munitions for all of its weapons on 7 April 1945. TYPE 96 25MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS Yamato had 152 Type 96 25mm (0.98in) anti-aircraft guns, with 50 in triple mounts and two single mounts. RADAR Three different radar sets were carried by the battleship, including a Type 13 air search radar, Type 21 air and surface search radar and a…

“SEPARATED FROM WEST PAKISTAN BY THE INDIAN LANDMASS, THE EAST SOON FELT ALIENATED, POLITICALLY AND CULTURALLY, FROM THE WEST” Few conflicts in the late-20th century witnessed as much carnage as the events that shook East Pakistan from March to December 1971. The turbulent episode is often remembered as a stirring triumph orchestrated by imaginative Indian generals, but this coup de main only occurred in the final month of the war. Before that, the citizens of newly independent Bangladesh lived through indescribable horror. The origins of the war date to the partition facilitated by the British at the end of their dominion over South Asia. In 1947 this partition created India and its troubled adversary Pakistan – the latter a geopolitical experiment that aspired to create a modern secular state for…

HARRIER CARGO Taken: c. June 1975 A Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump jet sits under a camouflaged canopy at its base in Belize with its full armament on display. In response to the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Guatemala in the mid-20th century, British jets were deployed to the former colony to deter any incursions, and remained until the mid-1990s. TRACKS TO WAR Taken: c. 1930s Anarchist CNT/FAI (National Confederation of Labour and Iberian Anarchist Federation) militia pose for a photograph in Barcelona during the early years of the Spanish Civil War. The Catalonian capital was a major stronghold for Republican forces and was severely bombed in spring 1938. It finally fell in January 1939 after a major Nationalist offensive. FIRE AND ICE Taken: 25 January 2000 Russian Federation soldiers open…

“THE FIGHTING TOOK PLACE IN TEMPERATURES THAT APPROACHED MINUS 40 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, AND X CORPS RECORDED 7,338 CASES OF FROSTBITE” Located in North Korea’s South Hamgyong Province, the Changjin Reservoir had been renamed the Chosin Reservoir by the Japanese. The ‘Frozen Chosin’ became the setting for a remorseless siege and breakout during the winter of 1950, when the US Army’s X Corps and US Marines faced the full might of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA), sent into Korea on the orders of Chairman Mao. The PVA’s Ninth Army Group was led by General Song Shi-Lun and was comprised of around 120,000 troops. Facing them was a force of around 30,000 UN troops comprised of American, South Korean and British forces, with General Edward Almond in charge of X Corps…

“AT LEAST 3 MILLION SOLDIERS FROM THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY (PLA) FOUGHT IN KOREA OVER THREE YEARS AS THE PEOPLE’S VOLUNTEER ARMY (PVA). TO WHAT EXTENT THESE MOSTLY POOR AND RURAL MEN WERE GENUINE VOLUNTEERS IS DEBATABLE, BUT PVA FIGHTERS IMPRESSED AND TERRIFIED THEIR ENEMIES” PEOPLE’S VOLUNTEER ARMY (PVA) CHINA Usually drawn from a rural background, or sometimes a Nationalist soldier incorporated from the recently ended civil war, the Chinese foot soldier was known for his endurance and ferocity. At least 3 million soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) fought in Korea over three years as the People’s Volunteer Army (PVA). To what extent these mostly poor and rural men were genuine volunteers is debatable, but PVA fighters impressed and terrified their enemies. Often attacking at night in human…

Despite the secrecy of the British preparations, the Germans did receive one vital warning of the impending attack, and evidence suggests their response to that alert may have significantly affected the outcome of the battle. On 18 November a trench raid led by Leutnant Bernhard Hegermann captured six men from First Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers. Under interrogation, they revealed that an attack was planned early on the 20 November and described what they had seen of the preparations – including artillery reinforcements, the presence of tanks and the arrival of the crack 51st (Highland) Division. Believing it would be no more than a limited operation against the Flesquières Ridge, the Germans rushed reinforcements into the area just before the attack, including three battalions of troops who had been in reserve…

“IT WAS HERE THE IDEA OF AN ORGANISATION THAT WOULD RECORD, LOOK AFTER AND MAINTAIN THE GRAVES WAS BORN” The battlefields of World War I are now dotted with cemeteries – places of serenity rather than slaughter. White headstones line up like soldiers on parade, the parade ground a still and silent place of reflection and remembrance. On a summer’s day, the shadow of an English rose will fall on every stone. The existence of these sites owe a lasting debt to one man who was determined that the great sacrifice of these soldiers would never be forgotten. Born in Bristol in 1869, Fabian Arthur Goulstone Ware was 45 when war broke out and was considered too old to fight. A former teacher, schools administrator and newspaper editor, he was…

When King AEthelstan died in 939, an Irish chronicler hailed his legacy in mighty tones: “AEthelstan, king of the English died, the roof tree of the honour of the western world.” This acclamation was remarkable for several reasons. First, many Irishmen had actually attempted – and failed – to topple the king in a devastating campaign in 937. Second, AEthelstan was recognised as ‘king of the English’ by his enemies, when only two generations previously the Anglo-Saxon people had faced complete annihilation. Third, the chronicler’s praise was well founded: AEthelstan was indeed revered throughout Western Europe. AEthelstan (popularly known to history as ‘Athelstan’) was the grandson of Alfred the Great, and from 924 to his death in 939 he unified the disparate Anglo-Saxons to create a truly unified kingdom of…

“THE SARACEN HAS REMAINED A VIABLE PLATFORM FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY AND MILITARY OPERATIONS FOR DECADES” FV603 SARACEN APC COMMISSIONED 1953 ORIGIN UNITED KINGDOM LENGTH 4.80 METRES (15.75 FEET) CREW 2 RANGE 400 KILOMETRES (249 MILES) ENGINE ROLLS-ROYCE B80 MK 6A 8-CYLINDER PETROL PRIMARY WEAPONS BROWNING M1919 .30-CALIBRE MACHINE GUN OR L37 GENERAL-PURPOSE MACHINE GUN SECONDARY WEAPONS BREN .303-CALIBRE LIGHT MACHINE GUN; 6 SMOKE GRENADE LAUNCHERS In the wake of World War II, civil and political unrest emerged with renewed vigour in hot spots around the world. The British Empire was not immune to the rise of militant communist and nationalist insurgencies, particularly in Malaya, the Middle East and Northern Ireland. Tactical transport of combat troops in both urban environments and open country was evolving simultaneously as the British military establishment sought…