The Korean War

Jeremy P. Maxwell currently works in the Department of Military History at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth. Prior to that, he was the DPAA Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he worked in the History Department and the Dale Center for Study of War & Society in conjunction with the Defense POW/MIA Agency to locate unaccounted military personnel from WWII forward. His first book, Brotherhood in Combat: How African Americans Found Equality in Korea and Vietnam was published in the “Campaigns and Commanders” series by the University of Oklahoma Press.

Introduction
Korea divided between the US-occupied south in 1945 and the Soviet-occupied north of the 38th Parallel. The early years of the Cold War after WWII.

1. The United States Enters the War
On 28 June 1950, Seoul fell to the North Korean Army. Truman moved quickly, authorizing General MacArthur to use air and naval forces to assist the ROK in slowing the NKPA advance. South Korean and US forces driven south to the Pusan Perimeter.

2. Inchon Landings
In September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon, and cut off many North Korean troops. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were forced back north. UN forces rapidly approached the Yalu River—the border with China.

3. Chinese Intervention
In October 1950, mass Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. The surprise Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951. After these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of fighting became a war of attrition, with the front line close to the 38th Parallel.

4. The War in the Air
North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in air-to-air combat for the first time in history, and Soviet pilots covertly flew in defense of their communist allies.

5. Stalemate
The fighting ended on 27 July 1953, when an armistice was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty was ever signed, and according to some sources the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflict.

6. After the Armistice
North-South divide in Korea on the 38th Parallel. North Korea kidnapping of South Koreans. The few who escaped from North Korea, via China, to the South. In April 2018, the leaders of North and South Korea met at the demilitarized zone and agreed to sign a treaty by the end of the year to formally end the Korean War.

Appendices

Bibliography

Index