In July of 1950, the Korean Struggle appeared as if it was about to return to an unexpectedly fast conclusion. South Korean troops had been pushed far south earlier than step by step falling right into a defensive position across the port of Pusan. Throughout the Sea of Japan, American troopers boarded transport planes at Itazuke Air Base, Japan, making ready to enter fight in opposition to an unfamiliar enemy.
The youngest amongst them had barely turned 19. Few had fought in World Struggle II. Their commander was one of many few veterans. Lt. Col. Charles Bradford Smith graduated from West Level and was a Captain at Schofield Barracks when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Inside days, Smith’s makeshift battalion from the twenty fourth Infantry Division would struggle the primary floor battle involving American troops within the Korean Struggle. Whereas their defeat and rout are sometimes remembered as a lethal consequence of navy price range cuts, Process Pressure Smith fought a determined delaying motion that gave American forces time to fortify their perimeter and save South Korea.
The Korean Struggle and a Determined Mission
North Korean forces stormed throughout the thirty eighth parallel on June 25, 1950, overwhelming South Korean forces. Inside three days, Seoul fell. The Republic of Korea Army collapsed beneath the assault from Soviet-equipped communist divisions driving south towards the port of Pusan.
Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, commanding the twenty fourth Infantry Division in Japan, was the primary to be placed on alert. His models had spent 5 years on occupation responsibility and weren’t anticipating fight. However they had been the closest American forces obtainable.
Dean summoned Smith to his headquarters and delivered simple orders: get to Taejon, push as far north as doable, and cease the North Koreans earlier than they reached Pusan. Dean reportedly concluded with: “Sorry, I can not offer you extra data—that is all I’ve acquired. Good luck, and God bless you and your males.”
Smith’s power consisted of 406 riflemen from B and C Corporations of the first Battalion, twenty first Infantry Regiment. Lt. Col. Miller O. Perry would deliver 134 artillerymen from A Battery, 52nd Subject Artillery Battalion, geared up with six 105mm howitzers. The infantry possessed half a communications platoon, half a heavy weapons platoon with six outdated M9A1 bazooka launchers, two 75mm recoilless rifles, two 4.2-inch mortars, and 4 60mm mortars.
Perry’s artillery battery carried 1,200 rounds—however solely six armor-piercing shells able to penetrating Soviet tank armor. Every soldier obtained 120 rounds of rifle ammunition and two days’ rations. They’d no anti-tank mines. Whereas the troopers had been educated soldiers, they had been underequipped for the mission they had been about to deal with.
The transport planes ferried the power throughout the ocean. Smith arrived in Korea mid-afternoon on July 1. By July 4, the complete process power had assembled and moved north by rail and truck to defensive positions exterior Osan. Different components from the division arrived in increments within the following hours and days.
Holding the Excessive Floor Above Osan
Smith instantly ordered his troops to carry the Seoul-Pusan freeway north of Osan. His males dug in alongside ridgelines roughly 300 toes above the street, establishing a mile-long defensive entrance. One B Firm platoon occupied excessive floor west of the freeway. The remaining platoons unfold east.
Mortar groups positioned their weapons 400 yards behind the infantry. Perry’s howitzers had been deployed 2,000 yards to the rear, however one crew was put up entrance with the infantry and given the anti-tank rounds.
As the boys dug foxholes and ready their weapons, they questioned when the enemy would arrive and what would occur subsequent. Early on July 5, round 7:30 a.m., North Korean armor appeared on the freeway.
Thirty-three T-34 tanks from the 107th Tank Regiment approached the American line. Perry’s gunners offered oblique hearth whereas the infantry opened up with no matter they may. The high-explosive shells proved innocent in opposition to the Soviet made armor, designed to deflect German anti-tank rounds. The 75mm recoilless rifles scored a number of direct hits however brought on no injury.
Second Lt. Ollie Connor demonstrated distinctive bravery that morning. He maneuvered to inside 15 yards of a T-34’s rear armor, its weakest level. Connor fired 22 bazooka rockets. Each spherical ricocheted off. Different troops had been lower down making an attempt the identical tactic.
Perry’s ahead gun crew shortly exhausted all six anti-tank shells, knocking out solely two T-34s whereas disabling two extra. As soon as these specialised rounds had been gone, typical artillery proved nugatory. By 10 a.m., a lot of the tank column had pushed previous American positions, crushing communication wires and destroying parked automobiles. Roughly 20 American troopers lay useless or wounded. The ahead howitzer was destroyed.
Process Pressure Smith had confronted enemy armor and refused to fall again—though they realized their weapons had been out of date.
The twenty fourth Infantry Division Goes Into Fight
That very same day, hours after Process Pressure Smith’s engagement, components of the thirty fourth Infantry Regiment encountered the enemy tanks close to Sojong-ni, about 5 miles south of Osan. Amongst them was Pfc. Kenneth Shadrick, a 19-year-old from Pores and skin Fork, West Virginia, serving as an ammunition provider for a bazooka group.
Army photographer Sgt. Charles R. Turnbull accompanied the group. Searching for dramatic conflict photos, Turnbull requested Shadrick to depend aloud—”one, two, three”—so he may seize the bazooka’s muzzle flash. Shadrick complied, then he and his comrade fired at an approaching T-34. After the shot, the younger soldier rose from his hid place to watch the place his spherical struck.
North Korean machine gun hearth lower him down immediately. His comrades fell again, carrying his physique with them as the one casualty of the skirmish. Turnbull’s {photograph} captured Shadrick moments earlier than dying. Struggle correspondent Marguerite Higgins, current when Shadrick’s physique reached the command submit, was unaware of Process Pressure Smith’s losses earlier and incorrectly reported Shadrick as the primary American soldier killed in Korea.
Nonetheless, Shadrick grew to become the conflict’s first named and broadly reported floor fight fatality. His {photograph} would grow to be one of many battle’s most iconic photos, capturing his heroic stand in opposition to North Korean tanks.
Process Pressure Smith is Overrun
Shortly earlier than midday on July 5, roughly 1,000 North Korean soldiers from two regiments of the 4th Division appeared on the freeway. Their column stretched for miles and included three extra tanks in assist. Upon approaching American positions, the North Koreans opened hearth whereas flanking forces moved round either side of the defensive position.
For hours, Process Pressure Smith held their floor. Rifle and machine gun hearth shredded frontal assaults, however the enemy saved charging. Round 12:30 p.m., North Korean troops seized excessive floor west of the freeway and commenced hitting the remoted B Firm platoon from a number of instructions. Smith ordered them to withdraw throughout the street.
Ammunition was working low. Enemy forces had been about to encircle your complete formation, forcing Smith to order a withdrawal at 2:30 p.m.
What started as an organized withdrawal shortly deteriorated. As the boys pulled again into the woods, they got here beneath hearth from the pursuing North Korean troops. Enemy forces, despatched to flank the Individuals, started hitting them too.
Because the infantry fell again, Perry’s artillerymen disabled their 5 remaining howitzers by eradicating sights and breechblocks. They too joined the retreating infantry.
One B Firm platoon by no means obtained the withdrawal order. They held till they realized they had been alone and surrounded. They deserted most of their tools and fled, leaving wounded troopers behind with a medic who refused to go away.
Males grew to become scattered, some dropped their weapons and sprinted away, just a few refused to fall again and held their place to the final second. Others grew to become disoriented and had been by no means seen once more.
By dusk, solely round 250 males had reached American strains. Others straggled in over the following few days. One group of survivors reached the American perimeter solely minutes earlier than the North Korean power did.
Following the withdrawal, Process Pressure Smith’s casualties numbered round 60 killed, 21 wounded, and 82 lacking or captured. Thirty-two prisoners would later die in North Korean captivity. Process Pressure Smith misplaced 40 % of its energy.
The Combating Withdrawal
Behind Process Pressure Smith, the thirty fourth Infantry Regiment established positions at Pyeongtaek. They too confronted overwhelming odds and fell again. For 2 weeks, the twenty fourth Infantry Division fought a sequence of more and more determined delaying actions—Chonan, Chongjum, Chochiwon, the Kum River crossing.
At Taejon between July 16-20, the division made its ultimate stand. Common Dean personally fought alongside his troops, manning a bazooka in opposition to enemy tanks. When North Korean forces overran town, Dean grew to become separated from his command. He evaded seize for 36 days earlier than North Koreans took him prisoner. Dean would spend three brutal years in POW camps because the highest-ranking American prisoner of conflict. He would ultimately obtain the Medal of Honor for his management at Taejon.
In sixteen days, the twenty fourth Infantry Division retreated almost 95 miles. Over 3,600 casualties—30 % losses, averaging 225 troopers every day. On high of the lack of their commanding normal, the division misplaced three regimental commanders, 5 battalion commanders, and almost all heavy weapons.
By early August, American and South Korean forces had withdrawn behind the Naktong River to determine the Pusan Perimeter—a 140-mile defensive arc defending the very important port. There can be no extra retreats.
U.N. Forces Maintain the Pusan Perimeter
Process Pressure Smith was pressured the flee, however they purchased Allied troops invaluable time. So had the twenty fourth Infantry Division over the earlier two weeks. That point allowed reinforcements to be introduced in via Pusan’s docks and airfields.
The twenty fifth Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Infantry Division, fifth Regimental Fight Workforce, 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, and the British twenty seventh Commonwealth Brigade arrived via July and August. Over 500 tanks—with correct anti-tank ammunition—got here ashore. Tons of significant provides, ammunition, and trendy weaponry had been issued to the troops.
On August 1, Lt. Gen. Walton Walker formally established the Pusan Perimeter. He issued his well-known order: “There might be no Dunkirk, there might be no Bataan. A retreat to Pusan can be one of many best butcheries in historical past. We should struggle till the top.”
From August 4 via September 18, roughly 140,000 UN troops repelled 98,000 North Korean attackers. Fierce battles erupted on the Naktong Bulge, Taegu, and Masan. Walker masterfully shuttled reserve forces to any sectors hit by the enemy whereas American plane decimated North Korean provide strains.
The perimeter held, due partially to Process Pressure Smith and the twenty fourth Infantry Division, which purchased the time crucial to determine and reinforce it. What may need been an entire North Korean victory in July grew to become a stalemate in August, and the road had held.
On September 15, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s well-known amphibious assault at Inchon led to the recapture of Seoul as his forces raced to chop off the North Korean provide strains. The following day, U.N. forces blitzed from the Pusan Perimeter, driving north. By the top of September, the battle to liberate all of South Korea had successfully been received.
The twenty fourth Infantry Division was refit and strengthened earlier than rejoining the struggle. On the drive north, the boys discovered lots of the lacking troops, together with the wounded troopers left behind. Most had been certain, tortured, and executed by the communists. The medic who stayed behind was by no means seen once more. The division would struggle in heavy fight via the remainder of the conflict.
Fight Classes Cast in Blood
Process Pressure Smith’s battle additionally led to widespread reforms within the U.S. Army. “No extra Process Pressure Smiths” grew to become an Army rallying cry and mindset going ahead. Improvement and deployment of the three.5-inch “Tremendous Bazooka” accelerated—a weapon that might truly penetrate Soviet armor. Coaching requirements had been remodeled, emphasizing real fight readiness and provide.
Protection budgets elevated dramatically as policymakers realized the hazards of price range cuts in the course of the Chilly Struggle. Even after the conclusion of the Korean Struggle, the navy maintained its troop numbers and readiness.
President Harry Truman invited Process Pressure Smith survivors to the White Home in June 1952. “We could not struggle a conflict with out the infantry,” Truman informed them. “Had it not been for the truth that these two divisions to which you belong had brought on the Communists to hesitate, we probably wouldn’t have been capable of maintain our place with the Korean Republic.”
Smith survived the conflict, later advancing to brigadier normal earlier than retiring in 1965. Second Lt. Ollie Connor later rose to lieutenant normal, commanding Third Army earlier than his retirement in 1972.
A Monument to Process Pressure Smith
Right this moment, a memorial stands north of Osan honoring Process Pressure Smith’s sacrifice. Every July 5, America and South Korea maintain ceremonies there. The first Battalion, twenty first Infantry Regiment continues serving, now a part of the twenty fifth Infantry Division primarily based in Hawaii.
The troopers of Process Pressure Smith executed an unimaginable mission with insufficient weapons in opposition to an awesome power. They did not cease the North Koreans, although the 540 Individuals tried their finest. However they did delay the enemy for almost eight hours that first day, then for 2 weeks alongside the remainder of the twenty fourth Infantry Division.
These hours allowed Pusan’s port to obtain the reinforcements that may maintain the perimeter. The perimeter’s protection enabled MacArthur to land at Inchon. Inchon led to South Korea’s liberation.
Whereas Process Pressure Smith is usually cited for instance of unprepared and undersupplied troops being despatched into fight, their efforts managed to show the tide of the conflict. Their ordeal additionally taught the Army exhausting classes about readiness, making certain future troopers wouldn’t endure what that they had.
Whereas the Korean Struggle ended with an armistice alongside the thirty eighth Parallel, South Korea continues to exist at present as one in every of America’s most necessary allies, thanks partially to the small American power who confronted an awesome North Korean enemy.
Story Continues
