Korean+War

John Chang

=Battle of Inchon=

The battle of Inchon is a crucial battle in the Korean War that effectively turned the tide into the UN's favor. Before the battle, the North Koreans had launched a surprise offensive attack on the South, backing the South into the Pusan perimeter, which is a small pocket of land in the South East. The UN held a vote to see if they wish to send troops in. In a twist of fate, the Soviet's, who are one of North Korea's closest ally, boycotted the event, which made their votes void (as they would've certainly voted no, putting the whole operation in jeopardy). After everyone voted in favor of sending in troops, the planning begins.

With the bulk of the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) fighting around Pusan, UN Supreme Commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur began calling for an attack the on west coast of Inchon. He hoped that it would catch NKPA off guard, and distract them long enough for MacArthur to send in another team of UN troops and landing them close to the capital in Seoul so they could cut off North Korean supply lines.

As the invasion fleet neared, UN cruisers and destroyers closed on Inchon to clear mines from the Flying Fish Channel ( a body of water around Incheon that was deep enough to navigation through an area that would've been unsuitable at any other circumstances), and to shell NKPA positions on Wolmi-do Island in Inchon harbor. Though these actions alarmed the North Koreans, they thought that they could hold off any attack. On the morning of September 15, 1950, the invasion fleet, led by Normandy and Admiral Arthur Dewey Struble, approached the island. Around 6:30 AM, the first UN troops, led by the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines came ashore at "Green Beach" on Wolmi-do.

Pressing into Inchon, the forces from Green and Red Beaches were able to take the city and forced the NKPA defenders to surrender. As these events were unfolding, the 1st Marine Regiment, under Colonel Lewis Puller was landing on "Blue Beach" to the south. Though one LST was sunk while approaching the beach, the Marines met little opposition once ashore and quickly moved to help consolidate the UN position. The landings at Inchon caught the NKPA by surprise, since they thought that the main invasion would come at Kusan, therefore only sending small forces into the area.

More than 3200 UN soldiers were either killed or wounded, while the NKPA had 35,000 casualties. As additional UN forces came ashore, they were split up into more groups. . Attacking inland, they advanced towards Seoul, which was taken on September 25, after brutal fighting. The landing at Inchon, in addition to the 8th Army's breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, threw the NKPA into a retreat. UN troops quickly recovered South Korea and quickly pushed into the north. This advance continued until late November when the Chinese sent their troops in to assist North Korea causing UN forces to withdraw south.

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