• PVA tactics = swarm UN positions, then fight to death as UN retook them.
• Avg 24k shells/day fired onto UN lines; in attacks, up to 1k in 10 mins.
• Eg: White Horse Hill changed hands 24× in 10 days (6–15 Oct 1952).
• Hill (July 1953) = 1.5k UN vs 5.5k Chinese casualties in 6 days, incl. hand-to-hand fighting.
Air war:
• USAF bombed North Korea so heavily they reported no targets left.
• USSR sent MiG jets & pilots (disguised as Chinese).
• Huge air losses: Soviets/PVA 3k planes, UN 3.5k.
Behind lines:
• Communist POWs on
Island (off Pusan) rioted, kidnapped US camp commander = propaganda win.
→ UN could hold South Koreans plains, but not North Korean hills = too costly to retake (WWI-level deaths).
→ US govt told Army losses no longer politically acceptable.
→ UN passed : stopped demanding Chinese withdrawal, seek ceasefire.
Peace talks began.
ATROCITIES
By the North Koreans – 1954 US Army report (based on POW accounts) found:
• Many US troops murdered after capture.
• Survivors = beaten, tortured, starved, marched long distances w/o food, water, clothes, shelter or medical care.
• Also humiliated, displayed, or molested.
By the South Koreans:
• ROK troops may have killed 100k civilians during communist retreat (eg 30k
members massacred).
By the US:
• At
(July 1950): US troops & planes killed at least 150 fleeing civilians (mainly women, kids, old men).
Feb–Mar 1951: 8th Army launched Operations Thunderbolt, Killer, Ripper, Courageous, Tomahawk → pushed PVA back to 38th Parallel.
Apr 1951: Operation Rugged crossed Parallel, reaching ‘Kansas Line’ (5 miles into North Korea). Operation DAUNTLESS pushed to ‘WYOMING Line’ (20 miles in).
WHY did UN Command invade North Korea a second time?
1. PVA/NKPA were retreating → aim = push them back as far as possible.
• PVA tactics = swarm UN positions, then fight to death as UN retook them.
• Avg 24k shells/day fired onto UN lines; in attacks, up to 1k in 10 mins.
• Eg: White Horse Hill changed hands 24× in 10 days (6–15 Oct 1952).
• PORK CHOP Hill (July 1953) = 1.5k UN vs 5.5k Chinese casualties in 6 days, incl. hand-to-hand fighting.
Air war:
• USAF bombed North Korea so heavily they reported no targets left.
• USSR sent MiG jets & pilots (disguised as Chinese).
• Huge air losses: Soviets/PVA 3k planes, UN 3.5k.
Behind lines:
• Communist POWs on KOJE Island (off Pusan) rioted, kidnapped US camp commander = propaganda win.
→ UN could hold South Koreans plains, but not North Korean hills = too costly to retake (WWI-level deaths).
→ US govt told Army losses no longer politically acceptable.
→ UN passed RESOLUTION 384: stopped demanding Chinese withdrawal, seek ceasefire.
Peace talks began.
ATROCITIES
By the North Koreans – 1954 US Army report (based on POW accounts) found:
• Many US troops murdered after capture.
• Survivors = beaten, tortured, starved, marched long distances w/o food, water, clothes, shelter or medical care.
• Also humiliated, displayed, or molested.
By the South Koreans:
• ROK troops may have killed 100k civilians during communist retreat (eg 30k BODO LEAGUE members massacred).
By the US:
• At NO GUN RI (July 1950): US troops & planes killed at least 150 fleeing civilians (mainly women, kids, old men).