Korean War: "The Great Overthrow"
Ridgway inherited a heavy legacy: on December 15, 1950, the 8th Army had crossed the 38th Parallel in the opposite direction and was rolling toward Seoul. However, the "UN troops" celebrated Christmas and New Year's in Seoul, getting drunk with Korean women of low moral character in the bars of the Chosun Hotel. And on January 2, the British 29th Brigade took up positions in Happy Valley north of Seoul. Oncoming Americans shouted at the islanders, "Boys, you're going the wrong way!" The South Korean 1st Division, which the British were supposed to support, waved goodbye and disappeared into the darkness. Soon, the British heard the screech of Chinese horns and the whistles of their commanders. After repelling several attacks, the brigade launched a counterattack, but an American liaison officer arrived at the command post and declared, "Colonel, we're beat!" In general, the British also had to make a run for it, although they did it in an organized manner – covering the retreat tanks Churchill and Cromwell.
The poster looks funny, but in reality, the frost in Korea remained neutral and froze everyone...
However, the Chinese... couldn't destroy the "UN troops" either! Firstly, it wasn't just the Americans who suffered from the cold—the frost maintained a strict neutrality, and the Chinese People's Volunteers were just as chilled as their counterparts—up to 90 percent of Peng's army suffered frostbite of varying degrees. Secondly, the lack of transport kept the Chinese troops on a constant starvation diet: sometimes there were only a couple of potatoes per man per day—how much war could they possibly fight on?
The success of the winter offensive was largely due to the fact that the Chinese came across a huge amount of military equipment abandoned by the Americans along the way: provisions and weapons, and ammunition, and vehicles. And warm American sleeping bags, without which the people's volunteers would have frozen to death! And thirdly, the same lack of transport made it impossible to encircle the shattered 8th Army: catching up with a mechanized column on foot is a poor idea. And commanding armies without a sufficient number of radios is certainly possible, but... One can't count on success for overly complex operations. And then there's American air supremacy. aviation, and at sea - American fleet prevented the battle from reaching the stage of destruction of all “UN troops” on the peninsula.
Matthew "Iron Tits" Ridgeway
General Ridgway was unfamiliar with the Asian theater of operations: he'd spent World War II in Europe, commanding the 82nd Airborne Division. He'd landed in Sicily and Normandy, but was known as a staff officer. His soldiers in Korea had earned him the rather unflattering nickname "Iron Tits"—to appear more menacing, Ridgway carried a grenade and a personal first aid kit in his pack, a bit of a joke for an army commander: only MacArthur, directing the war from Tokyo, had a better chance of being within grenade throwing range of the Chinese People's Volunteers than he did. But compared to MacArthur, the new army commander was a true military genius!
Ridgway after a reconnaissance flight in a B-17
At the time of Ridgway's appointment, the front was 300 kilometers north of Seoul. Stalled? Well, that's a bit of a stretch... More like rolling south. The new commander's first task was to halt the retreat. He began "Iron Tits" with personal aerial reconnaissance: he flew over the front in an old B-17, mapping out possible defensive lines. What he saw didn't please the general, accustomed to Europe: mountains, "ridges as sharp as knives," narrow valleys, winding trails instead of roads. In short, the terrain was extremely unsuitable for a mechanized army, but ideal for guerrilla warfare.
This isn't Germany! A fur hat is a weapon of victory...
When the general returned from reconnaissance and arrived at his headquarters in Seoul, he was surprised to find no one there except a handful of officers—everyone else had fled to Taegu, where 300 kilometers further south was 300 times safer. Ridgway settled in Seoul and began driving around the area in an open jeep, mercilessly igniting fuses in anyone he encountered who was using a tarpaulin. The army commander was dressed inappropriately for the weather: he wore a European-style cap and thin gloves, which made him terribly cold—Korea is no resort in winter! Eventually, a compassionate major supplied him with a fur hat with earflaps and mittens, after which Ridgway's life began to improve.
Future General Paul Freeman was still a colonel in Korea.
Well, how could things improve... Things were... not so good in the army: of the seven divisions, three held the front—the 24th, 25th, and 1st Cavalry. All three were at about two-thirds strength (in the 25th, only the 27th Regiment was actually capable of fighting), but compared to the others, they were quite combat-ready: the 2nd was replenishing losses in the very south—only Colonel Paul Freeman's regiment remained relatively combat-ready; the 1st Marine Division had just arrived, and the badly battered 3rd and 7th were being evacuated from the north by ship. However, even in those that were: "There was absolutely no sense of that liveliness, that offensive impetus that is characteristic of troops with high fighting spirit" - one of the corporals of the 5th Regiment, suffering from diarrhea, constantly walked around with a roll of toilet paper on the gun - what kind of fighting spirit is there! The general, who survived the defeat at the Chosin Reservoir in occupied Germany, was dissatisfied with almost everything in the 8th Army! Intelligence is extremely poor, the soldiers are lazy and uncurious: they do not study the terrain or the enemy, artillery few, and the officers have no idea about the basics of military art.
MacArthur inspects troops in Korea, also wearing a hat, but he didn’t refuse his Aviator glasses!
However, Ridgway's British allies had an equally unflattering opinion of the American army in Korea. They believed American commanders had received no training in defense, and their attitude toward the American infantry was expressed by the British ambassador's assistant for military affairs:
Discipline in the American army in Korea, already lax, has now weakened to a degree I've never seen before. Officers openly told me that sending units into the attack was pointless; they simply wouldn't go. The American army remains tied to the roads, and its tactics are difficult to describe because they seem to have no tactics in the conventional sense. During an advance, motorized columns, led by several tanks, move forward along the road, firing what's called "preventive fire." This essentially means that anyone with a weapon fires anywhere on either side of the column, just into the clearing.
If the Marines in the photo have high morale, what can we say about the regular infantry?
The American army traditionally had strong marines, artillery, and engineer units, but the infantry... rarely attracted the nation's best men. Hence the weak battlefield tenacity. Meanwhile, Korea is not Europe; victory was rarely achieved with artillery fire and bombing alone—in the mountains, the quality of the infantry was crucial! And the main question on the minds of the average American infantryman was: "When are we going to get out of this godforsaken country?" Opinions were often raised about the need to use nuclear weapons. And not against North Korea or China, but against the USSR, which the Americans believed had initiated the war.
During the war, fortifications tore up half of Korea. And perhaps the whole of it...
In short, Iron Tits began to restore order in the 8th Army. First, he announced that he would prosecute anyone who lost any property or equipment unnecessarily—when everything they could must be transported 15 kilometers, even the Americans had to be more frugal. Then he ordered commanders of all ranks to be with the front lines, not holed up in headquarters. But most importantly, he asked Syngman Rhee to send 30 natives with shovels. When the first batch arrived, they were sent to dig positions, install barbed wire, and perform similar outdoor exercises. He also ordered 10 additional artillery battalions from the United States—the Chinese numerical advantage was no longer as great, but it was still there, and a way to offset it was needed.
Ridgeway speaks to the press
But Peng Dehuai didn't give Ridgway time. On the morning of December 31, "Iron Tits" had already left for his forward command post in Seoul. The 8th Army commander spent the entire day touring his troops' forward positions, and that night the Chinese struck. It wasn't exactly a surprise to Ridgway, but the South Korean 1st and 7th Divisions were once again caught in the crossfire, fleeing, abandoning the front. Riding to the front to personally assess the situation, the American general encountered the fleeing army just a few kilometers north of Seoul. Ridgway attempted to stop the fleeing troops, but, as he later wrote, "I might as well have tried to stem the Han River's flow"—none of the Korean soldiers or surviving officers understood English. "Iron Tits" didn't hold it against the Koreans: in his observations, Korean division commanders in the US Army were only capable of commanding companies at most.
Pontoon bridge across the Han River
Ridgway faced an experienced and battle-hardened enemy, and behind him lay the half-frozen Han River with a couple of pontoon bridges, destroying which was a matter of technique. Ultimately, he decided to surrender Seoul, fortifying the positions prepared by those same 30 Koreans 20 kilometers south of the city. The general gave the order to retreat beyond the South Korean capital on the morning of January 3, 1951. He spent the entire day at the bridges, personally overseeing the crossing of the American corps. Ridgway failed to hold back the onslaught of the Chinese People's Volunteers, but he managed to organize a retreat from flight. He was able to withdraw most of the army, including tanks and artillery, across the river.
Ridgway's plan was as simple as a daisy: sit back behind some defensive line, get the army in order, and... And then it wasn't up to the 8th Army commander to decide. The "UN forces" in Korea were commanded by MacArthur, who went into a hysterical frenzy, like, "Chief, everything's lost, the cast's coming off, the client's leaving." He decided the Korean War was lost and began churning out plans of varying degrees of inadequacy like a frantic printer. These included: bomb the bridges across the Yalu, bomb PLA bases in Manchuria, transfer Chiang Kai-shek's army from Taiwan to Korea, and then advance north again, but this time not stopping at the border, but advancing straight to Beijing. And yes, MacArthur proposed bombing China with atomic bombs.
Truman and MacArthur are polite snakes
Eventually, even Truman decided it was time for the old man to switch from his corncob pipe to haloperidol, and... Removing MacArthur in the midst of the retreat was not comme il faut, but the decision about his fate had already been made. At dawn on January 25, Ridgway sent two corps of the 8th Army into the attack. The British and Turkish brigades managed to break through the defenses of the 50th Army of the Chinese People's Volunteers and take Inchon and Suwon (or rather, what remained of them). By the end of February 6, the advance detachments of the "UN forces" reached the Han River.
In mid-month, the Chinese attempted to continue their offensive, striking the American 2nd Division, but the "Indian Head" held its ground: Colonel Freeman's 23rd Regiment was surrounded, but, receiving airdropped supplies, it managed to hold its position. The Chinese command decided to withdraw to avoid encirclement. The withdrawal was organized, protected by rearguards. Three defensive lines were established in the Chinese rear, and on the night of February 20, a withdrawal to the first line was completed. UN forces carried out Operation Killer, but pursued the Chinese cautiously to avoid being trapped again. At each stage, Ridgway's troops deployed for an all-round defense. The Americans only reached the first Chinese line on March 6.
Airborne assault at Munsan
On March 7, the Americans launched Operation Ripper. On March 16, the Chinese People's Volunteers retreated to their second line. On March 14, Seoul was abandoned, and South Korean troops captured it on March 15. On March 17, the US 1st Cavalry Division, the British 27th Infantry Brigade, and the US 1st Marine Division broke through enemy defenses at the junction of the Chinese 42nd and 39th Corps, and Peng decided to withdraw to the third line. The "UN troops" failed to break through it immediately, and on March 23-24, an airborne assault was dropped into the Chinese rear: the 187th Airborne Regiment landed in the area northeast of Munsan. The assault was unsuccessful—they failed to pin the enemy down, but the Chinese People's Volunteers withdrew again.
Sir Richard Gale (in 1944)
The 10th KPA Division accomplished an epic feat: since January, it had been conducting guerrilla warfare in the south of the country, deep behind enemy lines. Seeing the front moving ever further north, the division launched a breakthrough and successfully achieved it at Gangneung, linking up with the main forces of the DPRK and PLA armies. British General Sir Richard Gale praised the retreat of the Chinese and North Koreans in his report to London: "The enemy is retreating methodically and with considerable combat skill. He knows how to exploit terrain features to his advantage, whether on a large scale or in a narrow tactical context."
Soon, the Chinese and North Korean forces were pushed back beyond the 38th parallel, and the American offensive continued. Now Truman had no reason to delay MacArthur's removal. On April 11, 1951, a journalist friend approached Ridgway. "Well, General, I suppose you deserve congratulations!" he said. "On what?" the 8th Army commander asked, surprised. "You mean you know nothing?" the journalist asked this time. "Know what? What are you talking about?" The journalist turned silently and walked away. Only that evening did the general receive a telegram informing him of his appointment to replace MacArthur.
The Dai-Ichi Hotel, MacArthur's Tokyo residence
MacArthur's dismissal on April 11 was dubbed the "Great Overthrow." After World War II, the United States had already managed to claim the crown of hegemony, and here in Korea, its well-equipped army was struggling and suffering enormous losses against hordes of Chinese in padded jackets! Moreover, Truman was being reminded of his having sent American troops to Korea without Congressional approval. And against this backdrop, MacArthur demanded to fight the "communists" to the bitter end. The idea of stopping at the 38th parallel didn't suit him; at worst, he proposed densely seeding the neutral territory between south and north... with radioactive waste! He was planning yet another massive amphibious and airborne assault that would make Inchon seem like child's play in a sandbox. But most importantly... From Tokyo's Dai-Ichi Hotel, where the general was staying, a stream of propaganda poured not only against the communists, but also against... the "Washington Boys"! MacArthur declared any compromise a national catastrophe for the United States.
Chief of the Imperial General Staff Sir William Slim
But MacArthur evoked particular sentiment among the United States' British allies. Chief of the Imperial General Staff Sir William Slim said he believed General MacArthur desired war with China. "As MacArthur's actions in November and December last year demonstrated, he readily embellished his reports—both intelligence and operational—to suit his own purposes. Under the present circumstances, it would be highly undesirable to allow the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to decide what constitutes a 'massive air strike' in the Yalu River area. They fear General MacArthur; it is his definition of the scale of an air attack that will guide them, and that definition may well reflect his own wishes," he reported.
Senator Wayne Morse
And the British general wasn't alone in his concerns. The British Foreign Office reported that MacArthur wanted war with China. Truman declared that he "could no longer tolerate his insubordination." As Senator Wayne Morse wittily put it, the United States had two foreign policies: "General MacArthur's policy and the President's." Avall Harriman even argued that MacArthur should have been removed a couple of years ago, a sentiment echoed by Generals Marshall and Bradley. No one wanted to start World War III over this poseur and narcissist.
Everyone who knew Douglas MacArthur personally was delighted by his retirement. And those who didn't, greeted him like this. Grandpa was quite popular...
The language surrounding the general's dismissal was quite harsh. "With deep regret, I have concluded that General of the Army Douglas MacArthur is unable to sincerely support the policies of the United States Government and the United Nations in matters pertaining to his official duties. In view of the special responsibilities vested in me by the Constitution of the United States and the additional responsibilities imposed by the United Nations, I have decided to replace the Commander-in-Chief in the Far East. For this reason, I have relieved General MacArthur of his command and appointed Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway as his successor..." An era has passed!
The shaggy one was lucky: the Korean would have eaten him for lunch!
P.S. How did the troops in Korea react to MacArthur's resignation? Lieutenant Jim Sheldon of the 17th Infantry Regiment put it bluntly: "MacArthur was too far away from us for us to notice any change. The only thing we noticed after Ridgway's arrival was that the food got better..."
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