The Korean War: The Untold Truth

Chapter 20 The Outbreak of War (7)
The Far East Air Force finally took action.A strike force composed of 12 B-26 bombers flew towards the Wenshan Railway Station near the [-]th Line and destroyed a train with heavy bombs.Then they descended and roared south, strafing and firing rockets at targets emerging on the railroad and adjacent roads.The North Korean ground fire was also heavy, nearly every plane was hit by artillery fire.One plane's engine failed and it landed staggeringly at Suwon Air Force Base near Seoul.The other managed to return to Ashiya, but was too damaged to use.Another plane lost its bearings and crashed during a forced landing at the cloud-shrouded Ashiya Airport, killing everyone on board.

The task of the F-80 fighter jet is even more difficult.The 310 miles from Itsuke to the battlefield is close to the limit of their range, especially when they fly below 200 feet.But when they flew to the area north of Seoul, they found North Korean tanks, trucks and artillery congested on the road, so they strafed and fired rockets at them wantonly.After a day's work, the 50-mile road was filled with fireworks.

The B-29 bomber, the so-called super sky fortress, was originally a strategic bomber.Due to MacArthur's repeated insistence, the Far East Air Force used them as simple tactical support aircraft.Near dusk, four super sky fortresses were flying along the road north of Seoul and the parallel railway. As long as the crew saw a truck, a tank or even a group of people, no matter whether they were from the North Korean side or not, as long as they looked " Worth blowing up," and dropped the bomb. "This is the use of strategic bombers indiscriminately," lamented the Air Force personnel, "but General MacArthur demanded the greatest display of power."

Mucho retreats south
Meanwhile, throughout Tuesday, Ambassador Mucho hesitated in Seoul considering his own safety.Leaving Seoul meant he would not be able to guarantee a connection with Washington at critical times ahead.Also, should the US be evicted (symbolically) from the capital of a friendly country by North Korean invaders?Mu Qiao is not a coward, he is also a prudent person.His country sent him to North Korea on a mission, and now he has to decide what is best to do.

He consulted with the British minister Vivienne Hult and the French chargé d'affaires Georges Peruche, both of whom agreed to stay "whatever happened".Shao Yulin, the Chinese "ambassador" of the Kuomintang, had no choice. If he was caught, he would be blindfolded and sentenced to death within an hour.

Mucho considered several options.The United States has not yet officially declared war on North Korea, so can't he stay in Seoul under the banner of a neutral country like Britain and France?He considered concentrating the entire staff of the embassy, ​​including military and civilian personnel, in the embassy, ​​and once the North Koreans captured Seoul, they could declare that they enjoyed diplomatic immunity.The Military Advisory Group in Korea received no formal instructions on what to do in the event of war, but its officers faced three choices: take up arms and actively assist the South Koreans in repelling the invaders; advisor; or simply walk away and leave the Republic to fend for itself.Although Syngman Rhee had fled, he appointed an acting prime minister to stay put, along with the defense minister and key officials of the General Staff.Mucho is an ambassador appointed to the South Korean government, not to Syngman Rhee, and as long as there are remnants of the government in Seoul, he should stay with it.

Muccio took the latter option.At about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, he telegraphed Washington that he was "standing in place with a limited number of volunteers to the end."He proposed sending his deputy, Everett Drumlet, and the rest of the diplomats, to retreat south "to follow President Rhee."The officers of the Military Advisory Group in South Korea will evacuate by truck, "the evacuation time will be determined according to the development of the situation, so as not to be accused of abandoning South Korea."

Acheson immediately objected.He believes this is "not advisable" and that Muccio and his staff will be held hostage.They should leave Seoul to join Syngman Rhee, "so as not to be unable to evacuate safely at that time."

Mucho couldn't resist a direct order.He instructed his subordinates to clean up everything and prepare to go south.Guns rang out over the north, and the few remaining Americans cleared out confidential documents from filing cabinets, took them to the embassy yard, and piled them together.Army officers urged, and the ROK Army said that the communists would enter the capital anytime, anywhere.Someone doused the document with gasoline, lit it with a match, and any "secrets" the US had about North Korea were burned in the dark.

Upstairs, the embassy's security officer, Robert Hervey, blew up two of the embassy's cipher machines with thorium bombs (which burn instantly to a fiery temperature).Then, with a sledgehammer, he methodically destroyed the telephone switching installations—must not leave the communications equipment intact in North Korean hands.

Unfortunately, when the hammer fell, the ambassador's communication line was cut off.Mu Qiao cursed into the silent microphone in his hand, then closed the door and left.He had two things to do: first, he had to find the South Korean government that had fled south; second, he had to arrive at Suwon Airport before 6 pm to meet the field investigation team sent by General MacArthur's headquarters.

As soon as Mucho left the embassy, ​​someone pulled down the heavy iron shutters, blocking the doors and windows of the two floors below the embassy building.In the morning, no one has time to raise the national flag in the rush, so there is no need to lower the Stars and Stripes at this moment.

And no one bothered to take down the American coat of arms that hung in the center of the main entrance. (North Koreans apparently did not appreciate the symbolic significance of the national emblem. When the US military reoccupied Seoul a few weeks later, the national emblem remained intact.)
Seeing the doors and windows of the American embassy closed is an important signal to South Koreans.Panicked citizens rushed to the railway station and boarded any trains heading south.Those who couldn't squeeze into the car put their luggage on their backs and walked south.Members of the National Assembly, who had voted to stay in Seoul just hours earlier in spite of the Communist approach, had changed their minds.At dusk, most of the parliamentarians had fled south across the Han River (the few Korean parliamentarians who chose to stay in Seoul were captured and shot by North Korean invaders a few days later).

While the family members of the American personnel were safely sailing the stinking but functional ship the Lenholt, and most of the embassy was waiting at Gimpo Airport for their flight to Tokyo, Mucho returned. took his residence.It was the first time he had been home since that distant Sunday morning when he was warned of a possible invasion.

"I opened the pantry and wine cabinet and told the servants to take whatever they wanted and not to stay at the embassy," Mucho said.He gave his driver the official embassy limousine (Muccio knew that a jeep would be more suitable for his needs for the next few days) and told him to "pack up your family and whatever you need and head south."But Mucho did not forget his own needs. He grabbed some cigars from the humidor on the table, asked his military assistant to take a case of Scotch whiskey from the embassy commissary, and packed some socks and underwear in a backpack. And some shirts.

Mucho stopped on the steps, wanting to hear the roar of the MiG plane.The MiGs had sporadically strafed Seoul the day before, and he had twice ducked under a table to dodge bullets.At the moment he heard nothing.He got into a jeep with his military assistant and headed south to find the South Korean government.

Hours after Mucho left Seoul in a hurry, North Korean planes flew over the city, dropping leaflets urging surrender, and North Korean radio broadcast the same demand.The South Korean 7th and 2nd Divisions launched several dying counterattacks north of Seoul, but to no avail.The Koreans were finally defeated.

Disaster on the Han River

According to a series of contingency defense plans, the South Koreans would blow up bridges and roads north of Seoul and set up roadblocks.In the words of Major Richard Crawford, a member of the U.S. Military Advisory Group in South Korea and the chief engineer adviser to the South Korean Army, "the confusion was so great" that "the planned explosions were not carried out, and the roadblocks were erected. But it was unguarded, and the obstacles had no covering fire."A major problem was the lack of anti-tank mines (although a gang of brave South Koreans strapped explosives to sticks and placed them under marching North Korean tanks, destroying 4 tanks on a bridge).

Just after sunset, four American reporters—Frank Gibney of Time, Keith Beach of the Chicago Daily News, Burton Crane of the New York Times, and the New York Herald Tribune ", Margaret Higgins, arrived in Seoul on a military mail plane.Crane noticed a U.S. officer with a “squeezed lip and haggard face” burning a pile of documents on the rubble-strewn concrete at Gimpo Airport.They arrived at the headquarters of the Military Advisory Group in Korea and met its acting head, Colonel Sterling Wright, who had not slept a wink since his hasty departure from Tokyo on Sunday morning.He described the situation as "elusive but hopeful" before heading to his residence to try to rest for a few hours.But the tone of a senior South Korean military officer there, General Kim Baek-il, who had served as a sergeant in the Japanese army, was pessimistic, saying repeatedly: "Things are not good...things are not good." The reporters Also leave for a short rest.

The North Koreans continued to swarm, with at least 4 divisions or more under cover of tanks attacking the remnants of 2 South Korean divisions, 4 against 1.At midnight, the South Korean army finally collapsed.The guard troops were ordered to retreat across the Han River.

About a day earlier, South Korean sappers had placed massive charges of explosives on the concrete abutments of a bridge complex spanning the Han River, consisting of a three-lane road span and three separate railway trestles.The order required that the bridge be bombed after the troops withdrew across the bridge.

The plan fell through.At midnight, Major George Sedbury, Jr., assigned to the ROK Army, called the Military Advisory Group in Korea to report the shocking news that the South Koreans were ready to blow up the bridge at any time, even though there were still more than 1 people and equipment not yet crossing the river.

The order to blow up the bridge caused a fierce debate in the South Korean Supreme Command, and Major General Cai Bingde, the chief of staff, firmly opposed it.

Cai Bingde is a huge man, weighing almost 300 pounds, and he happily accepts his nickname "Fatty".According to Harold Noble of the American embassy, ​​he was "too fat to walk normally, but swayed. His face was wrinkled and almost covered his eyes".Although he did not have the stature of a soldier, Cai Bingde was a fighter, and he knew that blowing up the bridge a few hours later would allow the Army to preserve the men and equipment it would no doubt desperately need in the coming days.But a more senior official in South Korea's defense ministry called for the bridge to be blown up immediately, his paramount concern being to prevent North Korean tanks from crossing the river, even if ordering the bridge to blow up meant killing thousands of South Korean soldiers.Just as Cai Bingde continued to argue, he was hastily taken across the river in a jeep.His deputy, General Jin Baiyi, agreed to blow up the bridge.

The Americans also expressed their opposition to the bombing of the bridge.As soon as Colonel Wright woke up, he hurriedly sent Lieutenant Colonel Walter Greenwood, Jr., the deputy chief of staff of the Military Advisory Group in Korea, to meet the Koreans and remind them of their original promise: wait until the enemy tanks drive to the street where the South Korean Army Headquarters is located. Blow up the bridge again.

During the dispute, American journalists were also awakened.A major of the Military Advisory Group in South Korea said: "It's broken. The tanks have already penetrated into the city. We don't know how long the defense line can last. I'm going to stay here until Colonel (Wright) returns, but you'd better ask the commander Turn left on the main street where the Ministry is located, cross the bridge as quickly as possible, and try to get to Suwon."

As reporters rushed downstairs, Time's Frank Gibney noticed a bold new poster on the Military Advisory Group's billboard: "Don't Forget—Tuesday, June 6."

Three male journalists (Gibney, Beach, and Crane) share a jeep, and Miss Higgins decides to ride with officers from the Military Advisory Group to Korea.The streets were so crowded with pedestrians and vehicles that no one could pass.As a defeated army, the South Korean army seemed to be in a very good mood. Many soldiers sang while walking, and the military police at the intersection directed the vehicles to drive in an orderly manner, but the unlucky ordinary people who had to walk were not so orderly.The women carried bundles on their heads, the men carried racks containing daily household items, and thousands of people staggered along with difficulty.

The jeeps of the reporters finally reached the middle of the bridge, but they were blocked. A six-wheeled troop carrier was in front and other jeeps were behind.The gunshots behind them are getting closer and closer, and they don't know how long the blocking forces in Seoul can last.They wanted to get out of the car to check the cause of the blockage, but the bridge deck was crowded by people and they couldn't move.Gibney recalled what happened later: "We went back to the jeep and sat waiting. Suddenly, the sky was lit up by a terrible orange flame, and there was a violent explosion not far ahead. We The jeep was lifted by the blast and thrown 15 feet."

The explosion knocked Gibney's glasses off, and blood gushed from his forehead.Crane, whose face was covered in blood, yelled: "I can't see anything." The South Korean soldiers in the truck ahead seemed to have died.There are hundreds of dead bodies on the bridge, and the seriously injured are everywhere.Shrieking refugees scrambled to flee to the north shore.The middle section of the road bridge, which was crowded with vehicles and pedestrians on all three lanes, fell into the river bottom, and three railway trestles were also destroyed.

Later, when the bridge was repaired, officers of the Military Advisory Group in Korea estimated that about 500 to 800 soldiers and civilians were killed or fell into the river and drowned.The premature blowing up of the bridge had disastrous consequences for the ROK Army: its main body was still north of the Han River, isolated and helpless, and had to cross the river by the occasional ferry; transportation, supplies, and most of its heavy weapons were almost lost do.Had the bridge been bombed 6 to 8 hours later, the 2 South Korean divisions and most of their supplies could have safely withdrawn to the newly established line of defense.Witnesses remember the bridge being bombed at 2:15 a.m.The North Korean army did not advance to the center of Seoul until nearly noon, and it took several hours to reach the banks of the Han River.In the next few days, the remnants of the South Korean troops crossed the river in boats and rafts, and the formation of the troops on the south bank was completely disrupted.

After an investigation (limited by the chaos of the war and the lack of any written orders), a South Korean court-martial summarily executed the Chief of Army Engineers on the grounds that he had "improperly" prepared to blow up the bridge.Official U.S. Army sources, based on interviews with many officers of the Military Advisory Group in Korea, make no attempt to hold accountable, although the order "totally disregarded the combat situation" was issued by a civilian (undersecretary of defense) rather than by Ordered by the soldiers.In any case, "the South Korean forces collapsed with astonishing speed from then on," the US Army history notes.

A note from the Military Advisory Group in South Korea in early July showed the extent of South Korea's fiasco.On the day the war broke out, the ROK Army had 7 troops.A week later, Army Command estimated that only 9.8 men remained south of the Han River.A few days later, a larger number of stragglers gathered on the south bank of the Han River, and the 2.2th and 6th Divisions, which were fighting west of Seoul, also came to join.In this way, South Korea's military strength is estimated to reach 8.But in the first week of fighting, the ROK Army lost 5.4 men—killed, captured, or missing—nearly half of its force.Avoiding the main thrust of the North Korean attack, the 4.4th and 6th Divisions managed to withdraw most of their armament and transport.But with the exception of these two divisions, the ROK Army was severely damaged both mentally and in terms of combat effectiveness in the first few days of the war.Obviously, the only way to save South Korea at present is to rely on the intervention of the United States.

(End of this chapter)