Understanding the Forgotten War

As mentioned in a previous post, I promised to read up on the Korean War. And so I have. And so I feel compelled to share some thoughts.

• Following the end of WWII, the allies divided control of the Korean peninsula arbitrarily at the 38th parallel; the Soviets controlling the North and the Americans the south. Cold war politics played its customary part here, although the Americans and its allies were more concerned with Europe than with Korea.
• North Korea has a small border with Russia at Vladivostok.
• The Korean conflict began in June 1950.North Korean troops, with a healthy dose of Soviet arms, advise, and aid, attacked and moved south. Seoul, the South Korean capital, fell quickly, and within weeks the North Koreans controlled almost the entirety of the peninsula, other than the south east section. The South Koreans and American forces held tight at a line by the Naktong River protecting only the port city of Pusan.
• With additional American forces arriving, the South Korean and American forces soon pushed the North Koreans back. By attacking and taking the west coast port of Inchon, they were able to disrupt the North Korean army, opening a second front. Within months, the American and South Korean forces had captured the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Their forces eventually controlled almost the entire peninsula save for teh northernmost territory along the Chinese border. 
• Now the Chinese army entered the conflict. By spring of 1951, Seoul had fallen again.
• American and South Korean forces, now also buttressed by UN forces from Britain, Turkey, Australia, and other countries, fought back, and by summer, the front had returned to approximately the 38th parallel. In a year, Seoul had changed hands four times.
• The following two years were fought in costly battles with little land be gained or lost. The Chinese seemed to be willing to wage a war of attrition with a huge cost in human life.
• Peace negotiations took place on and off for two years at Kaesong and Panmunjon. An armistice was signed  in July of 1953. 
• President-elect Eisenhower visited Korea personally in November 1952.
• Almost as many Americans died in combat in 3 years in Korea as did in 10 years in Vietnam. The total of American casualties (dead and missing) in Korea was over 42,000.
• Discovery of the atrocities of murder and defilement of captured American solders and South Korean soldiers and civilians was common.
• It is estimated that North Korean and Chinese combatant casualties numbered between 1.25 and 1.5 million.
• A major stumbling block to the final peace agreements was that a large number of North Korean and Chinese POWs did not want to be repatriated. 
• The Korean war saw the first aerial battles between jet engine aircraft.
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