On July 27, 1953, the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed at Panmunjom, the three-year Korean War ended, the Korean Peninsula returned to a long-lost calm, although the end of the military operations in the Korean battlefield, but the aftermath of the Korean War 70 years have not been completely resolved, but some of the past personnel can be conclusive.
If you evaluate the commander-in-chief of the "United Nations Army", the author thinks that the three words of digging a pit, filling a pit, and carrying a pot are more appropriate.
【Pit Digger MacArthur】
MacArthur, a madman whose personality led to a huge controversy. MacArthur, who was born into a military family, may have been born to eat this bowl of rice, from his study career at West Point to the battlefield of World War I and World War II, accumulating too much aura:
In 1903, he graduated with a score of 98.43, setting a record for the graduation score of West Point, which has not been broken so far;
From 1903 to 1916, he was promoted from second lieutenant to major, and in the era when there was no war, it could be described as rocket-like speed;
In 1917, he went to France to participate in World War I, and the following year, he was promoted to brigadier general of the United States Army because of his bravery and command;
In June 1919, at the age of 39, MacArthur was appointed president of the West Point Military Academy, becoming the youngest principal at West Point since its founding
From 1920 to 1941, before the outbreak of World War II, MacArthur had been promoted to four-star general and served as commander-in-chief of the Far Eastern Army;
In 1944, he was promoted to five-star general in the Army, and there are very few five-star generals in American history!
Behind the brilliant resume, there are countless honors:
The youngest brigadier general, the youngest president of the West Point Military Academy, the general with the most medals of the Order of Land, Sea and Air...
But behind the honor plus there is a faint worry, which also laid the groundwork for his embarrassing end of military career, that is, MacArthur's flamboyant personality, and his own arrogance and conceit, because of this, he is not in harmony with the American political circles, and the relationship with his colleagues in the Pentagon is not harmonious, so MacArthur chose to self-exile, became a hegemon in Asia, first became a marshal of the Philippines, after the military took over Japan, became a figure that the emperor had to look up to.
MacArthur and the Emperor of Japan
It is undeniable that although MacArthur reigned supreme in Japan, he still made great contributions to Japan's post-war economy and people's livelihood recovery. Originally, in the days when he was about to retire, macArthur, who was held every day, was particularly self-satisfied, but the outbreak of the Korean War broke all this!
On June 25, 1950, the Soviet-backed North Korean People's Army and the American-backed South Korean Army opened fire, and the Korean War broke out! South Korea's bloated army is like the American army, but the South Korean army without national strength and weapons and equipment is the opponent of the North Korean People's Army. With 150 Soviet-style tanks eliminated in World War II, the North Korean army, under the tactic of annihilation, arrived in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, in less than three days, and Truman, Washington, was in a hurry!
The incident occurred suddenly, and only the Japanese army could enter the DPRK as soon as possible to save the decline, because even if the logistics support was as strong as the United States, it was impossible to transfer troops from the United States mainland and other garrison bases in a short period of time. On July 7, 1950, a telegram sent MacArthur became supreme commander of the United Nations forces, which MacArthur gladly accepted.
In MacArthur's view, the situation on the Korean battlefield could soon change, not to mention the 38th Parallel, and the entire Korean Peninsula. However, in the early days of entering the DPRK, the Korean People's Army gave the United Nations army a blow, and the two-month war situation in the DPRK was not fundamentally reversed, until after the successful landing of Incheon, which was called a five-thousand-to-one gamble by his successor, the KPA suffered from the enemy on its back and could not hold on, and invited reinforcements, the Chinese Volunteer Army, from then on, MacArthur began to compete with the Chinese Volunteer Army, and also accelerated MacArthur's shameful departure.
MacArthur watched the Air Force bombing as he landed at Inchon
From all aspects of national strength, this war has no suspense at all, MacArthur must have thought so, so he did not pay attention to the Chinese army at all, but this tiger and wolf division is no longer the soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance when they invaded China, this is the iron army led by Peng Dehuai!
The volunteer army entered the Korean War
Peng Dehuai, more than twenty years of revolutionary career, fought a vicious war, in the face of the united army of the three armed forces, with complete artillery superiority and logistical superiority, Peng Dehuai used the victory in the first battle to give MacArthur a dismount, but MacArthur did not care at all.
MacArthur despised the volunteer army, feeling that under the surveillance of the powerful air force, it was impossible for a large-scale and formed volunteer army to enter Korea. The defeat in the first battle did not sound the alarm bell for MacArthur, but also threatened to end the war before Christmas and let the boys go home for the holiday, which also became the laughing stock of history.
Peng Dehuai gave MacArthur a large pocket on the east-west front, along the Cheongcheon River and Changqing Lake, so that MacArthur could see how the soldiers of the new China fought the war and drove the UN army from the Yalu River back to the 38th Line. Qing Dajie finally woke up MacArthur, and MacArthur finally admitted that this was a brand new war!
Schematic of the second battle
The military was in the service of politics, and in order to gain worldwide superiority, the third campaign began, and although it was a premeditated retreat by the enemy (the man who filled the pit came, and he would elaborate on it when Ridgway arrived), it was of great political significance to advance the front to the vicinity of the 37th Line and capture Seoul, the capital of South Korea!
MacArthur began to panic, but how can the proud Americans easily bow their heads, at this time, MacArthur committed a taboo of the military family, although he has been warned by the US government for making a big fuss, but MacArthur is still dead, and finally angered Truman who is far away in Washington, Truman really does not want to wipe his ass for the atomic bomb, World War III and other public opinion events provoked by MacArthur, a telegram will end MacArthur's military career! The cable was sent by Acheson:
I have been instructed to convey to you the following instructions from President Truman that, as President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, it is my duty to remove you from your duties as Supreme Allied Commander-in-Chief, Commander-in-Chief of United Nations Forces, Commander-in-Chief of the Far East and Commander-in-Chief of the United States Forces in the Far East. Please transfer command to Matthew immediately. B. Lieutenant General Ridgway, you will have the right to issue the necessary orders to complete your chosen journey home, and the next cable will explain your dismissal and will be made public together with this order.
MacArthur was militarily talented, but his conceited and willful nature killed him and ended his military career, just a big hole dug for the United Nations army, and it had to be left to the next post to fill!
【Pit Filling Expert Iac Lee】
On December 23, 1950, for the Eighth Army, it was a day of overnight rain, and on the day of the Great Escape, the commander of the Eighth Army, Walton. Walker was killed by friendly forces! It was only at this time that Ridgway, the deputy chief of staff of the Army in the Pentagon, did not expect that he would become the commander of the Eighth Army with a single order, and from then on, he was famous for saving the United Nations Army!
Ridgway
Ridgway's resume, especially before the age of 45, is much inferior to that of the previous MacArthur, born in Fort Monroe, Virginia, and was born before entering West Point with thousands of American children, and you can hardly understand his personal information.
After graduating from the West Point Military Academy in 1917, he was an instructor at his alma mater and the Fort Benning Infantry School. He served in China, Nicaragua, Panama, Bolivia, the Philippines, Brazil and the United States, and attended command and staff schools and army military academies for eight years.
It was not until 1939 that a staff seat was found in the Operations Planning Division of the Army Staff, and if it were not for the outbreak of World War II, perhaps Ridgway's military career would have been general, but World War II gave Ridgway the opportunity to skyrocket.
In World War II, airborne troops developed rapidly and were used in combat on a large scale. But the development of airborne troops in the United States was about ten years later than that of Germany and the Soviet Union, and Ridgway saw the opportunity to reorganize the infantry division he led into airborne troops, and he was already forty-seven years old that year!
Rapidly developing airborne troops during World War II
Opportunities were always left to those who were prepared, and Ridgway's airborne divisions excelled in the landings in Sicily and Normandy, as the Sicily landings accelerated Mussolini's downfall, while the Normandy landings completely changed the course of the war in Europe and accelerated the collapse of German fascism. Since then, Ridgway has skyrocketed:
In August 1944, he was promoted to commander of the 18th Airborne Army of the United States and participated in several operations against Germany;
Commander of the United States Forces in the Caribbean from 1948 to 1949;
From 1949 to 1950, he was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army.
The soldiers took obedience to orders as their natural position, received the transfer order, wrote a suicide note, and came to the Korean battlefield.
Sun Tzu's Art of War has clouds:
He who can and will not prevail will win!
Ridgway knew this, so he flew to Tokyo, where the old leader MacArthur was staying, and asked for the sword of Shangfang, that is, not to interfere with himself. By this time MacArthur was already panicked, saying that everything depended on you. Back in North Korea, he began his drastic transformation with only one purpose: morale! morale! morale! Because the mentally impotent United Nations army could not defeat the volunteer army.
For the fleeing South Korean army, the Americans did not look at it very seriously, nor did they expect it to be of great use, but the role it should play as cannon fodder must still be played! Simple and rude, let the US military supervise the battle in the rear, run away and shoot, this is really good, anyway, escape will die, fight on the front line and hope to live.
The real solution is the morale of the United Nations army, especially the U.S. military, which was extremely low after the three battles after the longest retreat in history. Ridgway quickly pulled out three axes:
After the first three battles, many division commanders of the Eighth Army believed that the volunteer army was invincible, and deliberately delayed Ridgway's combat orders.
The second is to lead by example, personally visiting the front line and communicating with soldiers, and the two infantry-type grenades equipped with them have played a good propaganda role even if they are for example.
The third is to give the soldiers who have fought in bloody vacations, go to Japan for vacation, many members of the family of THE US generals live in Japan, the strength of the family is strong, Ridgway knows this very well; even if it is a young officer, Japan's bars and girls are the best medicine for war trauma!
Such a rectification is still effective, but the best way to boost morale is to fight a battle!
The Art of War of Sun Tzu has clouds:
Know thyself and know the other, and never lose a battle
After communicating with the captives and officers, Ridgway discovered the fatal weakness of the volunteer army, that is, logistics, and the world-famous magnetic tactics were born against the weakness of our army's logistics and lack of air superiority!
Guided by magnetic tactics, the UN launched the Fourth and Fifth Campaigns, and the Volunteers were forced into a defensive position. In the fourth and fifth battles, the volunteers paid a very heavy price, and it seems that the situation on the Korean battlefield is less pessimistic for the United Nations army!
The Volunteers entered the defensive, the Battle of The Iron Plains
Ridgway then launched an aerial strangulation war against the logistics of the volunteer army, but it exploded a steel transport line that exploded continuously, and the battlefield entered the stage of defensive warfare while fighting, and the two sides returned to the starting point: the three-eighth line!
If you open various encyclopedias and have a word about Ridgway's introduction, it is famous for saving the United Nations Army! Ridgway avoided the UN troops being driven out of the sea, but it was impossible to go any further, but at least Ridgway filled the pit, that's all!
In May 1952, Ridgway's old leader, Essenhower, who commanded the Normandy landings, returned to the United States to run for president, and was elected, Ridgway went to Europe to succeed Eisenhower as the supreme commander of the north atlantic treaty organization armed forces, which was obviously a more important position than the Korean battlefield, And Ridgway was promoted, and he was replaced by Clark.
【Back Pot Commander Clark】
In April 1952, Clark was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Far East and in May he took over as Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Forces.
Clark was born into a military family, but as Ridgway's classmate, the results were slaggy, with 139 people in the class, ranking 111, but his later promotion was much faster than Ridgway's.
Clarke participated in World War I, but his performance was mediocre, but after returning to China, he was trained and trained for a decade, which allowed him to grow into a famous amphibious warfare expert, and was appreciated by George Marshall, then chief of staff of the United States Army, during the 1939 U.S. West Coast amphibious landing exercise.
In 1940, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served as an instructor at the War College;
In August 1941, he was transferred by Marshall to the Army Headquarters as assistant chief of staff in charge of operations, and was promoted to brigadier general;
In early 1942, he served as deputy chief of staff and chief of staff of the U.S. Ground Forces.
Promoted to major general in August 1942, he became commander of the 2nd Army and commander of the U.S. Ground Forces in the United Kingdom;
In November 1942, he became a lieutenant general and was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Coalition Forces for Operation Torch (commander-in-chief was General Eisenhower, later President of the United States).
Clarke was promoted to lieutenant general at the age of 46, the youngest lieutenant general in U.S. history, but had few opportunities to perform in World War II, returning to the United States in June 1947 as commander of the Sixth Army headquartered in San Francisco, and two years later as commander of the U.S. Ground Forces until he became commander of the United Nations Forces in Korea.
However, when Clark took over, basically both the Volunteer Army and the United Nations Army were in the confrontation stage, each step forward was costly, in the rear of the battlefield, the smokeless war was continuing, in order to win the favorable situation in the negotiations, the firepower to defeat the mad Eighth Army Van Vlitt came up with several "showdown operations" that were vetoed by Ridgway several times, and clark actually approved it, and everyone wanted to make a little noise in office! As a result, everyone knows that the Battle of Shangganling, from a small battle, became the meat grinding battle with the highest density of artillery fire in the history of world wars, and the showdown was not successful!
The volunteers celebrated after the Battle of Shangganling
There was no big move, and the U.S. army wanted to play the landing set again, but the volunteer command was high and had to give up!
The US military was deeply trapped in the quagmire of the Korean War, the anti-war sentiment in the country was getting higher and higher, even the Allies were shaken, the two sides finally ended the negotiation tug-of-war, the armistice agreement was signed, and Clark became the one who carried the pot!
Clark says:
"I was the first U.S. general to sign a negotiating document without victory."
Chinese People's Volunteer Army overcame many difficulties with iron will, played a national prestige, and played a military prestige, in the words of MacArthur in his later years: If anyone wants to fight the Chinese army, it is a brain disease!