The Eighth Army, the main force of the American army on the Korean battlefield, was defeated in the Battle of Cheongcheon River and forced to withdraw all the way south to South Korea, becoming the longest retreating force in the history of american warfare. What led to his escape?
The Eighth Army was also a miscellaneous army
The Eighth Army, which had just begun to enter the Korean part, was the U.S. Military stationed in Japan. After Japan's unconditional surrender, the US military peacefully occupied Japan, and the US military, which was originally preparing for the "fall operation", became a "peacekeeping force".
On August 28, 1945, the first U.S. Marines landed at Yokosuka, followed by 150,000 U.S. troops who occupied all of Japan and began to occupy Japan under the name of allied occupying forces. From August 30 to September 6, MacArthur's 460,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Japan, controlling major cities and strategic points.
Schematic of the U.S. occupation of Japan
For more than four years, there was no war, so the U.S. troops stationed in Japan neglected training, even though in 1948, the commander of the Eighth Army was replaced by Walton, who was known as the "tiger dog". Walker, the first commander of the Eighth Army in the Korean Theater, trained for more than two years, but with little success, and after the outbreak of the Korean War, he did not achieve much in the early battles with the North Korean army.
As a result, the Eighth Army changed its corps command structure, reduced division-level units, and sent troops from the United States mainland into Korea, and it was the First Army and the Ninth Army of the American Reserve Forces that resumed active service, thus forming the main part of the Eighth Army.
It can be said that the Eighth Army decided from the beginning of its formation that its combat effectiveness would not be too strong, and if the transfer of troops from Japan belongs to the principle of proximity, then the soldiers sent from the United States are the arrogance in the bones of the US army, so it can be said that the initial Eighth Army was a regular "miscellaneous army"!
Commander of the Eighth Army Walker
From the photos of the Korean battlefield, walker, the commander of the Eighth Army, looks at wearing a steel helmet and a bit of a big belly, but this guy was a fierce character in World War II.
Walker was one of Patton's favorite generals and fought in World War II, when the U.S. 20th Army advanced rapidly under his command, so it was known as the Ghost Army. Excellent results in Europe.
George Barton took him in high esteem, often calling him "my best bastard boy." As a tactician, he gained the reputation of "offensive authority" in the European battlefield and was known as the "tiger dog".
Saying goes:
Soldiers bear one, will bear a nest
。 Walker is not a bear, but it is really incomprehensible that the Eighth Army stationed in Japan has not been brought out for two years, and it is possible that the American soldiers have gone too far as a grandfather in Japan.
Arrogance in the bones of the US military
This can be seen from the formation of the Eighth Army, except for the reserve from Japan, that is, from the United States, there is still a gap between the reserve and the active service, which leads to poor combat effectiveness in real combat.
Another was that from MacArthur to the soldier Inchon landing was a bit arrogant, although Walker seemed cautious, but it was useless.
So in MacArthur's early "Christmas Offensive," defeat was never considered.
There was no tactical emphasis on the volunteers
In fact, there are many veterans of World War II in the Eighth Army, but why are they at a loss? Because I have never seen the way the volunteers play!
In the European battlefield, everyone is a ladder firepower configuration, sea, land and air three-dimensional combat. However, because the volunteer army was always a party with insufficient firepower from the War of Resistance against Japan to the War of Liberation, it could not be tough and could only be outsmarted. Over the years, the roundabout play has been even more pure.
In "Admiral Hong Xuezhi", there was once a dialogue between Hong Xuezhi and American prisoners: these were all characters above the company commander, who asked why they had to go around to the side and back to fight, and said that this style of play was disgraceful. Hong Xuezhi told them that on the battlefield, the preservation of living forces is the most important, just like the US army did not move, bombing first.
The Eighth Army was defeated at the Battle of Cheongcheon River, and it was precisely because of this style of play that it was lost.
Fall and rebirth
It can be said that the Eighth Army in the early stage was extremely depressed because of its own reasons and lack of understanding of the volunteer army, lost on the battlefield, and was extremely depressed.
The death of its commander Walker and the car accident with friendly forces made the morale of the Eighth Army extremely low!
Walker's successor, Ridgway, said in his memoirs: "
Just arrived at the Eighth Army, stunned by the situation in front of him, everyone talked about the discoloration of the volunteer army, he tried to block the fleeing vehicles, standing in the middle of the road to intercept the vehicles without slowing down!
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In this way, the Eighth Army withdrew all the way to South Korea, and it took Ridgway several months to solve the morale problem. I don't know, can Walker change the decline in life?