Two U.S. officers were hacked to death, so the United States went straight into combat readiness, launched aircraft carrier bombers, and even decided to use nuclear weapons, and the cause of all this was a tree? What happened to the Second Korean War, which almost happened in the 1970s? Why does a single tree make the United States and North Korea almost move? Welcome to like and comment on the attention.
The culprit is the great poplar
A bloody case caused by a tree
On August 18, 1976, U.S. Army Police Squadron Commander Arthur M. Bernipas, while observing the enemy with a telescope, suddenly frowned. In the telescope lens, a very tall poplar tree appeared. How can the US military observe the enemy situation and be blocked by a poplar tree? So the squadron leader, almost without hesitation, led 6 American troops, 5 South Korean troops and 5 lumberjacks to cut down the poplar tree.
Just as the workers were sweating profusely, another group of troops came from the other end of the bridge. Who? North Korean army. The commander of the North Korean army, Park Chul, with 17 North Korean soldiers, ordered U.S. Squadron Leader Bernipas to stop. Bernipas felt inexplicable and did not listen. Park Chul was very angry and radioed ten guards to surround the American troops.
The U.S. military cuts down trees
In fact, if you give ordinary people, see Park Chul called the guard, you know that the situation escalated, should be somewhat temporarily stopped. But Bernipas, an American, had always looked down on the North Koreans, so he ignored it and continued to cut down trees. This made Park Chul very angry, and the two sides began to quarrel, quarreling and arguing and starting a group fight.
Neither side had weapons, but the Americans had axes, ropes and sticks for cutting down trees. Because the North Korean army was superior, the North Korean soldiers took the axe and slashed at the American army, and Bernipas himself was directly hacked to death, and a Lieutenant of the American Army named Mark Barrett, who was also covered in blood, was later sent to the hospital and died. With the exception of these two U.S. officers, all U.S. and South Korean soldiers were wounded, and even military vehicles were smashed.
Contradictions escalate
"Paul. Banjan" action
For the sake of a tree, the North Korean army actually directly hacked two US military officers to death, so what is the attitude of the US military?
The US military ran amok on the Korean Peninsula, of course, could not stand the Koreans so "arrogant", then the commander of the US military in South Korea Richard, announced that the US military into a wartime state, formulated a called "Paul . Bunyan"' action. The main purpose of this operation was to cut down the big poplar tree.
Conflicting U.S. and North Korean forces
At that time, in order to ensure the success of this operation, the US military even mobilized 20 F-111 fighters, 3 B-52 bombers, and 24 F4 Ghost fighters to fly directly over the Korean Peninsula, of course, mainly the Korean territory; in the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula, there was also the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Battle Group; and the US-ROK Joint Command even dispatched an US infantry division and a ROK army group.
On August 21, the U.S. military directly began cutting down trees. In order to cut down trees, 36 Cobra helicopter gunships hovered over the ground; there were 64 officers and soldiers and 3 military vehicles on the ground, and the North Korean side may also be afraid, and in the face of such a big battle of the US military, it did not react much throughout the whole process. After the tree was cut down, the U.S. military erected a stone monument, mainly to commemorate the lives of two American officers. The second Korean War, which had almost been triggered, quietly subsided.
Aspen trees that were cut down
Seeing this, you may think, are the U.S. military and North Korea crazy? For a big poplar, the DPRK dared to directly kill the US military; the US military did not want to send a plane like money for this big poplar. This is really absurd, is this big poplar, what is the special significance?
Special "Big Poplar"
Why did the US military go to great lengths for a big poplar tree? In fact, the U.S. military and the North Korean army have their own reasons.
Let's first talk about the location of this big poplar. This big poplar tree is near a bridge, this bridge is called the Bridge of No Return, and in the middle of this bridge, is where the famous 38th Line passes. The observation post of the US military is north of the big poplar, and the checkpoint is on the south side of the big poplar, and the US army wants to cut down the tree, but it is indeed blocking the line of sight, not a deliberate provocation of the moth.
Bridge of No Return
But this tree, can it be said to cut down?
For the US military, this tree, in fact, is south of the 38th Line, belongs to the territory of the United States and South Korea, and in 1976, more than 20 years after the end of the Korean War, so the US military naturally felt that it was no problem to cut down the tree, and Bernipas, one of the US officers who was hacked to death, had inexplicable reaction to north Korea to make them stop.
Three-eight lines indicate
So why did the North Korean army rush to stop it? The North Korean army also has certain reasons. Because of what? Near the 38th Line, it is not that north of the 38th Line is the Territory of North Korea and south of it is the Territory of South Korea, but there is a joint security zone near the 38th Line, where the North Korean army, the U.S. military, and the Rok army can move, but they cannot carry weapons, and the number of soldiers cannot exceed 30 at a time.
Therefore, behind this big poplar is actually a game between the US military and the North Korean army. The army is no small matter, and it is no wonder that a large poplar has caused such a big sensation.