The Korean War

Site Issues 2006 Archive Room
#1

If we are going to discuss this war, its better for it to have its own room, no doubt soon to be filled with posts of titanic earth shattering battles that were the most vicious and deadly in all human combat.

A good start is here:

http://www.korean-war.com/

For our favourite Korean battle so far I have found an appraisal by someone who was in Korea at the time. I find this to be a very honest look at both Chinese and UN forces at that time.

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/chosin.htm

Of course from a personal point of view the Korean war gave us the 1st jet versus jet combat as the skies above the troops came to be known as Mig Alley:

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/sabremig.htm

http://home.att.net/~C.C.Jordan/Korea.html

These should be enough to get us started.

SO, to the Korean War then…

#2

Best book I have read on Korean war is “The Edge of the Sword” by Anthony Farrar-Hockley.
This covers the Imjin River Battle, where the 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regiment fought a vastly superior number of Chinese troops & the subsequent captivity.

#3

Well I see the battle of the Chosin resevoir as a heroic defeat as the author of the website says.

Kudos to the guys that fought it though, but a clear defeat nonetheless.

#4

What to say good posts Firefly and good topic ,Korean war about them i dont know nothing but i will read all those text in links :wink: now i wait your answer ,i guess they been like this "Of Clausse :roll: "

#5

Nothing of the sort Clausse, read the links, do some research and come back with you informed opinion :smiley:

#6

Damn my english is not so good China on which side she been ,they been on NK side :?

#7

Yes China intervened and almost won the War.

#8

this is a post i got from a member from another forum; so this is not my writing here… :

The Korean war was a pretty brutal conflict with fighting along rugged hill ranges. It was an ideological battle – communism vs democracy. I’m not going to go into the politics – I’m just interested in the fact that Greeks went and fought there with the Americans (and others), under the UN, against the north Koreans and Chinese.

Greece only sent about 1500 personnel to fight, and 186 Greeks were killed. You would be hard pressed to find any recognition of the Korean War (relative to other wars) let alone some sort of remembrance of the Greeks that died.

link to the 186 Greeks dead http://emb-greece.org/FALLEN%20HEROS.htm

Greek troops in action.

This link talks a little about how the Americans trained the Greeks to form a Dog squad during the war !!
http://www.uswardogs.org/id89.html

#9

i no nothing about the korean war. but i looked up the death toll for the US military during the war, and it was about 30,000. I do not see how this is possible considering they fought Korea as well as China. how long was the conflict?

#10

Why not read the links posted and inform yourself, then you can come back with your opinions on it.

#11

not a bad idea

#12

Well, I think the Korean War was the first and probably the only UN war. Its a pity they cant seem to do today what they did then.

#13

the majority of troops that fought the chinese and north koreans were south koreans…

#14

Cant deny that. There were some hard fought battles in the Korean war too and some lessons to be re-learned for the men involved.

#15

I am watch american movie about Korean war name is Bridges in river toko-ri. I think that is toko -ri :?

#16

Lots of reasons, but the main ones are the fact that a large fraction of the death toll and burden was bourne by the South Korean units, and the overwhelming firepower available to the US/UN forces. The Chinese/North Koreans attacked using human wave tactics (about their only option for much of the war considering their weak supply system and lack of artillery/airpower) and with the artillery/firepower available to the UN these sustained immense casualties.

#17

My Grandpa’s brother died in the Korean war. The Korean War is called the “Forgotten War” because as the name suggests, it is an almost forgotten, but important, page in history. The reason why it may have been forgotten is because it occurred during the early 1950’s, almost smack dab in the middle of World War II and the Vietnam War. Both wars dwarf the Korean War in historical importantance so people tend to forget it even happened. However, its something Koreans will never really be able to overcome. In just 3 years (June 25, 1950 - July 27, 1953) it claimed 5 million lives, about the same as the Vietnam War which lasted nearly 3 times longer. It was extremely bloody as nearly 4 million Koreans lost their lives. If you need something to compare to, all the Axis Nations in WWII (excluding Germany) lost about 4,240,000 soldiers and citizens. They included Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Romania, Spain, Thailand, and Vichy France. The Korean War created so much hate between the two nations of North and South Korea that even today that hatred still runs deep. The DMZ that seperates the two nations (38th Parallel) is one of the most heavily fortified places in the world. I guess some scars never fade.

#18

The Korean war was never really showed to be as bad as Vietnam to the world, the American and North Koreans did a cover up story aswell.

#19

“the chosin was the most fierce battle ever fought in modern military history”, because one person who fought there said so.
Ironing man

#20

Please dont try and bring Irn-Bob here, he will obviously spoil a decent discussion.

I happen to think that the Korean War was one of the most vicious and intense wars fought i the 20th century, it tends to be forgotten. But you cannot compare one battle to another, makes no sense (or is that sense - God Im doing it now).