© 2019 TIME USA, LLC. [51], At Taejon, the battered 24th Infantry Division was ordered to make a stand.
Forces of the United States Army attempted to defend the headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division. They turned a captured machine gun on the battalion's HQ battery and began to fire, taking it by surprise. The 24th Infantry Division was overwhelmed by numerically superior forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA) at the major city and transportation hub of Taejon. Barely two weeks after their June 25, 1950 surprise attack against South Korea and their American allies, the North Korean Army, under its commander Kim Il-Sung, had achieved stunning success. [67] For its delaying actions in and around Taejon, the 24th Infantry Division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. B Battery was attacked by 400 North Koreans, but an advance of South Korean horse cavalry spared the battery from heavy losses, allowing it to make an organized retreat. His command was reinforced by several more light tanks from the 1st Cavalry Division. [49] At the same time, tanks from the North Korean 105th Armored Division began to enter the city, followed by troops of the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions. The loss of men, equipment, and ammunition began to take a fatal toll on the Americans. Among the featured memorials was a Wall of Honor with over 1000 images of the fallen. Last week the North Korean Reds arrived at the city's
[15] Morale of the two divisions was low, owing to repeated air attacks on equipment and overall exhaustion from continuous combat. Through it runs a double-tracked trunk-line railroad, which twists 125 miles through the mountains to Pusan, the U.S. buildup port in the southeast. Through it runs a double-tracked trunk-line railroad, which twists 125 On the morning of the third day, Communist tanks broke through the [74] For his actions on the front lines, Dean was awarded the first Medal of Honor, although he remained a prisoner of the North Koreans until the end of the war (released in September 1953). During the Korean War, the city was the site of an early major conflict: the Battle of Taejon. Task Force Smith, an advance element of the 24th Infantry Division was badly defeated in the Battle of Osan on 5 July, during the first encounter between American and North Korean forces. Political officers promised the divisions they would be able to rest in Taejon after they took the city. When forces were initially committed, the 24th Infantry Division of the Eighth United States Army, headquartered in Japan was the closest US division.
a TIME subscriber. Meanwhile, only 250 yards (230 m) away, a Battery of the battalion also came under attack by 100 North Korean infantrymen, resulting in similar casualties and retreat. After thirty-five days, however, he was captured, spending the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp. [38][39] The combined forces observed a large build-up of North Korean troops on the other side of the river. With major railroad junctions and numerous roads leading into the countryside in all directions, Taejon was a major transportation hub between Seoul and Taegu, giving it great strategic value for both the American and North Korean forces. [45], The T-34 knocked out by General Dean on 20 July, The North Koreans then moved against Taejon city.
Stretched thin, the 19th Infantry was unable to hold the line at the Kum River and simultaneously repel the North Korean forces. [3] Each of the regiments had only two battalions of infantry as opposed to the normal three. The Battle of Taejon (14–21 July 1950) was an early battle of the Korean War, between U.S. and North Korean forces.
A second soldier, Sergeant George D. Libby, received the Medal of Honor posthumously, for tending to wounded soldiers during the evacuation: he repeatedly passed over shelled roads to help evacuate them.
Task Force Smith retreated from Osan to Pyongtaek, where US forces were again defeated in the Battle of Pyongtaek. The North Koreans realized what was at stake and sought to move on Pusan with haste before too many U.S. troops arrived. Less than half of 1st Battalion returned, and only two of 2nd Battalion's companies remained intact. [18] These counts placed the division's total strength at 11,400. [55] At this point the city was surrounded and North Korean troops began setting roadblocks along the roads out of the city. [10] The 24th Infantry Division was repeatedly forced south by the North Korean force's superior numbers and equipment [11]in engagements at Chochiwon, Chonan, Hadong, and Yechon. [56] Without radios, and unable to communicate with the remaining elements of the division, Dean joined the men on the front lines.
Losses among North Korean infantry were heavy, especially in the NK 3rd Division. When forces were initially committed, the 24th Infantry Division of the Eighth United States Army, headquartered in Japan was the closest US division. At the Battle of Taejon from July 12–20, Lee's division was pivotal in routing and defeating the US 24th Infantry Division, a feat for which it was upgraded to the status of a guards unit. [66] Although badly mauled, the 24th Infantry Division accomplished its mission of delaying North Korean forces from advancing until 20 July.
However, in the melee, North Korean forces infiltrated their rear elements, attacking the reserve forces and blocking supply lines. [24] The 1st Battalion, further north, also came under heavy attack by advancing North Korean forces, and though it repulsed the attack with the help of artillery, it was forced to withdraw to safer positions. One of the few weapons that could penetrate the North Korean T-34 tanks, the 3.5 inch M20 "Super Bazooka" firing M28A2 HEAT rocket ammunition, were in short supply. Forces of the United States Army attempted to defend the headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division.
[16] The division was attempting to make a last stand at Taejon, the last place it could conduct a delaying action before the North Korean forces would converge on the unfinished Pusan Perimeter. [24] By mid-morning, North Korean infantry were spotted crossing the river by boat and mortar and artillery fire began hitting the 34th Infantry's lines. The regimental commander ordered all support troops and officers to the line and they were able to repulse the assault. Forces of the United States Army attempted to defend the headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division. [64], By the end of the battle, the Americans counted 922 men killed and 228 wounded with almost 2,400 missing, most of these men from the 34th Infantry. The 24th Infantry Division was repeatedly forced south by the North Korean force's superior numbers and equipment in engagements at Chochiwon, Chonan, Hadong, and Yechon. Dean was a veteran of World War II and knew Taejon’s urban terrain did not favor the defense, but he had no choice. The 24th Infantry Division would continue to fight in delaying actions such as this one for two more weeks until it was overwhelmed at the Battle of Taejon, however by that time the Pusan Perimeter would be in place, and other US divisions would be able to hold the line for several more months during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter until the Inchon Landings, when American forces would finally defeat the North Korean Army, ending the first phase of the war. [15] The Kum River wrapped north and west around the city, providing a defensive line 10 to 15 miles from the outskirts of Taejon, which is surrounded to the south by the Sobaek Mountains. The battle of Taejon was over and the North Koreans had won.
University Press of Kansas. Dean began ordering elements of the division, including much of his headquarters, to retreat via train to Taegu, although he remained behind. Losses in earlier fighting reduced artillery support to two battalions. [68] Additionally, a chaplain, Herman G. Felhoelter, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for an incident later known as the Chaplain–Medic massacre which took place during the battle near the Kum River. [22] The division had no tanks: its new M26 Pershing and older M4A3 Sherman tanks were still en route. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 20 and 21, 1950, during the Battle of Taejon in South Korea.
[53][61] For most of his incarceration, the North Koreans were not aware of his rank. North Korean leaders had threatened to harm Dean if he did not cooperate but he was never actually tortured. American and allied airpower began crushing those lines, depriving the North of resupply in men and material. southeast. Nevertheless, the division was ordered into South Korea. [6], Immediately preceding the Battle of Taejon, some of the Bodo League massacres took place around Taejon, where between 3,000 and 7,000 South Korean leftist political prisoners were shot and dumped into mass graves by South Korean troops,[7] partially recorded by a U.S. Army photographer. Late on the 20, Dean finally ordered the remnants of his beleaguered force to withdraw to friendly lines further to the south of Taejon. Unlike previous rounds of the fighting, the Americans would not be able to attempt an immediate breakout of the encirclement as they had done previously, because doing so would have strengthened the communist troops’ position and risked losing Pusan as well. [63] A second soldier, Sergeant George D. Libby, received the Medal of Honor posthumously, for tending to wounded soldiers during the evacuation: he repeatedly passed over shelled roads to help evacuate them. The USS Midway is a living, floating museum, housing an extensive collection of aircraft, many of which were built in Southern California. [52][53] The 34th Infantry also moved to the city to oppose the North Korean forces, which assaulted it head-on while attempting to flank and cut off retreat from the rear. At one point, he personally attacked a tank with a hand grenade, destroying it. [45], Catchpole, Brian (2001). The Battle of Taejon (14–21 July 1950) was an early battle between American and North Korean forces during the Korean War.
On 19 July, Kim’s lead troops penetrated into the city itself and began attacking American gun emplacements, destroying all food, water and ammunition storage sites they could find, and setting fire to many of the city’s old wooden structures. When forces were initially committed, the 24th Infantry Division of the Eighth United States Army, headquartered in Japan, was the closest US division. The KPA progressed southwards, pushing back US forces at Pyongtaek, Chonan, and Chochiwon, forcing the 24th Division's retreat to Taejeon, which the KPA captured in the Battle of Taejon; the 24th Division suffered 3,602 dead and wounded and 2,962 captured, including its commander, Major General William F. Dean. As the tanks fought through a North Korean roadblock, Dean, with a small force of soldiers, followed them. knocked out 17 North Korean tanks near Chonui, Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Reorganization plan of United States Army, Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force, Uniformed services pay grades of the United States, Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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