Английская Википедия:Battle of Osan

The Battle of Osan (Шаблон:Lang-ko) was the first engagement between the United States and North Korea during the Korean War. On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, an American task force of 540 infantry supported by an artillery battery, was moved to Osan, south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and was ordered to fight as a rearguard to delay the advancing North Korean forces while more US troops arrived to form a stronger defensive line to the south. The task force lacked both anti-tank guns and effective infantry anti-tank weapons and had been equipped with obsolete 2.36-inch (60 mm) rocket launchers and a few 57 mm recoilless rifles. Aside from a limited number of HEAT shells for the unit's 105 mm howitzers, crew-served weapons that could defeat T-34/85 tanks from the Soviet Union had not yet been distributed to the US Army forces in South Korea.

A North Korean tank column equipped with ex-Soviet T-34/85 tanks overran the task force in the first encounter and continued its advance south. After the North Korean tank column had breached US lines, the task force opened fire on a force of some 5,000 North Korean infantry that were approaching its position, which held up their advance. North Korean troops eventually flanked and overwhelmed the US positions, and the rest of the task force retreated in disorder.

Outbreak of war

Шаблон:Main During the night of June 25, 1950, ten divisions of the North Korean People's Army launched a full-scale invasion of its southern neighbor, the Republic of Korea. The North Korean force of 89,000 men moved in six columns, caught the Republic of Korea Armed Forces by surprise, and routed them. The smaller South Korean Army suffered from widespread lack of organization and equipment and was unprepared for war.Шаблон:Sfn The numerically-superior North Korean forces destroyed isolated resistance from the 38,000 South Korean soldiers on the front before they began moving steadily to the south.Шаблон:Sfn Most South Korean forces retreated in the face of the invasion. The North Koreans had captured South Korea's capital, Seoul, by June 28, which forced the government and its shattered army to retreat further south.Шаблон:Sfn

To prevent South Korea's collapse, the UN Security Council voted to send military forces. The US Seventh Fleet dispatched Task Force 77, led by the fleet carrier USS Valley Forge; the British Far East Fleet dispatched several ships, including HMS Triumph, to provide air and naval support.Шаблон:Sfn Although the navies blockaded North Korea and launched aircraft to delay the North Korean forces, those efforts alone did not stop the North Korean Army juggernaut on its southern advance.Шаблон:Sfn US President Harry S. Truman ordered ground troops into the country to supplement the air support.Шаблон:Sfn The strength of US forces in the Far East, however, had steadily declined since the end of World War II, five years earlier, and the closest unit was the 24th Infantry Division of the Eighth United States Army, headquartered in Japan. Military spending cuts meant that the division was understrength and using outdated equipment.Шаблон:Sfn

Division Commander Major General William F. Dean determined that the 21st Infantry Regiment was the most combat-ready of the 24th Infantry Division's three regiments. He decided to send the 1st Battalion from the formation because its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bradford Smith, was the most experienced leading man since he had fought at the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft airlifted one battalion from the division garrison under Smith's command into Korea. The battalion deployed quickly to block advancing North Korean forces and performed a holding action while the rest of the division could be moved to South Korea by sea.Шаблон:Sfn

Task Force Smith

Шаблон:Quote

Soldiers carrying their bags off of a train in a Korean train station

Task Force Smith arrives in South Korea

The first units of the 24th Infantry Division left Itazuke Air Base in Japan on June 30.Шаблон:Sfn Task Force Smith, named after its commander Charles Bradford Smith, had 406 men of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, and 134 men of A Battery, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller O. Perry.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn The forces were both poorly equipped and understrength: 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, had only two companies of infantry (B and C companies), instead of the normal three for a US Army battalion. The battalion had half of the required number of troops in its headquarters company, half of a communications platoon, and half of a heavy weapons platoon, which was armed with six obsolescent M9A1 Bazooka rocket launchers, two 75 mm recoilless rifles, two 4.2 inch mortars, and four 60 mm mortars. Much of the equipment was drawn from the rest of the understrength 21st.Шаблон:Sfn A Battery, which formed the entire artillery support for the task force, was armed with six 105 mm howitzers.Шаблон:Sfn The howitzers were equipped with 1,200 high explosive (HE) rounds but were incapable of penetrating tank armor. Only six high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds were issued to the battery, all of which were allocated to the number six howitzer sited forward of the main battery emplacement.Шаблон:Sfn A Battery also had four .50 calibre M2 Browning heavy machine guns and four bazookas.Шаблон:Sfn

Most of the soldiers of the task force were teenagers with no combat experience and only eight weeksШаблон:Sfn of basic training.Шаблон:Sfn Only a third of the officers in the task force had combat experience from World War II,Шаблон:Sfn and only one in six enlisted soldiers had combat experience.Шаблон:Sfn Many of them still volunteered to join the task force.Шаблон:Sfn The soldiers were each equipped with only 120 rounds of ammunition and two days of C-rations.Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Quote box

By July 1,Шаблон:Sfn Task Force Smith had fully arrived in South Korea and briefly established a headquarters in Taejon.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn The task force soon after began moving north by rail and truck to oppose the North Korean Army.Шаблон:Sfn Task Force Smith was the first of several small US units sent into Korea with the mission to take the initial "shock" of North Korean advances^[1] and to delay much larger North Korean units with the goal, which would buy time to allow more U.S. units into Korea. Task Force Smith's mission was to move as far north as possible and to begin engaging the North Koreans to stem their advance so that the rest of the 24th Infantry Division could be moved into South Korea to reinforce it.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn The 24th Division commander, William F. Dean, personally ordered Smith to stop the North Korean force along the highway from Suwon and "as far from Pusan" as possible.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

Three days later, on July 4,Шаблон:Sfn it dug in on two hills straddling the road north of the village of Osan, Шаблон:Convert south of Suwon and about Шаблон:Convert south of Seoul.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn The ridges rose to Шаблон:Convert above the road, which provided visibility almost the entire distance to Suwon. The battalion set up a Шаблон:Convert line over the ridges.Шаблон:Sfn There, they waited to meet the advancing North Korean forces.Шаблон:Sfn The force was placed along the road with the infantry formations on the two hills, five of the howitzers Шаблон:Convert behind the infantry, and the sixth with its six HEAT shells positioned halfway between the infantry and the other five field artillery pieces.Шаблон:Sfn Heavy rain made air support impossible and so Smith and Perry preregistered the artillery battery in the hope it would be just as effective.Шаблон:Sfn The heavy machine guns and bazookas of A Battery along with a volunteer crew were sent forward to reinforce the infantry.Шаблон:Sfn

Battle

Tank columns

At around 0730 on July 5,Шаблон:Sfn Task Force Smith spotted a column of eight North Korean T-34/85 tanks of the 107th Tank Regiment, North Korean 105th Armored Division heading south toward them.Шаблон:Sfn The North Korean forces, driving south from Seoul, pursued retreating South Korean forces.Шаблон:Sfn At 08:16, the artillery battery fired its first rounds at the advancing North Korean tanks.Шаблон:Sfn The tanks, which were around Шаблон:Convert from the infantry force, were hit with numerous 105 mm howitzer rounds, but they were unaffected.Шаблон:Sfn When the tanks closed to Шаблон:Convert, the 75 mm recoilless rifles fired and scored direct hits on the lead tanks but did not damage them.Шаблон:Sfn The North Korean tanks returned fire but could not locate the American positions and gun emplacements, and their fire was ineffective.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

A large tank, heavily armed and armored outside a modern museum

The T-34 tank was standard armor by the North Korean Army in 1950 and was used at Osan.

Once the tanks reached the infantry line Second Lieutenant Ollie Connor fired 22 2.36-inch rockets at a range of Шаблон:Convert from his M9A1 launcher tube. Only some of these ignited, but several struck the rear plate armor of several T-34s, where their armor was thinnest. The warheads failed to penetrate the armor, however, and the North Korean tanks continued their advance, ignored the roadblock, and continued down the road. The operators assumed that the roadblock was manned by South Korean troops and ignored it since it did not pose them a serious threat.Шаблон:Sfn When the tank column came over the crest of the road, the forward howitzer, commanded by Corporal Herman V. Critchfield, the chief of section, and crewed by five cannoneers, fired its HEAT rounds, damaged the first two tanks, and set one of them on fire.Шаблон:Sfn One of the crew members of the burning tank emerged with a PPSh-41 and killed a member of an American machine gun crew before he was killed himself; the American became the first casualty of Korean War ground combat. He was later identified, incorrectly, as Kenneth R. Shadrick.Шаблон:Sfn The howitzer, depleted of HEAT rounds, began firing high explosive rounds before it was destroyed by the third T-34. The tanks then advanced and continued to ignore the American howitzer and bazooka fire. The US forces managed to disable another North Korean T-34 when a 105 mm shell struck and damaged its tracks.Шаблон:Sfn The tracks of the T-34 tanks cut the communication signal wires between the infantry and artillery forces, which further compounded the confusion. Perry was wounded in the leg by North Korean small arms fire as he attempted to get the crew of the disabled tank to surrender. His artillery force continued firing at the North Korean tanks without effect.Шаблон:Sfn

The second column of 25 T-34 tanks approached the task force within an hour. The new T-34 formation advanced singly or by twos and threes close together with no apparent formal organization. The howitzer battery hit another tank from the column in its tracks, disabled it, and damaged three more. The North Korean tanks had destroyed the forward howitzer (number six) and wounded one of its crew members, killed or wounded an estimated 20 infantrymen, and destroyed all of the parked vehicles behind the infantry line. At the main battery position, one of the five remaining 105 mm guns had been slightly damaged by a near-hit.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn Several of the men in the artillery battery began deserting their positions, but Perry managed to convince most of them to return.Шаблон:Sfn Although Smith later stated that he believed that the rounds had deteriorated with age, the ineffectiveness of the 2.36-inch bazooka had been demonstrated repeatedly during World War II against German armor.Шаблон:Sfn Because of peacetime defense cutbacks, the 24th Infantry Division had never received improved M20 3.5-inch bazookas with M28A2 HEAT antitank ammunition, which could defeat Soviet tanks.Шаблон:Sfn After the last tanks had passed their lines, no North Korean forces were spotted for around an hour.Шаблон:Sfn

Infantry column

Map of a group of US positions on two hills north of a town, with movements of large Chinese forces moving south and enveloping them

Map of the battle

Three more tanks were sighted advancing from the north at around 11:00.Шаблон:Sfn Behind them were a column of trucks Шаблон:Convert long, carrying two full infantry regiments; the 16th Infantry Regiment; and the 18th Infantry Regiment of the North Korean 4th Infantry Division, which amounted to almost 5,000 troops under the command of Major General Lee Kwon Mu, which were advancing from Seoul.Шаблон:Sfn The column apparently was not in communication with the tanks that had preceded it, and the North Korean infantry was not aware of the Americans' presence.Шаблон:Sfn

At 11:45, when the column had advanced to within Шаблон:Convert of the Americans, Smith gave the order for the task force to open fire with everything that it had.Шаблон:Sfn The mortar, machine gun, artillery, and rifle fire destroyed several trucks, which scattered the column. The three lead tanks moved to within Шаблон:Convert of Task Force Smith and opened fire. Behind them, around 1,000 of the infantry formed in the rice paddies to the east of the road in an attempt to flank the American forces, but they were repulsed. Smith attempted to order artillery fire on the North Korean force, but runners were unable to get back to the field artillery positions and so he assumed they had been destroyed by the tanks.Шаблон:Sfn Within 45 minutes, another enveloping force formed to the west of the road, which forced Smith to withdraw a platoon to the east side of the road. The US infantry then began to take mortar and artillery fire from the North Koreans.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

American withdrawal

Task Force Smith managed to hold its lines for three hours, but at 14:30, Smith ordered the Americans to withdraw since they suffered from low ammunition and a breakdown of communications.Шаблон:Sfn North Korean forces were then moving on both flanks of the American force and toward the rear of the formation. Smith ordered an orderly withdrawal of the force one unit at a time to allow the rest of the force to cover it as it withdrew. C Company pulled back, followed by the American medics, the headquarters, and finally B Company.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn 2nd Platoon, B Company, however, did not receive the withdrawal order. When the platoon discovered that it was alone, it was too late for an orderly withdrawal, and the platoon could not move its wounded quickly enough. The platoon left most of its equipment in its positions, which was captured by the North Koreans.Шаблон:Sfn Most of the survivors escaped captivity, but a number of wounded litter-borne US soldiers were left behind along with an attending medic. The American wounded were later found shot to death in their litters; the medic was never seen again.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn One North Korean officer later told the historian John Toland that the American forces at the battle seemed "too frightened to fight."Шаблон:Sfn

A soldier's body lying on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. Picture taken July 10, 1950.

Soldier of the 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Division, captured and executed by North Korean forces, 1950

The retreat quickly broke down into a confused and disorganized rout. Task Force Smith suffered its highest casualties during the withdrawal since its soldiers were the most exposed to enemy fire.Шаблон:Sfn The surviving members of Task Force Smith reached Battery A's position. The artillerymen disabled the five remaining howitzers by removing their sights and breechblocks and retired in good order with the remains of the task force on foot to the northern outskirts of Osan, where most of the unit's hidden transport vehicles were found intact.Шаблон:Sfn The vehicles, unmolested by the North Korean forces, departed for Pyongtaek and Cheonan, picking up stragglers along the way and eventually joined units of the 24th Infantry Division that had established a second line of defense.Шаблон:Sfn

Task Force Smith's force had 250 return to the American lines before nightfall, with about 150 more of the force killed, wounded, or missing. Most of the other stragglers found their way into the American lines over the next several days. The last stragglers from 2nd Platoon, B Company, reached Chonan five days later, only 30 minutes ahead of the North Korean Army. Upon the initial count, Task Force Smith suffered 20 killed in action, 130 wounded in action or missing in action, and around 36 captured.Шаблон:Sfn After the end of the war, the figures were revised to 60 dead, 21 wounded and 82 captured, 32 of whom died in captivity. That casualty count accounted for 40% of Task Force Smith.Шаблон:Sfn The US troops advancing northward during the Pusan breakout offensive would later discover a series of shallow graves containing the bodies of several soldiers of the 24th Infantry Division. All of them had been shot in the back of the head, with their hands bound behind their backs with communications wire.Шаблон:Sfn North Korean casualties were approximately 42 dead and 85 wounded, with four tanks destroyed or immobilized. The North Korean advance was delayed approximately seven hours.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn

Aftermath

A line of sailors in white dress naval uniforms in front of a large monument while another soldier in green stands at a podium beside it

South Korean sailors in formation in front of the Task Force Smith memorial at Osan

The Battle of Osan was the first US ground action of the war.Шаблон:Sfn The fight showed that American forces were weak and unprepared for the war, and outdated equipment was insufficient to fight North Korean armor and poorly trained and inexperienced units were no match for better-trained North Korean troops,Шаблон:Sfn but the disparity in number of troops engaged certainly had a profound effect on the outcome of that battle and others. Undisciplined US troops abandoned their positions prematurely and left equipment and wounded for North Korean troops to capture.Шаблон:Sfn Smith also said he felt he had stayed too long in his position, which allowed North Korean troops to envelop the force and cause heavy casualties as it retreated.Шаблон:Sfn Those weaknesses would play out with other US units for the next month as North Korean troops pushed them further back.Шаблон:Sfn

Though the force was badly defeated, Task Force Smith accomplished its mission of delaying North Korean forces from advancing for several hours.Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:Sfn During the battle, the 24th Infantry Division's 34th Infantry Regiment set up in Pyeongtaek, Шаблон:Convert to the south. It would be similarly defeated at the Battle of Pyongtaek.Шаблон:Sfn Over the next month the 24th Infantry Division would fight in numerous engagements to delay North Korean forces with similar results. Within a week, the 24th Infantry Division had been pushed back to Taejon where it was again defeated in the Battle of Taejon.Шаблон:Sfn The North Koreans, repeatedly overwhelming US forces, pushed the Eighth Army all the way back to Pusan, where the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter would culminate in the eventual defeat of the North Korean Army.Шаблон:Sfn

Three months later, on September 19, Osan would be the location where the US and UN forces, under the command of the Eighth Army, advancing from the south, would meet up with forces of X Corps, advancing from the north after having recently surprised the North Koreans with the Inchon Landings, as both forces were in an offensive pushing the North Koreans back, which would culminate in a complete defeat of the North Korean Army in the south.Шаблон:Sfn

In the years after the Korean War, the US Army used the areas in Japan that Task Force Smith had trained as a memorial. A monument to Task Force Smith was also established on the Osan battlefield,Шаблон:Sfn where an annual commemoration of the Battle of Osan is held by the Eighth Army, which is still headquartered in South Korea.^[2] On July 16, 2010, sixty years after the Battle of Osan, Eighth Army leaders, in conjunction with government officials of Osan, held another ceremony, speaking of Task Force Smith and describing the engagement as "the opening shots of a war of ideas that exists even today."^[3] On the 61st anniversary, another ceremony was held by both the US military and Osan politicians to remember the task force.^[4]

Memorial

There is a memorial park - 'Osan Jukmiryeong Peace Park' in Osan. This park has museum and monument and opened in July 2020.^[5]

Notes

Шаблон:Notes

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

Шаблон:Portal

Шаблон:Refbegin

Шаблон:Refend

External links

Шаблон:Commonscat

Official website of Osan Jukmiryeong Peace Park
"American Ground Forces Enter the Battle". Archived from the original on July 18, 2012.
First US Battle in Korea: Task Force Smith at Osan, 5 Jul 50
Memorial monument for the Battle of Osan

Шаблон:Korean War

Шаблон:Featured article

↑ Gal Perl Finkel, President-elect Trump – the 'West Wing' lesson, The Jerusalem Post, November 15, 2016.
↑ Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок army.mil 2008-07-10 не указан текст
↑ Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок army.mil 2010-07-16 не указан текст
↑ Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок army.mil 2011-07-06 не указан текст
↑ 오산 죽미령에 유엔초전기념 평화공원 9월 개관

[1] Gal Perl Finkel, President-elect Trump – the 'West Wing' lesson, The Jerusalem Post, November 15, 2016.

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[army.mil_2010-07-16-3] Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок army.mil 2010-07-16 не указан текст

[army.mil_2011-07-06-4] Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег <ref>; для сносок army.mil 2011-07-06 не указан текст

[5] 오산 죽미령에 유엔초전기념 평화공원 9월 개관

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