Battle of Pyongyang (1950)
Battle of Pyongyang (1950) | |||||||
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Part of the Korean War | |||||||
Map of the capture of Pyongyang | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
North Korea | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Hobart R. Gay[1] Paik Sun-yup |
Choe Yong-gon | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
1st Cavalry Division[2] 1st Infantry Division 8th Regiment, 7th Infantry Division |
17th Division 32nd Division |
The Battle of Pyongyang (17–19 October 1950) was one of the major battles of
North Korea's leadership and its main forces had already withdrawn to Kanggye,[3] allowing the UN forces to capture Pyongyang on 19 October.[4]
Background
It had become clear by the time the UN troops reached Sariwon that the remaining Korean People's Army (KPA) forces could not attempt a strong defense of Pyongyang without incurring total destruction or capture. The KPA by this time not only had to contend with US I Corps, approaching Pyongyang along the main Seoul axis from the south, but also the enveloping movements of the Republic of Korea Army (ROK) forces from the southeast and east. Some of these forces, if they continued their rapid advance for a few days more, would almost certainly cut on the north the highways and exits from the city. Pyongyang would then be surrounded and any forces retained in and around the city for its defense would face either destruction or surrender.[5]
The flanking operation originally conceived by
The Eighth Army intelligence officer estimated on 17 October that less than 8,000 effectives of the KPA
Battle
The 1st Cavalry Division had won the role of leading the attack into Pyongyang when the British 27th Brigade, attached to it, beat the 24th Infantry Division into Sariwon. Leading elements of the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Division, were still several miles south of Sariwon when orders came at 17:00 on 17 October to stop and hold up the attack because UN troops were already in the town. Morale in the 1st Cavalry Division was high. Most of the soldiers heard and passed on a rumor that the city was their final objective in the war, and once it was taken the American troops would leave Korea. Since the 7th Cavalry Regiment was the unit farthest north, 1st Cavalry Division commander General Hobart R. Gay ordered it to resume the advance on Pyongyang at daylight 18 October. The 3rd Battalion at Hwangju became the assault battalion even though its men were tired from their long night movement to the town.[5]: 647
At daylight on the 18th the 3rd battalion crossed the ford in Hwangju and began the advance. Resistance was light until the leading elements of the battalion arrived in front of the high ground south of
After giving the order on the 18th for a full regimental attack on the Hukkyo-ri position, General Gay informed Colonel Woolnough that the
At 11:02, Lieutenant Bell's F Company reached the 20 yards (18 m) wide Mujin-ch'on River, a tributary of the Taedong River at the southern edge of Pyongyang. KPA troops from behind a 20 feet (6.1 m) embankment on the north side defended the highway bridge over it with three antitank guns. Bell's troops were delayed there for about half an hour until their mortar fire caused the KPA gun crews to abandon the antitank guns. Bell's F Company then crossed the Mujin-ch'on and entered the southwestern edge of Pyongyang. Bell received orders to turn west and seize certain factory buildings, the railroad bridges, and a bridgehead on the north bank of the Taedong. In about half an hour he reached the river's southern bank and found that only one span of each of the two railroad bridges (each 3-span) was intact. After a hasty examination of the eastern bridge, Bell decided that infantry could cross on one of its spans to an island in the river. Leaving some riflemen and the Engineer platoon at its southern end to guard the tanks which gave supporting fire, he led the rest of F Company across to the island and secured it by midafternoon. While F Company was crossing to the island, KPA on the north bank destroyed a section of the bridge still intact there. During the afternoon the 3rd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, crossed to the island and relieved F Company, which then moved back to the Pyongyang airfield on the south bank.[5]: 649–50
While F Company was trying to seize the railroad bridges over the Taedong, the rest of the 2nd Battalion crossed the Mujin-ch'on and turned right toward the main highway bridge which crossed the Taedong River about midway on the city waterfront. This was the only bridge still intact on 19 October when UN troops entered Pyongyang. When the leading elements of E and G Companies neared the bridge the KPA blew up the center span. Almost simultaneously with the 1st Cavalry Division's arrival at Pyongyang the ROK 1st Division entered the city on the Sibyon-ni-Pyongyang road at a point northeast of the 1st Cavalry Division. On the night of 18 October the chances had appeared excellent for the ROK 1st Division to be first into Pyongyang. After a day of very heavy fighting in which it gained 2 miles (3.2 km), it was only 8 miles (13 km) away, while the leading elements of the 1st Cavalry Division were about 30 miles (48 km) away. But the KPA made a stronger fight against the ROK 1st Division than against the 1st Cavalry Division, possibly because it was closer to the city and the more immediate threat. Also, the road on which the ROK approached Pyongyang was heavily mined with both antipersonnel and antitank mines. The division fought throughout the rainy night and finally overcame a KPA strongpoint an hour or two after daybreak. KPA emplacements and automatic fire stopped the ROK infantry again about 6 miles (9.7 km) from the city near Kojo-dong. Tanks of C Company, 6th Tank Battalion, in the ensuing ROK attack enveloped the KPA positions from both flanks, destroyed self-propelled guns, and overran the KPA entrenchments, physically crushing machine guns and KPA soldiers. It was estimated that the tanks in this action killed nearly 300 North Koreans. According to ROK 1st Division commander General Paik Sun-yup, extensive minefields in the street behind the overrun KPA positions delayed the tanks, but the infantry of the ROK 2nd Battalion, 12th Regiment, kept moving and General Paik affirms that they arrived at the edge of the Taedong River just before 11:00 and deployed along the south bank northeast of the highway bridge. Leading elements of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, arrived at the traffic circle 100 yards (91 m) east of the highway bridge almost at the same time. The leading tanks of C Company, 6th Tank Battalion, were in the southern edge of the city, according to their own records, at 12:45. Tanks of D Company, 6th Medium Tank Battalion, entered the city along the same approach a little later, turned north, and together with troops of the ROK 11th Regiment secured the Pyongyang airfield at 14:40. Other ROK units earlier had secured a smaller airfield a few miles to the east.[5]: 650–1
After the KPA blew the highway bridge across the Taedong, elements of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, continued northeast along the river searching for a ford reported to be located there. When they found it a few miles east of the city they discovered that elements of the 15th Regiment, ROK 1st Division, already had crossed the river there, and others were then in the act of crossing into the main part of the city. Later, Colonel Crombez asked General Paik how his troops found the ford so quickly. Paik answered, "I am a native of Pyongyang. I know the fords." By dark most of the ROK 1st Division was in the main part of Pyongyang north of the Taedong River. Meanwhile, the 8th Regiment of the ROK 7th Division swung into north Pyongyang from the east and was in possession of Kim Il Sung University in the northern part of the city by 17:00.[5]: 651
The next day, 20 October, the ROK 1st Division advanced into the heart of the city and took the strongly fortified administrative center with ease. The KPA troops posted there were too demoralized to fight and they abandoned both guns and entrenchments. At 10:00 the ROK 1st Division reported the entire city had been secured, including the City Hall, the Provincial Government offices, and the North Korean People's Committee offices. The ROK 8th Regiment aided the 1st Division by sweeping through the northwest section of the city and clearing it of KPA. As soon as Engineer assault boats could be brought up, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, began crossing to the north side of the Taedong, and by noon that regiment, with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Cavalry, attached to it, was across the river. Bells in Christian churches pealed a welcome. The people appeared friendly and there were no disturbances.[5]: 651–2
When the operations of Eighth Army had progressed to the point where it appeared probable that Pyongyang would fall in the near future, the army on 16 October had organized a special task force known as Task Force Indianhead. Its name derived from the shoulder patch of the US 2nd Infantry Division. This task force was to enter the North Korean capital with the advance units of the 1st Cavalry Division. Its mission was to secure and protect specially selected government buildings and foreign compounds until they could be searched for enemy intelligence materials. Lt. Col. Ralph L. Foster, Assistant Chief of Staff for intelligence, 2nd Division, commanded the task force, which was built around K Company, 38th Infantry Regiment and six tanks of C Company, 72nd Medium Tank Battalion, and included Engineer demolition troops, automatic weapons vehicles of the 82nd Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion, and counterintelligence troops. The task force secured most of its assigned objectives in Pyongyang on 20 October. It obtained a considerable amount of intelligence material, both military and political, which was turned over to a special team from GHQ, Far East Command, and transported by air to Tokyo. Twenty American prisoners escaped or were rescued from the North Koreans in the capture of Pyongyang. Most of the large number of prisoners held there, however, had been taken northward several days before the UN forces entered the city.[5]: 652
General Gay established his 1st Cavalry Division headquarters in the granite buildings of the North Korean Military Academy 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Pyongyang on the
Aftermath
The battle was followed by an
The city came back under North Korean control by 5 December after
References
- ISBN 0-8240-4445-2.
- ^ Kortegaard, Bert. "5th Cavalry enters Pyongyang". www.koreanwaronline.com. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
- ^ Mossman, Billy (1988). United States Army in the Korean War: Ebb and Flow November 1950 – July 1951. University Press of the Pacific. p. 51. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ISBN 0688095135.
- ^ .
- ^ "Out in the Cold: Australia's involvement in the Korean War | The Australian War Memorial". www.awm.gov.au. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
- ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY 1950: Pyongyang taken as UN retreats". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2017.