Korean War Photos ①

[저녁달]

Korean War Photos

These pictures were taken during the Korean War 1950-53. They are also reproduced in Bevin Alexander’s Korea: The First War We Lost. The book can be purchased by clicking the word Books on the navigation bar at the top of each page.

1. The Potsdam Conference of victorious Allies in July, 1945, brought the Soviet Union’s commitment to entering the war against Japan. The result was a Soviet occupation of northern Korea and Korea’s partition along the 38th parallel. (U.S. Signal Corps photo.)

 2. At the Moscow conference in December, 1945, Ernest Bevin (left), British foreign secretary; V.M. Molotov (center), Soviet foreign minister, and James F. Byrnes, U.S. secretary of state, agreed on a four-power commission to rule Korea. But the Soviets undermined the commission and established communist rule in the north. (Wide World photo.)

3. Task Force Smith arrives at the Taejon rail station. On July 5, 1950, near Osan, this untried force of about half a battalion, mostly teenagers, stood alone against a North Korean division and a large tank force. (Defense Department photo.)

4. U.S. bombs drop on railway bridges at Seoul in early July, 1950. The broken highway bridge at the right was blown without warning by South Korean themselves early on June 28, sending hundreds of fleeing South Korean soldiers and civilians to their deaths. (U.S. Air Force photo.)

5. The Soviet Union’s seat is conspicuously vacant as the UN Security Council votes on June 27, 1950, to use force to push North Korean troops out of South Korea. ( New York Times photo.)

6. A marine air-observer team guides a marine Corsair in for a strike on an enemy-held hill. The “black Corsairs” were highly praised by army and marines alike for their precision strikes on targets and their extremely close support of forward units. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

7. Marines move around North Korean T34 tanks knocked out in Pusan Perimeter battle in late summer, 1950. A dead North Korean soldier lies on the tank in the foreground. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

8. Bagpipers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on August 29, 1950, pipe ashore at Pusan a battalion of their Scottish regiment and a battalion of the English Middlesex Regiment; the first allied ground forces to join the Americans and South Koreans. (U.S. Army photo.)

9. Marines seek cover behind an M26 Pershing tank west of Masan during Pusan Perimeter engagement in late summer, 1950. A dead North Korean soldier lies on ledge at left. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

10. Millions of Koreans were uprooted from their homes by bombing, shelling or fear and attempted to flee to safety. Pusan and other cities in the south became giant refugee camps, with people sleeping on the streets. (Defense Department photo.)

11. Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers march in typical column formation toward the front in August, 1950, during the Pusan Perimeter battle. This is a standard narrow dirt Korean road raised above rice paddies. (U.S. Army photo.)

12. Brigadier General F.W. Farrell, Korean Military Advisory Group chief, confers on August 18, 1950, with Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker (seated in jeep), Eighth Army commander, during the height of the Pusan Perimeter battle. (U.S. Army photo.)

13. During the North Korean offensive in the summer of 1950, an American F-80 jet strafes an enemy T34 tank and jeep in the road and vehicles and troops in the village. (U.S. Air Force photo.) 

14. A Corsair shepherds part of the armada assembled for the Inchon invasion on September 15, 1950, the world’s last great amphibious landing. (U.S. Navy photo.)

15. General Douglas MacArthur watches bombardment of Inchon from the bridge of the USS Mount McKinley . He is flanked by (from left) Vice Admiral A.D. Struble, Major General E.K. Wright, and Major General Edward M. Almond, X Corps commander. (U.S. Navy photo.)

16. Four LSTs unload on the beach at Inchon as marines gather equipment to move rapidly inland on September 15, 1950. Landing ships were stuck in the deep mud flats between one high tide and the next. (U.S. Navy photo.)

17. The commander of the 1st Marine Division, Major General Oliver P. Smith (left), discussing action immediately after Inchon landing, September 15, 1950, with his boss, army Major General Edward M. Almond, X Corps commander. At right is Major General Field Harris, commander of the marine air wing that provided close support to attacking units. (Defense Department photo, Marine Corps.)

18. General Douglas MacArthur (in leather jacket) and an entourage of press and brass examine bodies of North Korean soldiers at advanced marine positions east of Inchon on September 17, 1950. The marine in camouflage helmet holds a Russian-made submachine gun known to Americans as a burp gun. (U.S. Army photo.)

19. Marines carry a wounded comrade while other marines hold positions in the assault on the outskirts of Seoul, September, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

20. A marine infantryman keeps cover as he looks over the Han river valley near Seoul four days after the flanking movement against Inchon. (U.S. Navy photo.)

21. Much of Seoul was destroyed in vicious street battles in September, 1950. Here marine infantry lead an M26 tank in the attack. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

22. A marin tank supports South Korean soldiers guarding North Korean prisoners captured in the assault on Seoul, September, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

23. U.S. 7th Division infantry wait as an army M4A3 Sherman tank clears a gap in a barricade during the street-by-street North Korean defense of Seoul in September, 1950. (U.S. Army photo.)

24. Breakout from the Pusan Perimeter: Koreans move back to their homes at Waegwan as U.S. infantrymen advance after the fleeing North Koreans. Soldier in foreground is carrying a Browning Automatic Rifle. (U.S. Army photo.)

25. The legacy of war: 1st Cavalry Division troops move on north in the fall of 1950, leaving a shattered Korean village behind. (U.S. Army photo.)

26. When a single vehicle moved on one of the narrow dirt roads that served as practically the only arteries in Korea, it usually raised a column of dust. When convoys such as this passed with artillery prime movers and trucks, the dust cloud could be choking. (U.S. Army photo.)

27. Zhou Enlai (left), Communist Chinese premier and foreign minister, stands with Chairman Mao Zedong and Lin Biao (right), one of Red China’s outstanding commanders. (Eastphoto.)

28. This battalion of The Royal Australian Regiment distinguished itself in Korea in a number of engagements. In its first fight the Aussies, using mainly rifles and bayonets, routed a North Koran regiment. (British Commonwealth Occupation Forces Japan photo.)

29. Red Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai receives Mme. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, with an Indian cultural delegation, and K.M. Panikkar, Indian ambassador to Beijing. (Eastphoto.)

30. Chinese Communist infantry moving to an attack in Korea. (Eastphoto.)

31. A Chinese soldier displays knocked-out U.S. tank of 1st Cavalry Divison in the early months of the Chinese intervention. (Eastphoto.)

32. Members of the Turkish Brigade move into position in December, 1950, shortly after suffering severe casualties attempting to block encirclement of the U.S. 2nd Division at the Chongchon river in North Korea. (UPI/Bettmann Newsphoto.)

33. Frozen bodies of American marines, British commandos and South Korean soldiers are gathered for group burial at Koto-ri. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

34. Marine Corsairs have just struck Chinese positions in the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir area of northeast Korea with jellied gasoline napalm. Close air support was a key to the successful retreat to the sea in December, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

35. Marines take up temporary defensive positions in the retreat from the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

36. Marines in the retreat from the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir halt while leading elements clear a Chinese roadblock. (Defense Department photo.)

37. This C-47 is being unloaded at the tiny Hagaru-ri airstrip at Changjin (Chosin) reservoir. From here 4,312 wounded and frostbitten men were evacuated by air in the five days before the retreat to the sea began. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

 

38. The marine and army retreat from the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir in December, 1950, occurred in temperatures around zero degrees Fahrenheit. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

39. Marines reclaimed all their dead on the retreat from Changjin (Chosin) reservoir. Infiltrating Chinese soldiers stripped clothing from some of the bodies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)

40. This sixteen-foot hole was blown by Chinese soldiers in the single road from Changjin (Chosin) reservoir to the sea. Bridge sections dropped by air permitted this gap to be spanned and men and equipment to get out. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)