Unfortunately our assistant-scribe has been plagued by a "constipated" computer which resulted in the summary of last month's talk not being available in time to meet the deadline for inclusion in this month's newsletter. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but will endeavour to send out the summary as soon as possible.
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME
MAY 2012: THE SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE'S ROLE IN THE KOREAN WAR by Prof Derrick Dickens
The final part of the two-part lecture by Prof Dickens. Last month the Korean Air War was covered in general terms. In this month's lecture, Prof Dickens will focus specifically on the role of the SAAF in the Korean War as part of the United Nation's peace-keeping force. It will again be an illustrated lecture.
JUNE 2012: COL JACK ROSE DSO, PIONEER OF MILITARY TRANSPORTATION IN TWO WORLD WARS by Derek Stuart-Findlay
Derek Stuart-Findlay will be speaking on Colonel J.G.(Jack) Rose, the man who set a world speed record by cycling almost 30 miles48 km in an hour on the Green Point Track in 1898 and as a captain in the Cape Colony Cyclist Corp during the Anglo-Boer War, pioneered the use of 'rail cycles' for railway reconnaissance work. He was a pioneer motorist in the Cape and in 1915 was appointed by General Smuts to salvage the transport problems facing both the southern invasion force in the desert conditions of German South-West Africa and the invasion forces in the equatorial conditions of German East Africa. He was highly decorated for his initiatives and by the end of the war was clearly a world authority on motorised military transport. At the start of World War II Rose was appointed as Director of Transportation with the rank of Colonel and served in East Africa and Abyssinia and was again highly commended. When released from service at the age of 66, Colonel Jack Rose had matched General Smuts' record of serving with distinction in the Anglo-Boer War and both World Wars.
Derek Stuart-Findlay has co-written 'The Motorist's Paradise', a book on early motoring in the Cape and writes a monthly column for a club magazine (known as the Crankhandle Chronicle), titled 'Tales of Our Cape Motoring Pioneers'. He is of the belief that Colonel Jack Rose, who died in 1973 at the great age of 97, is one of South Africa's most unappreciated military leaders.
It will be an illustrated lecture.
BOB BUSER: Treasurer/Asst. Scribe
Phone: 021-689-1639 (Home)
Email: bobbuser@webafrica.org.za
RAY HATTINGH: Secretary
Phone: 021-592-1279 (Office)
Email: ray@saarp.co.za
NEWSLETTER No 398, MAY 2012
Our speaker on 12 April 2012 was Professor Derrick Dickens whose topic was the Air War over Korea during the Korean War which raged from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953. Our speaker emphasized that he would concentrate specifically on the air war. He introduced his lecture by pointing out that President Truman described the war as a "police action". It was in fact a bloody conflict that could have turned into a Third World War and which signalled the start of the Cold War which could have resulted in the end of the world as we knew it.
The Korean Peninsula had been part of Japan from 1910 to the end of the Second World War, when it was divided into North Korea (Russian sphere of influence) and South Korea (American sphere of influence) along the 38th Parallel. This artificial line, which became a political boundary, divided a partially industrialized north from a largely agricultural south.
Reunification negotiations took place between the Americans and the Russians but to no avail and the United Nations called for Korea-wide democratic elections to be held under its supervision. This did not happen and separate elections were held. In May 1948, the government of the Republic of Korea took over from the American military government and, in the north, the Democratic Republic of Korea was proclaimed. The Russians withdrew but left a large body of "advisors". The Bamboo Curtain had fallen, just as the Iron Curtain divided Europe.
Professor Dickens recalled Lenin's aim of spreading Communism throughout the world and Mao Tse Tung's success in driving Chiang Kai Shek and his Kuomintang out of mainland China. Tension between North and South grew and cross-border skirmishes and raids continued along the 38th Parallel.
On 25 June 1950 North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel with some ten divisions of 89 000 men, organized in six columns. The Security Council, largely at the behest of the United States, passed a resolution authorizing military intervention. Russia was boycotting the UN at the time because the Republic of China in Taiwan had been given a seat in the Assembly rather than the People's Republic of China, so there was no Russian veto. Eventually the Americans provided 88% of the non-Korean forces which numbered 341 000 troops, while twenty other nations provided the balance.
North Korea had an army based on Russian lines, with a number of T-34 tanks. South Korea had no tanks and very little that could counter armour. The army was just an armed militia or constabulary. The UN plea for aid to South Korea resulted in an immediate response by President Truman, who authorized USAF missions to be launched from US bases in Japan.
Troops were sent from Japan and the US air forces in the Pacific were alerted. The USAF had some 1 172 aircraft under its command in the western Pacific, based on Formosa (now Taiwan), Guam and in Japan. These included B-29 and B-26 bombers, as well as F-80 Shooting Star and F-84 Thunderjet jet fighters and F-51 Mustang and F-82 Twin Mustang propeller-driven aircraft. The RAAF sent its 77 Squadron equipped with Meteor jets - these were used for ground attack.
The US Navy had only one carrier in the area - USS Valley Forge, equipped with 30 Grumman Panther jets and 40 each of Chance Vought Corsairs and MacDonell-Douglas Skyraiders, propeller-driven aircraft used for ground attack. The Royal Navy contribution was HMS Triumph with 24 Seafires and Fairey Firefly aircraft. The force was mixed - the jet age was coming, but it was powerful, well-manned and well-equipped.
To oppose this, North Korea had an all propeller-driven force of 140 Lavochkin La-7 and assorted Yak fighters and 65 Ilyushin Il-10 Sturmovik ground attack aircraft. South Korea was in the process of taking into use some 20 or so Mustangs. US aircraft were moved to airbases within range of South Korea. Until they were established, the North Koreans had air superiority over the battle zone and their divisions, led by their tanks, moved rapidly south towards Seoul. This fell on 29 June 1950.
Many of the North Korean pilots had learnt to fly under Soviet tutelage. A number of them were veterans of the Second World War who had served in the Imperial Japanese Air Force.
But, by this time, US bombers were ranging over North Korea and attacking bridges and other targets. Fighters and ground attack aircraft attacked the advancing North Koreans and delaying them to give the ROK (South Korean) forces time to reorganize - they had no tanks or anti tank weapons. General MacArthur, who commanded the UN forces, ordered 260 aircraft to Korea and C-54 Skymaster transport aircraft started to fly in troops and supplies from Japan. These were US troops; other foreign troops would take longer to arrive.
The scale of the air attacks took the North Koreans by surprise but they continued to advance, losing many tanks and vehicles as well as men. After Seoul fell, there were attempts to hold the area around Suwon Airfield but these failed. Air battles took place between the UN forces and the invaders which ended in the almost complete destruction of the North's air force. The North's air bases were also under constant attack. North Korean pilots were not as well trained as the US pilots and their aircraft were also obsolete when compared to the US equipment.
This meant that UN naval forces could operate close to the enemy-held coastline and launch air strikes with near total immunity. A succession of fleet and escort carriers from the USN and light fleet carriers from the RN, with cruisers and destroyers in support, continued these attacks for the rest of the war.
Air attacks had largely been directed at the advancing NKPA forces and their lines of communication. But now the air attacks were directed also at North Korean airfields, especially those round Pyongyang, Heijo and Ojongni. These were from USAF aircraft based in Korea, Japan and Guam as well as aircraft from the prowling carriers. NPKA aircraft were attacked in the air and on the ground and the infrastructure was battered. Some NPKA aircraft remained but the UN forces had gained almost complete air superiority and they could now concentrate on ground attack.
Just before Seoul fell, US diplomats and civilians were taken to Suwon and Kimpo airfields and were flown to Inchon in the south in Skymaster and Dakota transport aircraft escorted by fighters. The transport aircraft had been used to move troops from Japan to support the ROK Army which was under attack by 200 T-34 tanks. The constant air strikes failed to stop the advance and the NKPA forces moved toward Osan, where the faltering ROK and American forces were under heavy pressure and received heavy close air support from 5 July 1950 on.
The North Korean air force, which had been decimated, had not given up. Osan fell to the NKPF and, a week later, they painted some of their surviving aircraft in ROKAF colours and attacked one of the USAF bases, timing their strike when the American air craft were on the ground refuelling. This was on 11 July 1950 and they damaged some F80 Shooting Stars Chongni. Air strikes on UN ground positions at Taejon followed and they also dropped propaganda leaflets signed by US prisoners of war.
The UN forces responded by destroying some Yak-7 planes on the ground at Kimpo. On 18 July, the Navy attacked Pyongyang, destroying and damaging many aircraft. The next day, they strafed Yonpo and Sondok, destroying more aircraft. The USAF F-80's continued the good work and, on 20 July, B-29's destroyed the runways at Heijo and Onjongni.
On the ground, Taejon fell on 20 July and only the Naktong River at Taegu, the northern border of the Pusan perimeter, lay between the NKPA and the sea. In the air, the North Korean air force ceased to exist by mid-August and the surviving aircraft were seen only rarely. Only now and then did the North Koreans manage a sortie.
Our speaker had briefly referred to the ground war in his discussion of the air war. He then gave us a bit more detail of the land fighting. On 1 July 1950, Task Force Smith from the US 24th Division, some 500 men, came into action near Osan. They were occupation troops, semi-trained, unfit and ill-equipped to face tanks. Outclassed by the NKPA and its tanks, they were overrun when Osan fell. This was in spite of heavy air support. The rest of the 24th Division arrived from occupation duties in Japan and, to a large extent, suffered the same fate and the remnants retreated through Pyongtaek, Chonan, Chochiwon and Taejon towards the Pusan Bridgehead.
The Pusan Bridgehead was set up on 24 July 1950 and received large reinforcements. The US 7th and 25th Infantry Divisions, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade (which would expand into 1st Marine Division) and the 1st Cavalry division arrived as did the first of the other forces promised by UN Members. The British 24th Brigade arrived (this would expand to form the Commonwealth Division). Over the next few months, a Turkish brigade and battalions from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Columbia, Thailand, Ethiopia and the Phillipines would join the UN forces. On 16 November 1950, 2 Squadron SAAF arrived.
More air force units arrived as did some 500 medium tanks, shipped direct to Korea from San Francisco. The remnants of the ROK army also moved into the bridgehead.
The battle of the Pusan Bridgehead started on 24th July 1950 and raged on through August and September 1950. The NKPA made a breakthrough and crossed the Naktong River but were repulsed by the US Marines. The 2nd US Division joined the 8th Army.
The fighting was vicious but air support on a massive scale won the day for the UN forces. There was more air support for the 8th Army than Gen Omar Bradley's entire 12th Army Group in Europe during World War 2. There were attacks on the NKPA ground troops, inflicting appalling casualties as well as attacks on communications, harbours, supply lines including marshalling yards, air bases, factories and anything else that looked like a target. The North Korean assault ground to a standstill.
The time had arrived for a UN breakout from the Pusan area. Gen MacArthur planned an amphibious landing at Inchon more than 160km/100 miles north of his present position. This was first opposed by the Pentagon who eventually approved it. Inchon's defences were scanty and Seoul was nearby.
The breakout from Pusan started on 15 September 1950. The fact that it could happen so soon after a near catastrophe is a tribute to American Logistic capability. The Inchon landing by the 1st Marine Division took place on the same day. It was supported by three fleet carriers and two escort carriers, with numerous supporting ships. HMS Triumph staged a diversionary attack on the east coast. Inchon was soon captured and Kimpo Airfield soon after. A number of Marine Tigercat and Corsair squadrons moved to Kimpo five days after the landings and were immediately in action supporting the Marine division, with their supplies being flown in by a stream of Skymaster and C-119 aircraft. HMS Theseus replaced HMS Triumph and HMAS Sydney joined the fleet.
The NKPA held a line running from Pyontaek to Samchok for a week. A division was moving south from the Inchon beachhead and the pressure from 8th Army broke the North Koreans. After bitter street fighting, the Marines took Seoul on 20th September. The USAF very quickly opened air bases just south of Seoul (K9 and K10) and the intense air support continued from there and from Kimpo. Syngman Rhee's government was restored nine days later.
The advance continued to the 38th Parallel and beyond. 77 Squadron RAAF had joined 5th Air Force. 2 Squadron SAAF equipped with Mustang F-51Ds moved to K9 with their first sorties on 19 November.
On 18 September Stalin sent Gen Zakharov to Korea to advise Kim il Sung to withdraw his forces from the Pusan perimeter to protect Seoul. China's representative, Chou en Lai, gave the same advice. But Seoul fell on 25 September to ROK forces. The air attacks had destroyed most of the NKPA's tanks and much of its artillery. Their withdrawal had not been an orderly one and only between 25 000 and 30 000 men made it back to North Korea. Stalin blamed incompetent NKPA commanders and Soviet advisors for the defeat.
As jet aircraft improved and became more readily available they rapidly replaced the old prop driven aircraft in the ground attack role. F-80 Shooting Stars bore the brunt of ground attack operations during the early part of the war and, at the end of December 1950, began to be replaced by the F-84 Thunderjet. The Navy operated F-9F Panthers and F-2H Banshees.
Chou en Lai had warned that, if the US crossed the 38th Parallel, China would enter the war. Genl MacArthur did not believe this and, on 1 October, the Marine Division left Inchon to prepare for landings at Iwon on the east coast. The South Koreans crossed the 38th parallel and the US 8th Army followed. On 19 October Pyongyang was captured along with 135 000 North Korean troops. By 22 October 1950, the front line had moved to within 48-64km/30 to 40 miles from the Manchurian Border. The UN had landed the US 7th Division at Iwon and the Marine Division at Hungnam and moved to the Chosin Reservoir. 10th Corps and the ROK army moved towards the Yalu River. Victory over the NKPA appeared to be near - only a final coup de grace was needed.
The Chinese People's Volunteer Army made a surprise appearance. The 13th Army Group had infiltrated west of the Chosin Reservoir. Some 30 Chinese divisions had crossed the Yalu River. On 25 November the Chinese 13th Army Group crushed the South Korean 2nd Corps and the US 2nd Division. The Turkish Brigade's magnificent rearguard action enabled the UN forces to retreat towards the 38th Parallel. On the other side of Korea, the Chinese 9th Army Group pushed the US 10th Corps back to Hungnam, where they held a bridgehead for a period of time sufficient to withdraw their troops and transport them back to South Korea accomplished by 24 December 1950. This involved the movement of 200 shiploads of people and equipment - a magnificent achievement.
On New Year's Eve 1950, the Chinese launched their "Third Phase Offensive" and the UN forces were forced to retreat. The PVA and NKPA occupied Seoul for the second time on 4 January 1951.
MacArthur now wanted to use nuclear weapons against China but was fired by President Truman. The 8th Army Commander Gen Walton Walker, killed in a vehicle accident, was replaced by Gen Ridgeway. This improved morale and the UN were able to regain the Han River line at Wonju. In mid-February, the Chinese launched their fourth Phase attack but their greatly superior force was held by ROK, US and French forces at Chipyong-Ni.
With the Chinese Army had come the Chinese Air force equipped with Russian-built MiG-15 fighters. By end October 1950, 525 of these were operational, flown by Russian pilots who trained the Chinese and North Korean pilots. Many of the Russian pilots were veterans of the Second World War. The UN air superiority was now at risk. The MiG-15 was a nimble and manoeuvrable aircraft, powerfully armed with a 37mm and two 23mm cannon. Allied bombers could no longer rely on fighter escorts as the MiG out-performed every aircraft in the UN's stable. The heavy bombers had to revert to night attacks.
The MiGs were based north of the Yalu in Manchuria and eventually numbered 1 000. The air battles took place over North Korea as the MiG lacked the range to cover the battlefield, especially when the area of operations again moved south into South Korea. It was a fighter and not designed to act as a fighter-bomber. So it was not used for long-range missions and did not appear over the frontlines. Attacks on the bombers were made under the control of Ground Control Interception Radars, launched from 13 700m/45 000 feet, diving down and then climbing up to high altitude again thus avoiding dogfights if possible. Their powerful armament was devastating - two hits from a 37mm gun would shoot down a B-29 and two 23mm or one 37mm shells would destroy a US fighter.
The USAF sent its latest fighter to Korea. This was the F-86A Sabre, armed with six 12,7mm (.50 Cal.) machine guns. In comparison, the Sabre needed an average of 1 024 machine gun bullets to down a MiG. The F86A had teething problems and could not fly as high as a MiG. It could chose the time and place for every battle. The new fighters came initially from the US Far Eastern Air Force and were transported from Guam and Formosa by escort carrier. The first of these was the USS Cape Esperance which arrived in Yokusuka, Japan on 1 December 1950. The aircraft had been cocooned for transport but most of them had suffered from salt water corrosion, making them un-airworthy. It took two weeks before they could be repaired and become operational. The Sabres reached Korea on 13 December 1950 and, at that stage, were outnumbered 20 to 1.
4th Fighter Wing pilots had learnt that the early F-86A had many teething problems but the biggest problem was that the MiG flew higher and could look down on the Sabres with impunity, diving down to attack the Sabres which could not reach them. The MiGs chose the time and place for each air battle.
The MiG, however, was an unstable gun platform with a slow rate of fire. However, the guns were 23mm and 37mm weapons and had a devastating hitting power, unlike the 12,7mm machine guns carried on the Sabre. It had a better rate of climb, a better power-to-weight ratio and more speed in the dive than the Sabre, as well as more manoeuvrability. The MiG tended to suffer structural failures in their tails and their handling varied as a result of bad manufacturing standards. It also tended to flick out of tight turns and suffered from directional instability at high speeds. The Sabre F-86F model had a better performance and a more powerful engine than the A model and this helped to offset the disparity.
The 4th Fighter Wing had F86A's but was later joined by the 51st Fighter Wing, with F-86F aircraft with a more powerful engine and a radar-ranging gun sight. The two wings managed to regain air superiority but not after a dour struggle. Two fighter bomber wings, the 8th and 18th (which included 2 Squadron SAAF), were converted to Sabres. These would be used as both fighters and fighter-bombers.
MiGs operated only over North Korea and never over or beyond the frontline. They were interceptors only. So the Sabres operated mostly over North Korea, escorting bombers and hunting for the MiGs, which were largely based north of the Yalu River.
With the capture of Seoul by the Chinese, the Sabres were withdrawn to Japan, returning to Korea in March 1951. The fighting in the air was intense as the Americans tried to keep their air superiority.
The UN forces managed to stop the Chinese "Fourth Phase Offensive" in March 1951. At this point, Gen Ridgeway brought in a new strategy. Chinese attacks would be stopped with artillery and air attacks. The UN forces would make limited attacks in selected areas with maximum support from artillery and the air force. When ground had been captured, the troops would dig in and await the inevitable Chinese counter-attacks which resulted in heavy artillery duels. In this way, the UN forces advanced to more or less the current line of demarcation - a little below the 38th Parallel and moving north above the 38th Parallel in the east.
At all times during the war, the Navies operated along both east and west coasts, with fleet carriers of the USN and light carriers of the RN and RAN operating on ground attack missions.
The Russians and their allies realized that they were in a war of attrition and suffering immense casualties which were becoming unsustainable. So in June 1951 the Russians suggested that a ceasefire be negotiated by the warring parties. This was accepted and talks commenced at Panmunjon. They carried on until July 1953 when a truce was finally signed. Not a peace treaty, but merely a truce, with the frontlines on that date becoming a border between South and North Korea. Thus there was no end to the war but only a ceasefire - the status quo to this day.
The Korean War was a costly one. Some 10 million people are estimated to have been killed. Half of these were civilians. The UN forces lost more than 142 000 men and the US had some 54 000 dead in three years of war (the Vietnam War cost them 58 000 dead in 11 years of war). The Chinese and North Koreans suffered millions of dead. Every major urban node in North Korea - 30 cities and major towns - were totally destroyed by UN bombing strikes and the North Korean population reduced by one-third. In comparison South Korea lost over 1.3 million dead.
Many civilians died in massacres and both sides (North and South) were guilty of these. Both North and South Korea were guilty of forced conscription of civilians. The North Koreans were also guilty of mistreating POWs and of killing them in many cases. The killing of POWs by the Chinese are not recorded, but they certainly ill-treated them.
The fighting continued throughout the period of the negotiations. Despite a more modern form of warfare with modern, weaponry and tactics, the Korean War were in many ways comparable with the First World War, in that it essentially was a war of attrition: Trench warfare with the addition of air power. There was no winner but South Korea has thrived and become a modern and prosperous industrial state.
The Korean War was the first war in which helicopters were used on a large scale for the movement of casualties and this helped to reduce the number of deaths which would have resulted if the wounded were moved over the hilly terrain by stretcher bearers or jeeps. Helicopters were also used to rescue downed pilots, for resupply missions and spotting and in mine clearance operations.
Our Chairman, Mr Johan van den Berg, thanked our speaker for a memorable talk which has provided the essential background information for our next talk on 2 Squadron SAAF in Korea. He presented Professor Dickens with the customary gift.
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME
10 MAY 2012: THE SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE'S ROLE IN THE KOREAN WAR by Prof Derrick Dickens
The final part of the two-part lecture by Prof Dickens. Last month the Korean Air War was covered in general terms. In this month's lecture, Prof Dickens will focus specifically on the role of the SAAF in the Korean War as part of the United Nation's peace-keeping force. It will again be an illustrated lecture.
14 JUNE 2012: COL JACK ROSE DSO, PIONEER OF MILITARY TRANSPORTATION IN TWO WORLD WARS by Derek Stuart-Findlay
Derek Stuart-Findlay will be speaking on Colonel J.G. (Jack) Rose, the man who set a world speed record by cycling almost 30 miles48 km in an hour on the Green Point Track in 1898 and as a captain in the Cape Colony Cyclist Corp during the Anglo-Boer War, pioneered the use of 'rail cycles' for railway reconnaissance work. He was a pioneer motorist in the Cape and in 1915 was appointed by General Smuts to salvage the transport problems facing both the southern invasion force in the desert conditions of German South-West Africa and the invasion forces in the equatorial conditions of German East Africa. He was highly decorated for his initiatives and by the end of the war was clearly a world authority on motorised military transport. At the start of World War II Rose was appointed as Director of Transportation with the rank of Colonel and served in East Africa and Abyssinia and was again highly commended. When released from service at the age of 66, Colonel Jack Rose had matched General Smuts' record of serving with distinction in the Anglo-Boer War and both World Wars.
Derek Stuart-Findlay has co-written 'The Motorist's Paradise', a book on early motoring in the Cape and writes a monthly column for a club magazine (known as the Crankhandle Chronicle), titled 'Tales of Our Cape Motoring Pioneers'. He is of the belief that Colonel Jack Rose, who died in 1973 at the great age of 97, is one of South Africa's most unappreciated military leaders.
It will be an illustrated lecture.
BOB BUSER: Treasurer/Asst. Scribe
Phone: 021-689-1639 (Home)
Email: bobbuser@webafrica.org.za
RAY HATTINGH: Secretary
Phone: 021-592-1279 (Office)
Email: ray@saarp.co.za