The Korean War Week 003 - Never Fear, MacArthur's Here! - July 9, 1950

Well, if they don’t work with him, then who else is there? Exactly,

the communists. You think McCarthy would allow that? Yeah, the Senator who talks about

communists and spies in the State Department. No, I don’t know if there actually are any. Gotta go.

The Korean War has not been going on for very long; the invasion of South Korea only began June

25th, but already this week outside forces arrive to help the South Korean Army- the Americans.

I’m Indy Neidell, and this is the Korean War.

Last week the advancing North Korean forces took Seoul, the South Korean capital;

a bridge of the Han River was blown that killed hundreds of civilians; the North Korean advance

continued everywhere and the South’s forces were routed, though the fighting was bloody

and casualties were also pretty heavy for the north. The US announced to the world that it

would join the Korean War, and Douglas MacArthur began to assemble American forces to head over.

As I said at the start, the Americans have now arrived in Korea and this week

they do join the battle. They do not acquit themselves well at all.

See, the first combat troops to arrive, other than that AA unit I mentioned last week, are Task

Force Smith. Last week on June 30th, MacArthur ordered Walton Walker, commanding US 8th Army,

to send William Dean’s 24th Division to Korea. MacArthur commands the US occupation of Japan,

and 8th Army is stationed there, the closest American forces to Korea. Dean

got his operational orders the 1st. They say that a delaying force of two rifle companies,

backed by two mortar platoons and one M20 recoilless rifle platoon are to fly to Pusan and

then report to General John Church for orders; the rest of the division will travel to Korea by boat.

The mission is, “Advance at once upon landing with delaying force, in accordance with the situation,

to the north by all possible means, contact enemy now advancing from Seoul toward Suwon and delay

his advance.” Dean is to take command of all US Army forces upon his arrival in Korea. Over the

next few days, 24th division is brought up to strength and has 15,965 men and 4,773 vehicles.

Charles “Brad” Smith commands the 1st battalion of the 21st infantry regiment of the division,

and his crew, minus A and D companies, fly out of Japan already July 1st- this

is TF Smith. It’s only a bit over 400 men- companies B and C- mainly under 20 years old,

and only about a sixth of them have some combat experience. They would be the older ones who

fought in WW2. They are greeted at Pusan by cheering crowds, and the town is done up with

festive banners and streamers. They take the train from there to Taejon, arriving July 2nd.

That’s where Smith meets Church, who points at a map and tells him, “We have a little action up

here. All we need is some men up there who won’t run when they see tanks. We’re gonna

move you up to support the ROK and give them moral support.” The ROK is the South Koreans.

Right, Smith goes out to do some recon, and all along the road up to Osan he sees thousands of

refugees and ROK soldiers, all making their way south. There aren’t that many roads and

Korea is pretty mountainous, so the enemy heading south from Seoul basically has to take the Suwon

Road toward Osan. Smith finds a good position a few km north of Osan with a commanding view

of both the highway and railroad nearly the whole way to Suwon. The afternoon of the 4th,

Smith gets orders to deploy his men at that position. A little after midnight his men move