Korean War: During the Korean war, the first counteroffensive forced the communist N. koreans all the way over

Question

the China border. Macarthurs troops successfully drove most N Koreans out of the country, only to be met by Chinese who launched a counteroffensive. Do you think If Macarthurs troops had instead gathered all their men in Pyongang(N Korean capital) and defended the city from the communist assault , they could have eliminated the enemy. The reason I ask is because Chinese soldiers used a lot of hit and run tactics and relied a lot on mobility. This would have been difficult in the city.

Chinese also had no tanks to my knowledge

Answer 1

What miffs me was that Macaurthur pleaded to bomb the bridges coming into NoKor and was denied thus allowing the Chinese Red Army divisions free passage. Many young marines from the 2nd Marine Division paid for that political decision from Washington.

Answer 2

You are wrong on both counts. 1.The Chinese prefer wave attacks to smother a enemy position. 2. The Chinese were equipped with the T-34/85 one of the worlds finest tanks. They also had the MIG-15 an equal to our F-86 fighter. They were not poorly equipped by any stretch they had everything the Russians had. If we had stopped at Pyongyang I doubt it would have made a difference The Chinese wouldn't have tolerated the loss of a communist neighbor. There simply was too many Chinese to stop with the small forces we had at the time. It took a massive influx of troops to stop and then push back the Chinese forces.

Answer 3

When the Chinese jumped in on October 25, 1950 (something American Intelligence had not predicted, nor thought probably) MacArthur had our forces spread out and in a position that minimized support... and did NOT realize the numbers of ChiComm forces (270,00 troops)

Shortly after the Chinese jump in and cross the Yalu River... UN Forces near the Chosin Resevoir were gravely outnumbered (it was 70,000 Chinese to 30,000 UN forces). The UN forces were over-run or surrounded, and forced to retreat (Sorry to Marines... you were required to make a retrograde-advance).

UN forces (X Corps) were evacuted off the beach and port of Hungnam (on the EAST COAST) after that retreat, and I think trying to move over land the additional distance (100 air miles) across the mountainous spine of North Korea to P'yongang would have been far too risky a move !!

IF they had attempted that move to P'yongang, they would have had to make a long cross-country move; leaving them open to further loses, probable loss of their supply-lines, and possible defeat.

Instead, the troops were safely evacuated.

The Chinese LOVED massed attacks.

Answer 4

Not possible or practical. While 8th Army was in the West, X Corps had landed at Wonson to the East. You have Very strained logistics as is. The Chinese attack on Thankgiving was wide and massive (over 80,000 men). They used massive waves of troops rather than hit and run. Not being equiped for winter did not help ethier. The area of NOrth Korea is mountianous with poor roads. The links below explain it in detail.

Answer 5

If General MacArthur had gathered his troops in Pyongang, as you suggest, the Chinese army would have surrounded the city, entrapping the UN troops, and annihilated them. The Chinese army was well-equipped and vastly outnumbered the UN troops. It would have been a similar situation to the Germans surrounding and trapping the US troops at Bastogne during WW2. Then, our troops had to be rescued. With the vast numbers of Chinese troops, we could not have broken through and rescued troops trapped at Pyongang.

Answer 6

personally i think that would NOT have worked because IF they relied on MOBILITY then in a city there would be sooo many places to RUN and HIDE... [example: iraq] by the time you find where they are hiding which is most likely after they start making "noise" then you're in trouble...

Answer 7

Nope!