by Unknown
One of the attack helicopters patrolled along the front of the line and occasionally moved back to make sure all was well. As it came past their truck, Ricks waved. He was surprised when the guy in the upper seat waved back. Just a simple gesture but making Ricks feel a little better about being out there. He looked over at the speedometer. The trucks were moving along at around forty-five miles per hour.
The farther they traveled from their lines, the less desolate the surrounding landscape looked. Occasionally the line stopped as something was engaged farther up the line, but soon the trucks started moving again. Twenty minutes into the ride the scenery changed again. As the trucks rounded the top of a hill Ricks gasped in awe as he saw what was beyond. It looked like someone had taken a lawnmower and cut a row of grass through the next valley. A mass of burning vehicles sat to one side with some fires farther on, but it was only in a column with set boundaries.
“What the fuck did this?” asked the stunned driver.
“Beats the shit out of me,” Ricks said. “But I bet we won’t see many troops here,” he said. Neither had ever seen the results of B-52 carpet bombing. Thirty of the giant planes had been used in this run.
The column breezed through and on into the next valley. Richardson’s plan had worked well.
Pyongyang, North Korea
“The situation is dire, Comrade Chairman, one of the ministers said quietly. He had been chosen by the others to give the bad news and was expecting to be shot almost immediately. “Last night the Allied forces destroyed a majority of our food, ammunition, and fuel supplies. Somehow they found our underground storage facilities and were able to destroy them,” he said solemnly.
“How? Did they use their nuclear weapons? We have been told this was the only way to do it,” Kim seethed.
“No, Comrade Chairman. The few who survived, reported massive explosions from inside the facilities. We still do not know all the facts.”
“Then it must be sabotage! We have traitors assisting the enemy! I want them weeded out now!” he demanded.
“It is underway even now, Comrade Chairman,” said one of the Party officials.
“At the same time the Americans attacked and destroyed the fortified naval facilities at Wonsan and, in Nampo, the rail lines to the People’s Republic and our forces along the former border. But this is not the worst,” he said with some dread. “The Americans have struck twelve of our hydroelectric dams all inside our borders. All twelve have been destroyed. Because of this, we no longer have the electrical capacity to operate the remaining underground facilities that produce our munitions and critical supplies. Even our trains cannot run. To correct this situation, we have ordered four of our old coal fired plants brought back on line. This will provide adequate electrical supplies and should have our facilities operating in just a few weeks.”
Kim was seething with rage. Everyone could see it in his face. It looked to the men in the room as if he would explode at any second. “And what of the antiaircraft weapons at the dams?” he spat out.
“Comrade Chairman, as you recall, you ordered us to move what systems we could to provide protection to the capital and other vital facilities. This has been done and they are around the city even as we speak. The few gun systems left on the dam sites fired at some air targets, but they are using optical systems that are not very useful at night.”
Kim’s face was a deep red. “What other bad news do you bring?” he asked, glaring at the men in front of him.
“None, Comrade Chairman. Our forces are firmly in place in the south and the plan is to begin fresh attacks against the American lines within the hour. There are reports of artillery fire and bombing along the eastern sector of our advance, but our intelligence feels this is a diversion to try and keep us from attacking where we are. We have a division of troops and equipment in that sector. If anything does happen, they should be adequate to the task. The main goal is to maintain our primary offensive operation in the South and take Pusan as quickly as possible.”
The Chairman’s face lightened. Once Pusan was taken, the rest wouldn’t mean much. Dams could always be replaced and supplies restocked. They had several hundred thousand troops in the South. That was a reality and that was the mission at hand. He looked down at the map with all the places marked that had been destroyed. It was impressive that the Americans had been able to destroy so much in one night, but there was also the massive collection of troops and material in their land to the south. That far overshadowed the few pinpricks they had received.
“Comrades, you have done well to have our forces moving in accordance with the plan. They are poised to do the people’s business. I realize we cannot expect to remain unscathed in our efforts. However, we must be vigilant against saboteurs. I am convinced people within the government have provided aid to our enemies. They must be brought to justice,” he said firmly. “I want our forces to step up their attacks and bring this war to a conclusion. Do what you must to achieve the goals you are assigned. I shall deal with the traitors,” he said.
Kim turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, leaving the men standing shocked at the prospects. The mention of the word “traitor” meant there would be purges that rivaled Stalin’s in the Soviet Union. On the way out he grabbed two men and they followed him to his office. After closing the door he turned to the Defense Minister.
“You said earlier that our strategic forces are still intact,” he said. “How quickly could they be modified to strike at our enemies in the South?”
The Defense Minister blanched slightly. No one wanted to use the things. But even more, no one wanted to be shot for not following orders. “They will need to be modified slightly. Our technicians have devised a way to do this and are standing by to go to Yuktae-dong and make the changes. I have not prepositioned them there for fear they might be harmed in some American attack. Our ships are somewhat protected but the surrounding town is not. Would you like them to be moved there now?”
Kim thought a moment. “No. You are correct to be careful. It would not help to have our highly trained technicians lost to us as they were before, but have them ready to move on a moment’s notice,” he said dismissing the man.
The Defense Minister left the room and closed the door behind them. His skin was beginning to crawl standing between Choi and Kim. He knew exactly what they would be talking about and hoped that the plans did not include him.
South Korean Lines
At the end of the Second World War, many military leaders were wary of the introduction of so called push button weapons in warfare. The idea that missiles could be launched from anywhere to rain destruction down on an enemy without forces actually meeting each other was repugnant to them, but in reality it was not the missiles that threatened the end of person-on-person warfare. True, nuclear weapons would do exactly that, but the use of such weapons hurt everyone — friend and enemy.
The true problem came from real time reconnaissance information — in this case, from the KH-13 reconnaissance satellite. It gave commanders on the ground the knowledge of where the enemy was and where they were heading. Using that information, the commander could manipulate things to his advantage.
The advance of the North Korean Army into the South was watched closely. The North Koreans were single mindedly determined in their move toward Pusan. As a result, they took the easier route along the major valleys and roadways wrapping around the mountains on the peninsula. Along the way, General Monahan placed his troops to add obstacles along certain valleys and in certain directions to steer the North Koreans in one particular direction – towards the town of Hongcheon. Along the river and highway leading into the town lay a valley nearly two miles wide and four miles long. More importantly, the valley had only four accesses into it. Two of these were along North Korean advance.
Watching the advance, Monahan set his plan in motion. A large contingency of troops was placed in the middle of the valley in the hopes the enemy reconnaissance forces would see them th
ere. The rest was up to the North Koreans.
The lead elements of the North Korean forces moved down into the wide valley separating them from the Allied forces in Hongcheon. The forces were packed closely together so that, as they moved, they could spread out and quickly fill the spaces between the hills. What little intelligence they had along with a few reconnaissance assets indicated this was where the defenses were the lightest, filled with simple infantry troops.
The North Korean commander was not taking chances. His artillery pounded the area for an hour with no response. There was actually no other choice but to go. The Party was demanding action. All the unit commanders understood it. It was also a main artery towards their destination. They had raised the spirits of the men to a fever pitch and were pressing them into action. One hundred sixty thousand more troops followed behind the lead elements, each waiting for their chance at glory.
Only four tanks were in the first wave. They were weaving back and forth as they crossed the divide and began shooting into the trees at the far side. The troops shifted back and forth across the area, making it look like some kind of confused dance.
The first warning came when the tanks and troops approached the tents for the infantry camp in the middle of the valley. The North Koreans moved in only to find the camp empty.
When the tanks reached the far side of the valley near the gap, they came in for a second surprise. The gap was actually a bend in a deep river with only one highway bridge across it. As the soldiers watched, the bridge exploded and collapsed in front of them.
In truth no American or any other Allied forces were in the valley or within a mile of it. A lone RPV circled overhead watching the progress from over 3,000 feet while the KH-13 watched from space. More and more North Korean troops filled the valley. Separate commands began filing in from the two directions. At first, there was no problem, and the commanders met to determine the course of action, not realizing that troops were still filling the valley. Men, equipment, supplies, and tanks poured in. When the valley floor was filled with men and equipment, the Allied response was triggered.
A-10 Warthogs suddenly popped over the hills behind the North Korean troops coming in from the two adjacent valleys and began firing into the packed men and equipment, forcing them to move more rapidly into the giant valley ahead of them. This action was followed by Cobra helicopter gunships that began sweeping the area. The result was the North Koreans were ‘herded’ into the now packed valley, further compressing the troops into one huge mass. As more troops entered the area, they too were herded into the trap.
After nearly an hour of herding, the Allied artillery opened up. More than 100 pieces of artillery were hidden in the hills around the large valley. Systematically, they began sweeping their fire through the tightly packed men, firing until their magazines were emptied and they turned it back over to the airplanes and helicopters.
As the firing stopped for a moment, some of the North Korean commanders thought it was over and a troop assault might begin. They began to rally their troops once more. They failed to see four airplanes flying about 5,000 feet above them.
The AC-130 Specters lined up to do their deadly business. Well known for their ability to provide pinpoint targeting accuracy against ground targets, there was little chance for them to miss. More than 160,000 troops were contained in the valley below. The 20mm Vulcan cannons began unleashing their rapid fire devastation on the troops below while their 40mm took on heavier concentrations and heavy equipment. The 105mm gun looked for packed supplies and trucks along with the few farmhouses in the area where troops could hide. The four gunships lazily plied back and forth over the valley carrying out their deadly business.
The troops in the valley panicked. Many tried to climb the hills but were forced back into the valley by helicopter gunships that popped over the crests and fired directly into them. On occasion, a handheld missile would cross the sky toward one of the helicopters, but in most cases the helicopter simply ducked back down behind the crest of the hill. Only five helicopters were lost to the handheld missiles.
The problem for the North Koreans was that the valley had no hiding places. It was mostly agriculture and the few farmhouses had been targeted early. The enemy troops had no place to run. One courageous group tried to swim the river, only to be mowed down by several sets of machine guns on the opposite side. Men were dying by the score as the aircraft cut through them like a scythe through wheat. When they tried to regroup and go back through the valley entrances, they found their entrance was closed by more aircraft and gunships.
The killing continued for more than an hour. After a while the pilots and crews began to grow weary of the slaughter. They herded the remaining troops into one corner of the valley and began shooting only those who raised a rifle toward them. Finally, the remaining few North Koreans began to throw down their weapons and raised their hands. In some cases, fanatical officers shot the men giving up. That usually ended with the officer being killed by his own people. The men had been through enough. Some even fashioned a white flag. Only then did the Bradleys enter the valley over a set of hills and take charge of the troops. Medics were called in to help the wounded. When the final count came in, more than 160,000 troops had been cornered in the valley. Of those, only 16,257 came out unscathed.
It took less than a week to reach Seoul. General Richardson’s troops secured the entrances to the city on the north and eastern sides while General Monahan’s troops secured the south. Admiral Thacke secured the western approaches by blockading Inchon Harbor. A message was sent to the North Korean commander requesting his surrender. The response was an artillery barrage against Richardson’s positions on the eastern edge of the city.
“Well, we gave them a chance,” Richardson said as the artillery rounds fell near one of the main highways leading to the city. “Major, talk to me,” she said.
Major Leptin was an intelligence officer assigned to the command. It was his turn at the morning brief. “Ma’am, it’s obvious the commander didn’t like your message, but he’s being crafty.” He pointed to a detailed map of the city and the surrounding area. “We are seeing him mass his troops to the north of the city. Their focal point is right here near the World Cup Stadium,” he said pointing to a place along the Han River. “We believe they are going to try and make a break up the Han back into North Korea. It would only mean about a twenty-three mile run.”
“Doesn’t the guy realize we own most of that property right now?” she asked.
“We don’t know that he does. Our units haven’t really attacked any of their troops in that vicinity and he may not have that many troops outside Seoul itself. But he definitely knows we took Euijeongbu, Changsudul, and Sinhwa-ri. That pretty much hems him in. Something we have been watching on the satellite is troop emplacements in certain areas of the city. They have selected specific sites to defend that will give us major headaches as we enter. They all involve key junctions and tall buildings allowing them to control large sectors from those points. Several of them involve schools and other public buildings. We have noticed a large number of civilians being rounded up and placed in these buildings. So we should expect they are using them as shields against our troops. In the case of the schools, the children have not been allowed to leave in the past two days.”
“My god!” muttered one of the officers in the room.
“General, this goes along with what we have seen before. The command leadership is fanatical in their beliefs and has no qualms about throwing lives away to achieve their aims. In this case, they plan on making us pay dearly for Seoul, both in lives and in propaganda,” Leptin said closing his brief.
For one of the few times in her life Richardson was furious. How could fellow human beings do things like that? Not only would they throw their lives away, but force her to expend lives under her command as well. Not on my watch, she thought.
The supply officer was about to make his report but she waved him off. “Anything substantial?”
she asked him. He shook his head.
“OK then, let’s get some things going. Based on what we see, this is going to be a rough proposition. Obviously the North wants to make us pay and then sneak away up the river. Well, that’s not going to happen. The minute they start moving that direction, I want to cut them off at the knees. From what I see, the only place to ford is near Munsan. The last time I looked we own that property as well. When he gets there, let’s show him what happens when you land on Boardwalk,” she said referring to a popular board game where that was the most expensive property.
“As for the city, I don’t relish going in and I don’t relish starving them out. So let’s think about this a little. You say they are fortifying just key emplacements?” Richardson asked.
“Yes, Ma’am. We have those pinpointed.”
“Then we change our tactics. No planes or artillery since we will kill civilians. But it means we use our infantry as if we are going after insurgents. It’s a police action again. We learned a shit load about that in Iraq. Let’s put it to good use. Lightning raids on the company level. Send in plenty of snipers and just root them out like a bad tooth. At the same time, start moving our heavy stuff along that line with a major stopper at Munsan. No one goes home, gentlemen. No one makes it across that border; not across the bridge and not by swimming the river. How are we going to keep them from the other side of the river along the way?” she asked.
“General, that river is only about 12 miles from Sido Island. It’s deep water. I can ask Admiral Thacke if he could put some of his ships up there. That way he could reach both sides of the river,” said Commander Jacobs, the Navy liaison.
