October 1950

Crossing the 38th Parallel

As soon as UN leaders digested the allied success, they began to debate the advisability of crossing the 38th Parallel into North Korea. The National Security Council advised President Harry S. Truman against moving north. The council’s position was that the expulsion of the North Koreans from South Korea was a sufficient victory. The Joint Chiefs of Staff disagreed, however, claiming military doctrine demanded that the North Korean Army be destroyed completely to prevent renewed aggression. President Truman, on 11 September, adopted the arguments of his military advisers while heeding the National Security Council’s call to avoid provoking Communist China and the Soviet Union.

Thus, on 27 September, the Joint Chiefs directed General MacArthur to cross the 38th Parallel for the purpose of destroying North Korea’s military forces, providing that no Chinese or Soviet forces had entered, or threatened to enter, North Korea. They further decreed that UN troops were not to go into China or the Soviet Union and that only ROK soldiers should operate along these borders. Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall, on the twenty-ninth, sent MacArthur a personal message that confirmed his approval for tactical and strategic operations north of the parallel. This message, MacArthur was told, had been personally endorsed by Truman.

MacArthur received a secondary mission to unite all of Korea, if possible, under President Rhee.

The responses to this decision were immediate and strong. On 1 October Premier Chou En-lai warned that China would not tolerate or stand aside if UN forces invaded North Korea. This was a clear threat that China would intervene if that should happen. On the second the Soviet delegate to the United Nations proposed that a cease-fire in Korea be called and that all foreign troops be withdrawn. The following day the Indian delegate expressed his government’s position that UN forces should not cross the 38th Parallel.

General MacArthur, on 1 October, sent a message to the commander in chief of the North Korean forces, demanding that the North Koreans lay down their arms and cease hostilities under UN military supervision so as to avoid further loss of life and destruction of property. The message also called for the release of UN prisoners of war and civilian internees. But North Korea ignored the proposals. MacArthur issued a last chance ultimatum for North Korea to surrender on the ninth. While North Korea did not respond officially, Premier Kim Il Sung rejected it the following day in a radio broadcast. Meanwhile, on the seventh, the UN General Assembly had passed a resolution calling for the unification of Korea and authorizing MacArthur to send troops across the 38th Parallel.

Meanwhile, the North Korean Forces continued to retreat toward the 38th Parallel. Between 3 and 5 October, the 25th Division moved to the Taejon area where elements of the 24th Infantry Division were relieved. The IX Corps command post opened at Taejon on 5 October. The 2d infantry Division assumed responsibility generally for the area west and southwest of Taejon, and the 25th Division for the Taejon area and that south and east of it.

During October the 25th Division was the American organization most actively employed in anti-guerrilla warfare. It had 6,500 square miles of mountainous country in its zone of responsibility. This lay athwart the escape routes from the old Pusan Perimeter of the larger part of the enemy units cut off or bypassed. On occasion, large groups of enemy soldiers were cornered and either destroyed or captured. On 7 October the 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry, largely as a result of unusually effective artillery fire, killed or wounded about 400 of an enemy force estimated to number approximately 500 men. On another occasion the 3d Battalion of the same regiment captured 549 prisoners in one day.

Few North Korean units showed much inclination to fight. On the other hand, they did not exhibit a disposition to surrender en masse. The 14,676 prisoners captured during the month of October were the result of aggressive patrolling. Only "diehard" fanatics and guerillas remained.

A rigorous training program was instituted to increase the combat effectiveness of the troops for future missions, and to indoctrinate the replacements, which had begun to arrive.

The Yalu River

With the North Korean capital city secured, the Eighth Army continued its push northward toward the Yalu River, Korea’s traditional border with China. The Ch’ongch’on River and its tributaries, the Kuryong and Taeryong Rivers, all flowing from the north, formed the last major water barrier in the western part of North Korea short of the border. At this point in time, the Ch’ongch’on River was the principal terrain feature in the Eighth Army’s field of operations, and it largely dictated the army’s deployment and tactical maneuvers.

China Intervenes

Late in October, in the mountainous region above P’yongyang, the Eighth Army was poised to cross the Ch’ongch’on River in full force. Morale among the American and allied soldiers was high, for many thought that this river crossing would be the last brief phase of the war. However, nearly one hundred eighty thousand CCF soldiers secretly crossed the Yalu River between 14 October and 1 November. General MacArthur, unaware of the full extent of Communist China’s commitment, believed that the attack on 25 October was a token gesture rather than a serious intercession. But, by early November, intelligence officers had amassed undeniable evidence that the Chinese had indeed intervened in strength.

An operational directive from IX Corps on 31 October, stated the 25th Division would be relieved in the present area by the 3rd ROK Corps not later than 5 November 1950. The Division was to assemble in a suitable billeting area in the vicinity of Taejon for further movement by rail and motor. Plans for the orientation of the ROK troops and the assembling of the Division were being formulated as the Division moved.