Introduction
The time is February, 1952, not quite two years after the army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), at the instigation of the Soviet Union, invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea). During 1950 and 1951, the war had see-sawed up and down the Korean Peninsula.
The United Nations had sided early on with the undermanned South Korean forces, and the United States forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur led the battle against the North Korean invaders. Initially the Americans were nearly pushed off the peninsula, but finally held at the southern city of Pusan. In September, 1950 General MacArthur instituted a daring amphibious invasion at Inch’on on the upper west cost of South Korea near the capital of Seoul, which cut off the North Korean forces, and caused their hasty retreat from the south.
Despite warning from the Chinese People’s Republic, MacArthur ordered the forces of the United Nations and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to advance north of the 38th parallel. When they reached the Yalu River, which is the boundary between North Korea and China, the Chinese Communist troops joined the fray, and pushed the United Nations troops back south to the 38th parallel in bitter winter fighting, where the allies held through their superior air power and nearly hub-to-hub artillery. MacArthur insisted on bombing Chinese Manchurian military bases and blockading Chinese ports. President Truman felt this might lead to a nuclear war between the United States on the one hand, and China and the Soviet Union on the other, so he relieved MacArthur of his command, and replaced him with General Matthew B Ridgway in April, 1951. From then into 1952 there was essentially a stalemate at the 38th parallel, with mostly sporadic, localized fighting. Peace negotiations were underway between the two sides at P’anmunjom, a village in central Korea three miles south of the 38th parallel. However, it would be July, 1953 before an armistice could be reached.
The Korean War also marked the peak of the so-called Cold War which had actually started at the end of World War II in 1945. This was a period of confrontation on geographic, political, and propaganda fronts between the Soviet Union and the Communist states of eastern Europe on one side, and the United States and its allies on the other.
One phase of the Cold War was waged in the north, where the United States and Canada engaged in setting up the Pinetree, Mid-Canada, and Dew Lines of radar networks, designed to detect early Soviet incursions or ballistic missiles coming over the North Pole. This intelligence information was collected at the headquarters of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), which was situated in the bowels of Cheyenne Mountain, near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Updated: July 30, 2002