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The Big Picture TV Series, Military Documentary, Public Domain
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00:09The United States Army presents The Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people.
00:36One of the finest tributes to the military stature of any country may be indicated by the number and variety
00:42of published works on its military history.
00:45Books reflecting the entire spectrum of opinion on the experience, achievements, and merits of wars fought.
00:54Our country has been fortunate to have produced so many capable military critics and historians to chronicle every major action
01:02of every major war we have engaged in.
01:06The Korean War has been no exception. Many volumes have been written about this ideological conflict. Many more will be
01:14written to be sure.
01:17I'm Sergeant Stewart Queen, your host for The Big Picture. In two previous Big Picture issues, we presented the Korean
01:25War from its start in the summer of 1950, through Thanksgiving Day of that year.
01:32In this issue, we will present the final chapter of the Korean War.
01:39These two books contain some penetrating thoughts about the Korean War.
01:46They were written by a distinguished citizen soldier, Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall.
01:54In these books, and in other documents he has written, General Marshall recorded the Korean War as he saw and
02:01analyzed the conflict.
02:02In 1951, the Department of the Army sent General Marshall to Korea, the third major conflict in which he served
02:10as an Army officer.
02:11The result of his experiences in Korea and his long and valuable experience with our military establishment make him eminently
02:21qualified to comment on the Korean War.
02:24And now, The Big Picture presents this distinguished citizen soldier, Brigadier General S. L. A. Marshall.
02:34General Marshall?
02:36General Marshall?
02:36Sergeant Queen.
02:37General Marshall, against the background of your far-reaching experience in wars we fought, what are some of your observations
02:45and conclusions in regard to the Korean fighting?
02:49Basically, the tactics of the Korean War taught us a lot about mountain fighting, defense against night attacks, and the
02:56like.
02:56But the fighting was essentially the same as World War II.
03:00That is, the battles were won by the infantry with the usual support from the other arms and services.
03:07But in one sense, the Korean War was different.
03:10In what respect, sir?
03:13Well, it was a total ideological war.
03:15That is to say, Communist North Korea, governed and supported by the Communist world, estimated that South Korea was ripe
03:23for the taking.
03:24In an ideological sense, the opportunity could not be overlooked to seize the territory and to extend Communism over more
03:33of Asia.
03:34Obviously, the Communist world planned to benefit from the quick victory in South Korea at our expense.
03:42Does this in any way explain the entry of the Chinese Communists into the Korean War?
03:48In part, yes.
03:50Primarily, I believe it was because our advancing United Nations forces came within tactical reach of Red China.
03:57Our forces had become overstretched and vulnerable to the attack, and they grabbed the opportunity.
04:04Before the Red Chinese attacked, the United Nations Command believed that Communist China would not enter the war if we
04:11confined our advance to the area south of the Yalu River.
04:14But it is a military fact, is it not, General?
04:18That it takes time, lots of time, to organize and move an army into position to attack.
04:25How did the Chinese Communists do this without revealing their plans to us?
04:30Give them their due.
04:33They are masters of concealment and deception.
04:36It took them 60 to 90 days to organize their so-called volunteer army, and it required another two weeks
04:44or more to move the army into a position to attack.
04:48Before the Red Chinese sprung the trap, they had moved 80,000 troops across the Yalu and into positions deep
04:56into North Korea.
04:58There was a total of 120,000 Chinese Communist troops ready when they attacked, and all of this accomplished without
05:07the United Nations Command realizing the intent of Red China.
05:13Deception or not, General, how did the Chinese Communists keep our air reconnaissance from spotting the large concentrations of troops,
05:21vehicles, and equipment moving into North Korea?
05:25Before they entered the war full length, the Chinese forces moved only at night.
05:32During the daylight hours, they packed themselves into whatever buildings, houses, and huts they could find.
05:37They were jammed in like sardines.
05:40Their vehicles and equipment were camouflaged expertly.
05:44They were not highly mobile, however.
05:47They advanced at the marching pace of a man.
05:50But their columns stayed concealed in day, and the few who walked abroad made expert use of shadows to foil
05:57air reconnaissance.
05:59It is at this point, General Marshall, that we're going to present the photographic record of the Korean War, starting
06:06with the 8th Army's offensive the day after Thanksgiving in 1950.
06:10An operation beginning with high hopes, but one which was quickly changed in its tactical complexion.
06:21Eighth Army's end of the war offensive was launched the day after Thanksgiving in 1950.
06:27It started out smoothly, but by nightfall of the second day, the UN was facing a new enemy in Korea,
06:34and a new war had begun.
06:36The Chinese rolled swiftly southward, splitting the Allied line and cutting off Marine and 7th Division troops in the east
06:44near the Chosin Reservoir.
06:53We took turns sleeping in the daytime. It was too cold at night.
06:57I heard later we lost more people from freezing and from enemy action.
07:05Even the mortar rounds froze through the caissons.
07:13The Chinese had an awful lot of people between us and the beach, but the harbor at Hung Nam was
07:18our only way out.
07:25All our resupply came by air. Without that we never could have made it.
07:31Same goes for the close air support we got from the Marine Air Wing and the Air Force.
07:43They fought their way toward the sea through an enemy force which outnumbered them five to one.
07:49Pausing only to evacuate wounded by air from Hagaroo, they pushed on, reaching safety on December 10th.
07:57They found Hung Nam a busy town.
08:08Within the harbor's perimeter, heavy weapons worked around the clock, throwing up a curtain of fire through which the enemy
08:14divisions dared not pass.
08:18Behind the guns, a near miracle of planning, organization and teamwork was taking place.
08:24A massive amphibious landing in reverse.
08:32In the space of 10 days, more than 100,000 fighting men were evacuated.
08:39North Koreans by the tens of thousands flocked to the dock area to plead for evacuation.
08:49From this one area, more than 90,000 North Koreans deserted their homes,
08:54rather than return to the life they had experienced under communism.
09:00We were the last to leave.
09:01When we were gone, the harbor would be too.
09:04We set blocks of TNT and laced hoses filled with jellied explosive all along the waterfront.
09:14When we left, the harbor was one big ticking time bomb.
09:31The evacuation convoy steamed southward toward the free ports of Pusan and Pohan.
09:36Their troops would re-land, re-group, and move back to engage the enemy.
09:43The military withdrawal by land was orderly as the rest of the 8th Army pulled back once again across the
09:4938th parallel.
09:54But for hundreds of thousands of civilians trying desperately to outrun the advancing communists,
09:59the journey southward was a nightmare of cold, weariness, and confusion.
10:07Old people pulled loads meant for oxen, or carried their precious few belongings on their backs.
10:13Children who had no part in the causes of war received full measure of its hardships just the same.
10:24On December 27th, General Ridgway arrived to replace General Walker, killed in a tragic Jeep accident.
10:33He was just in time for the enemy's New Year's Eve offensive.
10:47Once again UN troops pulled out of Seoul, blowing the Han River bridges behind them.
10:59Incheon, like Hung Nam, was evacuated by sea.
11:02Here too, we took pains to leave nothing behind which the enemy could use.
11:25In the south, the troops which had been taken off the beach at Hung Nam were re-grouped,
11:30and despite bitter weather, took advantage of a welcome opportunity to catch up with themselves.
11:47By mid-January, the enemy offensive had bogged down.
11:50Using fire-hardened troops, Ridgway launched a series of short, high-powered thrusts called Operation Killer.
11:58The enemy held a huge numerical advantage.
12:01Ridgway was out to eliminate it.
12:27Assault units moved up, expecting to meet great strength.
12:31They found surprising weakness.
12:34Under the pounding raids of Operation Killer, the enemy fell back.
12:39Ridgway pressed the advantage.
12:41No rest for the enemy, and not much more for 8th Army.
12:45If anybody ever invents a mattress that feels half as good as a patch of frozen ground felt then,
12:51you'll make a million dollars.
12:55Although destruction of enemy forces remained its prime objective,
12:59Operation Killer had evolved into a ground-gaining operation.
13:06The way things were going, we couldn't stay outnumbered for long.
13:10The word was they were losing 10 men to R1.
13:16For six weeks, the seasoned fighters of 8th Army scoured the countryside,
13:20inflicting fantastic losses on the retreating Reds.
13:24On March 7th, the enemy's main stronghold, east of Seoul, was smashed.
13:28The next step would be Seoul itself.
13:35On March 15th, Korean troops entered the city.
13:38They found a few old people and children.
13:42The Communists had fled.
13:44Across the full width of the peninsula, the enemy was retreating.
13:48Figure this one out. We're chasing them, and they're leaving surrender posters behind for us.
13:54In April, General James Van Fleet arrived to take over the 8th Army.
13:58A canny tactician, he replaced General Ridgway, who had been appointed Supreme Commander
14:03when General MacArthur returned to the United States.
14:06Within a week of Big Jim's arrival, he was fighting off the Communist Spring offensive.
14:12All available UN forces were needed to slow the enemy's human wave tactics.
14:32We had a routine. Hold until the ammo ran out, then pulled back and called for an airstrike.
14:49When foul weather grounded the Air Force, units north of Seoul were forced back across the Imjin River.
15:06Seoul was fortified against the coming second wave of the Red Offensive.
15:10Van Fleet was determined not to lose the capital city again.
15:15Whoever said the worst part about war is the waiting was right.
15:19Still, we didn't have to wait long.
15:39Every road, every valley approach had been zeroed in beforehand.
15:43The enemy lost thousands of men breaking through the curtain of fire, then faltered and lost his advantage.
15:53As the enemy turned once again to retreat northward, Van Fleet followed with mobile firepower.
16:10By June 2nd, we had recrossed the parallel.
16:13The enemy had spent 200,000 men, a third of his entire force, and gained nothing but the knowledge that
16:19numbers were not enough.
16:21Operation Killer continued without let-up.
16:37Within a month, truce feelers materialized into the first meetings at the red-held city of Kaesong.
16:43World peace hopes soared.
16:47World peace hopes soared.
16:47The chief UN negotiator was Vice Admiral Turner Joy.
16:50His opposite number, North Korea's chain-smoking General Nam Il.
16:56Pessimistic correspondents predicted the talks would drag on for as long as six weeks.
17:03With the opening of truce negotiations, the line became stabilized.
17:07With minor fluctuations, it would remain much the same until the ceasefire.
17:14New battle techniques were developed.
17:17In the eastern sector, a Marine battalion made history by securing a hill and no man's land from the air
17:22by helicopter.
17:24The first wave landed a shore party which would clear the small landing area needed.
17:34In a matter of minutes, the first copter load of aerial cavalry was arriving, fully equipped, fresh, ready for action.
17:46By using copters, the Marines secured commanding high ground within enemy territory without having to fight their way to it.
17:54Copters supplied the operation and evacuated troops at its completion, opening the way to a new concept in tactical troop
18:01movement.
18:05In Kaesong, the truce talks were already bogging down, deadlocked over the issue of a ceasefire line.
18:13We didn't like the setup in Kaesong.
18:16It was the enemy's home ground and he knew it.
18:21Nam Il used the talks as a propaganda loudspeaker.
18:24The so-called neutral area was crawling with armed red soldiers.
18:29We broke off the talks.
18:35Air Force saber jets ruled the skies.
18:38At this point in the fighting, the UN had lost less than 80 aircraft.
18:42Verified kills on communist planes numbered 510.
18:49On the sea, as in the air, United Nations firepower went virtually unchallenged.
19:03Near the end of October 1951,
19:06truce talks were resumed at the tiny farming village of Panmunjom.
19:10The UN delegates offered a compromise.
19:13They would accept the communists proposed ceasefire along the present battle lines
19:18if all other problems could be ironed out within 30 days.
19:22If not, all bets were off.
19:25The war virtually stopped, except for the constant booming of artillery.
19:30The UN was born in three years.
19:34The UN was born took 21 was born without the operation of his klats that Id have gone to.
19:37The brand was born without it.
19:39Little Bayber
19:40How did you spare would experience anything and their slay it?
19:48Not 54 They imagined becoming with Mr. Plumed one task four ne of the princes.
20:14Winter came, the deadline was passed, the war was on again.
20:19The deadlock issue now was the right of prisoners to free choice in the matter of repatriation.
20:24Both sides were adamant.
20:28Meantime, across the breadth of Korea were fought the bloody hill battles, names not
20:33difficult nor pleasant to remember.
20:37The deadlock.
20:39The deadlock.
20:43Let's go.
21:13Let's go.
21:57Let's go.
22:19Let's go.
22:42Let's go.
22:50Let's go.
23:12Let's go.
23:40Let's go.
24:10Let's go.
24:12Let's go.
24:31Let's go.
24:31Let's go.
24:33General, were there any other aspects of our psychological experience in Korea?
24:38Well, indeed there were.
24:40American troops were the best fighting men the United States has ever delivered to a battlefield.
24:46And they fought better than any troops before them.
24:49But they had no training in the ideological aspects of war.
24:54And so when American troops were captured, they were not prepared for the psychological warfare techniques of communist prison camps.
25:03We now know that they don't observe a civilized code and will resort to anything to break a prisoner of
25:11war.
25:12As a result of this experience, we have taken positive steps to correct this area of training the American soldier.
25:19The relatively new code of conduct for the armed forces is one of the results, is it not, General?
25:26Yes.
25:28A direct result of the Korean War.
25:30And we all know how important that code is today.
25:34And now, General, what are some of your other conclusions with regard to the war in Korea?
25:40One other point.
25:42We learned again in Korea that a trained reserve and ready National Guard are essential to our scheme for survival.
25:49I saw hundreds of reservists flown in and fitted into broken units in the great emergency of the 1950-51
25:56winter.
25:56However, these citizen soldiers had been suddenly lifted from their homes, but they kept their chins up.
26:03They fought bravely.
26:04The 8th Army couldn't have rebounded otherwise.
26:08At one time in Korea, our forces were about 50% reserve and National Guard.
26:15There's a great payoff in these civilian component programs.
26:19And why not?
26:21Men fight well because they're Americans.
26:24And, of course, the harder the training, the better the product.
26:29On behalf of all of us associated with the big picture television series, we thank you, Brigadier General S.L
26:36.A. Marshall, for your noteworthy comments on the Korean War.
26:39And your timely recognition of the continuing importance of the reserve and National Guard programs, which are today an important
26:47segment of our military establishment.
26:51Now, this is Sergeant Stewart Queen, your host for the big picture.
27:00The big picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people.
27:08Produced by the Army Pictorial Center.
27:15Presented by the Department of the Army, in cooperation with this station.
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