Truman Declares a National Emergency
On December 15, 1951, U.S. President Harry Truman gave a radio address from the White House and announced that he would proclaim a national emergency "because of great danger created by the Soviet Union."
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Chinese Treatment of Prisoners of War
The issue of Chinese treatment of UN prisoners of war is controversial. Cold war attitudes were often reflected in early reports which had limited actual data. On occasion, the Chinese People's Liberation Army was reported to provide emergency medical treatment for...
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Chinese People’s Liberation Army Attack
https://youtu.be/BjlrJzCfTMI I have been researching this topic for a historical novel I am writing about the Korean War. This video clip is not representative of Chinese attacks in the Korean War—People's Liberation Army attacks were typically carried out by smaller...
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Battles of Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge
By the summer of 1951, the Korean War had reached a stalemate a few miles north of the 38th parallel where UN and Communist forces clashed in several relatively small but bloody battles. The Battle of Bloody Ridge from mid-August to early September 1951 was an attempt...
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United Nations Forces in the Korean War
https://youtu.be/YBSAsvbTT3g Sixteen UN nations supplied fighting units and five sent military hospitals and field ambulances. Australia was one of the very first to contribute military personnel from all three services. The single largest UN contributor was the...
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Korean War Armistice Talks Begin
https://youtu.be/Znm5Xf7Xrlw In July 1951, peace talks began between the U.N. and North Korea in the village of Kaesong (later moved to nearby Panmunjon), just north of the future Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The desire to secure more territory and unresolved...
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Did The U.S. Deploy Bioweapons During the Korean War?
https://youtu.be/Y4ALYK8c5Yg A 1950s report published in Peking by an international commission concluded that the U.S. used bioweapons on North Korea. The report raised doubts about claims that captured Americans were brainwashed into confessing the use of such...
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Chinese PLA and UN Forces Ping-Pong Back & Forth
https://youtu.be/ygEm0sIZF8M May 16, 1951 - Chinese Communist Forces launch a second offensive in Korea and gain up to 20 miles of territory. May 21, 1951 - The U.S. Eighth Army counterattacks to drive the Communist Chinese and North Koreans out of South Korea....
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Commonwealth Forces in Battle of Kapyong
In April 1951 UN forces fought the Chinese Peoples Volunteer Army at the Battle of Kapyong in one of the most famous actions fought by the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian armies in the Korean War. In the battle, occurring during...
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Chinese Ground Offensive Spring 1951
https://youtu.be/zswdDufm8b0 Excellent summary of Combat Activities In Korea, 20 April Through 20 May 1951 In April 1951 the Chinese Peoples Volunteer Army (PVA) launched the first phase of its Spring Offensive with three field armies totaling 700,000 men against the...
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Chinese Spring Offensive Air War
https://youtu.be/HNgrTVzYDHA The Air Plan After their New Years' offensive, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army high command decided to use the People's Air Force in support of future ground operations. In preparation for this move, an air-ground training...
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Operation Ripper – Fourth Battle of Seoul
https://youtu.be/FV-uy5rXDCk With the UN Operation Ripper in March 1951, Seoul changed hands for the 4th time. Following the 8-day, late February offensive of Operation Killer that pushed PVA/KPA forces north of the Han River, Operation Ripper was intended...
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UN Forces Launch Major Counter-Offensive
https://youtu.be/hnlFxo3vUGA On January 25, 1950, after a series of cautious reconnaissance advances, the U.S. 8th Army, under the command of Gen Matthew Ridgway, initiated Operation Thunderbolt, a major attack against Chinese and North Korean forces near the Han...
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General Mathew Ridgway assumes command of 8th Army
https://youtu.be/wJG4fI6e7bE After General Walton "Johnnie" Walker, the commander of the US 8th Army in Korea, died in a jeep accident in December 1950, he was replaced by General Matthew Ridgway. General Ridgway was a seasoned veteran of WWII where he commanded the...
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U.S. , Chinese and North Korean Winter Uniforms
This Chinese soldier fighting in Korea 1950/53 is equipped with a Chinese Type 88 Hangyang rifle and wears a fur cap, the rice bag on his right side and bandoliers over his shoulders. Note also the cheap footwear and old-style leg wrappings. North Korean infantryman...
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1950 ~ Cold War Turns Hot in Korea
https://youtu.be/JWe1c58cR94 In the summer of 1950 the Soviet-equipped North Korean People's army (NKPA) steamrollered over the 38th parallel into South Korea. Overwhelming South Korean and American forces the NKPA advanced rapidly south to the Busan perimeter where...
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December 1950 Third Battle of Seoul
https://youtu.be/hnlFxo3vUGA On December 31, 1950 a force of 170,000 Chinese forces, augmented with North Korean troops, crossed the frozen Han River to attack Seoul. General Douglas MacArthur, anticipating that UN forces wouldn't be able to stop the Chinese advance,...
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Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River
https://youtu.be/F8UGXcSItC0 Along the Ch'ongch'on River On November 25, 1950, the Chinese 13th Army launched a series of surprise attacks along the Ch’ongch’on River Valley, decimating the U.S. 8th Army’s right flank while allowing Chinese forces to move rapidly...
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U.N. Forces Evacuate from Hungnam North Korea
https://youtu.be/VPUVcOiYodM Despite the rousing background music of the Battle Hymn of the Republic on this video, the harrowing retreat from the Chosin Reservoir debacle to the coast at Hungnam was desperate and dispiriting for US Marines and Infantry. Encyclopædia...
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Chinese Intervention
https://youtu.be/BjlrJzCfTMI In the late afternoon of November 1, 1950 thousands of Chinese soldiers, accompanied by eerie bugle calls, descended from the hills near Unsan, North Korea throwing hand grenades and firing burp guns at scattered units of the U.S. 8th...
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U.S. Intelligence Mistakes in Korea
https://youtu.be/EvRddxXFsyQ This "solid intelligence" might be a bit overstated... By early 1950 military build-up of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) forces and equipment along the 38th parallel was clearly identified by both U.S. Central Intelligence...
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China Invades Tibet
Wikipedia
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Truman & MacArthur on Wake Island
Source: October 1950 - Wikipedia https://youtu.be/rfmejTkQ4Lw On October 15, 1950 (one day after the Chinese army had crossed the Yalu) U.S. President Harry S. Truman and General Douglas MacArthur met on Wake Island to confer about...
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China Enters the Korean War
https://youtu.be/M_aY_GMcPng Historians still debate the relative positions of the USSR and Communist China re: involvement in the Korean War. The traditional view has been that, emerging from the catastrophe of WWII, Joseph Stalin insisted that the North Korean...
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Taiwan Strait Tension
https://youtu.be/wByvdYGfyiI Although U.S. policy in early 1950 was not directly poised to prevent a Communist Chinese invasion of the Nationalist Chinese stronghold on Taiwan, the outbreak of the Korean War changed the equation. On June 27, 1950, the United States...
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