These pictures were taken during the Korean War 1950-53. They are also reproduced in Bevin Alexander’s Korea: The First War We Lost. The book can be purchased by clicking the word Books on the navigation bar at the top of each page.
1. The Potsdam Conference of victorious Allies in July, 1945, brought the Soviet Union’s commitment to entering the war against Japan. The result was a Soviet occupation of northern Korea and Korea’s partition along the 38th parallel. (U.S. Signal Corps photo.)
2. At the Moscow conference in December, 1945, Ernest Bevin (left), British foreign secretary; V.M. Molotov (center), Soviet foreign minister, and James F. Byrnes, U.S. secretary of state, agreed on a four-power commission to rule Korea. But the Soviets undermined the commission and established communist rule in the north. (Wide World photo.)
3. Task Force Smith arrives at the Taejon rail station. On July 5, 1950, near Osan, this untried force of about half a battalion, mostly teenagers, stood alone against a North Korean division and a large tank force. (Defense Department photo.)
4. U.S. bombs drop on railway bridges at Seoul in early July, 1950. The broken highway bridge at the right was blown without warning by South Korean themselves early on June 28, sending hundreds of fleeing South Korean soldiers and civilians to their deaths. (U.S. Air Force photo.)
5. The Soviet Union’s seat is conspicuously vacant as the UN Security Council votes on June 27, 1950, to use force to push North Korean troops out of South Korea. ( New York Timesphoto.)
6. A marine air-observer team guides a marine Corsair in for a strike on an enemy-held hill. The “black Corsairs” were highly praised by army and marines alike for their precision strikes on targets and their extremely close support of forward units. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
7. Marines move around North Korean T34 tanks knocked out in Pusan Perimeter battle in late summer, 1950. A dead North Korean soldier lies on the tank in the foreground. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
8. Bagpipers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on August 29, 1950, pipe ashore at Pusan a battalion of their Scottish regiment and a battalion of the English Middlesex Regiment; the first allied ground forces to join the Americans and South Koreans. (U.S. Army photo.)
9. Marines seek cover behind an M26 Pershing tank west of Masan during Pusan Perimeter engagement in late summer, 1950. A dead North Korean soldier lies on ledge at left. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
10. Millions of Koreans were uprooted from their homes by bombing, shelling or fear and attempted to flee to safety. Pusan and other cities in the south became giant refugee camps, with people sleeping on the streets. (Defense Department photo.)
11. Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers march in typical column formation toward the front in August, 1950, during the Pusan Perimeter battle. This is a standard narrow dirt Korean road raised above rice paddies. (U.S. Army photo.)
12. Brigadier General F.W. Farrell, Korean Military Advisory Group chief, confers on August 18, 1950, with Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker (seated in jeep), Eighth Army commander, during the height of the Pusan Perimeter battle. (U.S. Army photo.)
13. During the North Korean offensive in the summer of 1950, an American F-80 jet strafes an enemy T34 tank and jeep in the road and vehicles and troops in the village. (U.S. Air Force photo.)
14. A Corsair shepherds part of the armada assembled for the Inchon invasion on September 15, 1950, the world’s last great amphibious landing. (U.S. Navy photo.)
15. General Douglas MacArthur watches bombardment of Inchon from the bridge of the USS Mount McKinley . He is flanked by (from left) Vice Admiral A.D. Struble, Major General E.K. Wright, and Major General Edward M. Almond, X Corps commander. (U.S. Navy photo.)
16. Four LSTs unload on the beach at Inchon as marines gather equipment to move rapidly inland on September 15, 1950. Landing ships were stuck in the deep mud flats between one high tide and the next. (U.S. Navy photo.)
17. The commander of the 1st Marine Division, Major General Oliver P. Smith (left), discussing action immediately after Inchon landing, September 15, 1950, with his boss, army Major General Edward M. Almond, X Corps commander. At right is Major General Field Harris, commander of the marine air wing that provided close support to attacking units. (Defense Department photo, Marine Corps.)
18. General Douglas MacArthur (in leather jacket) and an entourage of press and brass examine bodies of North Korean soldiers at advanced marine positions east of Inchon on September 17, 1950. The marine in camouflage helmet holds a Russian-made submachine gun known to Americans as a burp gun. (U.S. Army photo.)
19. Marines carry a wounded comrade while other marines hold positions in the assault on the outskirts of Seoul, September, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
20. A marine infantryman keeps cover as he looks over the Han river valley near Seoul four days after the flanking movement against Inchon. (U.S. Navy photo.)
21. Much of Seoul was destroyed in vicious street battles in September, 1950. Here marine infantry lead an M26 tank in the attack. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
22. A marine tank supports South Korean soldiers guarding North Korean prisoners captured in the assault on Seoul, September, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
23. U.S. 7th Division infantry wait as an army M4A3 Sherman tank clears a gap in a barricade during the street-by-street North Korean defense of Seoul in September, 1950. (U.S. Army photo.)
24. Breakout from the Pusan Perimeter: Koreans move back to their homes at Waegwan as U.S. infantrymen advance after the fleeing North Koreans. Soldier in foreground is carrying a Browning Automatic Rifle. (U.S. Army photo.)
25. The legacy of war: 1st Cavalry Division troops move on north in the fall of 1950, leaving a shattered Korean village behind. (U.S. Army photo.)
26. When a single vehicle moved on one of the narrow dirt roads that served as practically the only arteries in Korea, it usually raised a column of dust. When convoys such as this passed with artillery prime movers and trucks, the dust cloud could be choking. (U.S. Army photo.)
27. Zhou Enlai (left), Communist Chinese premier and foreign minister, stands with Chairman Mao Zedong and Lin Biao (right), one of Red China’s outstanding commanders. (Eastphoto.)
28. This battalion of The Royal Australian Regiment distinguished itself in Korea in a number of engagements. In its first fight the Aussies, using mainly rifles and bayonets, routed a North Koran regiment. (British Commonwealth Occupation Forces Japan photo.)
29. Red Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai receives Mme. Vijayalakshmi Pandit, with an Indian cultural delegation, and K.M. Panikkar, Indian ambassador to Beijing. (Eastphoto.)
30. Chinese Communist infantry moving to an attack in Korea. (Eastphoto.)
31. A Chinese soldier displays knocked-out U.S. tank of 1st Cavalry Divison in the early months of the Chinese intervention. (Eastphoto.)
32. Members of the Turkish Brigade move into position in December, 1950, shortly after suffering severe casualties attempting to block encirclement of the U.S. 2nd Division at the Chongchon river in North Korea. (UPI/Bettmann Newsphoto.)
33. Frozen bodies of American marines, British commandos and South Korean soldiers are gathered for group burial at Koto-ri. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
34. Marine Corsairs have just struck Chinese positions in the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir area of northeast Korea with jellied gasoline napalm. Close air support was a key to the successful retreat to the sea in December, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
35. Marines take up temporary defensive positions in the retreat from the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
36. Marines in the retreat from the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir halt while leading elements clear a Chinese roadblock. (Defense Department photo.)
37. This C-47 is being unloaded at the tiny Hagaru-ri airstrip at Changjin (Chosin) reservoir. From here 4,312 wounded and frostbitten men were evacuated by air in the five days before the retreat to the sea began. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
38. The marine and army retreat from the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir in December, 1950, occurred in temperatures around zero degrees Fahrenheit. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
39. Marines reclaimed all their dead on the retreat from Changjin (Chosin) reservoir. Infiltrating Chinese soldiers stripped clothing from some of the bodies. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
40. This sixteen-foot hole was blown by Chinese soldiers in the single road from Changjin (Chosin) reservoir to the sea. Bridge sections dropped by air permitted this gap to be spanned and men and equipment to get out. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
41. These are some of the 385 able-bodied survivors of the 2,500 army 7th Division men caught in a series of Chinese ambushes along the eastern shore of the Changjin (Chosin) reservoir in late November, 1950. (U.S. Marine Corps photo.)
42. Marines move toward evacuation ships at Hungnam harbor in December, 1950, as the United Nations abandons northeast Korea. (U.S. Army photo.)
43. When United Nations troops began evacuating northeast Korea after the Chinese offensive of November, 1950, many North Koreans wanted to go along. Here at Hungnam some of the 98,000 civilians carried to South Korea board ships for the journey. (Defense Department photo.)
44. U.S. ordinance teams detonate great stocks of American ammunition at Hungnam as the last troops of X Corps withdraw in landing craft and abandon the effort to conquer North Korea. (U.S. Navy photo.)
45. Infantry of the 19th Regiment, 24th Division, retreat ten miles south of Seoul on January 3, 1951. (U.S. Army photo.)
46. An American F-80 jet attacks North Korean vehicles in the open. The F-80 was armed with six .50-caliber machine guns and could carry rockets and bombs. (U.S. Air Force photo.)
47. Winter battle: a machine-gun crew rests above a Korean village after assaulting a Chinese position. (U.S. Army photo.)
48. A wounded soldier of the French Battalion is readied to be carried back for medical care. The French Battalion gained renown and suffered high losses at Chipyong-ni in early 1951 and on Heartbreak Ridge in the fall of 1951. (UPI/Bettmann Newsphoto.)
49. Men of the 25th Division observe an artillery concentration beginning to land on a Chinese position in central Korea in March, 1951. (U.S. Army photo.)
50. Infantry of the 25th Division advance in central Korea in late March, 1951. (U.S. Army photo.)
51. Four white-phosphorus artillery shells drop on Chinese positions in front of the 25th Division on the western (I Corps) front in February, 1951. (U.S. Army photo.)
52. Chinese soldiers captured near Hwachon reservoir in central Korea await shipment at 24th Division headquarters. (U.S. Army photo.)
53. A 3rd Division twin-40mm antiaircraft artillery weapon fires direct support against Chinese positions on the western (I Corps) front near the 38th parallel. (U.S. Army photo.)
54. Soldiers of the English Gloucestershire Regiment battalion stop for afternoon tea. In April, 1951, this battalion was overrun by a massive Chinese attack and only a few of its members reached UN lines. (Defense Department photo.)
55. A battery of 155mm Long Tom rifles fire north of Seoul in May, 1951, as United Nations troops move up behind withdrawing Chinese. (U.S. Army photo.)
56. Major General William M. Hoge (right), commander of IX Corps, studies map at Chunchon airstrip, May, 1951, with General Matthew B. Ridgway (left), Far East commander, and Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet, Eighth Army commander. (U.S. Army photo.)
57. A U.S. 3rd Division medic gives blood to a wounded North Korean soldier. (U.S. Army photo.)
58. To protect against American artillery fire and air attacks, the Chinese and North Koreans created deep underground tunnels, rooms and bunkers nearly impervious to all but direct hits by heavy-caliber weapons. These Chinese soldiers are armed with “potato masher” grenades. (Eastphoto.)
59. An American F-80 Shooting Star stands on its wing tip in June, 1951, to avoid smoke from an earlier aerial attack against a communist-held hilltop. (U.S. Air Force photo.)
60. Men of the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Division, climb a steep slope on Bloody Ridge on September 5, 1951. This regiment suffered severe casualties in this and the subsequent Heartbreak Ridge battles. (U.S. Army photo.)
61. Red Chinese soldiers cover Americans emerging from a cave to surrender. (Eastphoto.)
62. This is Bloody Ridge, occupied by survivors of the 9th Infantry Regiment, after it was captured on September 5, 1951. It cost 2,700 American and South Korean casualties and an estimated 15,000 North Korean casualties. The battle of Heartbreak Ridge, which followed Bloody Ridge, claimed 3,700 American and French casualties and an estimated 25,000 North Koreans and Chinese. (U.S. Army photo.)
63. Two Chinese Communist soldiers in their standard padded cotton uniforms stand guard on the edge of the neutral zone at Panmunjom, midway between the communist and United Nations lines, where the two-year truce talks were largely held. (U.S. Navy photo.)
64. The essence of ridgeline battle conditions in Korea: marines in trenches crouch for cover as a Chinese 82mm mortar round lands on their positions. Most casualties on both sides were caused by mortar and artillery fire. (U.S. Navy photo.)
65. An enemy mortar round lands directly on a marine ridgeline position. (Defense Department/ Marine Corps photo.)
66. The central valley of Koje-do, where most of the compounds housing North Korean and Chinese prisoners of war were located. Near here also is where Brigadier General Francis T. Dodd, camp commandant, was captured by POWs and released only after another U.S. general issued a highly damaging statement indicating POWs had been killed and abused. (U.S. Army photo.)
67. Extremely crowded POW enclosures on Koje-do reduced United Nations control and permitted Red POW leaders to direct riots and other violence by prisoners. (U.S. Army photo.)
68. A Fifth Air Force F-51 Mustang drops napalm jellied gasoline tanks on an industrial target in North Korea in August, 1951. (U.S. Air Force photo.)
69. As the Korean War went on, American air power methodically demolished virtually everything in North Korea having any military significance whatsoever. Here supply warehouses at the east-coast port of Wonsan are bombed in July, 1951.
70. A marine F4U Corsair pulls up from a bombing run on a Chinese-held hill in western Korea in October, 1952. (U.S. Navy photo.)
71. A widely distributed photo showing a child killed in what the Red Chinese called a 1953 U.S. B-29 attack on the Manchurian border city of Antung, opposite Sinuiju on the Yalu river. (Eastphoto.)
72. General Mark W. Clark, Far East commander, signs the Korean armistice agreement on July 27, 1953, after two years of negotiation, during which hundreds of thousands of men were killed and wounded in continued hostilities. (U.S. Navy photo.)
73. North Korean Premier Kim Il Sung prepares to sign armistice handed to him July 27, 1953, by General Nam Il, head of the communist delegation at Panmunjom. (Eastphoto.)
74. Chinese Communist commander Peng Dehuai signs Korean armistice at Kaesong. (Eastphoto.)
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