Battle of Osan

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Osan
partof=Korean War
date=4 July 1950
place=Osan, South Korea
result= Decisive North Korean victory
combatant1=flagicon|United States|1912 United States
combatant2=flagicon|North Korea North Korea
commander1=LTC. Charles B. Smith
commander2=
strength1=540
strength2=1,100
casualties1=120 killed,
36 captured
casualties2=42 killed,
85 wounded|

The Battle of Osan was the first engagement between United States and North Korean forces during the Korean War. Vastly outnumbered and ill-equipped, U.S. Task Force Smith of 540 men suffered 180 casualties while inflicting about 120 casualties on the North Korean force and delaying them half a day.

Background

Task Force Smith was named for Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith, commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 21st Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. The division had M24 Chaffee light tanks and M3 Half-tracks, but no one thought beforehand of getting hydraulic fluid for the M24s and flying them by cargo plane to give the needed mobility, armor protection or firepower. Another option was to use LSTs and move the M24 light tanks and half-tracks by sea, which was also not considered. Instead, the force was moved by a hodge-podge of wheeled trucks.

The unit comprised 406 officers and men: half of the battalion headquarters company, two understrength rifle companies (B and C), a communications section, a recoilless rifle platoon and two mortar platoons. As a result of steady defense cutbacks during the Truman administration, the task force was both understrength and under-equipped. [Blair, Clay, "The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953", Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press (2003) ISBN 1591140757] In addition to its rifles, the task force had two 75 mm recoilless rifles, two 4.2-inch mortars, six M9A1 2.36-inch "bazooka" rocket launchers and four 60 mm mortars. Supporting Task Force Smith were 108 men from the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion armed with six 105 mm howitzers. Ammunition for the howitzers consisted of High Explosive rounds and just six armor-piercing High Explosive Anti Tank (HEAT) anti-tank shells. Each man was issued 120 rounds of ammunition and two days' worth of C-rations. All the unit's equipment was of World War II vintage, and the men were from the Army of Occupation of Japan, which due to a combination of short budgets and other restrictions, had seen a steady reduction in combat training while in-country. Most of the men were 20 years old or less; only one-sixth had seen combat.

The men of Task Force Smith left Japan on the morning of 1 July 1950. Major General William Dean, 24th Division commander, ordered Smith to block the main road to Pusan as far north as possible.

On 4 July, Smith's divided command reunited at P'yongt'aek and was joined there by a part of the 52d Field Artillery Battalion. This artillery contingent comprised one-half each of Headquarters and Service Batteries and all of A Battery with 6 105-mm howitzers, 73 vehicles, and 108 men under the command of Lt. Col. Miller O. Perry. It had crossed from Japan on an LST on 2 July, disembarking at Pusan late that night. Two trains the next day carried the unit to Taejon. There General Church ordered Perry to join Smith at P'yongt'aek, and at about 21:00 that night Perry's artillery group entrained and departed northward. Because of the destroyed railroad station at P'yongt'aek, the train stopped at Songhwan-ni, where the artillerymen unloaded and drove on the six miles (10 km) to P'yongt'aek before daylight.

On 4 July, Task Force Smith set up a defensive position covering the road between the cities of Suwon and Osan.

Battle

Shortly after 07:00 on 5 July, a column of eight North Korean T-34 tanks, part of the 107th Tank Regiment of the 105th Armored Division, approached across the open plain from Suwon. The 105 mm howitzers first opened fire with high explosive rounds, which proved ineffective against the Soviet T-34 tanks. A single howitzer, deployed in a forward position and armed with the six HEAT rounds, then opened fire, damaging one T-34 and setting another on fire before being destroyed. Once in range, Task Force Smith engaged the tanks with 75 mm recoilless rifles and 2.36-inch M1A9 bazookas. 2nd Lt. Ollie Connor fired 22 2.36-inch bazooka rockets at a range of 15 yards into the rear of several T-34 tanks, where their armor was thinnest, without effect. Neither the 75mm recoilless rounds nor the 2.36-inch bazooka rocket warheads could penetrate the armor of the T-34. Although Col. Smith later stated that he believed that the rounds had deteriorated with age, the ineffectiveness of the 2.36-inch bazooka had been demonstrated repeatedly during World War II against German armor. [Green, Michael and Green, Gladys, "Weapons of Patton's Armies", Zenith Imprint Press (2000) ISBN 0760308217, 9780760308219, pp. 38-39] After raking US positions with shell and machine gun fire, killing or wounding 20 US soldiers, the North Korean column continued south unmolested.

Because of peacetime defense cutbacks, the 24th division had never received improved US M20 3.5-inch bazookas with M28A2 HEAT antitank ammunition, capable of defeating Soviet tanks. [Blair, Clay, "The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953", Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press (2003) ISBN 1591140757] The field artillery contingent also had no more HEAT howitzer rounds, by far the most effective weapon in defeating the T-34's frontal armor, because they were in very short supply.

At about 11:00, three more tanks were sighted advancing from the north. Behind them was a column of trucks, followed by two infantry regiments of the North Korean 4th Division. The column apparently was not in communication with the tanks that had preceded it.

It took about an hour for the head of the column to reach a point about 1,000 yards from the American position, when Smith ordered to open fire. American mortars and machine guns swept the North Korean column causing heavy casualties but did not stop the three tanks. These advanced to within 300 yards and raked the ridge with shell and machine gun fire.

Col. Smith held his position as long as he dared, but casualties mounted rapidly. His men were down to less than 20 rounds of ammunition each, and the North Koreans threatened to cut off the position. The North Korean tanks were to the rear of U.S. forces, and Smith consolidated his force in a circular perimeter on the highest ground east of the road. Under heavy North Korean mortar and artillery fire, the American defensive perimeter soon became untenable.

About 16:30, Smith ordered a withdrawal. Under heavy fire, the American troops abandoned many of their heavy weapons and equipment in sometimes precipitous flight. Not all soldiers received word of the withdrawal, and some men were captured by North Korean forces.

When the surviving members of Task Force Smith reached the battery position, Col. Smith was surprised to find it intact, with only Perry and one other man wounded. The artillerymen disabled the five remaining howitzers by removing their sights and breechblocks. Then all walked to the outskirts of Osan where they recovered most of their trucks that had been hidden earlier. There was no enemy pursuit.

Aftermath

In the battle approximately 150 American infantrymen were killed, wounded, or missing. North Korean casualties were approximately 42 dead and 85 wounded, with four tanks destroyed or immobilized. The North Korean advance was delayed approximately seven hours.

Much later, during the Pusan breakout offensive, U.S. troops advancing northward would discover a series of shallow graves containing the bodies of several 24th Infantry soldiers captured by North Korean forces. All had been shot in the back of the head, their hands still bound behind their backs with communications wire. [Hackworth, David H. and Sherman, Julie, "About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior", New York: Simon and Schuster (1989) ISBN: 0671526928]

References

* Appleman, Roy E., "South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu", Office of the Chief of Military History, US Army (1960)
* Blair, Clay, "The Forgotten War: America in Korea, 1950–1953", Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press (2003), ISBN 1591140757
*Green, Michael and Green, Gladys, "Weapons of Patton's Armies", Zenith Imprint Press (2000) ISBN 0760308217, 9780760308219
*Hackworth, David H. and Sherman, Julie, "About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior", New York: Simon and Schuster (1989) ISBN: 0671526928
* Heller, Charles E. and Stofft, William A., "America's First Battles, 1776-1965" (1986)

ee Also

* Bazooka
* Louis A. Johnson, US Defense Secretary

External links

* [http://www.kmike.com/Appleman/Chapter6.htm "American Ground Forces Enter the Battle"]