Quotulatiousness

July 3, 2023

The Battle That Prevented A Nuclear World War Three | Kapyong: The Forgotten War | Timeline

Filed under: Asia, Australia, Britain, Cancon, China, History, Military, USA — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Timeline – World History Documentaries
Published 2 Jul 2023

On April 24, 1951, following a rout of the South Korean army, the Chinese People Volunteer Army pursued their enemy to the lines of Australian and Canadian troops still digging fall-back defences, 39 kilometres to the rear. Here, sometimes at the length of a bayonet, often in total darkness, individual was pitted against individual in a struggle between a superpower and a cluster of other nations from across the world. They fought for a valley, the ancient and traditional invasion route to Seoul. If it fell the southern capital and the war, was lost. The United Nations troops had the military advantage of the high ground and artillery support: the Chinese relied entirely on vastly superior numbers. As a result, young men from both sides found a battle which was very close and very personal.

The Battle of Kapyong became the turning point of China’s Fifth Offensive in that Korea spring. The aim of the offensive was to finally drive the foreign troops out of South Korea and into the sea. What happened instead, changed the history of the Korean War. The Chinese were denied victory and forced back into negotiations. Had they succeeded, another crushing defeat for the US could have triggered events that led to a nuclear holocaust in Asia — and World War Three.

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Matt Lewis and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code ‘TIMELINE’ 👉 https://access.historyhit.com/

You can find more from us on:

https://www.tiktok.com/@timelineworld…

https://www.instagram.com/timelineWH

This channel is part of the History Hit Network. Any queries, please contact owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com

Related posts:

  1. North Korea rhetorically re-starts the not-officially-ended Korean War
  2. Korean War flare-up at sea
  3. Kim Jong-un tells North Korean troops to be ready “to annihilate the enemy”

1 Comment

  1. An interesting event that — probably for fear of British libel laws — wasn’t mentioned in this video but the Wikipedia page on the battle does cover:

    As darkness descended on 24 April, Burke, commanding officer of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade, decided not to utilize radio contacts with 2 PPCLI headquarters on the summit of Hill 677. Burke ordered a Douglas Dakota aircraft equipped with loudspeakers and personally flew over the 2 PPCLI positions on Hill 677.[119] He announced to the soldiers below that they were now on their own, cut off from any support and would have to fight the coming battle alone. He wished them good luck and encouraged them to fight bravely. He then flew back to Brigade HQ, amidst derisive response from the unsettled soldiers. Burke’s brief appearance over the battlefield served to cause further apprehension among the 2 PPCLI.[120] Many of the less experienced 2 PPCLI soldiers voiced a desire to run and abandon the position. Veteran war hero Tommy Prince played a central role in steadying and motivating the frightened men.[121] Stone and 2 PPCLI could no longer expect that 27th Brigade HQ forces would continue to engage the enemy or would assemble a relief column to break through the PVA stranglehold on the supply road at Tungmudae. Stone was never in any doubt as to the essential strategic significance of Hill 677 for the UN forces and he issued a straightforward order to his battalion, “No retreat, no surrender.”[122][123]

    Comment by Nicholas — July 3, 2023 @ 09:24

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Powered by WordPress