Tiger's Tail: Fire From the Sly

'I do not need Nuclear Weapons!' exclaimed Commander, US Forces, Korea. 'I need time.'
'You don't have it,' Defense Secretary Mattis replied.

As South Korean forces gathered in Seoul, Uijongbu and on the Han River, the Trump Administration made he still controversial decision to fly into Korea units of the 82nd Airborne Division.  As the battle of Uijonhbu was beginning, one brigade of the division was airlifted to Inchon International Airport with no heavy equipment. Units of the brigade debarked and proceeded across the causeway to shore A second brigade was just a few hours behind.

For three days American, South Korean, and Japanese air power mercilessly hammered North Korean logistics. Everywhere throughout the peninsula one heard the sound of aircraft. After the first day of the war these were almost universally friendly and in their quest to gain air superiority, Allied air forces scored an impressive 133-7 kill record.

Command and control targets throughout the north were hammered by sustained Tomahawk strikes. One spectacular strike leveled party headquarters and the presidential palace in Pyongyang. But the main effort fell upon North Korean logistics running to the south.

By the end of the 3rd day of the war these strikes had taken their toll on the North Koreans. It is now known that North Korean armor and mechanized units were short of fuel and ammunition. Supply trucks that entered the Red Triangle had a 50/50 chance of making it to the front. During the 4th day of the war, North Korean troops , never particularly well fed, were actually going hungry.

Indeed it was North Korea's sustained food shortages that great hampered their sabotage efforts...