British Commonwealth Forces Korea (BCFK) was the formal name of the

British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

army, naval and air units serving with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(UN) in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. BCFK included Australian, British, Canadian, Indian, and New Zealand units. Some Commonwealth units and personnel served with United States and/or other UN formations, which were not part of BCFK.

History

In 1950, Australian units based with the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, t ...

(BCOF) in Japan were among the first UN personnel to be deployed in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. After the administrative support role of BCOF in Japan to the fighting forces in Korea had been decided in November 1950, the title BCFK appeared.

Jeffrey Grey Jeffrey Guy Grey (19 March 1959 – 26 July 2016) was an Australian military historian. He wrote two volumes of '' The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975'', and several other high-profile works ...

, ''The Commonwealth Armies and the Korean War: An Alliance Study.'' Manchester University Press ND, 1990, , 9780719027703, p. 110 The position of BCFK Commander-in-Chief was always held by

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

officers, the first being Lieutenant General Sir

Horace Robertson Lieutenant General Sir Horace Clement Hugh Robertson, (29 October 1894 – 28 April 1960) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. He was one of the first graduates ...

. Liaison between the Commonwealth C-in-C and the UN high command was provided by a subordinate headquarters in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Seven months after BCFK came into being, the Commonwealth armies formed the

1st Commonwealth Division The 1st Commonwealth Division was the military unit that commanded Commonwealth land forces in the Korean War. The division was a part of the multinational British Commonwealth Forces Korea, with infantry units of the British Army, Canadian Arm ...

(in July 1951) and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

personnel predominated at the operational level in the Commonwealth land forces. Lieutenant General

William Bridgeford Lieutenant General Sir William Bridgeford, (28 July 1894 – 21 September 1971) was a senior officer in the Australian Army. He began his military career in 1913 and fought on the Western Front during the First World War, before rising to ...

took over from Robertson in October 1951, and he was later succeeded by Lieutenant General

Henry Wells Henry Wells (December 12, 1805 – December 10, 1878) was an American businessman important in the history of both the American Express Company and Wells Fargo & Company. Wells worked as a freight agent before joining the express business. Hi ...

. Wells was succeeded by Lieutenant General Rudolph Bierwirth in 1954. The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

usually had at least one

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

on station during the war. Five British carriers: ''Glory'', ''Ocean'', ''Theseus'', ''Triumph'', and (a maintenance and aircraft transport carrier) served in the conflict. The

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

provided the carrier HMAS ''Sydney''. The RN, RAN and

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

also provided many other warships. The

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; mi, Te Taua Moana o Aotearoa, , Sea Warriors of New Zealand) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of nine ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act ...

deployed a number of

Loch class frigate The Loch class was a class of anti-submarine (A/S) frigate built for the Royal Navy and her Allies during World War II. They were an innovative design based on the experience of three years of fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic and att ...

s throughout the war. The RN carriers provided the only British fighter planes to take part in the war. On 9 August 1952 a propeller-driven Sea Fury, piloted by Lieutenant

Peter Carmichael Commander Peter Carmichael, (11 August 1923 – 25 July 1997), nicknamed "Hoagy", was a combat pilot with the Royal Navy during and after the Second World War. Later, he became famous during the Korean War for shooting down a jet-engined MiG-15 ...

of No. 802 Squadron, based on HMS ''Ocean'', shot down a

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

jet fighter, becoming one of only a handful of pilots of propeller planes to have shot down a jet. The only front-line unit from a Commonwealth air force to serve under BCFK was

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) No. 77 Squadron, which initially flew

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

fighters and later converted to

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

jets. British and Canadian aircrews also served with the RAAF. The only

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

contribution was a wing of

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...

flying boats based at

Iwakuni is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. History Iwakuni was formerly the castle town of the Iwakuni han, which was formed by Lord Hiroie Kikkawa after he was banished there for supporting the defeated shōgun. The Kikkawa clan ruled ...

in Japan.

Footnotes

External links

Lt Col. John C. Blaxland, 2004, ''The Korean War: Reflections on Shared Australian and Canadian Military Experiences''

Historical Section, General Staff, Army Headquarters, 1956, ''Canada's Army in Korea: the United Nations Operations, 1950-53, and their Aftermath''
Royal Engineers and the Cold War (Korean War)

Royal Engineer pictures of the Korean War

French and English supported operations. Allies provide a unique perspective of naval operation in the Korean War ... *

European Korean war Veterans website (non-off) {{Korean War History of the Commonwealth of Nations UK British Commonwealth units and formations Military units and formations established in 1950 United Nations contingents in Korea Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the Korean War South Korea–United Kingdom relations Military units and formations of India British Commonwealth Occupation Force

History

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links