The Battle of Osan () was the first engagement between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. On July 5, 1950, Task Force Smith, an American

task force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

of 540

infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...

supported by an

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

, was moved to

Osan Osan (; ) is a Subdivisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, approximately south of Seoul. The population of the city is around 200,000. The local economy is supported by a mix of agricultural and industrial enterprises. ...

, south of

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, the capital of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and was ordered to fight as a

rearguard A rearguard or rear security is a part of a military force that protects it from attack from the rear, either during an advance or Withdrawal (military), withdrawal. The term can also be used to describe forces protecting lines, such as Line of c ...

to delay the advancing North Korean forces while more US troops arrived to form a stronger defensive line to the south. The task force lacked both

anti-tank guns An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...

and effective infantry anti-tank weapons and had been equipped with obsolete 2.36-inch (60 mm) rocket launchers and a few 57 mm recoilless rifles. Aside from a limited number of

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

shells for the unit's 105 mm

howitzers The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...

, crew-served weapons that could defeat T-34/85 tanks from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

had not yet been distributed to the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

forces in South Korea. A North Korean tank column equipped with ex-Soviet T-34/85 tanks overran the task force in the first encounter and continued its advance south. After the North Korean tank column had breached US lines, the task force opened fire on a force of some 5,000 North Korean infantry that were approaching its position, which held up their advance. North Korean troops eventually flanked and overwhelmed the US positions, and the rest of the task force retreated in disorder.

Outbreak of war

During the night of June 25, 1950, ten divisions of the North Korean People's Army launched a full-scale invasion of its southern neighbor, the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. The North Korean force of 89,000 men moved in six columns, caught the

Republic of Korea Armed Forces The Republic of Korea Armed Forces (), also known as the ROK Armed Forces, are the armed forces of South Korea. The ROK Armed Forces is one of the largest and most powerful standing armed forces in the world with a reported personnel strength o ...

by surprise, and routed them. The smaller South Korean Army suffered from widespread lack of organization and equipment and was unprepared for war. The numerically-superior North Korean forces destroyed isolated resistance from the 38,000 South Korean soldiers on the front before they began moving steadily to the south. Most South Korean forces retreated in the face of the invasion. The North Koreans had captured South Korea's capital,

, by June 28, which forced the government and its shattered army to retreat further south. To prevent South Korea's collapse, the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

voted to send military forces. The US Seventh Fleet dispatched Task Force 77, led by the fleet carrier USS ''Valley Forge''; the British Far East Fleet dispatched several ships, including HMS ''Triumph'', to provide air and naval support. Although the navies blockaded North Korea and launched aircraft to delay the North Korean forces, those efforts alone did not stop the North Korean Army juggernaut on its southern advance. US President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

ordered ground troops into the country to supplement the air support. The strength of US forces in the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

, however, had steadily declined since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, five years earlier, and the closest unit was the 24th Infantry Division of the

Eighth United States Army The Eighth Army is a U.S. field army which commands all United States Army forces in South Korea. It is headquartered at the Camp Humphreys in the Anjeong-ri of Pyeongtaek, Pyeongtaek, South Korea.division was understrength and using outdated equipment. Division Commander Major General William F. Dean determined that the 21st Infantry Regiment was the most combat-ready of the 24th Infantry Division's three regiments. He decided to send the 1st Battalion from the formation because its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Bradford Smith, was the most experienced leading man since he had fought at the

Battle of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during the Pacific Theater of W ...

during World War II.

C-54 Skymaster The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian ...

transport aircraft

airlift An airlift is the organized delivery of Materiel, supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material lo ...

ed one battalion from the division garrison under Smith's command into Korea. The battalion deployed quickly to block advancing North Korean forces and performed a holding action while the rest of the division could be moved to South Korea by sea.

Task Force Smith

The first units of the 24th Infantry Division left Itazuke Air Base in Japan on June 30.

Task Force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

Smith, named after its commander Charles Bradford Smith, had 406 men of the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, and 134 men of A Battery, 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Miller O. Perry. The forces were both poorly equipped and understrength: 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, had only two

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

(B and C companies), instead of the normal three for a US Army battalion. The battalion had half of the required number of troops in its headquarters company, half of a communications

platoon A platoon is a Military organization, military unit typically composed of two to four squads, Section (military unit), sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the Military branch, branch, but a platoon can ...

, and half of a heavy weapons platoon, which was armed with six obsolescent M9A1 Bazooka rocket launchers, two 75 mm recoilless rifles, two 4.2 inch mortars, and four 60 mm mortars. Much of the equipment was drawn from the rest of the understrength 21st. A Battery, which formed the entire artillery support for the task force, was armed with six 105 mm

. The howitzers were equipped with 1,200 high explosive (HE) rounds but were incapable of penetrating tank armor. Only six

high explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) rounds were issued to the battery, all of which were allocated to the number six howitzer sited forward of the main battery emplacement. A Battery also had four .50 calibre

M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chambered ...

heavy machine guns and four bazookas. Most of the soldiers of the task force were teenagers with no combat experience and only eight weeks of basic training. Only a third of the officers in the task force had combat experience from World War II, and only one in six enlisted soldiers had combat experience. Many of them still volunteered to join the task force. The soldiers were each equipped with only 120 rounds of ammunition and two days of C-rations. By July 1, Task Force Smith had fully arrived in South Korea and briefly established a headquarters in Taejon. The task force soon after began moving north by rail and truck to oppose the North Korean Army. Task Force Smith was the first of several small US units sent into Korea with the mission to take the initial "shock" of North Korean advances and to delay much larger North Korean units with the goal, which would buy time to allow more U.S. units into Korea. Task Force Smith's mission was to move as far north as possible and to begin engaging the North Koreans to stem their advance so that the rest of the 24th Infantry Division could be moved into South Korea to reinforce it. The 24th Division commander, William F. Dean, personally ordered Smith to stop the North Korean force along the highway from

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

and "as far from Pusan" as possible. Three days later, on July 4, it dug in on two hills straddling the road north of the village of Osan, south of Suwon and about south of Seoul. The ridges rose to above the road, which provided visibility almost the entire distance to Suwon. The battalion set up a line over the ridges. There, they waited to meet the advancing North Korean forces. The force was placed along the road with the infantry formations on the two hills, five of the howitzers behind the infantry, and the sixth with its six HEAT shells positioned halfway between the infantry and the other five field artillery pieces. Heavy rain made air support impossible and so Smith and Perry preregistered the artillery battery in the hope it would be just as effective. The heavy machine guns and bazookas of A Battery along with a volunteer crew were sent forward to reinforce the infantry.

Battle

Tank columns

At around 0730 on July 5, Task Force Smith spotted a column of eight North Korean T-34/85 tanks of the 107th Tank Regiment, North Korean 105th Armored Division heading south toward them. The North Korean forces, driving south from Seoul, pursued retreating South Korean forces. At 08:16, the artillery battery fired its first rounds at the advancing North Korean tanks. The tanks, which were around from the infantry force, were hit with numerous 105 mm howitzer rounds, but they were unaffected. When the tanks closed to , the 75 mm recoilless rifles fired and scored direct hits on the lead tanks but did not damage them. The North Korean tanks returned fire but could not locate the American positions and gun emplacements, and their fire was ineffective. Once the tanks reached the infantry line Second Lieutenant Ollie Connor fired 22 2.36-inch rockets at a range of from his M9A1 launcher tube. Only some of these ignited, but several struck the rear plate armor of several T-34s, where their armor was thinnest. The warheads failed to penetrate the armor, however, and the North Korean tanks continued their advance, ignored the roadblock, and continued down the road. The operators assumed that the roadblock was manned by South Korean troops and ignored it since it did not pose them a serious threat. When the tank column came over the crest of the road, the forward howitzer, commanded by Corporal Herman V. Critchfield, the chief of section, and crewed by five cannoneers, fired its HEAT rounds, damaged the first two tanks, and set one of them on fire. One of the crew members of the burning tank emerged with a

PPSh-41 The PPSh-41 () is a selective-fire, open-bolt, blowback submachine gun that fires the 7.62×25mm Tokarev round. It was designed by Georgy Shpagin of the Soviet Union to be a cheaper and simplified alternative to the PPD-40. The PPSh-41 saw ...

and killed a member of an American machine gun crew before he was killed himself; the American became the first casualty of Korean War ground combat. He was later identified, incorrectly, as Kenneth R. Shadrick. The howitzer, depleted of HEAT rounds, began firing high explosive rounds before it was destroyed by the third T-34. The tanks then advanced and continued to ignore the American howitzer and bazooka fire. The US forces managed to disable another North Korean T-34 when a 105 mm shell struck and damaged its tracks. The tracks of the T-34 tanks cut the communication signal wires between the infantry and artillery forces, which further compounded the confusion. Perry was wounded in the leg by North Korean small arms fire as he attempted to get the crew of the disabled tank to surrender. His artillery force continued firing at the North Korean tanks without effect. The second column of 25 T-34 tanks approached the task force within an hour. The new T-34 formation advanced singly or by twos and threes close together with no apparent formal organization. The howitzer battery hit another tank from the column in its tracks, disabled it, and damaged three more. The North Korean tanks had destroyed the forward howitzer (number six) and wounded one of its crew members, killed or wounded an estimated 20 infantrymen, and destroyed all of the parked vehicles behind the infantry line. At the main battery position, one of the five remaining 105 mm guns had been slightly damaged by a near-hit. Several of the men in the artillery battery began deserting their positions, but Perry managed to convince most of them to return. Although 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. Because of peacetime defense cutbacks, the 24th Infantry Division had never received improved M20 3.5-inch "Super Bazookas" with M28A2 HEAT antitank ammunition, which could defeat Soviet tanks. After the last tanks had passed their lines, no North Korean forces were spotted for around an hour.

Infantry column

Three more tanks were sighted advancing from the north at around 11:00. Behind them were a column of trucks long, carrying two full infantry regiments; the 16th Infantry Regiment; and the 18th Infantry Regiment of the North Korean 4th Infantry Division, which amounted to almost 5,000 troops under the command of Major General Lee Kwon Mu, which were advancing from Seoul. The column apparently was not in communication with the tanks that had preceded it, and the North Korean infantry was not aware of the Americans' presence. At 11:45, when the column had advanced to within of the Americans, Smith gave the order for the task force to open fire with everything that it had. The mortar, machine gun, artillery, and rifle fire destroyed several trucks, which scattered the column. The three lead tanks moved to within of Task Force Smith and opened fire. Behind them, around 1,000 of the infantry formed in the rice paddies to the east of the road in an attempt to flank the American forces, but they were repulsed. Smith attempted to order artillery fire on the North Korean force, but runners were unable to get back to the field artillery positions and so he assumed they had been destroyed by the tanks. Within 45 minutes, another enveloping force formed to the west of the road, which forced Smith to withdraw a platoon to the east side of the road. The US infantry then began to take mortar and artillery fire from the North Koreans.

American withdrawal

Task Force Smith managed to hold its lines for three hours, but at 14:30, Smith ordered the Americans to withdraw since they suffered from low ammunition and a breakdown of communications. North Korean forces were then moving on both flanks of the American force and toward the rear of the formation. Smith ordered an orderly withdrawal of the force one unit at a time to allow the rest of the force to cover it as it withdrew. C Company pulled back, followed by the American medics, the headquarters, and finally B Company. 2nd Platoon, B Company, however, did not receive the withdrawal order. When the platoon discovered that it was alone, it was too late for an orderly withdrawal, and the platoon could not move its wounded quickly enough. The platoon left most of its equipment in its positions, which was captured by the North Koreans. Most of the survivors escaped captivity, but a number of wounded litter-borne US soldiers were left behind along with an attending medic. The American wounded were later found shot to death in their litters; the medic was never seen again. One North Korean officer later told the historian John Toland that the American forces at the battle seemed "too frightened to fight." Americanexecuted1950korea

The retreat quickly broke down into a confused and disorganized

rout A rout is a Panic, panicked, disorderly and Military discipline, undisciplined withdrawal (military), retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's discipline, command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale ...

. Task Force Smith suffered its highest casualties during the withdrawal since its soldiers were the most exposed to enemy fire. The surviving members of Task Force Smith reached Battery A's position. The artillerymen disabled the five remaining howitzers by removing their

sights A sight or sighting device is any device used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. ''aiming'') of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. ...

and breechblocks and retired in good order with the remains of the task force on foot to the northern outskirts of Osan, where most of the unit's hidden transport vehicles were found intact. The vehicles, unmolested by the North Korean forces, departed for Pyongtaek and

Cheonan Cheonan (; ) is the largest and most densely populated city of South Chungcheong Province, South Korea, and the third largest city in the Hoseo region after Daejeon and Cheongju. Cheonan borders Gyeonggi Province ( Pyeongtaek and Anseong) i ...

, picking up stragglers along the way and eventually joined units of the 24th Infantry Division that had established a second line of defense. Task Force Smith's force had 250 return to the American lines before nightfall, with about 150 more of the force killed, wounded, or missing. Most of the other stragglers found their way into the American lines over the next several days. The last stragglers from 2nd Platoon, B Company, reached Chonan five days later, only 30 minutes ahead of the North Korean Army. Upon the initial count, Task Force Smith suffered 20

killed in action Killed in action (KIA) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their personnel at the hands of enemy or hostile forces at the moment of action. The United States Department of Defense, for example, ...

, 130

wounded in action Wounded in action (WIA) describes combatants who have been wounded while fighting in a combat zone during wartime, but have not been killed. Typically, it implies that they are temporarily or permanently incapable of bearing arms or continuing ...

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty (person), casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoner of war, prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been ...

, and around 36 captured. After the end of the war, the figures were revised to 60 dead, 21 wounded and 82 captured, 32 of whom died in captivity. That casualty count accounted for 40% of Task Force Smith. The US troops advancing northward during the Pusan breakout offensive would later discover a series of shallow graves containing the bodies of several soldiers of the 24th Infantry Division. All of them had been shot in the back of the head, with their hands bound behind their backs with communications wire. 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.

Aftermath

The Battle of Osan was the first US ground action of the war. The fight showed that American forces were weak and unprepared for the war, and outdated equipment was insufficient to fight North Korean armor and poorly trained and inexperienced units were no match for better-trained North Korean troops, but the disparity in number of troops engaged certainly had a profound effect on the outcome of that battle and others. Undisciplined US troops abandoned their positions prematurely and left equipment and wounded for North Korean troops to capture. Smith also said he felt he had stayed too long in his position, which allowed North Korean troops to envelop the force and cause heavy casualties as it retreated. Those weaknesses would play out with other US units for the next month as North Korean troops pushed them further back. Though the force was badly defeated, Task Force Smith accomplished its mission of delaying North Korean forces from advancing for several hours. During the battle, the 24th Infantry Division's 34th Infantry Regiment set up in

Pyeongtaek Pyeongtaek (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Located in the southwestern part of the province, Pyeongtaek was founded as a union of two districts in 1940. It was elevated to city status in 1986 and is home to a South Korean naval b ...

, to the south. It would be similarly defeated at the Battle of Pyongtaek. Over the next month the 24th Infantry Division would fight in numerous engagements to delay North Korean forces with similar results. Within a week, the 24th Infantry Division had been pushed back to Taejon where it was again defeated in the Battle of Taejon. The North Koreans, repeatedly overwhelming US forces, pushed the Eighth Army all the way back to Pusan, where the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter would culminate in the eventual defeat of the North Korean Army. Three months later, on September 19, Osan would be the location where the US and UN forces, under the command of the Eighth Army, advancing from the south, would meet up with forces of X Corps, advancing from the north after having recently surprised the North Koreans with the Inchon Landings, as both forces were in an offensive pushing the North Koreans back, which would culminate in a complete defeat of the North Korean Army in the south. In the years after the Korean War, the US Army used the areas in Japan that Task Force Smith had trained as a memorial. A monument to Task Force Smith was also established on the Osan battlefield, where an annual commemoration of the Battle of Osan is held by the Eighth Army, which is still headquartered in South Korea. On July 16, 2010, sixty years after the Battle of Osan, Eighth Army leaders, in conjunction with government officials of Osan, held another ceremony, speaking of Task Force Smith and describing the engagement as "the opening shots of a war of ideas that exists even today." On the 61st anniversary, another ceremony was held by both the US military and Osan politicians to remember the task force.

Memorial

There is a memorial park - 'Osan Jukmiryeong Peace Park' in

. This park has a museum and a monument and opened in July 2020.오산 죽미령에 유엔초전기념 평화공원 9월 개관
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Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Official website of Osan Jukmiryeong Peace Park

Archived fro

on July 18, 2012.
First US Battle in Korea: Task Force Smith at Osan, 5 Jul 50
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Osan Battles and operations of the Korean War in 1950 Battles of the Korean War Battles of the Korean War involving North Korea Battles of the Korean War involving the United States History of Gyeonggi Province Osan July 1950 in Asia