Breakout and Pursuit: The Drive from the Pusan Perimeter By the 1st Cavalry Division And Task Force Lynch

Some of our scientists do not understand the psychology of warfare. Infantry has a mortal fear of enemy tanks. The greatest morale-raising factor of this war was the arrival of American tanks which could knock out the Russian T-34. The tank is an essential member of the combat team. Major General Hobart Gay. Commanding General, 1st Cavalry Division in Korea, 1950.‘ On the 25th of June 1950, the North Korean Peoples Anny (NKPA) surprised the United States and the world by crossing the 38th parallel and invading South Korea. The Republic of Korea (ROK) Army fell back in disorder as the Communist forces drove deeply into South Korea, spearheaded by Russian-built T-34 tanks. The initial American forces sent to Korea could only slow the advance of the NKPA.

By the first week of August, Eighth United States Army and its ROK allies had been forced back into a perimeter around the port of Pusan. Grim resistance marked the battles of the Pusan Perimeter, as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur fed reinforcements to Eighth Army while planning a counterstroke aimed at Inchon. With the situation in the perimeter stabilized in mid-September, MacArthur launched X Corps (1st Marine Division and 7th Infantry Division) at Inchon on the 15th, directing Eighth Army to break out of the Pusan Perimeter and drive north to effect a link-up.

After securing a bridgehead over the Naktong River from 21-25 September 1950, the 1st Cavalry Division was poised to drive north and do just that. Major General Hobart Gay met with his regimental commanders at 0830 on the morning of 26 September 1950 at the schoolhouse in the village of Sangju. After almost three months of intense combat and constant fighting in defense of the Pusan Perimeter, the 1st Cavalry Division was finally going to go on the offensive and hurl its tanks and men into the heart of the North Korean Peoples Army. The 7th Cavalry would lead the dash of the division northwest to the link-up with X Corps. Lieutenant Colonel James H. Lynch’s 3d Battalion, 7th Cavalry (designated Task Force Lynch) would lead his regiment and the division in the breakout from the Pusan Perimeter. Colonel William A. Harris, commander of the 7th Cavalry and the regimental command group would follow Task Force Lynch, with 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry (designated Task Force Witherspoon) bringing up the rear and prepared to leapfrog past Task Force Lynch should the need arise? The 70th Tank Battalion’s M4A3 Sherman tanks would provide firepower and shock effect for the cavalrymen, with 2d and 3d platoons of C Company attached to Task Force Lynch.

Task Force Lynch moved out at 1130 hours with the Intelligence and.

Reconnaissance (I and R) Platoon leading Lieutenant Robert Baker and the three tanks of 2d platoon, C Company, 70th Tank Battalion. Baker’s tanks were followed by an engineer platoon from B Company, 8th Engineers, Colonel Lynch’s command group, I, L, and M Companies, 3/7 Cavalry Headquarters Company, K Company, C Battery, 77th Field Artillery (105-mm towed), with 2d Platoon, C Company, 70th Tank Battalion bringing up the rear. The infanh-y-men of the Task Force rode in two-and-a-half ton trucks in order to keep up with the swift moving lead elements. The task force objective was the village of Osan, nearly 102 miles away.

For miles there was no opposition, only the cheering of liberated Koreans as the task force moved through the countryside. At 1430 hours, the I and R Platoon and Baker’s tanks reached 26 ARMOR - the outskirts of Chongju, where Colonel Lynch moved the tankers into the lead instead of the unarmored jeeps. Baker ented the town and found it deserted, even though some Korean women told him that the NKPA would shoot their husbands if he continued into the town? The column left Chongju with the gun jeeps of the I and R Platoon back in the lead. At 1800 hours, after traveling approximately 64 miles, the task force halted to refuel the tanks. To the consternation of Colonel Lynch, the refuel truck for the tanks had not moved out with the rest of the task force. As it was getting dark, Colonel Lynch consulted with Colonel Harris, who was accompanying the column, about the possibility of proceeding to the rendezvous with the 7th Infantry Division with the headlights of the task force turned on! Colonel Harris agreed, and his bold decision was re-.-layed to Lieutenant Baker and the rest of the boopers in the force? Baker received this order with a degree of discomfiture, but his immediate worry was refueling his thirsty tanks. Baker moved down the line of the vehicles collecting all of the five-gal-Ion cans of gasoline that he could fmd. As he passed the bucks carrying the infantry of 3/7 Cavalry, each truck closed up to the vehicle in front of it along the edge of the road. Colonel Harris chewed out Lieutenant Baker for causing the column to close up and become more vulnerable, asking the tank platoon leader if he hadn’t had to correct him for doing the same thing before? The beleaguered lieutenant continued to collect gas cans when the lead squad of the I and R Platoon came running back down the road toward the cankers, screaming that a North Korean tank was coming‘ their way.

Baker’s men meunted up and were ready to fire, when the “tank” turned out to be three NKPA trucks. In the near darkness, the enemy drivers did not recognize the Americans until it was too late. Panicking, they bailed out of the bucks and ran away, but not before one of the drivers crashed his truck into a jeep of the I and R Platoon that was parked astride the road. The tankers and scouts searched the trucks and discovered enough gasoline aboard them to refuel Baker’s three tanks and the three tanks of the 2d Platoon at the rear of the task force. The generosity of the enemy allowed the column to move out again at approximately 2000 hours! The moon was up, but it was a cloudy night when Lieutenant Baker led Task Force Lynch into the village of Chonan and onto the main highway to Osan. The headlights of the force burned brightly as it ground its way ARMOR - 27