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The U.S. was able to stabilize to some degree their perimeter defenses around Pusan.  General MacArthur's choice for a landing was at Inchon on the west coast of South Korea and some 13 miles almost due west of Seoul. From the earliest days of the war, General MacArthur desired to effect an offensive action aimed at the Inchon-Seoul area of South Korea.

On July 26, the carrier force operating south of Korea and sending planes off to aid the ground troops engaged south of Taegu, South Korea at the northern end of the Pusan perimeter, was suddenly alerted to a convincing submarine contact. The issue of the Communists using submarines against our naval forces was of grave concern.

From July 29, to around August 5, 1950, the American and ROK forces were still retiring within of the still shrinking Pusan perimeter. Around August 17, the ROK Navy landed and took control of Tokchok To, an island to the west of Inchon, as a site for intelligence operations and as an aid to future operations in the area. Next, on August 19, Yonghung Do, another nearby island, was also seized and in the next few days other islands fell under the control of the ROK forces. This was to be a vital toehold in the sea approaches to Inchon.

On August 25, 1950, the Fast Carrier Task Force moved out of Sasebo, Japan, on its way back to the operating area in the Sea of Japan, Sometime after 12 PM, they were conducting antiaircraft practice when suddenly this exercise was interrupted by a submarine contact. This contact quickly terminated the firing practice and only sometime later was the contact evaluated as false. It was known that the Soviets occupied the Port Arthur Naval Base Area. Late on the night of August 31 and early on September 1, the North Koreans made their last and most significant attacks to crush the forces defending the Pusan perimeter. For all of its ferocity, the Communist attack failed at breaking thru the perimeter and did not divert UN troops from the planned Inchon landing.

On September 4, an incoming unidentified aircraft was detected coming from the direction of Port Arthur toward the Task Force operating in the Yellow Sea. Soon the contact was seen to split into two targets, one of which continued on toward the ships. Our Corsairs (F4Us) closed on the incoming two-engine bomber and were able to identify the red star marking on it. Shortly thereafter the bomber was shot down and a Russian aviator's body was later recovered from the water by the USS Herbert J. Thomas (DDR-833).  As the time for the Inchon landing neared, the U.S. considered the possibility that the Soviets and Chinese might raise the war to a higher level by assisting the North Koreans with troop reinforcements and adding air or submarine strength to their arsenal. Faced with long supply lines and a serious submarine threat, the U.S. might have to make a choice; accept defeat or resort to nuclear weapons.

On September 15 the longed planned for invasion by Joint Task Force 7 at Inchon was successfully carried out, despite the very stubborn enemy resistance, and huge tidal variations of between 30-33 ft, common to this part of the Yellow Sea. The reinforced troops at the Pusan perimeter began their attack to push the North Koreans back. By September 26, one arm of the advance from Pusan had moved northward to retake the city of Osan, about 20 miles south of Seoul. By September 29, the landing forces at Inchon had joined with those rapidly advancing from the south to retake the city of Seoul and advance the front lines west to east across Korea five or more miles north of Seoul. 

On October 1, General MacArthur was authorized to broadcast a message calling on the enemy to surrender. There was no response to this request. On the previous day, however, the Communist Chinese Foreign Minister, Chou En-lai had remarked that the Communist Chinese government would not allow the crossing of the 38th parallel and would not sit idly by if North Korea were invaded. On October 3, the Indian Ambassador at Peking reported that Chou En-lai said that if any forces other than Korean crossed the 38th parallel, China would send in her own troops.  On October 9, the Joint Chiefs restated their previous instructions. This policy stated that if contact with Chinese forces was made anywhere in Korea that CincFE was to continue the action as long as a successful outcome seemed possible.  In the midst of these pronouncements the plans for an amphibious landing at Wonsan, North Korea continued. However, the ROK forces in their advance northward had crossed the 38th parallel and by October 7, had advanced to within a few miles of Wonsan. This success led CincFE to propose changing the amphibious landing site from Wonsan, to Hungnam, North Korea which is some 42 air miles further north on the Sea of Japan. However, again due to the problems of supplying new maps and reconnoitering the beach landing areas, Admiral Joy, ComNavFE, convinced CincFE on October 10 that the original plan to land at Wonsan, should be carried out. By October 10, the advancing ROK forces had entered the city of Wonsan and on October 11, they occupied the airfield there. This sudden swing of events made the UN forces confident of an easy victory by Thanksgiving.

On October 15, ComNavFE flew to Wake Island for a conference with President Harry S. Truman. The chance of Chinese or Soviet intervention on the behalf of the North Koreans was summarily dismissed as unlikely and if the Chinese attempted to intervene, their troops would be quickly "slaughtered" by the UN air superiority.  In the west, as the mines were being cleared from the area around Haeju, the 8th Army continued their advance and by October 15, 1950, were moving on towards Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.  Due to the great number of various types of mines sown in the channels protecting the beach areas at Wonsan, the mine sweeping operations continued toward the planned landing date. By October 19, small landing craft were first beached at Wonsan with desperately needed supplies for the Marine squadron on Kalma Pando who were securing the airfield. It wasn't until October 26 that the channel was declared safe for the landing of the larger ships of the Attack Force. The Marine X Corps reinforced Wonsan.

The 1st Marines landed on Yellow Beach while the 7th Marines landed at Blue Beach.  The North Korean forces were now in a full retreat in the north and the UN forces, the Eighth Army in the west and the ROKA II Corps in the east, were all headed north toward the Yala River. The Eighth soon reached the Chongchon River in the west. On October 26, the ROK troops reached the south bank of the Yala River, the border of Communist China and North Korea.

By November 1, the Fifth Air Force had received a report of Russian MIG-15 jet fighters operating. On November 3rd, a Nationalist Chinese source reported that the degree of military activity in North China and Manchuria had increased to a point suggesting that an all-out military effort should be expected.  On November 1, the 8th Army in the west had advanced to the Chongchon River and somewhat beyond to within 33 miles of the Yala River. To keep a line of supplies flowing to the 8th Army it became necessary to now clear and open the port city of Chinnampo, North Korea, some 10 miles up the mouth of the Taedong River. This port city was about 72 miles south of the position the 8th Army occupied in early November 1950. Many mines had to be cleared before this port city could be used to resupply the 8th Army forces.

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