An Insane Plan

MacArthur's most difficult task was to convince the navy and marines that his plan would work. THe chiefs of the navy and marines balked at the thought of landing men in possible thirty-five-foot tides. They had to develop special equipment for defusing mines that they believed were in the harbor. They would also need special scaling ladders to climb the high walls protecting the harbor. Elaborate equipment was required for the advance parties of marines who would have to be landed first and would hold the sea approaches until the actual fighting troops arrived. Miraculously, all went as scheduled. The guns guarding the harbor were destroyed , and the first assault forces landed with few casualties. They captured the high ground overlooking the city and also the railroad line and main highway between Seoul and Inchoen. Once these were captured, enemy troops were prevented from entering or leaving Inchoen. When the main attack began, the sky over Inchoen was literally darkened by the huge number of aircraft that protected the assaulting forces and stopped possible enemy troops from interfering with the invasion from the land side of the harbor. One juournalist observing the landing wrote, "It possessed the drama and excitement of great assemblages of men and means brought together to carry out huge common purpose." Only sixteen hundred North Koreans were stationed in Inchoen to oppose the UN force of more than seventy thousand. Clearly, such a small force could do little to prevent the UN forces from taking Inchoen. With Inchoen secured, U.S. Marines raced for the Kimpo airport, which was also lightly guarded. It fell quickly to the UN troops.
September 15, 1950, turned out to be a spectacularly succeessful day for the UN forces. By day's end, the well-equipped and well-trained assault forces had overcome all obstacles in the harbor and had completed one of the most successful amphibious, or combined land and sea, operation in history. With the port and the airport secured, UN troops continued on to Seoul. They wanted to regain the city before the NKPA could send massive reinforcements. The attack on Seoul began on September 22, 1950. At first, the UN forces attacked on a narrow front that permitted the NKPA to concentrate machine guns and artilleryon the attackers. There were gruesome exchanges among the NKPA, UN forces, and American Corsair airplanes helping to destroy the enemy. UN forces then proceeded to approach the city from many fronts, which prevented the small North Korean force of eight thousand from concentrating its artillery in any one place. By September 26, the city was sealed off, and the fight for Seoul was fought from street to street with high casualties on both sides. Seoul fell to the UN troops on September 27. On September 29, General MacArthur led President Syngman Rhee back into the capital city.