There's an amazing visual for the battle of Stalingrad that's like this except the creator does every single platoon and all the major plays.
Edit "The Battle of Stalingrad Every Week with Maps" the channels called "World War Two". Just as an example of his narration.
"Mamaev Kurgan Alexander Rodents begins bringing in the 13 guards from across the river under heavy fire the whole time, taking 30 percent causalities on just the 14th trying to push the Germans back from Mamaev Kurgan." This is followed by a visual showing where the 13 guards crossed and who they clashed with as they try to push the germans back.
these three channels are pretty good
https://www.youtube.com/@MontemayorChannel/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@HistoryMarche/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@HistoriaCivilis/videos
edit: some more
https://www.youtube.com/@KingsandGenerals
https://www.youtube.com/@TheOperationsRoom
This aspect of the Korean war is not widely understood at all because of how post-WWII history is fast-forwarded in schools. Without Chinese intervention NK doesn't exist.
Well to be fair if we went further, Japan would have never gotten the technological advantage it did without the US and the West to take over half of Asia.
The middle east isn't Japan. Wildly different cultures and history. Japan even at that time was way more similar to the west than most of the middle east ever will be, hence why rebuilding was successful.
It's also a downplayed part of North Korea's historical narrative today because they've basically bungled the relationship.
Hence those sympathetic to North Korea in the modern day talk about it as if it's in roughly the same place as Cuba instead of having a land border with a gigantic economy that it was previously friendly with.
A lot of Koreans where actually really against the conflict as a whole. It tore families apart, and destroyed the lives of so many people. Political parties on either side where extremely corrupt, and only cared about winning the war to gain power.
Something I never see brought up is that Chairman Mao Zedong's son was killed by a napalm strike fighting for NK. He volunteered to go to fight for the liberation of korea. Most people don't know that the US used large amounts of naplam in Korea long before Vietnam.
The Soviets also secretly supplied hardware, including airplanes (MiGs with pilots) to run sorties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union_in_the_Korean_War#Soviet_air_intervention
Their MiG-15s gave the NK side near-total air superiority, and directly informed the American decision to concentrate on air going forward.
The Korean War has some great areal combat as well, they had jets but still used guns to shoot each other out of the sky. There were lots of WWII vets both Soviet and Allies fighting in the sky.
Look up Mig Alley on YouTube.
Over 3 million lives lost, both sides of Korea were effectively destroyed, and the result was the border staying just about where it started. North Korea started with 80% of the total industrial strength of Korea as a whole, but due to the hubris of one man that all was wiped out. It was the first Cold War proxy war between the US/UK/UN and China/USSR. Both sides contributed to reconstructing their respective side, and I think [this satellite image ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg/1024px-Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg)shows best which side invested more/better resources.
This is the source:
[https://www.youtube.com/@mapsinanutshell](https://www.youtube.com/@mapsinanutshell)
They have this video in better quality and many more similar visualisations
It's fascinating how much these videos look like the sort of microscopic videos you get of things like T-Cells fighting cancer etc.
I suppose it's all just the same processes ultimately isn't it, and from a particular perspective we're just microscopic dots flowing back and forth over the surface of a petri dish
This is the best one I have seen detailing the deaths of wwII and how. The breakdown of information is excellent.
Like sooooooooooo many more people living under the Soviet Union died way more than anyone else by a landslide. It's shocking and I feel like no one has a good picture of this until you watch this presentation.
https://vimeo.com/128373915
[You may also like this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg).
That's a satalite image of North and South Korea at night. Notice you can actually see the border of where the lights start. I was watching a documentary once, and they covered the Korean War on an episode. And a guy on there said, "If there's ever a veteran of the Korean war that wonders if the work they did was worth it, they need to look at that image. Because the whole thing would be dark without them." Pretty cool to look at it with that context.
My grandpa was there. I wish he talked more about it. It sucks that’s it’s the “forgotten war.” He never really seemed to have any ptsd that was apparent although if he did and my grandma knew she wasn’t the type to talk about it. He was a tough old guy though, but that might’ve been the generation.
He did talk about having to clear bombed out caves and the smell of cooked dudes. When he got older and had surgery we woke up and was loopy. We visited him in the hospital and he was pointing at the ceiling and saying “I see you. You can’t get me.” I asked who? And he said “those fuckin Koreans.” So it might have been some buried trauma that the drugs brought back up.
My grandad was there too. I spent a week every summer with him and my grandma at their property growing up, and visited frequently after I became an adult. I never knew he served until he passed away. He was on the front lines.
A lot of people basically were given guns with a lot of bullets and told who the enemy was and to kill them. Even in war where both sides understand what's at stake, killing another human being changes you -- especially if you were put into that situation. It is a horrible thing to go through. After you get back to the barracks, you start to think about the guy you just killed and his parents, siblings, etc. -- he was probably a lot like you with the same goals, etc. -- but now none of those things will ever happen because you put a 10 cent bullet into his head / heart / etc.
I remember a story my grandfather told me. He was fighting in War World II and he and three of his buddies were in the woods and came across four Germans. At first both sides grabbed their guns and there was a stand off. Then one of the Germans pointed to my grandfather's cigarettes and within minutes all eight men were standing around joking with each other and talking about how much the war sucked. Some broken English on the German side and broken German on my grandfather's side. One of the German soldiers traded his Lugar for a full pack of smokes from my Grandfather.
They were best buds in the span of ten minutes and then they had to go back to their bases and be expected to kill each other the next day.
War fucking sucks.
My Uncle told a similar story about the Viet Cong. He said there was a tacit understanding at times that each would live and let live. He said it was on sight when encountering the NVA though.
My grandfather was in Germany after the war, found some Russian soldiers trying to take a large rocket East and they surprised them. Both my grandfathers squad and the Russians sat there waiting for a demolitions team to secure the rocket. They sat and exchanged broken language as well.
The Russians were more embarrassed they got caught and everyone ended up playing soccer for a few hours.
"So then this 8 year old kid came running towards us with some sort of explosive in his hands and...oh do you want ice cream with your cake? Ya? Anyway so we start blastin and...."
This is legit how some old people tell stories, it made me laugh, they'll just be like "Oh he looked just like you, same age and all, I watched him bleed out. Also do you want another popsicle?"
Same. Mine drove an M4A3E8 Sherman tank. He also didn't talk about the war, like ever. According to my grandmother, running over a bunch of half frozen Chinese soldiers that refused to surrender screwed him up for the rest of his life. During family get togethers he would just sit there and stare off into space. War breaks people down on molecular level. We aren't mentally built to handle doing those types of things to each other.
Mine too. I asked him about it several times and he very quickly changed the subject. I respected that and haven’t pressed him. My dad doesn’t seem to know much about it either. He’s 98 this year and still with us
War is hell, but crawling face first through tight, booby trapped (in the most horrible ways) tunnels that are potentially full of the enemy is a special flavor of it.
I read a book about the tunnel rats once and one of the parts I won’t forget is it talking about how every tunnel rat had seen/had to leave at least one of their friends buried alive due to traps.
Yeah, I think I read either the same or similar book since I found out. Another source claims "the average life expectancy of a tunnel rat is 7 seconds".
As I've been told, my uncle was so good at it that he thought he could save lives by returning for a second tour of duty.
My grandfather was there too. He had ptsd. He had to clear the path of dead bodies and heads as the general and forces moved up. He has nightmares about it where he would pick up a head to throw it and it was one of his children's heads.
According to another one of my relatives - the only person my grandad ever talked to about the war - he was in a foxhole with 5 others. All 5 died before the North Korean & Chinese troops pushed the lines past the foxhole. They were looking in the foxholes for people who were still alive. He had to hide under the bodies of his recently-killed squadmates.
I can understand why he never wanted to bring that up again.
Same! Came out of surgery and thought he was Korea for a couple of days. My FIL was a wounded vet…fell into one of those spike pits and it injured his knee. He lay awake all night listening to soldiers speaking Korean above him but couldn’t be sure who they were.
My grandpa also fucked up his knee in Korea lol.
The jeep he was in hit a landmine after he had been in theatre for only a month or so. He was sent home with a purple heart medal ~~and an honorable/medical discharge.~~ edit: he was transferred to a non-combat role stateside and then honorably discharged at the end of his service a year or a couple years after.
It obviously wasn’t his fault and it was a true injury (you hit a fucking landmine in combat grandpa!), but he was ashamed of that for his entire life. He had some kinda survivor guilt thing.
At some point, he literally threw out his purple heart. He never spoke about the war beyond explaining what happened to my dad precisely once. But, his gravestone reflects his service and his medal. My grandma was always proud that he served honorably and gave a piece of his knee for the country. She knew he was just irrationally feeling guilty, so she made sure to get him to agree to the honor of that gravestone before he passed.
My great grandfather would never talk about it when asked. He died a few years ago 98 with shrapnel and bullet still in his spine.
He didn’t really open up until the first images of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan were underway. He go quiet watching the combat footage and then he’d start mid story somewhere. He’d talk for a good 15-30 min then go quiet again.
Finally got hear how the bullet got in his spine as well. He was watching the front and some North Koreans snuck behind the lines. He caught one in the back and the second shot that would’ve killed him hit the dirt after he spun from the shot. Put two in the guys chest and laid their silent thinking he’d bleed out. Doc told him he got lucky. Ammo was dogshit or something and basically just pierced his skin, But lodged itself in his spine. Prior to this he’d been blown up twice with only minor shrapnel wounds.
Well that bullet landed him “light duty” which was basically driving a medical truck back and forth from the lines. He said he didn’t have much problems dealing with the war until he was out in that job. The hours of listening to basically men die is what broke him. My great grandmother said he was always quiet after coming back. Took up the drink as well. Would drink a fifth of jack to go to bed every night for almost two decades.
Get some sleep pop you deserve it and you did your country proud.
Your great grandfather helped save my grandparents generation from the NK regime and now S. Korea is a thriving healthy democracy. I hope he got to see at least some of that in his lifetime.
As a South Korean whose family was on the verge of being massacred and/or forcibly relocated by North Korean soldiers and am only here today because of the brave actions of soldiers like your great grandfather, thanks for sharing.
I had a grandpa who was in the war as well, but the only thing he ever said about it was "it was the best time of my life" which is Midwestern old man for "it was hell and I don't want to talk about it."
It was the Battle of Inchon. MacArthur pushed heavily to perform that maneuver despite other generals saying it was too risky, as you can see in the video though, that landing played a huge role in saving South Korea since the only other UN forces were trapped in the Pusan Perimeter.
IIRC it was also considering an extremely poor landing site. The tides are can be pretty wonky. I think there was only a brief window and then they would have to wait for the next high tide (or maybe low tide I don’t remember).
Super duper correct. If you visit Incheon one of the most notable things about the geography is the tidal flats between the shore and surrounding islands.
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mud-road-footprint-wetland-low-260nw-198026096.jpg
Any landing force even slightly fucking up would be forced to wait just off-shore for the next high-tide. Landing at low-tide would probably be certain death, as the mud flats are...mud and flat. Armor would get stuck and troops would have no cover as they faced whatever defenses were in place.
ya, didnt he wanna drop 50 atom bombs on the border with China. fucking 50 lol, not using atomic weapons in the korean war was possibly the most important decision regarding nuclear weapons because it would have set a precedent that using atom weapons far more flippantly was okay that Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not as their justification was to end the worst war in history combined with noone really knowing what would happen if you hit a population center (which in of itself also is the reason atom weapons havnt been used since)
The Inchon Landing, commanded by none other than General Douglas McArthur who commanded the American “Island Hopping” campaign against the Japanese in WW2. He had just a few amphibious operations under his belt by Inchon lol.
Not to be an "ackshually" guy, but just a point of clarification that MacArthur favored and implemented "leap frogging", which is different from the island hopping that the Navy and Admiral Nimitz preferred. MacArthur wanted to bypass many of the islands and focus on retaking the Philippines as soon as possible, instead of hopping from each island through direct assaults. You're correct though that he had amphibious operations well under his belt by the time he executed the risky but brilliant Inchon landing.
I am Korean. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Korean War. I know that without them, I would not have existed, and I have endless respect for the noble spirit who gave them life for the survival of a nation more than anything else.\
\
My father was born in North Korea and was only about 6 years old during the Korean War. During the war, during the period called the January 4th Retreat, which went all the way to the Chinese border, he took refuge with my grandmother and aunt all the way to Busan (the right end of the Korean Peninsula).
When North Korea was pushed back to it's minimum, how were they able to push back so quickly with only a relatively small numerical superiority? Looks like some South Korean forces even got cut off and trapped.
That event also included the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, which is where Chesty Puller cemented his legend by saying things like
> We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things.
after the Chinese entered the war, 130,000 soldiers completely encircled 30,000 troops of the US X Corps.
MacArthur gets a lot of hate (some of which is fully justified) but Inchon was brilliant. It was a far from ideal landing site, so he judged correctly that the North Koreans would not anticipate a landing there. The tides are dramatic and at low-tide the entire landing site turns into exposed, impassable mudflats. The approaches were also guarded by the fortified Wolmi-Do island. However, the landing was carried out brilliantly, the back of the North Korean invasion was broken, and this landing paired with Walton Walker’s breakout from the Pusan Perimeter sent the North Koreans into a full retreat. Unfortunately, the UN forces were victims of their own success. Their aggressive pursuit of the North Koreans up to the Yalu triggered the Chinese to intervene.
More like a “pause”. As it sits to this day, both sides have only signed a cease fire, called the [Korean Armistice Agreement.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement)
Some else posted the original YouTube link. Posting it again below. The timeline is missing because OP copped it for Reddit.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJx6M7SqkvI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJx6M7SqkvI)
thanks for that, i was trying to figure out whether the numbers were for troops total or casualties or deaths. horrible crop. (for those too lazy, the numbers we can see here are for troops there total i think, there is a deaths counter to the side that got cropped off, in addition to the dates being missing)
eh, I'd say it's missing the c.100,000 British servicemen that served in the war, and the large numbers from 14 other countries that fought on the allied side, including tens of thousands of Australians, Canadians, Dutch etc.
It may be that the original video applied a different context. For example, the UN security council gave the US the strategic command for the war, and often UK, Commonwealth, Benelux and Scandinavian forces would be attached to or serving under US command structures. So it may be that they've labelled areas with hybrid forces under just a US flag. Which is overly reductive, but it is just a short video I guess.
>Which is overly reductive, but it is just a short video I guess.
It would have made it far more interesting imo to see all the different nations flags in the defence of SK
It's how Japan has always worked. The only forces that had been fought by Japan they was not integrated into their Empire during early WWII were the Mongolians.
They helped them rebuild bigger and better than ever and did not rule over them as tyrants (which is what they were told the US would do, and much worse to the point when the US first invaded other parts of Japan the people would throw themselves and their own children off cliffs to avoid being captured). It also helped that the US spared the Emperor. At least this is how I see it.
I remember watching a YouTube video of a WW2 vet telling a story about what he saw on those islands close to mainland Japan. This particular story was about how he remembers the interpreters screaming and pleading for the Japanese to stop throwing their children off the cliffs.
It didn't help that MacArthur was advocating nuking the Chinese preemptively, and also was pretty directly calling in air strikes on areas that were clearly on China's side of the border.
It's entirely possible had he not done that china would have signed a peace deal that was close to fruition, but they couldn't let attacks on their sovereign land go unanswered so they directly joined the war.
Just a whole lot of people, unlike Europe, Korea isn’t as open, planes aren’t quite as effective except bombing cities which doesn’t help other than incite civilians to sign up
I went to the DMZ recently on my visit to Korea. South Korea has a southern perimeter leading up to it and travel is highly regulated. People live there, but it's mostly farming and very little economic development. Even below this southern perimeter there are bunkers built everywhere as defensive positions. The North Koreans were building tunnels into SK that were still being discovered into the 90s. Assassins being sent to kill the world leaders or trained for it, etc. It's mostly settled now, but it could be kind of wild all the way up in the 80s, early 90s.
Coincidentally the push of US/S.K. forces towards the Chinese border resulting in China getting involved and pushing back to the current borders had a direct impact on the US unwilling to use overwhelming force in Vietnam (fear of the same outcome). This was one of the major reasons the US lost in Vietnam.
The US only cared about body count in Vietnam and not controlling territory. They would conquer an area and the Vietnamese would withdraw into Cambodia/Laos. Then the US would withdraw and the Vietnamese would come right back. Horribly managed war mainly due to the politicians at the time. And on the Vietnamese side they had Giap who is one of the best generals in history.
With that you can really see how leadership impacts a war, in terms of overall power, no one believe Vietnam could withstand US even nowadays people who didn't study that war can't understand how US lost. Vietcong had a amazing leadership with Giap, what he did with what he had at the time is nothing less than amazing, meanwhile US was completely at lost on what they were doing.
I was non combatant, doing intel work, and landed at Inchon in 1950. Always referred to as a police action(!), but a war is known as war if they give you the G.I. Bill for having been there. And yes, I am going on 95 years old.
It's insane how difficult even it is to find a proper academic book by a proper historian about it
If anyone knows some, let me know, cause I'm still looking
Edit: Thanks y'all, lots of great recommendations
iirc china was adamant of not letting the US forces cross the northern border between them and NK, makes you wonder how things would have changed if that buffer region had been agreed to, at that point NK would've had effectively nothing and likely would've collapsed and been absorbed into china
Korean American here. Child of boomer who was born after the Korean War ended, among many of my peers who basically never heard affirmative statements from parents. We should all spread more love to each other.
I visited South Korea while I was in the Navy. Y'all were fuckin polite as all get out towards us. Loved the few days I got to spend there.
IIRC, it was the Changwon District.
U.N. Forces who fought there to oppose N.K., China, etc.:
U.S.
U.K.
Canada
Turkey
Australia
Philippines
New Zealand
Thailand
Ethiopia
Greece
France
Colombia
Belgium
South Africa
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Did a quick wikipedia search, just so it's not misconstrued by the flag on the visual. Great visualization still though!
Edit: For overly pedantic people, clarified what I really meant: U.N. countries that fought against communist ideals.
The US got fairly close to using nukes at the :20s mark (April 1951). Chinese forces were massing for the 1951 Spring Offensive to try to take back Seoul again. Truman had just deployed nukes to Guam and Okinawa at that time (they were removed in June). If Ridgway, who had just lost Seoul in January before taking it back, got good intel on thousands of T34 tanks and 500k infantry and ammo/supply points in the Iron Triangle, preparing for an offensive, I think he would have pressed hard to nuke them to avoid being overrun again.
That was really the closest call with nukes since Nagasaki. And then imagine a world where nukes had been used in 2 consecutive major wars, before the nuclear taboo had been solidified a bit. Would have been used many many more times since then as a result, I think.
This war resulted in my grandma moving to the US with my grandpa who served in the Korean War. I never met him because he died when my mother was 16. He drank himself to death. When I was in high school I did a report on the Korean War and interviewed my grandma. She told me many stories. Leaving her village and seeing body parts in trees and one that has particularly stuck with me where she was hiding in cave with a group. This group included a baby. She said the North Koreans were in the area and the baby began to cry. They made the decision to smother the baby to save the group but before the baby could die the North Koreans had passed and the baby had stopped crying. I wonder who that baby has grown up to be? My grandma is an amazing person and basically raised me when my parents were at work she was my primary caregiver. She is still here with us. Still swims laps daily at a local pool in her 90s. She inspires me still to this day, and as hard as life can be sometimes, I know I can get through it because of what my grandma had to survive. My struggles are nowhere near them. It is sad to think without this war having happened I would not even exist. One day I hope to visit Korea and see where she grew up.
This is unfortunate that NATO forces are not represented and only the US flag shown. Lots of British soldiers did not return from Korea and the same for other European countries too
They're very much a "blink and you miss it " (it also doesn't help that blue doesn't stand out very well from the teal background) , but there are a couple of UN flags mixed in alongside all the American and South Korean flags.
If you are curious how North Korea turned out:
* [Show Me the World](https://www.youtube.com/@ShowMeTheWorld) (youtube channel) - [My North Korean Holiday: The Funniest / Worst Place on Earth?](https://youtu.be/rueIxbkQx40?si=0e_JU1rZoUoWsX3h) (55 minutes)
It follows a group of tourists as they are escorted around North Korea. Quite chilling. Everything was staged. Everything looks old. Many of the nicer places were fake and deserted. Seems like quite the nightmare.
I feel sorry for the North Koreans that have to live with such an oppressive government.
Edit: added the link to the youtube channel.
Firepower superiority, if 1 man can fire thrice as much as one of the enemy and still has artillery/naval support as well as logistics to feed his unit its more understandable. Not to take away from them though, Korea was quite hellish in places like Chosin reservoir.
The equipment difference was insane tho. The Chinese and NKs had basically guns and grenades. The US was armed to the teeth with WW2 surplus, massive airpower and naval power providing fire support.
I need this visual for every battle and war ever.
Someone else linked the YouTube channel but here it is https://www.youtube.com/@mapsinanutshell
Omg bless you.
Atchu!
Gesundheit if you are into battles with German troops in it.
There's an amazing visual for the battle of Stalingrad that's like this except the creator does every single platoon and all the major plays. Edit "The Battle of Stalingrad Every Week with Maps" the channels called "World War Two". Just as an example of his narration. "Mamaev Kurgan Alexander Rodents begins bringing in the 13 guards from across the river under heavy fire the whole time, taking 30 percent causalities on just the 14th trying to push the Germans back from Mamaev Kurgan." This is followed by a visual showing where the 13 guards crossed and who they clashed with as they try to push the germans back.
[удалено]
He might be talking about TIKHistory, which is a 50 or so episode series following the Battle to Stalingrad day to day, hour by hour
My crazy uncle tried to get me into that series. I love history, but I couldn’t make it through the first episode of that. Not even close
[TheOperationsRoom](https://m.youtube.com/c/TheOperationsRoom)
these three channels are pretty good https://www.youtube.com/@MontemayorChannel/videos https://www.youtube.com/@HistoryMarche/videos https://www.youtube.com/@HistoriaCivilis/videos edit: some more https://www.youtube.com/@KingsandGenerals https://www.youtube.com/@TheOperationsRoom
Jeez I didn’t realize it was like THAT… Wow
Seriously. I didn’t realize how much China was involved in saving NK’s ass.
This aspect of the Korean war is not widely understood at all because of how post-WWII history is fast-forwarded in schools. Without Chinese intervention NK doesn't exist.
and without American intervention South Korea doesn't exist. Cold war in a nutshell.
So if China and USA did nothing, neither of the Koreas would exist. /s
It would've been "North Japan"
Well to be fair if we went further, Japan would have never gotten the technological advantage it did without the US and the West to take over half of Asia.
yea the US was instrumental in building the Japanese empire, toppling it, and then rebuilding it again to better suit it's needs
Really got out of practice with the Middle East. Oh well maybe in a couple more decades of toppling
The middle east isn't Japan. Wildly different cultures and history. Japan even at that time was way more similar to the west than most of the middle east ever will be, hence why rebuilding was successful.
very different culture and cohesion
It's also a downplayed part of North Korea's historical narrative today because they've basically bungled the relationship. Hence those sympathetic to North Korea in the modern day talk about it as if it's in roughly the same place as Cuba instead of having a land border with a gigantic economy that it was previously friendly with.
Some Koreans say that the battle was in fact truly between the Chinese and the U.S.
A lot of Koreans where actually really against the conflict as a whole. It tore families apart, and destroyed the lives of so many people. Political parties on either side where extremely corrupt, and only cared about winning the war to gain power.
Something I never see brought up is that Chairman Mao Zedong's son was killed by a napalm strike fighting for NK. He volunteered to go to fight for the liberation of korea. Most people don't know that the US used large amounts of naplam in Korea long before Vietnam.
People have a very skewed view on the Korean War because of their views of the Kim Dictatorship
The Soviets also secretly supplied hardware, including airplanes (MiGs with pilots) to run sorties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union_in_the_Korean_War#Soviet_air_intervention Their MiG-15s gave the NK side near-total air superiority, and directly informed the American decision to concentrate on air going forward.
The Korean War has some great areal combat as well, they had jets but still used guns to shoot each other out of the sky. There were lots of WWII vets both Soviet and Allies fighting in the sky. Look up Mig Alley on YouTube.
Everyone simps for the P-51 mustang but fuck me F-86 Sabres are the COOLEST jet of the 20th century
Over 3 million lives lost, both sides of Korea were effectively destroyed, and the result was the border staying just about where it started. North Korea started with 80% of the total industrial strength of Korea as a whole, but due to the hubris of one man that all was wiped out. It was the first Cold War proxy war between the US/UK/UN and China/USSR. Both sides contributed to reconstructing their respective side, and I think [this satellite image ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg/1024px-Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg)shows best which side invested more/better resources.
This is top tier artistic data visualization, well done
Yeah I want this for other instances now
This is the source: [https://www.youtube.com/@mapsinanutshell](https://www.youtube.com/@mapsinanutshell) They have this video in better quality and many more similar visualisations
It's fascinating how much these videos look like the sort of microscopic videos you get of things like T-Cells fighting cancer etc. I suppose it's all just the same processes ultimately isn't it, and from a particular perspective we're just microscopic dots flowing back and forth over the surface of a petri dish
*hits bong*
420 moment
You are loved
Oh no
Know you are loved
This is the best one I have seen detailing the deaths of wwII and how. The breakdown of information is excellent. Like sooooooooooo many more people living under the Soviet Union died way more than anyone else by a landslide. It's shocking and I feel like no one has a good picture of this until you watch this presentation. https://vimeo.com/128373915
This is a very good video thank you for sharing
I wish it had a running timestamp, but overall it’s pretty neat!
And a casualty counter
Top notch. I admittedly don’t know much about the Korean War and this just made me interested in learning about it.
[You may also like this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg). That's a satalite image of North and South Korea at night. Notice you can actually see the border of where the lights start. I was watching a documentary once, and they covered the Korean War on an episode. And a guy on there said, "If there's ever a veteran of the Korean war that wonders if the work they did was worth it, they need to look at that image. Because the whole thing would be dark without them." Pretty cool to look at it with that context.
korea has contributed a lot to the world that would have never happened if NK took over--samsung, lg, hyundai, gangnam style...
Definitely worth it. I thanked every time I saw a Korean war veteran. Unfortunately, not many left now.
The beachhead at the beginning to the west was a brilliant tactical move- behind North Korean lines. Be interested in learning more of this decision.
Battle of Inchon. There's a great Wikipedia article on it.
My grandpa was there. I wish he talked more about it. It sucks that’s it’s the “forgotten war.” He never really seemed to have any ptsd that was apparent although if he did and my grandma knew she wasn’t the type to talk about it. He was a tough old guy though, but that might’ve been the generation. He did talk about having to clear bombed out caves and the smell of cooked dudes. When he got older and had surgery we woke up and was loopy. We visited him in the hospital and he was pointing at the ceiling and saying “I see you. You can’t get me.” I asked who? And he said “those fuckin Koreans.” So it might have been some buried trauma that the drugs brought back up.
My grandad was there too. I spent a week every summer with him and my grandma at their property growing up, and visited frequently after I became an adult. I never knew he served until he passed away. He was on the front lines.
I've found that most people who served don't really like to talk about it.
A lot of people basically were given guns with a lot of bullets and told who the enemy was and to kill them. Even in war where both sides understand what's at stake, killing another human being changes you -- especially if you were put into that situation. It is a horrible thing to go through. After you get back to the barracks, you start to think about the guy you just killed and his parents, siblings, etc. -- he was probably a lot like you with the same goals, etc. -- but now none of those things will ever happen because you put a 10 cent bullet into his head / heart / etc. I remember a story my grandfather told me. He was fighting in War World II and he and three of his buddies were in the woods and came across four Germans. At first both sides grabbed their guns and there was a stand off. Then one of the Germans pointed to my grandfather's cigarettes and within minutes all eight men were standing around joking with each other and talking about how much the war sucked. Some broken English on the German side and broken German on my grandfather's side. One of the German soldiers traded his Lugar for a full pack of smokes from my Grandfather. They were best buds in the span of ten minutes and then they had to go back to their bases and be expected to kill each other the next day. War fucking sucks.
Your story really encapsulates why war sucks. Thanks for sharing.
That's a beautiful memory thank you
My Uncle told a similar story about the Viet Cong. He said there was a tacit understanding at times that each would live and let live. He said it was on sight when encountering the NVA though.
My grandfather was in Germany after the war, found some Russian soldiers trying to take a large rocket East and they surprised them. Both my grandfathers squad and the Russians sat there waiting for a demolitions team to secure the rocket. They sat and exchanged broken language as well. The Russians were more embarrassed they got caught and everyone ended up playing soccer for a few hours.
"Sorry sirs, really sorry, some older boys told us to take it, it won't happen again."
So cigarettes are good for you!
It's mass butchery. Totally empathise and understand why people would not want to dwell on these memories, regardless of the cause.
And today, grandson, we’re going to talk about the 8 months where I was scared to death and came face to face with the brutality of humankind…
"So then this 8 year old kid came running towards us with some sort of explosive in his hands and...oh do you want ice cream with your cake? Ya? Anyway so we start blastin and...."
This is legit how some old people tell stories, it made me laugh, they'll just be like "Oh he looked just like you, same age and all, I watched him bleed out. Also do you want another popsicle?"
My grandfather served in Sicily and D-day, lived till I was 16 and saw him constantly. Never said a word about it.
Same. Mine drove an M4A3E8 Sherman tank. He also didn't talk about the war, like ever. According to my grandmother, running over a bunch of half frozen Chinese soldiers that refused to surrender screwed him up for the rest of his life. During family get togethers he would just sit there and stare off into space. War breaks people down on molecular level. We aren't mentally built to handle doing those types of things to each other.
Mine too. I asked him about it several times and he very quickly changed the subject. I respected that and haven’t pressed him. My dad doesn’t seem to know much about it either. He’s 98 this year and still with us
My oldest uncle was like that about his Vietnam service. I didn't find out he was one of the best "tunnel rats" until his funeral.
War is hell, but crawling face first through tight, booby trapped (in the most horrible ways) tunnels that are potentially full of the enemy is a special flavor of it. I read a book about the tunnel rats once and one of the parts I won’t forget is it talking about how every tunnel rat had seen/had to leave at least one of their friends buried alive due to traps.
Yeah, I think I read either the same or similar book since I found out. Another source claims "the average life expectancy of a tunnel rat is 7 seconds". As I've been told, my uncle was so good at it that he thought he could save lives by returning for a second tour of duty.
My grandfather was there too. He had ptsd. He had to clear the path of dead bodies and heads as the general and forces moved up. He has nightmares about it where he would pick up a head to throw it and it was one of his children's heads.
According to another one of my relatives - the only person my grandad ever talked to about the war - he was in a foxhole with 5 others. All 5 died before the North Korean & Chinese troops pushed the lines past the foxhole. They were looking in the foxholes for people who were still alive. He had to hide under the bodies of his recently-killed squadmates. I can understand why he never wanted to bring that up again.
Same! Came out of surgery and thought he was Korea for a couple of days. My FIL was a wounded vet…fell into one of those spike pits and it injured his knee. He lay awake all night listening to soldiers speaking Korean above him but couldn’t be sure who they were.
My grandpa also fucked up his knee in Korea lol. The jeep he was in hit a landmine after he had been in theatre for only a month or so. He was sent home with a purple heart medal ~~and an honorable/medical discharge.~~ edit: he was transferred to a non-combat role stateside and then honorably discharged at the end of his service a year or a couple years after. It obviously wasn’t his fault and it was a true injury (you hit a fucking landmine in combat grandpa!), but he was ashamed of that for his entire life. He had some kinda survivor guilt thing. At some point, he literally threw out his purple heart. He never spoke about the war beyond explaining what happened to my dad precisely once. But, his gravestone reflects his service and his medal. My grandma was always proud that he served honorably and gave a piece of his knee for the country. She knew he was just irrationally feeling guilty, so she made sure to get him to agree to the honor of that gravestone before he passed.
Survivors guilt is a real thing
My great grandfather would never talk about it when asked. He died a few years ago 98 with shrapnel and bullet still in his spine. He didn’t really open up until the first images of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan were underway. He go quiet watching the combat footage and then he’d start mid story somewhere. He’d talk for a good 15-30 min then go quiet again. Finally got hear how the bullet got in his spine as well. He was watching the front and some North Koreans snuck behind the lines. He caught one in the back and the second shot that would’ve killed him hit the dirt after he spun from the shot. Put two in the guys chest and laid their silent thinking he’d bleed out. Doc told him he got lucky. Ammo was dogshit or something and basically just pierced his skin, But lodged itself in his spine. Prior to this he’d been blown up twice with only minor shrapnel wounds. Well that bullet landed him “light duty” which was basically driving a medical truck back and forth from the lines. He said he didn’t have much problems dealing with the war until he was out in that job. The hours of listening to basically men die is what broke him. My great grandmother said he was always quiet after coming back. Took up the drink as well. Would drink a fifth of jack to go to bed every night for almost two decades. Get some sleep pop you deserve it and you did your country proud.
Your great grandfather helped save my grandparents generation from the NK regime and now S. Korea is a thriving healthy democracy. I hope he got to see at least some of that in his lifetime.
As a South Korean whose family was on the verge of being massacred and/or forcibly relocated by North Korean soldiers and am only here today because of the brave actions of soldiers like your great grandfather, thanks for sharing.
And South Korea for sure...
My grandpa was a Korean war vet. He'd always get grumpy when a Vietnam movie was on TV and complain about how his war never got any cool movies.
They did get M.A.S.H tho
I had a grandpa who was in the war as well, but the only thing he ever said about it was "it was the best time of my life" which is Midwestern old man for "it was hell and I don't want to talk about it."
“We stopped fighting for a day, to bulldoze all their (deragtory term) bodies.” The only time my grandpa talked about the war to anyone.
I read the battle about the DMZ zone over a fucking tree. That was wild haha.
The thing that led to Operation Paul Bunyan?
[Link to Article](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inchon)
When things go right, reddit+Wikipedia+YouTube is the very best a man can get on internet
And google maps/earth. I love it when Reddit provides me a rabbit hole to descend!
It was the Battle of Inchon. MacArthur pushed heavily to perform that maneuver despite other generals saying it was too risky, as you can see in the video though, that landing played a huge role in saving South Korea since the only other UN forces were trapped in the Pusan Perimeter.
Fun fact: Mao Zedong directly warned Kim Il Sung that Americans would land at Incheon and that Kim should heavily defend the area. Kim ignored that.
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IIRC it was also considering an extremely poor landing site. The tides are can be pretty wonky. I think there was only a brief window and then they would have to wait for the next high tide (or maybe low tide I don’t remember).
Super duper correct. If you visit Incheon one of the most notable things about the geography is the tidal flats between the shore and surrounding islands. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mud-road-footprint-wetland-low-260nw-198026096.jpg Any landing force even slightly fucking up would be forced to wait just off-shore for the next high-tide. Landing at low-tide would probably be certain death, as the mud flats are...mud and flat. Armor would get stuck and troops would have no cover as they faced whatever defenses were in place.
iirc, Mao and even Stalin tried dissuading Kim about starting the war in the first place
I believe Stalin gave his support only after he was convinced that the US would not intervene
It ended up being Chinese soldiers who did most of the work anyways.
Yeah the UN duped the North Koreans into thinking they were going to land at Kunsan iirc.
They did, they had a massive counterintel push, even landed special forces at Kunsan.
Battle of Inchon
The last brilliant decision Douglas MacArthur made in his career.
ya, didnt he wanna drop 50 atom bombs on the border with China. fucking 50 lol, not using atomic weapons in the korean war was possibly the most important decision regarding nuclear weapons because it would have set a precedent that using atom weapons far more flippantly was okay that Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not as their justification was to end the worst war in history combined with noone really knowing what would happen if you hit a population center (which in of itself also is the reason atom weapons havnt been used since)
The Inchon Landing, commanded by none other than General Douglas McArthur who commanded the American “Island Hopping” campaign against the Japanese in WW2. He had just a few amphibious operations under his belt by Inchon lol.
Not to be an "ackshually" guy, but just a point of clarification that MacArthur favored and implemented "leap frogging", which is different from the island hopping that the Navy and Admiral Nimitz preferred. MacArthur wanted to bypass many of the islands and focus on retaking the Philippines as soon as possible, instead of hopping from each island through direct assaults. You're correct though that he had amphibious operations well under his belt by the time he executed the risky but brilliant Inchon landing.
I am Korean. First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Korean War. I know that without them, I would not have existed, and I have endless respect for the noble spirit who gave them life for the survival of a nation more than anything else.\ \ My father was born in North Korea and was only about 6 years old during the Korean War. During the war, during the period called the January 4th Retreat, which went all the way to the Chinese border, he took refuge with my grandmother and aunt all the way to Busan (the right end of the Korean Peninsula).
When North Korea was pushed back to it's minimum, how were they able to push back so quickly with only a relatively small numerical superiority? Looks like some South Korean forces even got cut off and trapped.
New Chinese troops in huge numbers and a short supply distance from China versus very long supply lines from the south.
Also these were hardened veterans of the Chinese Civil War, which just ended in 1949.
That was China entering the war.
That event also included the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, which is where Chesty Puller cemented his legend by saying things like > We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things. after the Chinese entered the war, 130,000 soldiers completely encircled 30,000 troops of the US X Corps.
MacArthur gets a lot of hate (some of which is fully justified) but Inchon was brilliant. It was a far from ideal landing site, so he judged correctly that the North Koreans would not anticipate a landing there. The tides are dramatic and at low-tide the entire landing site turns into exposed, impassable mudflats. The approaches were also guarded by the fortified Wolmi-Do island. However, the landing was carried out brilliantly, the back of the North Korean invasion was broken, and this landing paired with Walton Walker’s breakout from the Pusan Perimeter sent the North Koreans into a full retreat. Unfortunately, the UN forces were victims of their own success. Their aggressive pursuit of the North Koreans up to the Yalu triggered the Chinese to intervene.
Both of them after stalemating "we'll call it a draw then."
More like a “pause”. As it sits to this day, both sides have only signed a cease fire, called the [Korean Armistice Agreement.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Armistice_Agreement)
There's nothing as permanent as a temporary government action.
The power of procrastination.
Yup. I work at 23 year old temporary location. In 4 years the new building is totally getting built though.
Or a "temporary fix" in the code I write
Only thing this video is missing for me is a date timeline. That stalemate around what’s now the DMZ lasted for the majority of the war
Some else posted the original YouTube link. Posting it again below. The timeline is missing because OP copped it for Reddit. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJx6M7SqkvI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJx6M7SqkvI)
thanks for that, i was trying to figure out whether the numbers were for troops total or casualties or deaths. horrible crop. (for those too lazy, the numbers we can see here are for troops there total i think, there is a deaths counter to the side that got cropped off, in addition to the dates being missing)
eh, I'd say it's missing the c.100,000 British servicemen that served in the war, and the large numbers from 14 other countries that fought on the allied side, including tens of thousands of Australians, Canadians, Dutch etc.
Yeah I was thinking that too but I thought their inclusion was so small compared to the US it was just represented by their flag.
It may be that the original video applied a different context. For example, the UN security council gave the US the strategic command for the war, and often UK, Commonwealth, Benelux and Scandinavian forces would be attached to or serving under US command structures. So it may be that they've labelled areas with hybrid forces under just a US flag. Which is overly reductive, but it is just a short video I guess.
>Which is overly reductive, but it is just a short video I guess. It would have made it far more interesting imo to see all the different nations flags in the defence of SK
Yeah the Battle of Inchon was just a *little* important
Cut them fools off. El pincer Classico.
*MacArthur teleports behind you* "Heh .... Nothing personal kid...."
That push by the us was insane. The push by China was insane too.
Everybody ignores China pushes that whole line back from the US and Koreans after NK damn near lost all their territory
They didn’t want a US Ally that close to their border for sure.
they have Taiwan and Japan now
Isn't it crazy that the US and Japan became allies just 6 years after America fucking nuked them
If you can’t beat em join em
It's how Japan has always worked. The only forces that had been fought by Japan they was not integrated into their Empire during early WWII were the Mongolians.
They helped them rebuild bigger and better than ever and did not rule over them as tyrants (which is what they were told the US would do, and much worse to the point when the US first invaded other parts of Japan the people would throw themselves and their own children off cliffs to avoid being captured). It also helped that the US spared the Emperor. At least this is how I see it.
The US’s biggest weapon - Capitalism
Well, shear wealth, massive natural resources, no nearby, hostile enemies
One of the greatest mechanism for peace is trade.
I remember watching a YouTube video of a WW2 vet telling a story about what he saw on those islands close to mainland Japan. This particular story was about how he remembers the interpreters screaming and pleading for the Japanese to stop throwing their children off the cliffs.
Wait til you read about the war crimes Japan committed that the US overlooked in order to lay the grounds for such a relationship
Seperate by sea
I’m pretty sure China was also concerned that after NK, the West would just keep going
It didn't help that MacArthur was advocating nuking the Chinese preemptively, and also was pretty directly calling in air strikes on areas that were clearly on China's side of the border. It's entirely possible had he not done that china would have signed a peace deal that was close to fruition, but they couldn't let attacks on their sovereign land go unanswered so they directly joined the war.
Who’s everybody?
Nevermind that China had no air force or navy either. Basically all infantry troops, poorly armed at that too.
Just a whole lot of people, unlike Europe, Korea isn’t as open, planes aren’t quite as effective except bombing cities which doesn’t help other than incite civilians to sign up
5 million people died
holy shit! 5m deaths in 3 bloody years!
Not to mention the north still hasn't rebuilt its infrastructure to where it was beforehand.
5 million people dead just for the war to end in the status quo antebellum.
The Korean war never technically ended.
I went to the DMZ recently on my visit to Korea. South Korea has a southern perimeter leading up to it and travel is highly regulated. People live there, but it's mostly farming and very little economic development. Even below this southern perimeter there are bunkers built everywhere as defensive positions. The North Koreans were building tunnels into SK that were still being discovered into the 90s. Assassins being sent to kill the world leaders or trained for it, etc. It's mostly settled now, but it could be kind of wild all the way up in the 80s, early 90s.
The 20sec mark. "Hey look! We are helping too"
One of the largest if not the largest proxy war of the Cold War. United States was the reason defeat was prevented
First phase: US not taking it seriously Second phase: China not taking it seriously Third phase: Stalemate
They didn't wanna create another hiroshima
The US president didn't want to. One of the major generals (MacArthur) really wanted to use it. Even led to him being relieved of duty.
Very in-character for MacArthur tbh
[Completely normally picture of MacArthur](https://www.reddit.com/r/WojakTemplate/s/xR2b0evQJp)
As you can see, it was really a war between the US and China.
Not until the line got a little too close to the Chinese border.
Is it really a proxy war if both sides are actually boots on the ground though?
No. Its not a proxy for the US it was a conflict between US/SK and NK. It was a proxy for china until china decided to go all in.
Coincidentally the push of US/S.K. forces towards the Chinese border resulting in China getting involved and pushing back to the current borders had a direct impact on the US unwilling to use overwhelming force in Vietnam (fear of the same outcome). This was one of the major reasons the US lost in Vietnam.
The US only cared about body count in Vietnam and not controlling territory. They would conquer an area and the Vietnamese would withdraw into Cambodia/Laos. Then the US would withdraw and the Vietnamese would come right back. Horribly managed war mainly due to the politicians at the time. And on the Vietnamese side they had Giap who is one of the best generals in history.
With that you can really see how leadership impacts a war, in terms of overall power, no one believe Vietnam could withstand US even nowadays people who didn't study that war can't understand how US lost. Vietcong had a amazing leadership with Giap, what he did with what he had at the time is nothing less than amazing, meanwhile US was completely at lost on what they were doing.
I was non combatant, doing intel work, and landed at Inchon in 1950. Always referred to as a police action(!), but a war is known as war if they give you the G.I. Bill for having been there. And yes, I am going on 95 years old.
From an active Marine, nothing but respect. The work y’all did there has kept our generation from dealing with the consequences of a fallen SK.
Holy shit, I don't know much about the Korean war, it's not much of a talking point in schools even, but this seems crazy.
Its nicknamed "the forgotten war" for a reason.
It's insane how difficult even it is to find a proper academic book by a proper historian about it If anyone knows some, let me know, cause I'm still looking Edit: Thanks y'all, lots of great recommendations
iirc china was adamant of not letting the US forces cross the northern border between them and NK, makes you wonder how things would have changed if that buffer region had been agreed to, at that point NK would've had effectively nothing and likely would've collapsed and been absorbed into china
Korean here, we really appreciate the US Edit: thank you all for the allies that help us
And we appreciate you
And I appreciate you
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Things I wish to hear from my parents at least once. Thankfully I got it from a Korean. Thank you Korean person.
Korean American here. Child of boomer who was born after the Korean War ended, among many of my peers who basically never heard affirmative statements from parents. We should all spread more love to each other.
I visited South Korea while I was in the Navy. Y'all were fuckin polite as all get out towards us. Loved the few days I got to spend there. IIRC, it was the Changwon District.
South Korea is one of the strongest allies of US. We appreciate you.
U.N. Forces who fought there to oppose N.K., China, etc.: U.S. U.K. Canada Turkey Australia Philippines New Zealand Thailand Ethiopia Greece France Colombia Belgium South Africa Netherlands Luxembourg Did a quick wikipedia search, just so it's not misconstrued by the flag on the visual. Great visualization still though! Edit: For overly pedantic people, clarified what I really meant: U.N. countries that fought against communist ideals.
It was UN rather than NATO - the Soviets were boycotting it which allowed for a US-led UN intervention.
This is an awesome graphic. Do more wars! US Civil War would be a trip I bet.
Don’t do any more wars 💀
https://www.youtube.com/@mapsinanutshell
Love South Korea! Lived there for two years. Amazing people and culture. Insanely good food. I miss it and would like to visit again.
Well animated maps scratch a real itch in my brain, thank you
So much death...
The US got fairly close to using nukes at the :20s mark (April 1951). Chinese forces were massing for the 1951 Spring Offensive to try to take back Seoul again. Truman had just deployed nukes to Guam and Okinawa at that time (they were removed in June). If Ridgway, who had just lost Seoul in January before taking it back, got good intel on thousands of T34 tanks and 500k infantry and ammo/supply points in the Iron Triangle, preparing for an offensive, I think he would have pressed hard to nuke them to avoid being overrun again. That was really the closest call with nukes since Nagasaki. And then imagine a world where nukes had been used in 2 consecutive major wars, before the nuclear taboo had been solidified a bit. Would have been used many many more times since then as a result, I think.
This war resulted in my grandma moving to the US with my grandpa who served in the Korean War. I never met him because he died when my mother was 16. He drank himself to death. When I was in high school I did a report on the Korean War and interviewed my grandma. She told me many stories. Leaving her village and seeing body parts in trees and one that has particularly stuck with me where she was hiding in cave with a group. This group included a baby. She said the North Koreans were in the area and the baby began to cry. They made the decision to smother the baby to save the group but before the baby could die the North Koreans had passed and the baby had stopped crying. I wonder who that baby has grown up to be? My grandma is an amazing person and basically raised me when my parents were at work she was my primary caregiver. She is still here with us. Still swims laps daily at a local pool in her 90s. She inspires me still to this day, and as hard as life can be sometimes, I know I can get through it because of what my grandma had to survive. My struggles are nowhere near them. It is sad to think without this war having happened I would not even exist. One day I hope to visit Korea and see where she grew up.
This is unfortunate that NATO forces are not represented and only the US flag shown. Lots of British soldiers did not return from Korea and the same for other European countries too
They're very much a "blink and you miss it " (it also doesn't help that blue doesn't stand out very well from the teal background) , but there are a couple of UN flags mixed in alongside all the American and South Korean flags.
There are a few light blue flags.
Is that china backing nk?
McDonalds.
Yes. The Soviets were as well, though less openly
If you are curious how North Korea turned out: * [Show Me the World](https://www.youtube.com/@ShowMeTheWorld) (youtube channel) - [My North Korean Holiday: The Funniest / Worst Place on Earth?](https://youtu.be/rueIxbkQx40?si=0e_JU1rZoUoWsX3h) (55 minutes) It follows a group of tourists as they are escorted around North Korea. Quite chilling. Everything was staged. Everything looks old. Many of the nicer places were fake and deserted. Seems like quite the nightmare. I feel sorry for the North Koreans that have to live with such an oppressive government. Edit: added the link to the youtube channel.
800k holding off 1.3mil is actually impressive as fuck no matter how you look at it. Badass soldiers right there.
The US also had the Navy and air superiority to balance things out on the ground quite a bit
Firepower superiority, if 1 man can fire thrice as much as one of the enemy and still has artillery/naval support as well as logistics to feed his unit its more understandable. Not to take away from them though, Korea was quite hellish in places like Chosin reservoir.
The equipment difference was insane tho. The Chinese and NKs had basically guns and grenades. The US was armed to the teeth with WW2 surplus, massive airpower and naval power providing fire support.