Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 57
June 1, 2020
14th Dalai Lama
In November 1950 15-year-old Tenzin Gyatso was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama, becoming chief of state of the semi-independent kingdom, and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists worldwide.
Born as Lhamo Thondup in 1935 and identified as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, who had died in 1933, Thondup arrived at Lhasa when he was four years old, and was installed on the Lion’s Throne four months later.
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May 28, 2020
Tootsie Rolls Saved US Marines
As the temperature reached -38°C during the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in late November 1950, weapons began to malfunction. Tank fuel pipes froze and cracked.
Running out of mortar rounds, the US Marines requested more mortar shells (codenamed “Tootsie Rolls”) by airdrop.
With the next airdrop that’s what they actually received – boxes of Tootsie Rolls.
Ingenuity transformed a potential disaster into success. The solid lumps of chocolate toffee that melted in your mouth could also be applied to seal cracked fuel lines.
With the tanks up and running again the Marines were able to continue their perilous escape from overwhelming Communist Chinese forces.
Source: How Tootsie Rolls Saved US Marines In The Korean War – HeadStuff
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May 25, 2020
May 22, 2020
Chosin Reservoir
For Americans, the tragic battle at the Chosin Reservoir in late November 1950 might be compared to Custer’s last stand. For the victorious Chinese Communists it was a Pyrrhic victory with heavy losses.
In the initial phases of the Korean War the North Korean forces had swept down the Korean Peninsula to the very tip at Busan. UN forces barely held on to their last toehold at the Busan (Pusan) perimeter.
After MacArthur’s masterful landing at Incheon (Inchon), South Korea was soon liberated from North Korean forces. Rather than stop at the 38th parallel, UN forces pushed far into North Korea.
Communist Chinese warnings regarding likely intervention if UN forces continued north were ignored.
Amidst serious U.S. diplomatic and intelligence errors, the significance of several major engagements in NW and NE Korea was minimized by UN command.
By Thanksgiving 1950 UN forces had reached the Yalu River on the border between North Korea and China. It seemed that our boys would be home by Christmas.
WikipediaThen came the devastating attack on US Marines and Army around the Chosin Reservoir by overwhelming numbers of
Chinese troops.
WikipediaUS Marines west of the reservoir and US Army to the east were encircled by ~120,000 Chinese troops.
The US Army’s Task Force Faith east of the reservoir bore the brunt of the Chinese offensive and suffered extremely heavy casualties.
After 9 days of relentless Chinese attacks, UN forces, loaded with wounded, were able to break out and make a fighting withdrawal through treacherous mountain roads lined with Chinese troops firing on them from the high ground.
Survivors of the battle reached the port of Hungnam on December 11, 1950.
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May 21, 2020
Long Island Train Crash
The Kew Gardens Long Island train crash was a collision between two trains on the Long Island Rail Road‘s mainline during the evening rush hour of November 22, 1950.
78 people were killed and 363 injured. The crash is the worst railway accident in LIRR history and one of the worst in the history of New York State.
Source: Wikipedia
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May 18, 2020
Beetle Bailey
WikipediaBeetle Bailey, an American comic strip by Mort Walker was first published in September 1950.
Set on a fictional United States Army post, the comic strip satirized the life of an Army private during American wars in Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Source: Wikipedia
In the years just before Walker’s death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the oldest comic strips still being produced by its original creator.
The characters in the comic strip included:
~ comicvine.gamespot.com
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May 14, 2020
Chinese Intervention
In the late afternoon of November 1, 1950 thousands of Chinese soldiers, accompanied by eerie bugle calls, descended from the hills near Unsan, North Korea throwing hand grenades and firing burp guns at scattered units of the U.S. 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division and South Korean ROK forces moving deep into North Korea.
Wikipedia
alchetron.com
Within hours the ROK 15th Regiment on the 8th Cavalry’s right flank collapsed, while the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 8th Cavalry fell back in disarray into the city of Unsan.
Wikipedia
On the morning of November 2 men of the US 8th Cavalry attempting to withdraw met a Chinese roadblock that forced them to abandon their artillery and take to the hills in small groups. Only a few scattered survivors made it back to UN lines.
Other elements of the 1st Cavalry Division tried unsuccessfully to reach the isolated battalion with a two-battalion counterattack on the dug-in Chinese positions encircling the 8th Cavalry, but were unable to break through the Chinese line.
At twilight with the relief effort unsuccessful, survivors broke into small groups to retreat under cover of darkness—most did not make it and >800 hundred men of the 8th Cavalry were lost.
The massive Chinese attacks shocked the UN forces. After the Incheon landing and breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, the war seemed to have been won. But now the Chinese had entered the war in force.
Source: The Korean War: The Chinese Intervention
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May 11, 2020
French Communism 1950
The French Communist Party (Parti Communiste Français- PCF) was banned in 1939 at the outbreak of WWII when it opposed the war.
Since the USSR and Nazi Germany had a neutrality pact, the PCF may have actually sabotaged arms production. Threatened with execution, the PCF leadership fled abroad.
When Germany invaded Russia in 1940 the PCF formed the National Front within the broader French resistance movement and organized direct action and political assassinations through the armed Francs-Tireurs et Partisans.
By the end of German occupation in 1944, the party, now powerful in many parts of France, entered into the governing Tripartite alliance with the French Section of the Workers’ International and the Christian Mouvement Républicain Populaire.
PCF strength peaked in France at the end of WWII. Gaining parliamentary representation in successive elections, the PCF promoted strikes and opposed colonialism.
In 1947, midst rising concern regarding Communist influence, the PCF was excluded from the French government.
Under pressure from Moscow, the PCF withdrew from other parties and focussed on agitation within its trade union base.
Source: Britannica.com
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May 7, 2020
US Army Reaches Yalu River
On November 13, 1950 US Navy carrier planes destroyed ~85% of the military camp at
Yalu River – Wikipedia
On November 21, 1950 US Army 7th Division elements of X Corps occupied Hyesanjin and surrounding ground to the banks of the Yalu River.
General MacArthur sent a message to the X Corps commander General Almond:“Heartiest congratulations, Ned, and tell Dave Barr that the 7th Division hit the jackpot.“
Source: X Corps at the Yalu River
General Almond added his own congratulations to Barr: “The fact that only twenty days ago this division landed amphibiously over the beaches at Iwon and advanced 200 miles over tortuous mountain terrain and fought successfully against a determined foe in subzero weather will be recorded in history as an outstanding military achievement.”
At the Yalu River 11/21/50
Left to Right: Generals Kiefer, Hodes, Almond, Barr
Visiting the 17th Infantry, at Hyesanjin
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May 4, 2020
Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto
Commissioned by jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, Aaron Copland composed his Symphony No. 3 – Concerto for clarinet, strings and harp.
It was first performed by Benny Goodman on a radio broadcast with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in November 1950.
Copland wrote: “The instrumentation being clarinet with strings, harp, and piano, I did not have a large battery of percussion to achieve jazzy effects, so I used slapping basses and whacking harp sounds to simulate them. The Clarinet Concerto ends with a fairly elaborate coda in C major that finishes off with a clarinet glissando – or “smear” in jazz lingo.”
Although composed specifically for him, Benny Goodman felt there were some technical challenges above his skill level, and therefore altered the original score to lower some of the higher notes to make them easier to play.
Source: Wikipedia
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