Daniel Orr's Blog, page 57

July 6, 1941 – World War II: German forces advance toward Smolensk

German Army Group Centercontinued east toward Smolensk, which commandedthe road to Moscow.  The German advance was again spearheaded bypanzers, with 2nd Panzer Group advancing in the south and 3rdPanzer Group in the north with the aim of meeting up and encircling Smolensk.  On Stalin’s orders, five Soviet armies fromthe strategic reserve were deployed in Smolensk,reinforcing the Soviet 13th Army there in essentially reconstitutingthe Soviet Western Front.  The Sovietsformed a new defensive line around the city, and also took up positions alongthe old Stalin Line along the Dnieper and Dvinarivers.

(Taken from German Invasion of the Soviet Union – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Europe – Vol. 6)

Central Sector Alsoon June 22, 1941, German Army Group Center (with 1.3 million troops, 2,600tanks, and 7,800 artillery pieces) based in Poland attacked intoSoviet-occupied eastern Poland, where the uneven border arising from the 1939partition of the country created salients whose weak flanks could be exploitedby an invading force.  German Army Group Centerhad the greatest concentration of tanks comprising two panzer groups, as Hitleranticipated that this sector’s campaign into Moscow would be strongly resisted by the RedArmy.  To exploit the Soviet salient at Bialystok, the two panzer groups crossed the frontier in aflanking maneuver, with the 2nd Panzer Group to the south andbypassing Brest, and 3rd Panzer Groupto the north advancing for Vilnius, with bothgroups aiming for Minsk,400 miles to the east.  Meanwhile, German Army Group Center’sthree field armies also advanced north and south of the Bialystok salient, forming another set ofpincers.

On June 23, 1941, a Red Armycounter-attack was stopped.  The nextday, another Soviet counter-offensive, led by an armored force of over 1,000tanks, advanced for Grodnoto break the looming encirclement, but met disaster caused as much by fierceGerman air attacks as by mechanical breakdowns of the tanks and shortage offuel.  Another Soviet attack with 200tanks on June 25 also ended in failure.

On June 27, 1941, the German2nd and 3rd Panzer Groups met up at Minsk,and the next day, German Army Group Center’s second pincers closed shut east of Bialystok.  The trapped Soviet forces at Bialystok,Navahrudak, and Minskcontinued to resist, while elimination of these pockets by the Wehrmacht wasdelayed by lack of adequate German motor transports to hasten the advance ofinfantry units.  Full encirclement ofSoviet forces also was compromised as the German 2nd Panzer, whichwas led by General Heinz Guderian (an advocate of armored blitzkrieg tactics),continued advancing east in contravention of Hitler’s pause order, which leftgaps in the cordon that allowed Soviet units to escape.  In the end, in the Bialystok-Minsk battles, althoughthe Germans captured 300,000 Soviet troops, as well as 3,000 tanks, and 1,500artillery pieces, some 250,000 Red Army soldiers escaped.

An annoyed Hitler faulted thepanzer commanders for achieving only a partial capture of the trapped Soviets;in turn, the German commanders blamed the slow advance of the supportinginfantry units.  But in the aftermath,the Soviet Western Front was destroyed, with two field armies obliterated andthree others severely incapacitated.

German Army Group Centerthen continued east toward Smolensk, whichcommanded the road to Moscow.  The German advance was again spearheaded bypanzers, with 2nd Panzer Group advancing in the south and 3rdPanzer Group in the north with the aim of meeting up and encircling Smolensk.  On Stalin’s orders, five Soviet armies fromthe strategic reserve were deployed in Smolensk,reinforcing the Soviet 13th Army there in essentially reconstitutingthe Soviet Western Front.  The Sovietsformed a new defensive line around the city, and also took up positions alongthe old Stalin Line along the Dnieper and Dvinarivers.

On July 6, 1941, Sovietarmored units, comprising 1,500 tanks, attacked toward Lepiel, but wererepulsed and nearly wiped out by a German tank and anti-tankcounter-attack.  Then on July 11 and thefollowing days, the Red Army launched more counter-attacks, which all failed tostall the Germans.  On July 13, German 2ndPanzer Group took Mogilev,trapping several Soviet armies.   Twodays later, the Germans entered Smolensk,leading to fierce house-to-house fighting in the city.  German 3rd Panzer Group, advancingfrom the north, was stalled by swampy terrain that was exacerbated by theseasonal rains.  But in late July 1941,it too entered Smolensk,and the two panzer groups closed shut and trapped three Soviet armiescomprising 300,000 troops and 3,200 tanks. As well, the Soviets suffered 180,000 troops killed and 170,000wounded.  German infantry units againwere delayed in closing the gap with the panzer spearheads, which allowed largenumbers of Soviet troops to escape to the east.

July 5, 1943 – World War II: The Allies invade Sicily in southern Italy

Britain and the United Stateslaunched air attacks in southern Italy,Sicily, and Sardinia,targeting airfields, port facilities, and industrial sites.  On July 10, 1943, the Allies made amphibiouslandings in Sicily, with the U.S.7th Army at the Gulf of Gela in the southwest and the British 8th Army southof Syracuse inthe southeast.  Allied naval gunfireeasily overpowered the Italian coastal defenses, with the fiercest oppositioncoming from the Luftwaffe, which launched air attacks that sank and damagedseveral Allied ships.  U.S. ground forces repulsedrepeated German counter-attacks, and by July 15, 1943, the Allies had securedtheir bridgehead and were breaking out toward the north.  The German-Italian forces quickly establisheddefensive positions along Mount Etna in the northeast, stalling the advance ofBritish 8th Army at Catania, and elements of U.S. 7thArmy.

(Taken from Italian Campaign – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Europe – Vol. 6)

Battle of ItalyThe Allied campaign in Italy, as in the entire North African and Mediterraneanregion as a whole, came about from a compromise between American and Britishmilitary planners in response to prodding by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that the Alliesopen a second front in the West to ease German pressure on the beleagueredEastern Front, which was defended by the Soviet Union.  The U.S.military high command wanted an immediate campaign in France, deeming that this was thequickest way to end the war.  The Britishdesired an offensive in the Mediterranean region for control of the vital sealanes and for other strategic reasons, and particularly to carry the war to Italy,which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the “softunderbelly” of the Axis.  In the end, theBritish and Americans agreed that a cross-English Channel invasion of Francewould be launched in 1944, but that an operation into Italy would also becarried out, which could achieve any of the following strategic aims on thecontinent: Italy would be knocked out of the war; if not eliminated from thewar, Italy would be forced to withdraw its troops from occupied Europe todefend the homeland; and with the Italian withdrawal, German manpower andresources would be stretched further to help defend Italy and occupyterritories vacated by the Italians.

For Germany, the loss of North Africa brought its southern European flank under threat.  In November 1942, German forces occupied Vichy France,relegating the nominally independent French polity into no more than a puppetstate.  To counter a possible invasion ofItaly from the south, theGermans planned (and did) exploit the rugged mountainous terrain of Italy, particularly the Apennine Mountains that stretch formuch of the north-south length of the country. Italy shared a borderwith Greater Germany through Ostmark (Austria),and the Germans also were determined to defend Italy to protect the vital oilfields and mineral resources of the Balkan region.

Preparatory to the invasion, Britain and the United States launched air attacks in southern Italy, Sicily,and Sardinia, targeting airfields, portfacilities, and industrial sites.  OnJuly 10, 1943, the Allies made amphibious landings in Sicily, with the U.S.7th Army at the Gulf of Gela in the southwest and the British 8th Army southof Syracuse inthe southeast.  Allied naval gunfireeasily overpowered the Italian coastal defenses, with the fiercest oppositioncoming from the Luftwaffe, which launched air attacks that sank and damagedseveral Allied ships.  U.S. ground forces repulsedrepeated German counter-attacks, and by July 15, 1943, the Allies had securedtheir bridgehead and were breaking out toward the north.  The German-Italian forces quickly establisheddefensive positions along Mount Etna in the northeast, stalling the advance ofBritish 8th Army at Catania, and elements of U.S. 7thArmy.

General George Patton, commander of U.S. 7th Army, then launched anattack toward central Sicily, and soon reached Palermo, Sicily’s capitallocated in the northeast, on July 23, 1943. U.S. forces thenadvanced along the northern coast, threatening to outflank the Axis forces on Mount Etna.  TheAllies breached the first line of defense, forcing the Axis to retreat toanother set of defenses.  But with theAllies also threatening to break through the second line, and British andAmerican units also conducting flanking maneuvers along the coast, the Axisdeemed their positions in Sicilyuntenable.  On August 11, 1943, the Axisbegan to evacuate Sicily across the Strait of Messina for the southern Italianmainland, completing their withdrawal on August 17; some 40,000 German and70,000 Italian troops were evacuated. The Allies captured over 110,000 mostly Italian troops, most of whom didnot offer resistance.

For Italy, the loss of Sicilycame as a shock, which was worsened by an Allied air raid on Rome on July 19, 1943 that destroyed civilianand military infrastructures.  On July25, 1943, the Fascist Grand Council stripped Mussolini of many powers,including control of the Italian military, which was turned over to King VictorEmmanuel III.  The next day, the Italianmonarch fired Mussolini as Prime Minister, and had him imprisoned. A newgovernment was formed, led by the chief of the Italian Armed Forces, GeneralPietro Badoglio, who was appointed as the new Prime Minister.

The invasion of Sicily also forced Germanyto withdraw some units in Russia,particularly from the ongoing Battle of Kursk (where the German offensive wasalready faltering), to confront the new threat. Thereafter, the Germans lost the initiative in the Eastern Front andwould permanently be on the defensive, a situation they also would face in theAllied campaign in Italy.

General Badoglio declared hiscontinued alliance with Germany,but secretly opened peace talks with the Allies.  Negotiations lasted two months, and onSeptember 8, the Italian government announced an agreement with the Allies,called the Armistice of Cassibile, where Italy surrendered to theAllies.  Fearing German reprisal, KingVictor Emmanuel II, General Badoglio, and other leaders fled from Rome and set up headquarters in Allied-controlled southernItaly.  There, on October 13, 1943, the Badogliogovernment declared war on Germany.

The Germans, which hadincreased their military presence in Italy since Mussolini’s ouster a fewmonths earlier, and had gained intelligence information that the new governmentwas seeking a separate peace with the Allies, now sprung into action anddisarmed Italian forces in Italy, France, and the Balkan regions, and seizedimportant military and public infrastructures across Italy.  Italian military units were unaware of thearmistice, and thus were caught off-guard and generally failed to offerresistance to the German take-over.  Thenon September 12, 1943, Mussolini was rescued from captivity by German commandosin a daring raid, and two weeks later, was installed by Hitler as head of thenewly formed fascist state, the ItalianSocial Republic, covering Axis-controlled northern and central Italy.  Two rival governments now laid claim to Italy,and the former Italian Armed Forces became divided, fighting while aligned withone or the other side.

Meanwhile, in September 1943,the Allies were ready to invade mainland Italyafter their capture of Sicilyone month earlier.  On September 3, 1943,the same day that the armistice was signed, British 8th Army unitsin Sicily crossed the Gulfof Messina and landed at Reggio di Calabria, at the southwestern tip, or “toe” of Italy(Figure 36).  The landing was unopposed,as the Germans had already retreated north while the Italian coastal batterieswere overwhelmed by Allied naval gunfire. Then on September 9, 1943, one day after the armistice was announced,the British made another amphibious landing at Tarantoin southeast Italy,which also was unopposed.  The Allies aimedthe two landings to divert the Germans from the main landing at Salerno, some200 miles further north off the western coast, which also was carried out onSeptember 9, 1943 by the newly formed U.S. 5th Army (comprising oneAmerican and two British divisions).  TheAllies also anticipated that the Taranto-Salerno landings would exploit theconfusion among the Germans by the sudden announcement of the armistice.

However, by the time of thearmistice, the Germans were firmly established in Italy.  And although many German units were divertedto disarm the Italian Army, a substantial force remained to guard against theexpected Allied invasion.  Furthermore,General Albert Kesselring, commander of German forces in southern Italy, correctly surmised that the main Alliedlanding would not be made in southernmost Italy,but rather in the vicinity of Salerno, Naples, or even Rome,where he concentrated German forces from their withdrawal from the south.

Thus, the British landings atReggio di Calabria and Tarantowere unopposed, and the ensuing British advance up the eastern coast facing theAdriatic Sea encountered only rear guardactions by small, retreating German detachments.

Furthermore, the Germans werenot taken completely by surprise by the landing of U.S.5th Army at Salerno.  Almostimmediately, German artillery batteries positioned at the hills east of Salerno opened fire on thebeaches, pinning down Allied forces and preventing a breakout.  With the arrival of reinforcements, onSeptember 13, 1943, the Germans counter-attacked, with the brunt falling on theAmericans, who came very close to relinquishing their beachhead and evacuatingaltogether.  Allied naval and airfirepower blunted the German attack; as well, more Allied troops were landed,together with increasing numbers of tanks and artillery pieces.  Another German attack on September 16 alsowas stopped by superior Allied firepower. Then on September 17, with British 8th Army from the southclosing in to link up with Allied forces at Salerno,the Germans retreated in good order northward to hastily prepared lines on the Apennines.  TheAllies then took Salerno, and on October 1,1943, they entered Naples,which by then had suffered extensive destruction, caused by Germanscorched-earth actions as well as by Allied bombings.  The Allies now controlled all of southern Italy.

The Allies advanced furthernorth, with British 8th Army in the east along the Adriatic coastand U.S. 5th Army in the west, and in early October 1943, came uponthe Volturno Line (Figure 36), a German temporary line across the Apennines extendingto the Volturno River in the west and Biferno River in the east.  After heavy fighting, the British andAmericans broke through, and advanced to another set of German stallingdefenses, the Barbara Line.  In early November 1943, the Allies breachedthis second line, and on November 9, advanced to the vicinity of the GustavLine,which was the German main defense system guarding the entrance to Rome.

July 4, 1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Rwandan rebels enter Kigali, ending the genocide

(Taken from Rwandan Civil War and Genocide – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 2)

On July 4, 1994, On July 3, Kigali fell to the Rwandan Patriotic Front asthe Rwandan Army abandoned the city after running low on ammunitions.  The Hutu government had vacated Kigali at the start of thesiege, moving its headquarters to Gitarama in the east.  With the rebels’ capture of Gitarama inmid-June, the government moved its capital to the north, first to Ruhengeri,and later, Gisenyi, both of which fell on July 13 and July 18, respectively.

On many occasions, the UN called for a ceasefire, but eachtime was rejected by rebel leader Paul Kagame. Then prompting on France’ssuggestion, the UN established a security zone in the southwest region of Rwandain areas that had not yet fallen to the rebels. The UN purposed the security zone to be used as a sanctuary forcivilians affected by the war.  On July23, 1994, Franceled a coalition force (comprising military units from a number of countries)that took control of the security zone. Hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees and soldiers entered the securityzone to escape the ever-widening areas being captured by the rebels.  The presence of the French forces deterredthe rebels from entering the security zone in pursuit of the Rwandan Army.

The UN mandate on the security zone ended on August 21,forcing the French-led coalition to withdraw completely from Rwanda.  The Hutus fled from the security zone, whichwas then occupied by the Tutsi rebels. Shortly thereafter, Kagame brought the whole country under hiscontrol.  The Rwandan Civil War was over.

Background Rwanda, a small country in Africa,experienced a long period of ethnic unrest before and after it gained itsindependence in the 1960s.  Then in the1990s, this unrest culminated in two events known as the Rwandan Civil War andthe Rwandan Genocide, both of which caused great loss in human lives andmassive destruction of the country.

The conflict revolved around the hostility between Rwanda’stwo main ethnic groups, the majority Hutus, who comprised 85% of thepopulation, and the Tutsis, who made up 14% of the population.  The origin of this hostility goes back manycenturies to when a Tutsi monarchy was established in the Hutu-populated landof what is present-day Rwanda.  Over time, the Tutsi monarch gaineddomination over the Hutus.  The Tutsimonarch also acquired ownership over most of the land, which he divided intovast estates that were overseen by a hierarchy of Tutsi overlords, and workedby Hutu laborers in a feudal-type system. For the most part, however, Tutsis and Hutus lived in harmony.  In the course of time, some Hutus becamewealthy, while many ordinary, non-aristocratic Tutsis remained poor.

Rwandan GenocideOn April 6, 1994, President Habyarimina and Burundi’shead of state, Cyprien Ntaryamira, were killed by undetermined assassins whentheir plane was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade as it was about to landin Kigali.  A staunchly anti-Tutsi military governmenttook over power in Rwanda.Within a few hours and in reprisal for the double assassinations, the newgovernment unleashed the Interahamwe “death squads” to murder Tutsis andmoderate Hutus on sight.  Over the nextseveral weeks, in the event known as the “Rwandan Genocide”, large numbers ofcivilians were murdered in Kigaliand throughout the country.  No place wassafe; in some instances, even Catholic churches were the scenes of themassacres of thousands of Tutsis where they had taken refuge.

The attackers used clubs, spears, firearms, and grenades, buttheir main weapon was the machete, with which they had trained extensively andwhich they used to hack away at their victims. At the urging of local officials, Hutu civilians joined in the killingfrenzy, and turned against their Tutsi neighbors, acquaintances, and evenrelatives.  In many cases, the threat ofbeing killed for appearing sympathetic to Tutsis forced many otherwisedisinterested Hutus to participate.

The Rwandan Army provided the Interahamwe with a list ofTutsis to be killed, and raised road blocks to prevent any escape.  The death toll in the Rwandan Genocide rangesfrom between 800,000 to one million; some 10% of the fatalities were moderateHutus.  The genocide lasted for about 100days, from between April 6 to July 15, producing a killing rate of 10,000persons a day.  The speed by which it wascarried out makes the Rwandan Genocide the fastest in history.  (By comparison, the Holocaust in Europe during World War II, although producing a muchhigher death toll, was carried out over a number of years.)

During the course of the genocide, the UN force in Rwandawas ordered not to intervene by the UN Secretary General.  In any case, the UN force was seriouslyundermanned and only lightly armed to stop the widespread violence.

The UN peacekeepers, however, managed to protect thecivilians inside their zone of authority. Shortly after the violence began, foreign diplomats and their staff fromthe various embassies in Kigalifled the country.  Other civilianexpatriates were evacuated as well.  Theinternational community, including the Western powers, chose not to intervenein the genocide or misread the upsurge in violence as just another combat phasein the civil war.

July 3, 1944 – World War II: Soviet forces recapture Minsk in Operation Bagration

On June 22, 1944, Soviet forcesattacked, and broke through the German lines all across the front, encirclingGerman units in several areas, including Minsk,the Belorussian capital, where 100,000 German troops were trapped, of which60,000 were captured and 40,000 killed. The German difficulties were further compounded because Hitler forbadeany retreat, and ordered that all positions be held at all costs, and turnedinto “fortresses” even if they fell behind enemy lines.  By mid-July 1944, the Red Army had seized allof Belarus,pushing back the Germans 450 miles to the 1941 border.  More critically, the Soviets establishedbridgeheads across the Vistula River leading to the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland’scapital. This Soviet victory was emphatic, thorough, and complete, and itsstrategic implications were wide-ranging: the German frontlines in the EasternFront from north to south were broken permanently; the German Army Groups lostphysical connections with each other; German Army Group North faced the dangerof being cut off in the Baltic region; and the regions comprisingGerman-controlled Poland, East Prussia, and even Germany itself, were nowthreatened.  The Red Army suffered heavylosses: 770,000 troops (180,000 killed or missing, 340,000-590,000 wounded andsick), 2,900 tanks, 2,500 artillery pieces, and 800 planes.  German manpower losses totaled 400,000 troops(26,000 killed, 110,000 wounded, and 264,000 missing and captured).  However, Red Army formations could easily berestored to full strength, because of the Soviet Union’snumerical superiority and industrial capacity, while German material losseswere becoming difficult to replace because of increasing difficulty inprocuring raw materials.

(Taken from Soviet Counter-attack and Defeat of Germany – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Europe – Vol. 6)

Belorussia[1] During the Soviet counteroffensives of 1943, German Army Group Centerhad generally denied the Red Army any significant breakthroughs, although theSoviets did recapture Bryansk in August 1943 andSmolensk thenext month.  For Stalin, Smolenskwas crucial, as it commanded the main road to Moscow, which the Germans could again use toattack the Soviet capital (but which by now was unlikely).  The Red Army used two Fronts comprising 1.2million troops, 20,600 artillery pieces, 1,400 tanks, and 1,100 planes to expelGerman Army Group Center (with 850,000 troops, 9,000 artillery pieces, 500tanks, and 700 planes) from Smolensk and surrounding territory, advancing up to160 miles (260 km) to the west.  Even so,the Soviets failed to break through German lines east of the upper Dnieper River.

However, by summer 1944, German Army Group Center’ssituation was precarious and its flanks vulnerable, especially in the southbecause of the Red Army’s rapid recapture of most of Ukraine.  By then, German Army Group South held only asmall section in northwest Ukraine.

Hitler surmised that the nextmajor Soviet offensive would be made through northwest Ukraine, as this gave the Soviets the shortestroute to Berlin.  But unbeknown to Hitler, Stalin and theSoviet High Command had focused their 1944 summer offensive mainly atrecapturing Belarus.  Here, the Soviets utilized “maskirovka”(military deception) to a very high degree, including deploying largeformations in the south while simultaneously building up forces in the centralsector.  These deceptions were highlysuccessful, as Hitler became so convinced that the main Soviet attack would bein Ukraine that he stripped German Army Group Centerof weapons in favor of German Army Group South – some 30% of the artillerypieces, 50% of tank destroyers, and nearly 90% of tanks were moved.  By the time of the Soviet attack, German Army Group Centerarmor would be outnumbered by a 12: 1 ratio.

By June 1944, the Red Armyhad massed four Army Groups (1st, 2nd, and 4th,Belorussian Fronts, and 1st Baltic Front) for the recapture of Belorussia.  The offensive was codenamed OperationBagration[2]and had a combined force of 2 million troops, 5,800 tanks, 33,000 artillerypieces, and 7,800 planes.  Opposing thisforce was German Army Group Center, with 600,000 troops, 500 tanks, 2,600artillery pieces, and 600 planes – with reinforcements later arriving, these numberswould rise to 1 million troops, 1,300 tanks, 10,000 artillery pieces, and 1,200planes.

On June 22, 1944, Soviet forcesattacked, and broke through the German lines all across the front, encirclingGerman units in several areas, including Minsk,the Belorussian capital, where 100,000 German troops were trapped, of which60,000 were captured and 40,000 killed. The German difficulties were further compounded because Hitler forbadeany retreat, and ordered that all positions be held at all costs, and turnedinto “fortresses” even if they fell behind enemy lines.  By mid-July 1944, the Red Army had seized allof Belarus,pushing back the Germans 450 miles to the 1941 border.  More critically, the Soviets establishedbridgeheads across the Vistula River leading to the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland’scapital. This Soviet victory was emphatic, thorough, and complete, and itsstrategic implications were wide-ranging: the German frontlines in the EasternFront from north to south were broken permanently; the German Army Groups lostphysical connections with each other; German Army Group North faced the dangerof being cut off in the Baltic region; and the regions comprisingGerman-controlled Poland, East Prussia, and even Germany itself, were nowthreatened.  The Red Army suffered heavylosses: 770,000 troops (180,000 killed or missing, 340,000-590,000 wounded andsick), 2,900 tanks, 2,500 artillery pieces, and 800 planes.  German manpower losses totaled 400,000 troops(26,000 killed, 110,000 wounded, and 264,000 missing and captured).  However, Red Army formations could easily berestored to full strength, because of the Soviet Union’snumerical superiority and industrial capacity, while German material losseswere becoming difficult to replace because of increasing difficulty inprocuring raw materials.

In support of OperationBagration, in mid-July 1944, Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front launched theLvov-Sandomierz Offensive in the south, whichcaptured Lvov and the whole northwest Ukraine, and thrust to the VistulaRiver at Sandomierz, establishing abridgehead and threatening to advance to Warsawfrom the southeast.  The Wehrmacht thuslost all its territories in the Ukraine.

[1] Modern-day Belarus.

[2] Named after Russian General Pyotr Bagration, who fought againstNapoleon’s invasion of Russiain 1812.  The operation on Belaruswas conceived during Allied talks in the Teheran Conference (November-December1943), by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister WinstonChurchill, and Stalin.  The “Big Three”Allied Powers agreed to launch a coordinated simultaneous attack from west andeast of Germany, which wasrealized with Operation Overlord, the Anglo-American amphibious landings in Normandy, Franceon June 6, 1944, and Operation Bagration two weeks later.

July 2, 1976 – Vietnam War: Vietnam is reunified

On July 2, 1976, the Republicof Vietnam (South Vietnam) was dissolved, and its people and territory werereunified with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), merger giving riseto the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that exists today.  The reunified Vietnamcame following the fall of the South Vietnamese capital Saigonand the end of the Vietnam War in April 30, 1975.

(Taken from Vietnam War – Wars of the 20th Century –Twenty Wars in Asia – Vol. 5)

At the end of the Vietnam War, the Provisional RevolutionaryGovernment (PRG) was tasked to govern South Vietnam preparatory toreunification. The PRG was a South Vietnamese subversive organization thatformed in June 1969 consisting of a broad coalition of communist,non-communist, anti-imperialist, farmers, workers, and ethnic groups thatopposed the current South Vietnamese government. After reunification, the PRGwas dissolved.

Aftermath of theVietnam War The war had a profound, long-lasting effect on the United States.  Americans were bitterly divided by it, andothers became disillusioned with the government.    War cost, which totaled some $150 billion($1 trillion in 2015 value), placed a severe strain on the U.S. economy,leading to budget deficits, a weak dollar, higher inflation, and by the 1970s,an economic recession.  Also toward theend of the war, American soldiers in Vietnamsuffered from low morale and discipline, compounded by racial and socialtensions resulting from the civil rights movement in the United States during the late 1960sand also because of widespread recreational drug use among the troops.  During 1969-1972 particularly and during theperiod of American de-escalation and phased troop withdrawal from Vietnam, U.S.soldiers became increasingly unwilling to go to battle, which resulted in thephenomenon known as “fragging”, where soldiers, often using a fragmentationgrenade, killed their officers whom they thought were overly zealous and eagerfor combat action.

Furthermore, some U.S.soldiers returning from Vietnamwere met with hostility, mainly because the war had become extremely unpopularin the United States,and as a result of news coverage of massacres and atrocities committed byAmerican units on Vietnamese civilians. A period of healing and reconciliation eventually occurred, and in 1982,the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built, a national monument in Washington, D.C.that lists the names of servicemen who were killed or missing in the war.

Following the war, in Vietnamand Indochina, turmoil and conflict continuedto be widespread.  After South Vietnam’scollapse, the Viet Cong/NLF’s PRG was installed as the caretakergovernment.  But as Hanoide facto held full political and military control, on July 2, 1976, North Vietnam annexed South Vietnam, and the unifiedstate was called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Some 1-2 million South Vietnamese, largely consisting offormer government officials, military officers, businessmen, religious leaders,and other “counter-revolutionaries”, were sent to re-education camps, whichwere labor camps, where inmates did various kinds of work ranging fromdangerous land mine field clearing, to less perilous construction andagricultural labor, and lived under dire conditions of starvation diets and ahigh incidence of deaths and diseases.

In the years after the war, the Indochina refugee crisisdeveloped, where some three million people, consisting mostly of those targetedby government repression, left their homelands in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos,for permanent settlement in other countries. In Vietnam,some 1-2 million departing refugees used small, decrepit boats to embark onperilous journeys to other Southeast Asian nations.  Some 200,000-400,000 of these “boat people”perished at sea, while survivors who eventually reached Malaysia, Indonesia,Philippines, Thailand,and other destinations were sometimes met there with hostility.  But with United Nations support, refugeecamps were established in these Southeast Asian countries to house and processthe refugees.  Ultimately, some 2,500,000refugees were resettled, mostly in North America and Europe.

The communist revolutions triumphed in Indochina: in April1975 in Vietnam and Cambodia, and in December 1975 in Laos.  Because the United States used massive air firepower in the conflicts, North Vietnam, eastern Laos, and eastern Cambodia were heavily bombed.  U.S.planes dropped nearly 8 million tons of bombs (twice the amount the United States dropped in World War II), and Indochina became the most heavily bombed area inhistory.  Some 30% of the 270 millionso-called cluster bombs dropped did not explode, and since the end of the war,they continue to pose a grave danger to the local population, particularly inthe countryside.  Unexploded ordnance(UXO) has killed some 50,000 people in Laosalone, and hundreds more in Indochina arekilled or maimed each year.

The aerial spraying operations of the U.S. military, carriedout using several types of herbicides but most commonly with Agent Orange(which contained the highly toxic chemical, dioxin), have had a direct impacton Vietnam.  Some 400,000 were directlykilled or maimed, and in the following years, a segment of the population thatwere exposed to the chemicals suffer from a variety of health problems,including cancers, birth defects, genetic and mental diseases, etc.

Some 20 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed on 20,000km2 of forests, or 20% of Vietnam’stotal forested area, which destroyed trees, hastened erosion, and upset theecological balance, food chain, and other environmental parameters.

Following the Vietnam War, Indochinacontinued to experience severe turmoil. In December 1978, after a period of border battles and cross-borderraids, Vietnam launched afull-scale invasion of Cambodia(then known as Kampuchea)and within two weeks, overwhelmed the country and overthrew the communist PolPot regime.  Then in February 1979, inreprisal for Vietnam’sinvasion of its Kampuchean ally, Chinalaunched a large-scale offensive into the northern regions of Vietnam, but after one month ofbitter fighting, the Chinese forces withdrew. Regional instability would persist into the 1990s.

July 1, 1942 – World War II: The Start of the First Battle of El Alamein

On July 1, 1942, the First Battle of El Alamein broke outbetween the Axis comprising German and Italian forces against the Alliescomprising units from Britain,British India, Australia,South Africa, and New Zealand.The nearly month-long battle (July 1-27, 1942) ended inconclusively, but was astrategic setback for the Axis forces as their planned further advance intoEgypt (Alexandria, Cairo, and the Suez Canal) was stopped.

The Axis in theAfrican Theatre of World War II In East Africa, the Italian Army achievedsuccess initially, launching offensives from Italian territories of Ethiopia, Eritrea,and Italian Somaliland and driving away the British from British Somaliland,and seizing some border regions in British-controlled Sudan and Kenya (Figure 34).  At this stage of World War II, Britain’soverseas possessions were extremely vulnerable, as British efforts werediverted to the homeland to confront the ongoing German air offensives (Battleof Britain, separate article).  But withthe Luftwaffe scaling down operations in Britainas 1941 progressed, the British soon counter-attacked in East Africa, throwingback the Italians and regaining lost territory, and then capturing Ethiopia, Eritrea,and Italian Somaliland, and forcing the surrender of the remaining Italianforces in East Africa.

(Taken from Wars of the 20th Century (Volume 6) – World War II in Europe)

In North Africa, which was a major battleground in World WarII, the Italian Army also achieved some success initially, launching from Libya and advancing 62 miles (100 km) intoBritish-administered Egyptin September 1940, while taking advantage of the desperate situation of theBritish in the ongoing Battle of Britain. In December 1940, the British counter-attacked and threw back the muchlarger Italian forces into Libya,taking some 130,000 Italian prisoners and advancing 500 miles (800 km) to ElAgheila.  Now poised to expel the ItalianArmy from North Africa altogether, the British were forced to halt theiroffensive to transfer some of their troops to Greece, to help contain a newItalian offensive there.

The pause allowed Hitler to come to the aid of hisbeleaguered ally Mussolini, in February 1941, sending the first units of theGerman Afrika Korps led by General Erwin Rommel, to fight alongside the Italianforces, which also were bolstered by reinforcements arriving from Europe.  A see-sawbattle ensued for over a year, with one side pushing the other hundreds ofmiles through the desert, and then the other side launching a counter-offensivethat threw back the other and penetrating deep into enemy territory.

Then in October-November 1942, the British 8th Armydecisively defeated the German-Italian force at the Second Battle of ElAlamein, forcing the Axis to retreat 1,600 miles (2,600 km) to theLibya-Tunisia border.

Also in November 1942, an American-British force landed at Morocco and Algeria,which were administered by Vichy France.  After a short period of fighting, theAmericans and British succeeded in persuading French forces there to switchsides to the Allies. American-British-French forces from the west and the British 8th Armyfrom the east then attacked and encircled the German-Italian forces in Tunisia, and in May 1943, expelled the Axis fromNorth Africa. As a result, Italylost all its African territories.

June 30, 1936 – Prelude to World War II: Ethiopia appeals to the League of Nations against the Italian invasion

On June 30, 1936, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie addressedthe League of Nations appealing for aidagainst the Italian invasion of his country. The League of Nations condemnedthe Italian invasion, but imposed only partial and ineffective economicsanctions against Italy.

In October 1935, the Italian Army invaded independent Ethiopia,conquering the African nation by May 1936 in a brutal campaign that includedthe Italians using poison gas on civilians and soldiers alike.  Italythen annexed Ethiopia intothe newly formed Italian East Africa, which included Eritreaand Italian Somaliland.  Italyalso controlled Libya in North Africa as a colony.

Mussolini and HisQuest for an Italian Empire In the midst of political and social unrest inOctober 1922, Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party came to power in Italy, with Mussolini being appointed as PrimeMinister by Italy’sKing Victor Emmanuel III.  Mussolini, whowas popularly called “Il Duce” (“The Leader”), launched major infrastructureand social programs that made him extremely popular among his people.  By 1925-1927, the Fascist Party was the onlylegal political party, the Italian legislature had been abolished, andMussolini wielded nearly absolute power, with his government a virtualdictatorship.

(Taken from Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 6 – World War II in Europe)

By the late 1920s through the 1930s, Mussolini pursued anovertly expansionist foreign policy.  Hestressed the need for Italian domination of the Mediterranean region andterritorial acquisitions, including direct control of the Balkan states of Yugoslavia, Greece,Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania,and a sphere of influence in Austriaand Hungary, and colonies inNorth Africa. Mussolini envisioned a modern Italian Empire in the likeness of the ancientRoman Empire. He explained that his empire would stretch from the “Strait of Gibraltar

[western tip of the Mediterranean Sea]

to the Strait of Hormuz [in modern-day Iran and the Arabian Peninsula] (Figure 20)”. Although not openly stated, to achieve this goal, Italy would need to overcome British and Frenchnaval domination of the Mediterranean Sea.

Furthermore, in the aftermath of World War I, a strongsentiment regarding the so-called “mutilated victory” pervaded among manyItalians about what they believed was their country’s unacceptably smallterritorial gains in the war, a sentiment that was exploited by the Fascistgovernment.  Mussolini saw his empire asfulfilling the Italian aspiration for “spazio vitale” (“vital space”), wherethe acquired territories would be settled by Italian colonists to ease theoverpopulation in the homeland. Mussolini’s government actively promoted programs that encouraged largefamily sizes and higher birth rates.

Mussolini also spoke disparagingly about Italy’s geographicallocation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, about how it was “imprisoned”by islands and territories controlled by other foreign powers (i.e. France andBritain), and that his new empire would include territories that would allowItaly direct access to the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Indian Ocean inthe east.

In October 1935, the Italian Army invaded independent Ethiopia,conquering the African nation by May 1936 in a brutal campaign that includedthe Italians using poison gas on civilians and soldiers alike.  Italythen annexed Ethiopia intothe newly formed Italian East Africa, which included Eritreaand Italian Somaliland.  Italyalso controlled Libya in North Africa as a colony.

The aftermath of Italy’sconquest of Ethiopia saw a rapprochementin Italian-Nazi German relations arising from Hitler’s support of Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia.  In turn, Mussolini dropped his opposition to Germany’s annexation of Austria.  Throughout the 1920s-1930s, the majorEuropean powers Britain, France, Italy, the Soviet Union and Germany, engagedin a power struggle and formed various alliances and counter-alliances amongthemselves, with each power hoping to gain some advantage in what was seen asan inevitable war.  In this powerstruggle, Italystraddled the middle and believed that in a future conflict, its weight wouldtip the scales for victory in its chosen side.

In the end, it was Italy’sties with Germanythat prospered; both countries also shared a common political ideology.  In the Spanish Civil War (July 1936-April1939), Italy and Germany supported the rebel Nationalist forcesof General Francisco Franco, who emerged victorious and took over power in Spain.  In October 1936, Italyand Germanyformed an alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis. Then in 1937, Italyjoined the Anti-Comintern Pact, which had been signed by Germany and Japan in November 1936.  In April 1939, Italymoved one step closer to forming an empire by invading Albania, seizing control of theBalkan nation within a few days.  In May1939, Mussolini and Hitler formed a military alliance, the Pact of Steel.  Two months earlier (March 1939), Germany completed the dissolution and partialannexation of Czechoslovakia.  The alliance between Germany and Italy,together with Japan,reached its height in September 1940, with the signing of the Tripartite Pact,and these countries came to be known as the Axis Powers.

On September 1, 1939 World War II broke out when Germany attacked Poland,which immediately embroiled the major Western powers, France and Britain,and by September 16 the Soviet Union as well (as a result of a non-aggressionpact with Germany, but notas an enemy of France and Britain).  Italydid not enter the war as yet, since despite Mussolini’s frequent blustering ofhaving military strength capable of taking on the other great powers, Italyin fact was unprepared for a major European war.

Italy wasstill mainly an agricultural society, and industrial production forwar-convertible commodities amounted to just 15% that of Britain and France.  As well, Italian capacity for vital itemssuch as coal, crude oil, iron ore, and steel lagged far behind the otherwestern powers.  In military capability,Italian tanks, artillery, and aircraft were inferior and mostly obsolete by thestart of World War II, although the large Italian Navy was ably powerful andpossessed several modern battleships. Cognizant of these deficiencies, Mussolini placed great efforts tobuilding up Italian military strength, and by 1939, some 40% of the nationalbudget was allocated to the armed forces. Even so, Italian military planners had projected that its forces wouldnot be fully prepared for war until 1943, and therefore the sudden start ofWorld War II came as a shock to Mussolini and the Italian High Command.

In April-June 1940, Germanyachieved a succession of overwhelming conquests of Denmark,Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium,Luxembourg, and France.  As Franceverged on defeat and with Britainisolated and facing possible invasion, Mussolini decided that the war wasover.  In an unabashed display ofopportunism, on June 10, 1940, he declared war on Franceand Britain, bringing Italy into World War II on the side of Germany,and stating, “I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peaceconference as a man who has fought”.

June 29, 1950 – Korean War: The U.S. Navy blockades the Korean coast

On June 29, 1950, United States President Harry S. Trumanordered a naval blockade of the Korean coastline following the start of theKorean War. At the same time, he authorized the deployment of U.S. troops to assist the beleaguered SouthKorean-American forces defending South Korea. The U.S. Air Force wasalso instructed to launch bombing raids on military targets in North Korea.

North Korealaunched its invasion of South Korea four days earlier, June 25, andrapidly gained territory, pushing back the small South Korean-Americandefenders. The United Nations Security Council, upon the request of the United States, passed a resolution urging UNmember states to come to the aid of South Korea.

Aftermath of theKorean War An armistice was signed on July 19, 1953.  Eight days later, July 27, representatives ofthe UN Command, North Korean Army, and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Armysigned the Korean Armistice Agreement, which ended the war.  A ceasefire came into effect 12 hours afterthe agreement was signed.  The Korean Warwas over.

(Taken from Korean War – Wars of the 20th Century: Volume 5 – Twenty Wars in Asia)

War casualties included: UN forces – 450,000 soldierskilled, including over 400,000 South Korean and 33,000 American soldiers; NorthKorean and Chinese forces – 1 to 2 million soldiers killed (which includedChairman Mao Zedong’s son, Mao Anying). Civilian casualties were 2 million for South Korea and 3 million for North Korea.  Also killed were over 600,000 North Koreanrefugees who had moved to South Korea. Both the North Korean and South Korean governments and their forcesconducted large-scale massacres on civilians whom they suspected to besupporting their ideological rivals.  In South Korea,during the early stages of the war, government forces and right-wing militias executedsome 100,000 suspected communists in several massacres.  North Korean forces, during their occupationof South Korea,also massacred some 500,000 civilians, mainly “counter-revolutionaries”(politicians, businessmen, clerics, academics, etc.) as well as civilians whorefused to join the North Korean Army.

Under the armistice agreement, the frontline at the time ofthe ceasefire became the armistice line, which extended from coast to coastsome 40 miles north of the 38th parallel in the east, to 20 miles south of the38th parallel in the west, or a net territorial loss of 1,500 square miles toNorth Korea.  Three days after theagreement was signed, both sides withdrew to a distance of two kilometers fromthe ceasefire line, thus creating a four-kilometer demilitarized zone (DMZ)between the opposing forces.

The armistice agreement also stipulated the repatriation ofPOWs, a major point of contention during the talks, where both partiescompromised and agreed to the formation of an independent body, the NeutralNations Repatriation Commission (NNRC), to implement the exchange ofprisoners.  The NNRC, chaired by GeneralK.S. Thimayya from India, subsequently launched Operation Big Switch, where inAugust-December 1953, some 70,000 North Korean and 5,500 Chinese POWs, and12,700 UN POWs (including 7,800 South Koreans, 3,600 Americans, and 900British), were repatriated.  Some 22,000Chinese/North Korean POWs refused to be repatriated – the 14,000 Chineseprisoners who refused repatriation eventually moved to the Republic of China (Taiwan),where they were given civilian status. Much to the astonishment of U.S. and British authorities, 21 Americanand 1 British (together with 325 South Korean) POWs also refused to berepatriated, and chose to move to China. All POWs on both sides who refused to be repatriated were given 90 daysto change their minds, as required under the armistice agreement.

The armistice line was conceived only as a separation offorces, and not as an international border between the two Korean states.  The Korean Armistice Agreement called on thetwo rival Korean governments to negotiate a peaceful resolution to reunify the Korean Peninsula.  In the international Geneva Conference heldin April-July 1954, which aimed to achieve a political settlement to the recentwar in Korea (as well as in Indochina, see First Indochina War, separatearticle), North Korea and South Korea, backed by their major power sponsors,each proposed a political settlement, but which was unacceptable to the other side.  As a result, by the end of the GenevaConference on June 15, 1953, no resolution was adopted, leaving the Koreanissue unresolved.

Since then, the KoreanPeninsula has remained divided alongthe 1953 armistice line, with the 248-kilometer long DMZ, which was originallymeant to be a military buffer zone, becoming the de facto border between North Korea and South Korea.  No peace treaty was signed, with thearmistice agreement being a ceasefire only. Thus, a state of war officially continues to exist between the two Koreas.  Also as stipulated by the Korean ArmisticeAgreement, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) was established,comprising contingents from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland,tasked with ensuring that no new foreign military personnel and weapons arebrought into Korea.

Because of the constant state of high tension between thetwo Korean states, the DMZ has since remained heavily defended and is the mostmilitarily fortified place on Earth. Situated at the armistice line in Panmunjom is the Joint Security Area,a conference center where representatives from the two Koreas hold negotiationsperiodically.  Since the end of theKorean War, there exists the constant threat of a new war, which is exacerbatedby the many incidents initiated by North Koreaagainst South Korea.  Some of these incidents include: thehijacking by a North Korean agent of a South Korean commercial airliner inDecember 1969; the North Korean abductions of South Korean civilians; thefailed assassination attempt by North Korean commandos of South KoreanPresident Park Chung-hee in January 1968; the sinking of a South Korean navalvessel, the ROKS Cheonon, in March 2010, which the South Korean governmentblamed was caused by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine (North Koreadenied any involvement), and the discovery of a number of underground tunnelsalong the DMZ which South Korea has said were built by North Korea to be usedas an invasion route to the south.

Furthermore, in October 2006, North Korea announced that it haddetonated its first nuclear bomb, and has since stated that it possessesnuclear weapons.  With North Korea aggressively pursuingits nuclear weapons capability, as evidenced by a number of nuclear tests beingcarried out over the years, the peninsular crisis has threatened to expand toregional and even global dimensions. Western observers also believe that North Korea has since beendeveloping chemical and biological weapons.

North Korea and South Korea Sincethe end of the war, the two Koreashave pursued totally divergent paths.  North Korea,a Marxist state, implemented a centrally planned policy, nationalizedindustries, lands, and properties, and collectivized agriculture.  During the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula,industrialization (and thus also wealth and power) was concentrated in thenorth.  Following the Korean War, North Korea focused on heavy industrialization,particularly power-generating, mineral, and chemical industries, which washelped greatly by large technical and financial assistance from the SovietUnion, China,and other Eastern Bloc countries.  It wasalso determined to achieve juche (self-reliance).  Simultaneously, North Korea funneled a large shareof its national budget to building a large Army.  To fund both its large industrial andmilitary programs, the government borrowed heavily from foreign sources.  But after the 1973 global oil crisis, the priceof minerals fell in the world market, negatively affecting North Korea which was unable to payits large foreign debt.  By themid-1980s, it failed to meet most of its debt repayment obligations, anddefaulted.

By the late 1980s, socialism was waning across eastern andcentral Europe, with Eastern Bloc countriesshedding off Marxism-Leninism and centrally planned economies, and adoptingWestern-style democracy and a free market system.  In December 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated.  North Korea,suddenly without Soviet financial support, went into an economic freefall.  Also in the 1990s, widespread famine in North Koreacaused by various factors, including failed government policies, massiveflooding in 1995-1996, a drought in 1997, and the loss of Soviet support, ledto mass starvation.  The number of deathsfrom the famine is estimated at between 500,000 and 2 million people, even upto 3 million.  The internationalcommunity responded to the calamity, and North Korea received food and other humanitarian aid from theUN, China, South Korea, the United States, and other countries.  At present, North Korea, when measured in termsof its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), ranks among the poorest and leastdeveloped countries in the world.

By contrast, South Korea, which pursued Western-style democracyand a free market economy, initially suffered from severe political, social,and economic difficulties in the years following the Korean War.  The country, which traditionally had animpoverished agricultural economy, was nearly exclusively dependent on U.S.financial aid (up to 90%).  In October1953, South Korea and the United Statessigned a Mutual Defense Treaty.

In May 1961, General Park Chung-hee came to power in South Koreathrough a military coup.  Soon becomingpresident, Park began the dramatic economic transformation of South Korea.  Within a few decades, the country had becomea regional and global economic powerhouse, its rapid growth being called the“Miracle on the Han River” (referring to the Han River, which flows through Seoul).

Because of the prevailing unstable security climate, President Park imposed authoritarian rule and aone-party state system.  His regimesuppressed political opposition, censored the press, and committed grave humanrights violations.  But at the same time,his government initiated large-scale modernization and export-centeredindustrialization.  Succeeding nationaladministrations (after President Park was assassinated in1979) have continued the country’s economic growth.  By the 1990s, South Korea had become one of Asia’sbusiness and commercial centers, boasting a highly developed economy.  South Koreahas since become the world’s 12th large economy, with a GDP that is nearlyforty times greater than that of North Korea.

June 28, 1950 – Korean War: Seoul falls to North Korean forces

On June 25, 1950, after someinitial fighting in the Ongjin area, North Korea launched a full-scaleinvasion across the 38th parallel.  North Korean invasionforces, which consisted of 90,000 troops and supported by armored and artilleryunits, crossed into South Korea from east to west of the line.  South Korean border defenses south of theline were easily overcome.  South Koreanforces, lacking heavy artillery and powerful anti-tank weapons, surrendered ordefected en masse, or fled south.  OnJune 28, 1950, Seoulfell, with President Rhee and his government having vacated the capital inadvance of the North Korean offensive. To forestall the North Koreans, the South Korean military destroyed themain bridge south of Seoul across the Han River, causing the deaths of hundreds of civilianswho were crossing the bridge at the time. Thousands of South Korean troops also were unable to leave the city andwere later captured by the North Koreans. By the third day of the invasion, South Korea was verging oncollapse.

On June 25, 1950, the UnitedNations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 82 which called for an end tohostilities, and demanded that North Korean forces withdraw from South Korea.  The resolution passed because at that time,the Soviet Union, which was a permanent UNSC member with veto power, hadboycotted the UNSC meetings in protest of the UN’s continued non-recognition ofChina.  The Soviet government also challenged theUN’s legitimacy to decide on the Korean conflict, stating that the war was aninternal security issue, and that the 38th parallel was a militarydemarcation and not an international border.

Then on June 27, 1950, theUNSC passed Resolution 83, which called on UN member states to provide militaryassistance to South Koreato counter the North Korean invasion. Like South Korea, theUnited States was caughtoff-guard by the invasion, but quickly moved into action, and used its strongdiplomatic influence to mobilize international condemnation of North Korea.  Up until now, President Truman viewed the Cold Waras relating only to Europe, and the U.S.containment policy as directed against the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies.  But with the outbreak of the Korean War, forthe United States, the ColdWar had come upon Asia.

President Truman particularlylikened the North Korean invasion to Germany’saggression in World War II, and announced that his government would not repeatthe pre-war Allied appeasement policy, and that the United States would meet the NorthKorean “challenge” with force.  And inview of this expanded Cold War policy, on June 27, 1950 (two days after thestart of the Korean War), President Truman ordered the U.S.7th Fleet to proceed to the Taiwan Strait, to prevent hostilities between theRepublic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China.  Both Chinese states pursued a policy todestroy its rival, but the arrival of the American naval fleet deterred thePeople’s Republic of Chinafrom launching its long-planned invasion of Taiwan.

At the start of the war, the U.S.military was undergoing a drastic reduction in combat strength because of majorcutbacks in military appropriations following World War II.  Furthermore, because of the perceived greatersecurity threat in Europe, the United Statesconcentrated its forces there in line with its “Europe First” policy, leadingto the U.S. militaryscrambling to assemble enough American military units for Korea.  During the early stages of the war, the United States experienced some difficultydispatching sufficient forces to the fighting, as U.S.units in Japanwere insufficiently trained for combat and seriously under-strength.  As a result, only small advance unitsinitially were sent to the fighting in Korea.

Subsequently during the war,a combined total of some 370,000 foreign troops from 16 UN countries fought onthe side of South Korea.  Of this number, nearly 90% was provided bythe United States (326,000 troops), while Britain(14,000), Canada (8,000),and Turkey(5,000) also sent sizable contingents.

On the day of the invasion,the U.S. governmentevacuated American civilians from South Korea.  On June 27, 1950, with the passage of UNSCResolution 83 authorizing the use of force against the North Korean invasion,the U.S. military based in Japan sent warplanes into bombing raids in North Korea.  U.S. planes attacked airfields anddestroyed several North Korean planes on the ground.  U.S. ships also were rushed toKorean waters, where they shelled North Korean positions along the coast,somewhat slowing down the North Korean advance in these coastal areas.

On July 7, 1950, the UNSCpassed Resolution 85, which merged all UN member units into one unified force(called the United Nations Command, or UNC) under one commander.  That same day, President Truman named GeneralDouglas MacArthur (head of the Far East Command based in Tokyo, Japan)as commander-in-chief of the UNC.  TheEighth U.S. Army, headquartered in Japan, would serve as the mainAmerican force in the Korean War.  Itscommander, General Walton Walker, was named as commander of the UNC groundforces.  The South Korean government, whosearmy had been reduced to 22,000 troops from 90,000 since the start of the war,allowed its remaining forces to be placed under the UNC.

On July 1, 1950, the first U.S. force, a 400-man battalion called TaskForce Smith (named after itscommander), arrived in Korea.  Four days later, July 5, Task Force Smithencountered an armored North Korean column consisting of 5,000 troops that wasadvancing toward Osan.  In the ensuingbattle, Task Force Smith caused some material damage to the enemy, destroying anumber of North Korean tanks, but itself was decimated and forced into achaotic retreat.  But Task Force Smithachieved one objective: it delayed the North Korean advance to allow time for moreUN forces to arrive in the southern edge of the peninsula, where they couldestablish a stronger defensive line.

Meanwhile, other Americanunits that had arrived in Korea also used delaying tactics in clashes atPyeongtaek, Cheonan, Chochiwon, and Taejon, but were forced to retreat bynumerically superior North Korean forces that advanced using both frontalattacks and flanking tactics.  At Taejon particularly, the U.S. 24th InfantryDivision was nearly destroyed and its commander, Major General William Dean,was captured by the North Koreans.  Bythis time, South Korean and UN forces had been pushed to nearly the southernedge of the Korean Peninsula and faced thedanger of being annihilated or driven to the sea.

However, in early August1950, UN forces succeeded in establishing the Pusan Perimeter (Figure 16), a 140-mile long defensive line that partially followedthe length of the Naktong River.  The Pusan Perimeter was so-named for Pusan, South Korea’smajor southern port, where U.S.and other UN forces, together with their war materials, were arriving in largenumbers daily.

In August 1950, North Koreanforces attacked many points along the Pusan Perimeter, and heavy fighting took place in Taegu,Masan, P’ohang-dong, and across the Naktong River. Because UN forces yet were numerically inadequate to defend the wholeline, General Walker used a “mobile defense” strategy, where his forces weremoved constantly to areas of enemy attack. North Korean forces broke through in many places, including a flankingmaneuver that threatened to drive straight to Pusan. But UN forces succeeded in establishing new defensive positions and thencounterattacked, driving back the North Koreans.

By early September 1950,North Korean forces were experiencing supply problems, as UN (mainly American)planes, which controlled the skies, were taking a heavy toll on North Koreanlogistical lines, attacking North Korean rail and road networks, weaponsdepots, oil refineries, and military facilities.  As well, UN forces now had 180,000troops.  By contrast, the North Koreaninvasion force, which had experienced heavy casualties, stood at some 100,000troops with the arrival of more reinforcements. UN forces also now had 600 tanks while North Korean armor, which hadspearheaded the invasion, had been reduced to fewer than 100 tanks from theoriginal 270 at the start of the war.

Some key areas during the Korean War

Nevertheless, in earlySeptember 1950, North Korean forces, comprising 13 divisions, launched anall-out coordinated five-prong offensive in a desperate attempt to finallybreak through the Pusan Perimeter.  Intense fightingtook place in Haman, Kyongju, Yongsan Tabu-Dong, and Ka-san.  The North Koreans, using the element ofsurprise and exceptionally fierce attacks, pushed back the UN forces in manyplaces.  But by mid-September 1950, UNforces had succeeded in re-establishing a new defensive line, although thesituation remained critical.

As early as July 1950,General MacArthur had conceived of aplan to launch a UN amphibious assault at Inchon harbor, located 27kilometers southwest of Seoulon the central west coast.  The successof such an operation would have the strategic effect of destabilizing the NorthKorean supply lines to the south, and threaten the North Korean forces fightingin the Pusan Perimeter.  The U.S. JointChiefs of Staff (JCS) initially were skeptical about the operation because ofthe risks involved, but soon gave its approval when General MacArthur expressedunwavering optimism in the feasibility of his plan.  U.S.forces then prepared to launch an amphibious landing on Inchon.

On September 15, 1950,preceded by days of heavy air attacks and naval artillery bombardment, some75,000 U.S. and South Korean troops (of the newly reconstituted U.S. X Corps)in 260 naval vessels were amphibiously landed north and south of Inchon, taking the city where they met only light resistancefrom the small North Korean garrison.

The unexpected UN landing at Inchon dealt a psychological blow to North Koreanforces at the Pusan Perimeter.  Already weakenedby shortages of food and ammunitions, and rising casualties, by the third weekof September 1950, North Korean resistance collapsed, with whole military unitsbreaking down, and tens of thousands of troops fleeing north or to themountains, or surrendering en masse.  Forthe North Korean Army, its defeat at the Pusan Perimeter was catastrophic: some65,000 (over 60%) of its 98,000 troops were lost; it had lost nearly all itstanks and artillery pieces; and most crucially, it ceased to be a force capableof stopping the UN forces which now began to steamroll northward.

By September 23, 1950, UNforces, comprising largely of the Eighth U.S. Army, had broken out of the PusanPerimeter, and advanced north some 100 miles, on September 27linking up with X Corps units from the Inchon landings atOsan.  However, the UN forces’ aim oflinking their units rather than actively pursuing the enemy allowed some 30,000retreating North Korean soldiers from the Pusan Perimeter to escape and eventuallycross the 38th parallel into North Korea,where they soon were reorganized into new fighting units.  Other North Korean units that took to themountains in the south also formed small militias that engaged in guerilla warfare.

June 27, 1991 – Slovenian War of Independence: Yugoslav troops invade the new independent state of Slovenia

On June 26, 1991, a unit of theYugoslav Army based in Rijeka, Croatia tried to enter Slovenia in order to secure the Slovenian borderwith Italy.  This Yugoslav Army unit was stopped at theSlovenian-Croatian border by local residents who massed in the middle of theroads and raised large barricades.  Thenext day, June 27, the Yugoslav Army mobilized its units in Slovenia and Croatiain order to capture Ljubljana airport and Slovenia’sborder crossings.  Fighting betweenYugoslav forces and Slovenian fighters broke out in Brnik, Trzin, Pesnica,Ormoz, and Koseze.  While the Yugoslavssucceeded in taking Ljubljanaairport and most border crossings, they found themselves vulnerable to attackand lacking logistical support.  Inparticular, Yugoslav tank units guarding the border crossings had no supportinginfantry troops.

(Taken from Slovenian War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Vol. 2)

Background Geographically, Slovenia wasthe most westerly located republic of Yugoslavia, and had through thecenturies, assimilated many Western European influences from neighboring Italyand Austria into its Slavic culture.  Andunlike the other Yugoslav republics, Slovenia was nearly ethnicallyhomogeneous, with Slovenes comprising 90% of the population.

As communist ideology tottered in theSoviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe during the second half of the1980s, Yugoslavia’sapparent Slavic unity began to fragment as nationalistic and democratic ideasseeped into its many ethnic groups. Economic factors also played into the independence aspirations in Slovenia and Croatia, the two most prosperousYugoslav republics that contributed a fairly large share to the nationaleconomy and also subsidized the less affluent regions of the country.  In the late 1980s, the constituent assembliesof the Yugoslav republics called on the national government to decentralize andallow greater regional autonomy.

In September 1989, Slovenia’s regional government tookthe radical step of abolishing communism and adopting democracy as its officialideology.  Then in January 1990,delegates of Slovenia and Croatiawalked out of an assembly of Yugoslav communists over a disagreement withSerbian representatives regarding the future direction of the nationalgovernment.  From this moment on,Yugoslav unity was shattered and the end of Yugoslavia became imminent.  A pro-independence coalition government wasestablished in Sloveniafollowing democratic, multi-party elections in March 1990.  Then in a general referendum held nine monthslater, 88% of Slovenes voted for independence. On June 25, 1991, Slovenia(together with Croatia)declared independence.

Because of the high probability thatthe Yugoslav Army would oppose the secession, the Slovenian government preparedcontingency plans many months before declaring independence.  For instance, Slovenia formed a small regulararmy from its police and local defense units. Weapons and ammunitions stockpiles in Slovenia were seized; these wereaugmented with arms purchases from foreign sources.

Nevertheless, at the start of the war,Slovenia’swar arsenal consisted mainly of infantry weapons, bolstered somewhat with asmall number of portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. Slovenia had no artillery pieces,battle tanks, or warplanes.  And becausethe Yugoslav Army, the fourth largest in Europe,would be overwhelming in battle, the Slovenians worked out in great detail astrategy for guerilla action.

When Slovenia declared independence on June25, this was one day earlier than its previous announced date of June 26.  This was done to mislead the Yugoslav Army,which was prepared to attack on June 26.

Immediately after declaringindependence, Slovenian forces took control of the airport near Ljubljana, Slovenia’scapital, and the border crossings with Austria,Hungary, Italy, and Croatia.  No opposition was encountered in theseoperations because the personnel manning these stations were Slovenes, who infact, promptly joined the ranks of the Slovenian Army.

Meanwhile, in Belgrade (in Serbia),the Yugoslav Armed Forces high command ordered limited military action inSlovenia in the belief that small-scale intervention would encounter little orno resistance.  And since the YugoslavArmy did not commit significant forces in Slovenia, the resulting Slovenian Warof Independence was brief (lasting only ten days, therefore its more commonname, “The Ten-Day War”), and consisted of skirmishes and small-scale battles.