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Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
King, James Hubert, SN.
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Description As 1951 drew to a close, a lull had settled over the battlefield. Fighting tapered off to a routine of patrol clashes, raids, and bitter small-unit struggles for key outpost positions. The lull resulted from Ridgway's decision to halt offensive operations in Korea, because the cost of major assaults on the enemy's defenses would be more than the results could justify. Furthermore, the possibility of an armistice agreement emerging from the recently reopened talks ruled out the mounting of any large-scale offensive by either side. On 21 November Ridgway ordered the Eighth Army to cease offensive operations and begin an active defense of its front. Attacks were limited to those necessary to strengthen the main line of resistance and to establish an adequate outpost line.
In the third week of December the U.S. 45th Division, the first National Guard division to fight in Korea, replaced the 1st Cavalry Division in the I Corps sector north of Seoul. The 1st Cavalry Division returned to Japan.
In the air, U.N. bombers and fighter-bombers continued the interdiction campaign (Operation STRANGLE, which the Far East Air Forces had begun on 15 August 1951) against railroad tracks, bridges, and highway traffic. At sea, naval units of nine nations tightened their blockade around the coastline of North Korea. Carrier-based planes blasted railroads, bridges, and boxcars, and destroyers bombarded enemy gun emplacements and supply depots. On the ground, the 155-mile front remained generally quiet in the opening days of 1952. Later in January the Eighth Army opened a month-long artillery-air campaign against enemy positions, which forced the enemy to dig in deeply. During March and April Van Fleet shifted his units along the front to give the ROK Army a greater share in defending the battle line and to concentrate American fire power in the vulnerable western sector.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1951
To Month/Year
April / 1952
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories She arrived off Wonsan on 27 November and commenced gun strike missions in support of the UN blockade. During the following weeks, she bombarded strategic points at Hungnam, Songjin, and Chongjin. In December, she served as an antiaircraft escort for TF 77, and, following a holiday trip to Japan, returned to operations off the coast of North Korea. In April 1952, Saint Paul participated in combined air-sea attacks against the ports of Wonsan and Chongjin.
On 21 April, while the cruiser was engaged in gun fire support operations, a sudden and serious powder fire broke out in her forward 8-inch (203 mm) turret. Thirty men died. The explosion occurred in the turret's left gun, which was loaded but had the breech open. The gun captain thought the weapon had fired and told the gun's rammerman to ram another projectile into the gun's breech. The gun blew up, setting off two other powder bags in the powder hoist.[3]
Before returning to Japan for repairs, however, Saint Paul carried out gunstrikes on railroad targets near Songjin, during which she captured nine North Koreans from a small boat.
