Inchon! Among military historians and scholars, the name Inchon connotes daring, audacity and military genius. Fifty-eight years ago, on September 15, 1950, U.S. military forces, led by the 1st Marine Division, seized that strategic South Korean port, moved swiftly inland to take Kimpo Airfield, and by the end of September, after intense and bloody fighting, took Seoul, the South Korean capital, from communist forces. The amphibious landing at Inchon achieved tactical and strategic surprise. At one brilliant stroke, the Inchon landing relieved the pressure on the remaining U.S. and South Korean forces dug in at the Pusan perimeter, severed the North Korean supply lines, and forced the communist forces into a headlong retreat across the 38th parallel.
The U.S. victory at Inchon, however, also set the stage for a dramatic debate about the direction and goals of U.S. foreign policy in the early Cold War period; a debate that initially revolved around the forceful personalities of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and President Harry S. Truman.
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