Out of concern for the Eighth Army's lack of spirit and out of conviction that recovery depended largely on improved leadership, General Ridgway in his noontime withdrawal orders to Milburn and Coulter on 1 January emphasized their responsibility to conduct strong delaying actions. In particular, he wanted them to withdraw in daylight so that they could add air support to their attacks against enemy troops who followed the I and IX Corps to the Seoul bridgehead.1
He repeated these instructions during the afternoon and ordered the three South Korean corps to withdraw. The ROK III and I Corps were to occupy line C from the junction of the Pukhan and Han rivers eastward through Hongch'on to Wonp'o-ri on the coast. As a preliminary to consolidating South Korean forces in a narrower sector in the east and to committing the X Corps in the central region, ROK II Corps headquarters was to release its single division temporarily to ROK Army control and leave the front to help with rear area security. The X Corps, whose command group was moving northward from Kyongju more slowly than anticipated, was now expected to establish a command post at Ch'ungju and take control of the 2d Division by evening of the 2d.2
Since falling back to the bridgehead and line C would endanger the forwardmost army supply points, Ridgway ordered the evacuation of all installations located between lines C and D, including the Inch'on port complex. Though Inch'on was a major installation, the gradual reduction of its stocks, under way since the Eighth Army withdrew below P'yongyang, would simplify its closing.3
Read Full Article »
