Heroes and Foreign Devils

February 24, 2011

It is ironic that in the 1940s we were fighting with the Chinese against the Japanese. Then in 1950, China and the US fought against each other in North Korea and Chinese advisers were sent to assist North Vietnam to fight the US in the 1960s.

Then Nixon arrives in China in the 1970s and we were friends again.

In February 2010, I had an instant message chat with Ian Carter, an Australian expatriate living in Southeast China, and learned that during World War II in 1944 an American B-24 Liberator bomber vanished without a trace in Southeast China.

Fifty-two years later in 1996, farmers discovered the bomber’s wreck and the remains of the ten-man crew on Mao’er Shan (Little Cat Mountain), Southern China’s highest peak . The name of the B-24 bomber was Tough Titi.

These Americans are considered heroes (click link to learn more about this story) to the Chinese, and the remains of the crew were returned to the United States for burial.

There’s a memorial stone near the crash site and Chinese tourists pay honor to these Americans by leaving flowers and other gifts.

To honor these heroes further, the Chinese recovered some of the bomber’s parts and used them as a centerpiece for a museum in Xing’an, about four hours from the crash site.

Discover Peter Hessler, an expatriate, on China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

 

Note: This post first appeared on iLook China February 13, 2010 as post # 49. This revised version reappears as post # 1082.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China Protecting its Teeth in 1950 Korea – Part 3/9

February 24, 2011

In part two, we left General McArthur planning a risky invasion of the South Korean coastal city of Inchon.

First, most of the troops had never been involved in an amphibious landing.

Second, Inchon’s harbor was too shallow at low tide for large ships to maneuver.

To deal with these challenges, General MacArthur decided to invade in two phases synchronized with the high tides.

The first phase would occupy the island of Wolmi-do, which was opposite Inchon. The second phase would land north and south of Inchon on the next high tide.

On the morning of September 15, the US 10th Corps quickly took Wolmi-do island. The island had been bombed and shelled for several days and the North Korean troops had not been ready for such a beating.

As soon as US troops landed, the surviving North Koreans surrendered.

By the time Inchon was taken soon after the second landing, only 20 US troops had been killed.

The next move was to take Seoul, which was 25 miles from Inchon.

The North Korean troops at Pusan, a hundred thirty miles to the south, continued to fight for a week without knowing the Inchon invasion had been successful. They did not know they were in danger of being cut off and surrounded.

When word arrived, the North Korean army retreated north immediately.

As the US Marines advanced on South Korea’s capital of Seoul, they met heavy resistance in the hills surrounding the city. The North Korean troops were dug in and to remove them caused heavy US casualties.

By September 24, UN troops held the high ground above Seoul. The next day, the North Korean troops left the city and retreated north.

After occupying Seoul and having a victory parade, UN and US troops moved north toward the 38th Parallel as the North Korean army continued to retreat further into North Korea.

South Korean troops reached the 38th parallel first but kept going.

However, US troops stopped and waited while Washington D.C. debated what the next move would be—to stop at the 38th parallel or invade the north.

Return to China in 1950 Korea Protecting the Teeth – Part 2

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China Protecting its Teeth in 1950 Korea – Part 2/9

February 23, 2011

In part one, I used America’s 1823 Monroe Doctrine to show that similar reasoning was behind Mao’s decision to send the People’s Liberation Army (PLO) into Korea to fight the United States and UN.

I want to point out that China has never been a military threat to the United States, but America, Japan, Russia, Germany, Britain, France, and other countries have attacked China in the past two centuries and the cost in Chinese lives may have been as high as 100 million or more.

The embedded video says that soon after US troops entered Korea to fight the North’s invading army that if support didn’t arrive soon, the war would be short.

It was obvious that the United Nations was losing the race against time as North Korean troops put pressure on the small area behind the Naktong River near Pusan that US and United Nations troops held.

By August of 1950, the US 8th army was spread too thin. The situation looked bad.

General Walton H. Walker was the field commander of the US 8th army. During World War II, he had been one of General George S. Patton’s Army Corps commanders and was a no nonsense Texan. On July 29, he told his subordinates if I ever see you back here again it had better be in a coffin.

The only advantage the US 8th Army had was firepower. The battle raged for weeks over hills that changed hands often. After two weeks of brutal fighting, US troops managed to hold and strengthen the line.

This provided time for the United Nations to send in troops, which arrived in the port of Pusan from countries such as France, Turkey, Thailand, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ethiopia.

Most of the new troops were young and were not seasoned veterans.

Then on December 1, 1950, the North Korean Army launched a final assault. However, the North Koreans were exhausted and could not sustain the fight. 

General Douglas MacArthur, commander of all UN forces, decided to land an invasion force behind the North Korean lines at Inchon.

Seoul, the captured South Korean Capital was twenty-five miles from Inchon. It was a risky venture but MacArthur was confident of success.

Return to China in 1950 Korea Protecting the Teeth – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

1 Comment | America, capitalism, China, Chinese history, Communism, cultural differences, military | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China Protecting its Teeth in 1950 Korea– Part 1/9

February 22, 2011

While searching Google for a Monroe Doctrine link, I stumbled on PCMS Social Studies and a post that appeared January 20, 2011.

Quote: “The Monroe Doctrine was put in place on December 2, 1823 by (President) James Monroe….   He did not want European Countries coming back and taking over the United States….  I know that I would definitely not want someone telling me I have to change the way I believe.”

China’s reaction was the same in 1950 when the People’s Liberation Army entered the Korean War.

Because Korea sat precariously between China, Russia and Japan, Korea had always been at the mercy of its bigger neighbors. For centuries, those nations had fought each other in Korea.

As World War II was ending, in July 1945, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin used his troops in coordination with the US to force the Japanese out of Korea. The Soviet and US armies met at the 38th parallel and agreed to divide Korea along that line.

The Soviets would control the northern half of Korea and the US the south.

While Soviet Russia and America were dividing the spoils of war in Europe and Asia, China was involved in a bloody civil war between the Communist and Nationalist Parties that would last until 1949

Prior to Japan occupying Korea in 1900, Korea had been a tributary state of China for centuries. However, China was in no shape to protest what Russia and the US was doing in Korea.

Two years later, the super powers left Korea leaving behind a Communist state in the north and a capitalist republic in the south ruled by a Korean authoritarian dictator educated at America’s Princeton University.

On June 5, 1950 at 4:00 AM, the Korean War started when North Korea declared war and invaded South Korea by land and sea.

Since the US had deprived South Korea of weapons and ammunition in fear that the south might invade the north and start a war, the North Korean army met little resistance.

The US strategy of restraint had backfired. South Korea had no weapons to defend itself. In two days, Seoul, the capital of South Korea fell to the invading army.

North Korea counted on America doing nothing. However, the majority of Americans in the US was outraged and demanded action, which caused President Truman to send in the United States air force while the US Navy bombarded Korea from the sea.

On July 19, 1950, President Truman called on the United Nations to act quickly and stop the aggression of Communist North Korea.

In the beginning, the US army was weak and far from Korea mostly in Europe. The huge American army that won World War II in 1945 had been disbanded resulting in a much smaller force.

In early July, 1950, an American brigade entered Korea and fought North Korean troops thirty miles south of South Korea’s captured capital of Seoul. The first battle didn’t go well for the US.

Learn about The Lips Protecting China’s Teeth

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, capitalism, China, Chinese history, Communism, cultural differences, history, military, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

China versus the US – Comparing Nuclear Arsenals

February 18, 2011

The Heritage Foundation’s The Foundry reports on China’s Nuclear Capabilities saying, “As Presidents Hu Jintao and Barack Obama meet in Washington, DC, it is important to note that this is different from Cold War era summits, as the United States and China share far more common interests, including economic concerns, than the US and the USSR ever did.”

The Foundry then points out that China is modernizing its nuclear arsenal with new warheads and a new ballistic missile submarine (one), while the US does not have a modernization program for its nuclear arsenal.

However, what The Foundry doesn’t say tells a different story.

The US has 18 Ohio class nuclear-powered submarines. Fourteen of these so called out-dated submarines carries 24 (each carry multiple warheads) Trident II SLBMs (updated in the 1990s), and four are capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles with either conventional or nuclear warheads.

The oldest Ohio class submarine is thirty-five and the latest fourteen. Considering how well the US military cares for its operational equipment, I am sure they are well maintained.

In 2005 and 2006, the Department of Defense’s annual report on China’s military forces included a detailed table of China’s ballistic missiles. The table suggested that China had 250-296 launchers with 793-916 missiles of seven types. Of these, approximately 105 are thought to be armed with nuclear warheads. Source: FAS

In comparison, the Arms Control Association says, “The United States has approximately 500 operational tactical weapons, and approximately 2,645 inactive warheads (with a total of more than 5,000).”

In fact, France, Russia and the United Kingdom each have more nuclear weapons than China.

Why is the Heritage Foundation making a big deal of the fact that China has one ballistic missile submarine and is updating its nuclear arsenal with more modern equipment?

How much of a difference is there in the death and destruction caused by 105 nuclear bombs compared to 500?

Learn from experts why China is not a Threat

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

4 Comments | America, China, military | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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