ABSTRACT
With UNC forces firmly ashore at Inchon, their next mission was to retake Seoul. The North Koreans did attempt a hesitant counter-stroke on 16 September 1950. A column of 16 T-34-85 tanks moved down the main road to Inchon to interdict UNC forces; all the tanks were destroyed, half by Marine Corsair air attacks and the remainder by well-directed fire from Marine Pershing tanks in one of the few tank-to-tank clashes of the war. Early the following morning the North Korean air arm made one of its rare appearances when two Yak fighters surprised the UNC armada. They caught USN cruiser Rochester off guard and also strafed HMS Jamaica, killing one RN seaman and wounding two more. Alert RN anti-aircraft gunners brought down one of the North Koreans. But even this daring raid showed a certain lack of skill, as the pilots ignored the vulnerable transports and cargo ships and attacked well-armed warships. The following day saw another North Korean armour attack in support of a KPA rifle platoon. The North Koreans made no reconnaissance of the UNC positions and moved into a trap as the 5th Marines destroyed another tank column. By this time the US Marines were reinforced by their ROK counterparts, who, enraged by accounts of North Korean atrocities against their kin, ruthlessly sought out and often killed “subversives”.
