ABSTRACT
The Korean peninsula is 684 miles in length. The terrain is rumpled and covered with low-lying mountains and the weather is inclined toward extremes. Between September 15 and November 24, 1950, troops of the United Nations Command (UNC) covered much of this length in a protracted battle to break out of the Pusan Perimeter and reach the Yalu River to end the Korean War with occupation of North Korea and destruction of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker’s U.S. Eighth Army overcame enemy entrenchments, made a difficult crossing of the Naktong River, took the surrounding hills, and fought through hostile territory to join Lieutenant General Edward M. Almond’s X Corps in liberating Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea (ROK). From that point, the divided command of General Douglas MacArthur, the UNC commander, advanced along both coasts until it occupied most of North Korea. This “March to the Yalu” is known officially as the First United Nations Offensive.
