Within 5 hours the NOrth Koreans would send 1 million men across the demilitarized zone and overwhelm our forces as well as kill a million in Seoul.
BTTT
Can you say airstrikes on the demilitarized zone as they come across? On the other hand, our enemies seem to like tunnels.
Once the North Korean army moves it will be annihilated by our Air Force, I mean total annihilation.
However, the SOP for a war with NK is to lay down a nuclear "wall" at the 38th parallel...or shortly below it. There has been no plan for a ground war in Korea for AT LEAST 30 years. The US has only one response to a NK invasion of the south, nukes and more nukes.
That's only if there were a million of them left alive.
I don't see how they would have the air superiority necessary to do that.
Yes, but what if prior to bombing North Korea we evacuate citizens from Seoul and pull our forces way back south? North Korean artillery would still damage much of Seoul, but there'd be no civilian casualties. And once North Korean troops crossed the border, there'd be no one there to fight. Instead, they'd be out in the open and vulnerable to heavy bombing. Later on, U.S. and South Korean troops can move north to clean up what's left. And citizens can move back into Seoul and commence repairs.
NK is playing for keeps and they will batter the hell out of whoever makes a move on them.
52,000 sounds about right for a conventional war. However, why we would need boots on the ground is beyond me. That's SK's job.
Make no mistake, the NORK's would give China a damned good blood letting.
That's why we have MOABS. They will take out hundreds of troops, (or more), per bomb, and they have a devestating psychological effect on the rest of them. Fuel air bombs, daisy cutters, we have a great arsenal of anti-personnel bombs. I don't think they'd get very far at all. And for those NK troops advancing from deeper inside NK, we could darken the sky with cruise missles. And don't forget the neutron bomb that kills people but leaves infrastructure standing, and small tactical nukes. We would overwhelm NK's advancing troops with devestating air power. Dont forget, a head-on clash with a big army is our greatest strength; but it's just that we are not willing to use these weapons.
Within 6 hours the North Korean troops would be reaching civilian areas with more food than they have seen in their lives. They will stop to eat, loot, and drink.
Undersupplied and poorly fed troops has most times done poorly in offensive campaigns in part for the reason above. When entering an area of abundance they spend more time and energy looting than advancing.
If I recall the reason Lee fought at Gettysburg was that some of his troops was looking for a boot factory when they engaged the enemy. Might of been a different civil war battle.
As for the civilian cities within NK artillery range. Chemical and/or Nuclear attack is one thing but regular HE rounds isn't going to kill as many as you think. When those rounds start coming in what will most civilians do? Go into the safest place in their house or workplace or school or go out into the open? Arty kills best those standing around in the open. It will take a large amound of rounds to kill people huddled in their basements or in the basements of the skyscrappers. There will be fires and that will cause deaths but cities has been shelled before without the massive casualities being projected.
History has shown that the size of an Army isn't as important as how well it is trained and led. The Persians made that mistake with the Greeks at least a couple of times.
Within a few weeks any North Korean advance will be either bogged down or defeated.
The SK Army is no joke. I wouldn't bet against them myself. Of course, NK artillery WILL kill a million people in Seoul.
Oh yeah,and we would just let that happen.We have the firepower to annilate 1 million very quickly. Remember the highway of death coming out of kuwat?
THE WORLD'S TEN LARGEST ARMIES
1. China - 1,700,000
2. India - 1,200,000
3. North Korea - 900,000
4. South Korea - 560,000
5. Pakistan - 520,000
6. United States - 475,000
7. Iraq - 360,000 - Pre-2003, of course.
8. Myanmar - 325,000
9. Russia - 320,000
10. Iran - 320,000
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/new_page_240.htm
"Within 5 hours the NOrth Koreans would send 1 million men across the demilitarized zone and overwhelm our forces as well as kill a million in Seoul."
Please.
Within 5 hours, if the NK's let 1,000,000 men into South Korea, they'd be stopping at the drive through of the first restaurant they picked up in their sights and make up for all the tree bark they've been eating for the last 20 years.
They don't have either the beans or bullets to sustain that kind of an offensive in the field for that long.
Also, you are talking a conscripted force, so you can count on defections on a battalion scale within the first 12 hours of allied bombing.
What I DO believe they'd do is launch a rocket attack.