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To: robowombat
MG Keiser is a controversial figure in some quarters as his command of the 2nd Division in Korea ended with its virtual destruction by the Chinese in late November 1950. The Army as a whole does not like to remember what went on in Korea in the last weeks of 1950 and the first part of 1951. I wasn't there so I don't have the right to comment but as a lifelong student of military history it appears to me a crisis graver than that which faced the US Army in Europe in Dec 1944 occurred during those dark cold days amid the frozen snow covered hills of NW Korea.
2 posted on 01/25/2015 1:08:09 PM PST by robowombat
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To: robowombat
MG Keiser is a controversial figure in some quarters as his command of the 2nd Division in Korea ended with its virtual destruction by the Chinese

MacArthur deserves full credit for that fiasco. It was the third time he'd been caught flat footed by the enemy. MacArthur was really adept at leaving others holding the bag.

3 posted on 01/25/2015 1:32:10 PM PST by PAR35
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To: robowombat
The Army as a whole does not like to remember what went on in Korea in the last weeks of 1950 and the first part of 1951.

MacArthur's intelligence officer, General Willoughby, chose to tell MacArthur exactly what he wanted to hear: that the Chinese threat to us in Korea was minimal. Keiser bore the brunt of that mistake, as his troops were the first to be attacked en masse by overwhelming CHICOM forces, and were routed with very heavy casualties.

MacArthur, despite many warnings, used Willoughby's flawed intelligence to devise an extremely foolhardy strategy, which divided his army into two units that were unable to support each other as they were separated by many miles of high mountains, placing overall command in the hands of General Salmon, who screwed up even further. The JCS had immediately seen the military error of MacArthur's plans, but were mesmerized and awed by MacArthur and did not object. It was a disaster, and only the US Marines prevented it from becoming a massacre. The mistake ended MacArthur's career and soured his legacy.

MacArthur wanted nuclear intervention in China, The Truman Administration and the UN did not. Our troops and the UN contingent were battered for months until General Ridgeway assumed command ... but in the end, all that was achieved was a bitter stalemate and equally bitter recrimination that continues to this day about MacArthur. IMNVHO, MacArthur should be honored for his accomplishments, but not forgiven for his last military blunders in Korea.

5 posted on 01/25/2015 1:34:19 PM PST by Kenny Bunk
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To: robowombat

...and just imagine what would have happened to the 2d Infantry Division and they been comprised of 18% females with service battalions well over 40%. The institutional knowledge of that kind of war has disappeared and the focus now is to put the gals through Ranger School and pretend everything is the same.


7 posted on 01/25/2015 5:41:38 PM PST by MSF BU (Support the troops: Join Them.)
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