The UN Forces September 1950 counteroffensive was a large-scale offensive by United Nations Command (UN) and Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) forces against North Korean forces commencing on 23 September 1950.
Following the UN counterattack at Inchon on 15 September, on 16 September ROKA/UN forces within the Pusan Perimeter broke out of the perimeter, driving back the North Koreans and moved north linking up with the UN forces coming from Inchon near Osan on 27 September.
Background By 23 September the Korean People's Army (KPA) was everywhere in retreat from the Pusan Perimeter. US Eighth Army, motorized and led by armored spearheads, was ready to sweep forward along the main axes of advance. On 22 September Eighth Army commander General Walton Walker issued his order for the pursuit. The Eighth Army order stated: Enemy resistance has deteriorated along the Eighth Army front permitting the assumption of a general offensive from present positions. In view of this situation it is mandatory that all efforts be directed toward the destruction of the enemy by effecting deep penetrations, fully exploiting enemy weaknesses, and through the conduct of enveloping or encircling maneuver get astride enemy lines of withdrawal to cut his attempted retreat and destroy him.
The order directed a full-scale offensive: US I Corps was to continue to make the main effort along the Taegu-Kumch'on-Taejon-Suwon axis and to effect a linkup with X Corps coming from Inchon; the US 2nd Infantry Division was to launch an unlimited objective attack along the Hyopch'on-Koch'ang-Anui-Chonju-Kanggyong () axis; the 25th Infantry Division on the army's southern flank was to seize Chinju and be ready to attack west or northwest on army order; and the ROKA in the east was to destroy the KPA in its zone by deep penetrations and enveloping maneuvers. An important section of the Eighth Army order and a key to the contemplated operation stated, "Commanders will advance where necessary without regard to lateral security." Later in the day, Eighth Army issued radio orders making IX Corps, under General John B. Coulter, operational at 14:00, 23 September and attaching the US 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions to it. This order charged IX Corps with the responsibility of carrying out the missions previously assigned to the 2nd and 25th Divisions. In preparing for the pursuit, Eighth Army moved its headquarters from Pusan back to Taegu, reopening there at 14:00, 23 September.
The ROKA/UN forces around the Pusan Perimeter at this time numbered almost 160,000 men, of whom more than 76,000 were in Eighth Army and about 75,000 in the ROKA. UN reinforcements had begun arriving in Korea by this time. On 19 September the Philippine 10th Infantry Battalion Combat Team began unloading at Pusan, and on 22 September the 65th Regimental Combat Team started unloading there. The next day Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital personnel arrived at Pusan. On the 19th, the Far East Command deactivated the Pusan Logistical Command and reconstituted it as the 2nd Logistical Command, its mission of logistical support unchanged.
Offensive The 25th Division crosses southwest Korea On 23 September Coulter, in a meeting with Walker at the 25th Division command post, requested authority to change the division's axis of attack from southwest to west and northwest. He thought this would permit better co-ordination with the 2nd Division to the north. Walker told Coulter he could alter the division boundaries within IX Corps so long as he did not change the Corps' boundaries. The change chiefly concerned the 27th Infantry Regiment which now had to move from the 25th Division's south flank to its north flank. 25th Division commander General William B. Kean formed a special task force under Captain Charles J. Torman, commanding officer of the 25th Reconnaissance Company, which moved through the 27th Infantry on the southern coastal road at Paedun-ni () the evening of the 23rd. The 27th Regiment then began its move from there to the division's north flank at Chungam-ni (). The 27th Infantry was to establish a bridgehead across the Nam River and attack through Uiryong to Chinju.
On the morning of 24 September Task Force Torman attacked along the coastal road toward Chinju. North of Sach'on the task force engaged and dispersed about 200 KPA soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 104th Security Regiment. By evening it had seized the high ground at the road juncture south of Chinju. The next morning the task force moved up to the Nam River bridge which crossed into Chinju. In doing so one of the tanks hit a mine and fragments from the explosion seriously wounded Torman, who had to be evacuated.
Meanwhile, on the main inland road to Chinju the KPA 6th Division delayed the 35th Infantry Regiment at the Chinju pass until the evening of 23 September, when covering units withdrew. The next day the 35th Infantry consolidated its position at the pass. That night a patrol reported that KPA demolitions had rendered the highway bridge over the Nam at Chinju unusable. On the strength of this information the 35th Infantry made plans to cross the Nam downstream from the bridge. Under cover of darkness at 02:00, 25 September, the 2nd Battalion crossed the river southeast of Chinju. It then attacked and seized Chinju, supported by tank fire from Task Force Torman across the river. About 300 KPA troops, using mortar and artillery fire, served as a delaying force in defending the town. The 3rd and 1st Battalions crossed the river into Chinju in the afternoon, and that evening Task Force Torman crossed on an underwater sandbag ford that the 65th Engineer Combat Battalion built east of the damaged highway bridge. Working all night, the engineers repaired the highway bridge so that vehicular traffic began crossing it at noon the next day, 26 September.
downstream from Chinju, near the blown bridges leading to Uiryong, engineer troops and more than 1,000 Korean refugees worked all day on the 25th constructing a sandbag ford across the Nam River. KPA mortars fired sporadically on the workers until silenced by counterbattery fire of the 8th Field Artillery Battalion. Before dawn of the 26th the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, crossed the Nam. Once on the north bank, elements of the regiment attacked toward Uiryong, to the northwest, and secured the town just before noon after overcoming a KPA force that defended it with small arms and mortar fire. The regiment pressed on to Chinju against negligible resistance on 28 September.
On 24 September Eighth Army had altered its earlier operational order and directed IX Corps to execute unlimited objective attacks to seize Chonju and Kanggyong. To carry out his part of the order, Kean organized two main task forces with armored support centered about the 24th and 35th Infantry Regiments. The leading elements of these two task forces were known respectively as Task Force Matthews (formerly Task Force Torman) and Task Force Dolvin. Both forces were to start their drives from Chinju. Task Force Matthews, the lefthand column, was to proceed west toward Hadong and there turn northwest to Kurye, Namwon, Sunch'ang, Kumje, Iri and Kunsan on the Kum River estuary. Taking off at the same time, Task Force Dolvin, the righthand column, was to drive north out of Chinju toward Hamyang, there turn west to Namwon, and proceed northwest to Chonju, Iri and Kanggyong on the Kum River.
Three blown bridges west of Chinju delayed the departure of Task Force Matthews until 10:00, 27 September. Captain Charles M. Matthews, commanding officer of A Company, 79th Tank Battalion, led the advance out of Chinju with the 25th Reconnaissance Company and A Company, 79th Tank Battalion. Task Force Blair based around the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry, followed Task Force Matthews, and the rest of the regiment came behind it. Matthews reached Hadong at 17:30. In a sense, the advance of Task Force Matthews became a chase to rescue a group of US prisoners that the North Koreans moved just ahead of the pursuers. Korean civilians and bypassed KPA soldiers kept telling of them being four hours ahead, two hours ahead, but always ahead. At Hadong the column learned that some of the prisoners were only thirty minutes ahead. From Hadong, in bright moonlight, the attack turned northwest toward Kurye. About above Hadong at the little village of Komdu () the advanced elements of the task force liberated 11 American prisoners. They had belonged to the 3rd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment. Most of them were unable to walk and some had open wounds.
Just short of Namwon about noon on 28 September, several vehicles at the head of the task force became stuck in the river crossing below the town after Sergeant Raymond N. Reifers in the lead tank of the 25th Reconnaissance Company had crossed ahead of them. While the rest of the column halted behind the stuck vehicles, Reifers continued on into Namwon. Entering the town, Reifers found it full of KPA soldiers. Apparently the North Koreans' attention had been centered on two F-84 jets that could be seen sweeping in wide circles, rocketing and strafing the town, and they were unaware that pursuing ground elements were so close. Surprised by the sudden appearance of the American tank, the North Koreans scattered. Reifers heard American voices calling out, "Don't shoot! Americans! GIs here!" A second later a gateway leading into a large courtyard burst open and the prisoners poured out into the street. Reifers radioed for support and some of the tanks and vehicles now pushed ahead across the stream to join Reifers in Namwon. 86 American prisoners had been freed. Task Force Matthews cleared Namwon of KPA soldiers. In mid-afternoon Task Force Dolvin arrived there from the east. Task Force Matthews remained overnight in Namwon, but Task Force Blair continued on toward Chongup, which was secured at noon on 29 September. That evening Task Force Blair secured Iri. There, with the bridge across the river destroyed, Blair stopped for the night and Task Force Matthews joined it. Kunsan, the port city on the Kum River estuary, fell to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, without opposition at 13:00 on 30 September.
Eastward of and generally parallel to the course of Task Force Matthews, Task Force Dolvin and the 35th Infantry moved around the eastern and northern sides of the all but impenetrable Chiri-san area, just as the 24th Infantry had passed around its southern and western sides. This almost trackless waste of 750 square miles of high forested mountains forms a rough rectangle northwest of Chinju about by in dimension, with Chinju, Hadong, Namwon and Hamyang at its four corners. This inaccessible area had long been a hideout for Communist agents and guerrillas in South Korea. Now, as the KPA retreated from southwest Korea, many stragglers and some organized units with as many as 200 to 400 men went into the Chiri Mountain area to carry on guerrilla activities.