The battle of Pork Chop Hill comprises pairs of wars which were related and fought in Korea. The wars happened in 1953 when the United States of America and two communists groups, the Koreans and the Chinese were seeking an armistice (Gibby 879). The truce took a very long time to come, and this is what led to the battle of pork after the Chinese declared that the fact that they were parties to the negotiation, it did not mean that the war had stopped and hey launched an attack (Fehrenbach & Kevin 22). The wars became controversial in America since the terrain at the battlefield (Pork Chop Hill) did not favor the tactical and strategic plans of the American in the war leading to the death of many US soldiers in the war. The wars started when communists groups from North Korea invaded South Korea. In 1950. As the wars continued, the US, China, and UN troops were sent to the ground (Gibby 879). By the year 1952, both warring parties had developed strong lines of defense that no side could undertake a serious offensive without suffering serious consequences.
The land had a rugged terrain that favored hiding place for soldiers. The land did not offer any of the waring parties an opportunity to act with certainty, therefore, strategies on how to attack the other party. During the stalemate period when negotiations were going on, there were no major wars. The mild wars did also not draw much attention from media houses hence did not reach Americans. However, battles such as the Hook, the Punchbowl, Heartbreak Ridge and Capitol Hill attracted some attention from the media hence creating value for propaganda and the talks that ensued (Locke 37).
The war broke out when two sides of the Panmunjom negotiation, the Chinese and UN, use operations involving the military to make political statements relating to the armistice talks. The objective of the war was to rid the Communists the Pork Chop Hill after they invaded South Korea. After the US and China sent troops and started negotiation at Panmunjom. However, the negotiations were protracted and always reached stalemates. The wars erupted when the Chinese decided to take Pork and Old Badly (Fehrenbach & Kevin 31). When the wars raged on, and Americans tried to intervene, the terrain and the environment in the hills did not favor their strategies and tactical operations. This led to the death of many American soldiers that even caused public outrage in America. The Americans, for example, could not see their enemies approaching on the battle field since the area was characterized by smog. This led to abrupt ambush by the Chinese communists who were well trained in mountain warfare, night infantry, patrol, and ambush. They hence had and advantage over the Americans (Gibby 879).
The defenders stood at a disadvantaged position, with the geography of the area not favoring her troops, US soldiers, for example, had to leave their trucks distances away. As a result, soldiers were left exposed and could not make any tactical strategy to combat the Chinese (Locke 43). After the death of soldiers from both the waring sides, with Chinese being the most affected recording a high number of casualties at 4,000 soldiers wounded and 1,500 dead, the war was called to an end. The three weeks period that elapsed after the signing of an agreement called Korean Armistice Agreement, saw the end of the war. The parties to this agreement were United Nations, the Chinese and Koreans from the north (Fehrenbach & Kevin 37).
References
Fehrenbach, Theodore Reed, and Kevin Foley. This kind of war. Tantor Audio, 2010.
Gibby, Bryan R. "The A to Z of the Korean War (review)." The Journal of Military History 70.3 (2006): 879-880.
Locke, Brian. "White and Black to the Brink: China Gate (1957), Pork Chop Hill (1959), All the Young Men (1960)." Racial Stigma on the Hollywood Screen from World War II to the Present. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2009. 37-58.
