This is the order of battle for United Nations and North Korean forces during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter in August and September 1950 during the Korean War. The engagement brought each side to muster substantial ground, air and sea resources to fight across southeastern Korea.
The UN brought to bear hundreds of units from member countries South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Several other nations augmented the large naval task forces with ships of their own, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and The Netherlands. Opposing the UN force was the entirety of the North Korean military.
UN forces proved superior to the North Koreans in organization and numbers, but UN forces also suffered from a lack of equipment and training, particularly in their ground forces. As the battles around Pusan Perimeter continued, UN forces and equipment continued to flood into Korea, giving them overwhelming advantages in their land, air, and sea components. Though many nations would eventually contribute forces to the Korean War, the majority of troops at the battle were American and South Korean only.
North Korean forces were inferior to the UN forces in number, but in several cases they were able to make up for this in superior training. North Korean air and naval forces were small and poorly trained and equipped, thus playing a negligible role in the battle. However North Korean ground troops were often well trained and well equipped with modern weapons. The protracted battle around the perimeter severely depleted these troops forcing the North Koreans to rely increasingly on conscripts and replacements, diminishing their advantage in the battle and leading them to an eventual defeat.
UN Forces Ground
The United Nations forces were organized under the command of the United States Army. The Eighth United States Army served as the headquarters component for the UN forces, and was headquartered at Taegu. Under it were three weak US Divisions; the 24th Infantry Division was brought to the country early in July, while the 1st Cavalry Division and 25th Infantry Division arrived between July 14 and July 18. These forces occupied the western segment of the perimeter, along the Naktong river.
The Republic of Korea Army, a force of 58,000, was organized into two corps and five divisions; from east to west, ROK I Corps controlled the 8th Infantry Division and Capital Divisions, while the ROK II Corps controlled the 1st Division and 6th Infantry Division. A reconstituted ROK 3rd Division was placed under direct ROK Army control. Morale among the UN units was low due to the large number of defeats at that point in the war. US Forces had suffered over 6,000 casualties over the past month while the South Korean Army had lost an estimated 70,000.
Troop numbers at the beginning of the battle were initially difficult to estimate for US and North Korean forces. Subsequent research indicates that the North Korean army had around 70,000 combat troops committed to the Pusan Perimeter on August 5, with most of its divisions far understrength. It likely had less than 3,000 personnel in mechanized units, and around 40 T-34 tanks at the front due to extensive losses so far in the war. MacArthur reported 141,808 UN troops in Korea on August 4, of which 47,000 were in US ground combat units and 45,000 were in South Korean combat units. Thus the UN ground force outnumbered the North Koreans 92,000 to 70,000.
Throughout September 1950 as the battle raged, more UN forces arrived from the US and other locations. The 2nd Infantry Division, 5th Regimental Combat Team, and 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and a British Army brigade arrived in Pusan later in the fighting, along with large numbers of fresh troops and equipment, including over 500 tanks. By the end of the battle, Eighth Army's force had gone from three under-strength divisions to four fully manned formations which were well equipped and well prepared for war. By the end of the battle, the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade had arrived to assist the American and South Korean units.
US 8th Army Eighth United States Army Commander: Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker
I Corp operational 12 September 1950. IX Corp operational 23 September 1950.
Unit Sub-units Notes 1st Cavalry DivisionMajor General Hobart R. Gay 5th Cavalry Regiment 7th Cavalry Regiment 8th Cavalry Regiment 61st Field Artillery Battalion 77th Field Artillery Battalion 82nd Field Artillery Battalion 99th Field Artillery Battalion 29th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion 70th Medium Tank Battalion 8th Combat Engineer Battalion 16th Reconnaissance Company 15th Medical Battalion 13th Signal Company 27th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion 15th Quartermaster Company 15th Military Police Company 15th Replacement CompanyReported a strength of 10,276 on August 4 Stood at 14,703 by September 1. 2nd Infantry Division Major General Laurence B. Keiser 9th Infantry Regiment 23rd Infantry Regiment 38th Infantry Regiment 15th Field Artillery Battalion 37th Field Artillery Battalion 38th Field Artillery Battalion 503rd Field Artillery Battalion 82nd Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion 72nd Medium Tank Battalion 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion 2nd Reconnaissance Company 2nd Medical Company 2nd Signal Company 702nd Ordnance Maintenance Battalion 2nd Quartermaster Company 2nd Military Police Company 2nd Replacement CompanyReported a strength of 4,922 in Korea on August 4 Stood at 17,498 by September 1. 24th Infantry DivisionMajor General John H. Church 19th Infantry Regiment 21st Infantry Regiment 34th Infantry Regiment 5th Regimental Combat Team 11th Field Artillery Battalion 13th Field Artillery Battalion 52nd Field Artillery Battalion 63rd Field Artillery Battalion 26th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion 6th Medium Tank Battalion 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion 24th Reconnaissance Company 24th Medical Battalion 24th Signal Company 724th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion 24th Quartermaster Company 24th Military Police Company 24th Replacement CompanyReported a strength of 14,540 on August 4 Stood at 14,739 by September 1. 25th Infantry Division Major General William B. Kean 24th Infantry Regiment 27th Infantry Regiment 35th Infantry Regiment 29th Regimental Combat Team 8th Field Artillery Battalion 64th Field Artillery Battalion 69th Field Artillery Battalion 90th Field Artillery Battalion 89th Medium Tank Battalion 65th Combat Engineer Battalion 25th Reconnaissance Company 25th Medical Battalion 25th Signal Company 725th Ordnance Maintenance Battalion 25th Quartermaster Company 25th Military Police Company 25th Replacement CompanyReported a strength of 12,073 on August 4 Stood at 15,007 by September 1. 1st Provisional Marine Brigade Brigadier General Edward A. Craig 5th Marine Regiment Detachment, 1st Marine Division Military Police Company Detachment, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion Counterintelligence Corps and Military Intelligence Special Detachment (US Army) A Company, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion C Company, 1st Medical Battalion A Company, 1st Motor Transport Battalion Detachment, 1st Ordnance Battalion Detachment, 1st Service Battalion A Company, 1st Shore Party Battalion Detachment, 1st Signal Battalion A Company, 1st Tank Battalion 1st Amphibian Tractor Company Detachment, 1st Combat Service Group 1st Platoon, 1st Amphibian Truck CompanyReported a strength of 4,725 on August 5. Stood at 4,290 by September 1. 27th Commonwealth BrigadeBrigadier Basil Coad 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland HighlandersArrived 26 August, having left one battalion in Hong Kong. Stood at 1,578 by September 1.
ROK Army Republic of Korea Army Minister of Defense: Shin Sung-mo Chief of Staff: Major General Chung Il-kwon Unit Commander Sub-units Notes 3rd Infantry Division Brigadier General Lee Jun Shik 18th Regiment 22nd Regiment 23rd RegimentReported directly to ROK Army command. Reported a strength of 8,829 on July 26. Stood at 7,154 by September 1. I CorpsBrigadier General Kim Hong-ilHeadquarters reported a strength of 3,014 on July 26. Stood at 1,275 by September 1. Capital Division Brigadier General Kim Suk-won 1st Regiment 17th Regiment 18th RegimentReported strength of 6,644 July 26. Stood at 16,376 by September 1 8th Infantry Division Colonel Lee Song Ga 10th Regiment 16th Regiment 21st RegimentReported strength of 8,864 July 26. Stood at 9,106 by September 1. II CorpsBrigadier General Yu Jae HungHeadquarters reported a strength of 976 on July 26. Stood at 499 by September 1. 1st Infantry Division Brigadier General Paik Sun-yup 11th Regiment 12th Regiment 15th RegimentReported a strength of 7,601 on July 26. Stood at 10,482 by September 1. 6th Infantry Division Colonel Kim Chong O 2nd Regiment 7th Regiment 19th RegimentReported a strength of 5,727 on July 26. Stood at 9,300 by September 1.
Air
UN forces had a massive arsenal of air support at their disposal, provided by the US Air Force. This support was provided primarily by the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) and the Fifth Air Force, but US Navy and US Marine Corps aviation played a substantial role in supporting operations from the sea. UN Forces had complete control of the air and sea throughout the fight. and US Air Force and US Navy elements provided support for the ground units throughout the battle virtually unopposed. By the end of the battle the Eighth Army had more air support than General Omar Bradley's Twelfth United States Army Group in Europe during World War II.
By the end of July, the US had shipped a large number of aircraft of all types to Korea. On 30 July, the Far East Air Forces had 890 planes-626 F-80's and 264 F-51's-but only 525 of them were in units and available and ready for combat.
The Far East Air Force commanded a large contingent of long-range heavy bomber aircraft, and these assets were based in Japan, far from the North Koreans' striking range. Generally, the massive striking power was too unwieldy for the UN to use against the dispersed North Korean units, and the airpower of FEAF's B-29 Superfortresses was passed over in favor of smaller and more versatile fighter bombers of the Fifth Air Force. Under orders from MacArthur, however, the FEAF bomber command conducted one mission during the Pusan Perimeter fights.
On August 16, in the midst of the fight around Taegu, conducted one large carpet bombing operation northwest of Waegwan, where up to 40,000 North Korean troops were believed to be massing. The bombers from 10,000 feet dropped approximately 960 tons of 500- and 1,000-pound bombs. The attack had required the entirety of the FEAF bombing component, and they had dropped 3,084 bombs and 150 bombs. This comprised the largest Air Force operation since the Battle of Normandy in World War II.
General Walker reported to General MacArthur the next day that the damage done to the North Koreans by the bombing couldn't be evaluated because of smoke and dust, and ground forces couldn't reach it because of North Korean fire. Information obtained later from North Korean prisoners revealed the enemy divisions the Far East Command thought to be still west of the Naktong had already crossed to the east side and were not in the bombed area. No evidence was found that the bombing killed a single North Korean soldier.
However, the bombing seems to have destroyed a significant number of North Korean artillery batteries. The UN ground and air commanders opposed future massive carpet bombing attacks against enemy tactical troops unless there was precise information on an enemy concentration and the situation was critical. Instead, they recommended fighter-bombers and dive bombers would better support ground forces. They subsequently canceled a second bombing of an area east of the Naktong scheduled for August 19.
Far East Air Force and 5th Air Force
Far East Air Forces