KOREAN WAR

CHAPTER 8 - STALEMATE

The government of North Korea may have thought its invasion of South Korea would intimidate the United Nations into giving the North what it wanted: reunification of the Korean peninsula under its control. But such was not the case.

Instead of requesting North Korea to negotiate, the United Nations launched a limited offensive beginning in the late spring of 1951. Sometimes (another Chinese-perspective link) the North Koreans and the Chinese were successful; other times the South Koreans and their allies prevailed. UN interdiction bombing of enemy supply centers, troop concentrations and communication lines deprived the other side of sorely needed supplies. But it wasn’t enough to end the conflict.

The U.S. Air Force used B29s, among other planes, to bomb enemy targets. By November of 1952, B-26 "Invaders" on night-intruder missions had helped to destroy more than 53,000 North Korean vehicles. But it was not enough to end the conflict.

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