Graphical version

Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Microform: Armed Forces Oral Histories: Korean War Studies and After- Action Reports


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA MFF 9

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: Microform: Armed Forces Oral Histories: Korean War Studies and After- Action Reports

Date(s): 1945-1953, 1989

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 339 microfiche

Name of creator(s): Historical Detachments, US Army

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Korean War suggested to US Army senior personnel the need to gather systematically information on the activities of major American military units. The value of historical accounts had been demonstrated during World War Two, when US Army historians followed the progress of American soldiers by conducting extensive interviews and compiling records of combat actions. While conducting interviews and collecting related materials for historical purposes, US Army investigators during World War Two also compiled combat information in After-Action Reports designed for immediate war-time use. When the Korean War began, the Assistant Chiefs of Staff, US Department of the Army, were responsible for recording and transmitting 'lessons learned' within respective spheres, while the US Army Historical Detachments were allowed to create a detailed record that could be used after the conflict to write official histories. Eventually eight US Army Historical Detachments were organised and committed to Korean between 15 Feb and 22 Jul 1951. Early operations of the Historical Detachments lacked centralised planning, however. Originally, a central organisation was improvised by activating US 8 Army Historical Service Detachment (Provisional). Personnel for this unit were drawn from other detachments in Korea, while the historical officers who conducted the interviews were drawn from the Reserves. The Provisional Detachment was eventually superceded by the first US Army Historical Detachment Headquarters. Despite the suddenness of the Korean conflict and the and the logistical problems caused by the rapidly changing military situation, the Historical Detachments were able to reconstruct many major battlefield operations through interviews, supplemented with recourse to conventional documentary sources.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

A themed microfiche collection relating to material produced by the Historical Detachments of the US Army during the Korean War, 1950-1953. The scope and content of the interviews and studies therein was influenced by the nature of the conflict and by the types of units employed in combat. Despite the involvement of United Nations forces and the US Marine Corps, all units interviewed by the Historical Detachments were from the US Army. The two primary components of this collection are 'After-Action Reports' and 'Studies'. 'After-Action Reports' include accounts of combat-related activities of specific units during a campaign, engagement, or operation. They focus on the role or scope of action of particular units for a given period of time at a specific location, and consist of a narrative account of the action, combat interviews, and supplementary materials, including manuscript and printed maps, charts, and photographs. 'Studies' were prepared by the Historical Detachments to provide insight into unit strengths or deficiencies or problems in fundamental strategic and tactical matters, including the use of new weapons, techniques for supply and support, and fighting behaviour. 'After- Action Reports' in this collection include material relating to the assault on the North Korean defence line north of the Hongchon River by US 5 Cavalry Regt, 13-20 Mar 1951; Operation TOMAHAWK, the airdrop of US 187 Airborne Regimental Combat Team behind enemy lines at Munsan-ni, Korea, and the subsequent fighting around Parun-ni, Korea, 22 Mar-29 Mar 1951; preparation of defensive positions consisting of booby traps, barbed wire, and mines in the General Defense Line, Korea, 17-18 May 1951; action of US 3 Infantry Div to control the high ground of the 'Iron Triangle', which encompassed Chorwon, Kumwa, and Pyongyang, Korea, Jun 1951; engagements by US 23 Infantry Regt to control and secure strategic 'Heartbreak Ridge', the area connecting Hill 931 and Hill 894 near Satae-ri and Mundung-ni, Korea, Sep-Oct 1951; Operation CLAM UP, the operation to deceive the North Korean People's Army into dispatching patrols against United Nations lines, exposing them to ambush and capture, Feb 1952; Operation SMACK, US 31 Infantry Regt assault on Pokkae and Hasakkol, Korea, with co-ordinated support from air, artillery, and tank units, 12 Jan-25 Jan 1953. 'Studies' in this collection include reports relating to US personnel management from the beginning of hostilities until the initiation of cease-fire negotiations, Jun 1950-Jul 1951; inter-Allied co-operation during combat operations, Jun 1950-Jul 1951; offshore procurement of supplies by US 8 Army, 26 Jun 1951-31 Jul 1953; efforts to evacuate American and Allied dead from cemeteries in Korea and the Glory Plan to recover bodies from North Korea, 26 Jun 1950-23 Dec 1953; the organisation, activities, and equipment of mobile army surgical hospitals, auxiliary surgical and neurosurgical teams, and other US 8 Army medical support facilities, Jul 1950-Feb 1953; the Korean War armistice negotiations, Jul 1951-Jul 1953; ordnance salvage operations, Jul 1951-Sep 1953; logistical support to prisoners of war detained by United Nations forces, Jul 1951-Jul 1953; the organisation and pattern of North Korean People's Army and Chinese People's Liberation Army tactics, 26 Dec 1951; Chinese People's Liberation Army and North Korean People's Army materiel, weapons and equipment, 19 Jun 1952; US Army tank employment in positional warfare, 10-30 Jan 1953.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 'After-Action Reports' and 'Studies' sections

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies may be printed off the microfilm for research purposes and are charged at the cost to the Centre. Enquiries concerning the copyright of the original material should be addressed to University Publications of America Inc., 4520 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Summary guide entry on-line at www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/top.htm, and published detailed catalogue available in hard copy in the Centre's reading room, Margaret A Lynch (ed.), Armed Forces Oral Histories: Korean War Studies and After-Action Reports (University Publications of America, Bethesda, MD, 1989)

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

University Publications of America, Bethesda, MD, USA

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: Date of compilation: Aug 1999


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Airborne warfare | Warfare | Military engineering
Armed forces | State security
East West relations | International relations
International organizations | International politics
Interviews | Field work | Research work
Korean War (1950-1953) | Wars (events)
Maps | Visual materials
Military history | History
Military medicine | Medical sciences
Oral history | Historical methods | History
Photographs | Visual materials
Sound recordings | Recordings
Surgery | Medical sciences
War | International conflicts
War prisoners | War victims | International conflicts
Military organizations

Personal names

Corporate names
North Korean People's Army
People's Liberation Army (China)
UN | United Nations x United Nations
US Army

Places
China | East Asia
Chorwon | Korea R | East Asia
Hasakkol | Korea R | East Asia
Hongchon, river | Korea R | East Asia
Kumwa | Korea R | East Asia
Mundung | Korea R | East Asia
Musan-ni | Korea R | East Asia
Parun-ni | Korea R | East Asia
Pokkae | Korea R | East Asia
Pyongyang | Korea DPR | East Asia
Satae-ri | Korea DPR | East Asia
Seoul | Korea R | East Asia
North Korea x Korea DPR
South Korea x Korea R