The Korean War

Seoul falls to the South Koreans this week- the 4th time it's changed hands since last June. There is no big celebration this time, though, since much of the city has been completely destroyed. This is just part of Operation Ripper, which advances all over to little enemy resistance, also taking the important town of Hongcheon.

Harry Truman is moving forward with his plans to somehow end the fight with the Chinese, but Douglas MacArthur takes a hatchet to those plans. Truman is furious, and the question remains, for how long will MacArthur's defiance be tolerated? In the field, Operations Ripper, Courageous, and Tomahawk are in action, but are all disappointing for the UN forces, as they fail in their mission to destroy the enemy's war making capacity. They don't actually do much of that at all.

The UN forces have again crossed the 38th Parallel in many places, but High Command is worried about Soviet intervention, which could ultimately force them to withdraw from Korea entirely. However, plans are still set for Operation Rugged to soon go into action- aiming into the Iron Triangle.

Operation Rugged is in full swing, and it's taking a decent amount of territory, but Matt Ridgway is worried about the possibility of the enemy blowing the dam at the Hwacheon Reservoir and flooding his army, so he gets set to try and soon take it. Meanwhile there's an explosion in Congress in Washington DC, when the Minority Leader openly reads Douglas MacArthur's letter of his plans for the war that are diametrically opposed to those of President Harry Truman. Truman realizes that he's going to have to remove MacArthur from UN command.