If a ceasefire had not happened in the Korean War, would the U.N. forces have driven out the Chinese and conquered North Korea?

No. The political will to do so simply was not there. The pusillanimous Truman was afraid of what Stalin might do if his Chinese puppets were defeated which was well within our capability.

The People’s Volunteer Army in Korea was 780,000 men.(1) Volunteer was an euphemism to disguise the fact that it was part of the People’s Liberation Army. This Army had to be supplied from China. Road and rail routes cross either the Yalu River or the Tumen River on bridges. Dams on the Yalu River are an important source of power for China to say nothing of controlling flooding. Our forces could only bomb the bridges on the Korean side of the river and the dams were off limits. This was to preserve the fiction that China was not at war with the United States. The border ran in the middle of the rivers.

Now to defeat the PLA, hold them on the line existing in July, 1951 or wherever it was most feasible. The holding line would have to have been north of Seoul. Take out the bridges and the dams on the Yalu and Tumen Rivers and interdict rail and road traffic on both sides of the river. Pretty soon the PLA would lack ammunition and be eating grass soup. Number of bodies are irrelevant if you cannot supply them.


I was there on that date with a heavy machine gun, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

(1) People’s Volunteer Army - Wikipedia

(2) Maps from Walter G. Hermes, Truce Tent and Fighting Front (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1988).

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