Would human wave tactics that North Korea used during the Korean War be effective against the modern US Army with air support from the US Air Force?

I do not know of any instance where North Korea used “human wave tactics” in the Korean War. There may have been isolated instances, but it is generally the Chinese who were deemed to have used human wave tactics. Even this is denied by the Chinese and many war historians. They say it was a micsharacterization by journalist of the Chinese Short Attack. However, I have talked to veterans of the First Marine Division who were at Chosin Reservoir who described it as such. One said that they were “bore sighting the 155s”. In any case, the 9th Chinese Army was effectively destroyed trying to stop the 1st Marine Division’s retreat to Hungnam.

My limited experience with North Koreans was that they would use cover to get within hand grenade distance, toss grenades and then attack. Their preferred time was at night. That is why we had artificial moonlight and illumination grenades.

Human wave attacks against a prepared modern military would be near suicidal. Success or failure would depend on the ammunition supply of the defenders vs. the courage of the attackers experiencing extremely high casualty rates. I seriously doubt that any group of human beings could long withstand the carnage that would result from charging in close formation across open ground against modern weapons. Throw in air support and they would not even get close.

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