MSU Red Cedar Message Board

While we were engaged in a war in Korea?

What's funny is that all of these things that you mention with the Soviets (can't move their Army all the way to Korea, wouldn't want to leave Europe unattended, etc.) would have been lesser issues for the Soviets than they were for the US.

From the end of the of WWII in Europe, Ridgeway served under MacArthur. So, was he a yes man or lackey?

Yes, the German soldiers would have loved to reunite their country. The Poles, Checs, Hungarians, weren't happy about being under the Soviets. The Russians had to keep troops in those countries. They were happy with taking over the Eastern Block, they didn't care about Korea.
We already had a large army in Japan we moved those troops to Korea.

stop...just stop. you couldn't be more wrong about things if you tried. Also like how you ignore points that contradict your statements ie. the Soviets having a large enough army to have troops in both Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia.

also, who at the Checs?

in 1950, our nukes were not more sophisticated than the Soviets. We had yet to come out with the thermonuclear/hydrogen bomb. There are only 2 designs for a fission bomb(such as what we used on Japan). The one was so simple that the first time it was tested was when it was detonated on Hiroshima. The Soviets wouldn't have initiated a first use policy of nuclear weapons because they didn't need them to defeat us, their conventional superiority could have overwhelmed Europe (and had their forces in Asia entered Korea, they would have overwhelmed the US there as well). Its the same reason that the US doesn't have a first use policy today while Russia does.

Inchon was brilliant, no one is disputing that. But MacArthur forgot the cardinal rule of being a military officer -- respect your civilian leadership. He thought he was bigger than the president, could go behind the back of the president, and could call out the president in the media.

As for WWII, MacArthur made numerous dumb decisions, from the day the war started (leaving American planes at Clark field lined up wing tip to wing tip even after he knew that Pearl Harbor had been hit and the Japanese would be coming) through the last years of the war (insisting on the Peleliu invasion, forcing FDR to let him "return" to the Philippines)..

If mcCarthur lived 1000 years ago I'd agree but times change

His disrespect for authority has to be weighed

He didn't "take a chance". A chance implies that Chinese reaction could've been different. They flat out said, and more importantly military intelligence repeatedly told him, of you continue with the push north you will find 100's of thousands of Chinese troops waiting. He was pompous and believed that a inferior race of peoples wouldnt dare challenge the great MacArthur. The American troops were kicked In the teeth as a result and a lot died freezing and alone in Bumfuck, NK.

Sweet Jesus, how much more dumb shit can rodent say in this thread? How many more times does he need to be shown how wrong he is before he shuts up.

Look rodent, you can argue the merits of MacArthur, but you clearly don't know your history and the capabilities of the different nations during that time period.

So your solution to a Korean war was to fight every communist country in the world even though as has been repeatedly pointed out our military was in a sad state post WW2. Makes no sense. Fighting the Russians would've been the only thing stupider than what MacArthur actually did.

Also how can you claim the soviets had nothing left yet we'd rearm the west Germans and they'd be perfectly capable of fighting? That army was devastated beyond anything the soviets or Americans could imagine. They were equipping child soldiers and senior citizens in 1945.

And in the Philippines at the beginning of WWII. I still find it amazing that he was not relieved of command for failing to have Clark Airfield on appropriate alert after Pearl Harbor was attacked. Had more of his Army survived Japanese imprisonment there is no way that anybody would be talking about "Dugout Doug" on best of lists.

rodent, please refute these points with facts, not more drivel that you have been posting.

1. the Soviet Red Army had millions of individuals in uniform, they had forces in both Europe and Asia, and were quite capable of operating a two front war. Why do you continue to insist that an intervention in Korea would have necessitated a removal of forces from East Germany/Eastern Europe?
2. We were not "more advanced" in nuclear technology than the Russians at this point in time. Both sides were using basic fission bombs of either an implosion or gun barrel design. The Manhattan Project was over by this point in time, the United States and Soviet Union were working towards thermonuclear/hydrogen bombs, but were still years away. And the Soviets had stolen almost everything the Manhattan Project did, there is a reason Levrenti Beria was put in charge of the Soviet nuclear program by Stalin.
3. The US Domination of the Pacific would be irrelevant in a campaign against the Soviets in North Korea. Even at the height of American military power in WWII, they would not have the capability to invade the Soviet Union. Given the cuts that had followed, and the problems the military was having in Korea, invading the Soviet Union would have been impossible.
4. its Czechs, not "Chechs" if you are going to talk about an issue, at least pretend to know what you are talking about. I mean FFS the state was only called Czechoslovakia then, and is the Czech Republic right now.
5. The "Chechs" didn't rise up in 54, it was the Hungarians in 56, and it was quickly put down by a small fraction of the Soviet Military.

I don't expect you to address these points, as they refute your argument, and you can't. So you will continue to post the BS that you have been all thread.

OK.
1. They had millions in uniform 5000 miles away with no way to get them to Korea or supply them when they were there. Those were by far the best and the bulk of their army. They were in a struggle for their existence with the Germans and if they didn't win they would be destroyed as a nation. But you are right Russia has a lot of people.
2. They stole our old nuclear research through the Rosenbergs to get where they were. We were still 5 years ahead of them though. In 1950 we still had some of the best minds in the world working on nuclear weapons all over the country. The Rosenbergs did not steal everything. They could not get everything and we executed them eventually.
3. We controlled the Pacific, we could re-supply. The Russians would have to bring supplies 5000 miles across rugged mountains and a few deserts into Korea. The Chinese couldn't do that for their troops and had thousands freeze to death and food and ammo was a problem. They could not resupply using the sea.
4. You are right, the Hungarians revolted in 1956. I thought it was the Czechs. The revolt was put down, but not easily or quickly, just brutally.
. Bottom line, the Russians had troops and bases in the west but they weren't coming to Korea. The vast majority of their forces fought the Germans and stayed in occupied Europe. That is just common knowledge that you can check easily. The info about the Rosenbergs can also be found on the internet. The Russian troops in the west were spread out guarding the border and a few divisions took some Japanese territory at the end of the war.
The Rosenbergs actually worked at Ft Monmouth ( NJ) the Army Signal School and may have had friends at Camp Evans, the weapons research lab for the army, in Neptune, NJ. But after the Russians detonated a nuclear weapon we knew that someone had stolen and sold our research, since the Russians should have been a few years away from that point. It then became a process of elimination that quickly focused on them. It is hard to say how much they stole, but many scientists did not like, or trust them. If what you say about the Russian nuclear program is true (which I don't believe) the Russians really didn't need the info anyway since they had surpassed us. But because the Russians were forced to rely on them for info they were several years behind us. We had the bomb in 1944, I believe, giving us a 5 year head start on them.
What part of this are you confused about?

I believe the Soviet threat in Korea is overplayed. If there was a 50% chance of the Red Chinese entering the war, there was maybe a 10% chance of the Soviets (higher if China was invaded). It proved to be a great arena for the Soviets to test their weapons and see the American weapons and strategies without getting their hands dirty.