The Korean War 1950-53 Australia’s Role By Brad Manera, Senior Historian / Curator Anzac Memorial
Ships Crest from HMAS Bataan
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United Nations and Royal Australian Regiment
ollywood and the American media may have called the Korean War forgotten but for 17,000 Australians and their families it was terrifying and bloody. The Korean War erupted on 25 June 1951 when tanks and infantry of the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) crossed the 38th parallel and swept the Army of the Republic of South Korea (RoK) and token US forces before them. A report by two Australian military officers serving with the United Nations (UN) Commission on Korea enabled the UN to declare the North Korean invasion an act of aggression and commit forces to defend the south. With Australian army, naval and air forces in nearby Japan Australia was well-placed to assist. Within a week Australian fighters from No.77 Squadron RAAF were providing fighter escort to US bombers cutting NKPA supply lines. Warships of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) operating out of Kure in Japan were placed at the disposal of the Royal Navy’s Far East fleet. The last battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) was preparing to return to Australia from the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. Instead they were warned to ready themselves for war in Korea.
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Aircrew Survival Handbook
Back in Australia a recruiting program called K-Force was created to provide volunteers for the RAR. For the domestic population, with memories of attacks by the Japanese still fresh, the invasion fueled a growing fear of communism. Australians were aware of the intensifying struggle with Chinese Communist bandits in Malaya since 1948 and the fall of mainland China to the Communists in 1949. The initial offensive by the NKPA drove RoK and US army units back to a small perimeter around the southern port of Pusan (modern Busan). In a daring landing by US Marines at Inchon the tide turned in favour of the UN and an Australian unit, 3RAR, arrived on the peninsula in time for a pursuit that drove the NKPA north all the way to the Chinese frontier. The recently established Communist Chinese were startled by the UN threat to their border and retaliated by reinforcing the NKPA. Their massive numbers and logistic support drove the UN back down the Korean Peninsula until US reinforcements and other UN forces countered them with men and technology. By late 1951 this war of offensive and counteroffensive had bogged down to one of stalemate in which the opponents faced each other across no man’s land fighting from deep bunkers connected by trenches.
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