Desert Call for Fire for Tankers

tank began to burn fiercely. -from the main guns of their Shermans, but they did not stop. Baker caught a company of NKPA in full uniform and camouflage just after leaving Chonan, and chewed them up. One of the enemy soldiers was run over by Baker’s tank when he and another soldier collided while trying to get out of the way of the charging Americans. Several enemy soldiers on bicycles and two jeeps were also crushed by the tankers. Baker attempted to contact Colonel Lynch, but he had not been able to establish radio contact since entering Chonan. Since he could see the headlights of the task force behind him, he plowed on Meanwhile, Colonel Lynch was becoming very uneasy with the rapid progress of the tanks and I and R Platoon. The trucks carrying the rest of his soldiers could not keep up with the lead elements, creating a gap in the column of vehicles. North of Chonan, Colonel Lynch found himself “in the lead” of the main body of his force. After passing groups of enemy soldiers as large as 10 and 15 men, Lynch decided that discretion was needed. He pulled over and reorganized the task force, putting a platoon of infantry in trucks in the lead, with the lead truck carrying a.50-caliber machine gun in a ring mount, and a 3.5-inch bazooka.” toward Osan? Ten miles south of Osan, Colonel Lynch could hear the sounds of sporadic artillery and small arms fire. Deciding that the “parade was over,” Lynch ordered the headlights of the vehicles turned off.’’ Farther to the north, Lieutenant Baker and a squad of the I and R Platoon roared into Osan at full speed. Stopping briefly just north of the village, Baker identified nummus T-34 tracks, but he did not spot any of the tanks themselves. The T-34 was Russian-built and heavily armored, with an 85-mm main gun. Like the Sherman, the T-34 was a World War 11 veteran, with the NKPA fielding a brigade of T-34s at the start of the war.

Moving out, Baker’s tanks started taking small arms and antitank fire. Baker kept moving, and identified American M-26 Pershing tracks in the road. With his headlights still on, the tanks barrelled forward when suddenly an antitank round fired from their rear hit the third tank in line, killing the. tank commander. A white phosphorus grenade exploded near Baker’s tank illuminating his diminutive force in its glare. Someone shouted up at Baker, “What the hell are you doing out here?” Baker shouted back, “I’m from the First Cavalry!” Jumping from his tank, Baker shook hands with a lieutenant from the 31st Infantry Regiment of the 7th Division. It was 2226 hours on 26 September when this happened, 106 miles from their starting point in Poun earlier that day.”

The rest of Task Force Lynch moved toward the village of Habung-ni about an hour behind Baker. After bypassing a downed bridge just south of the village, Colonel Lynch drove past a T-34 tank on the side of the road that had its gun tube pointed out across the road. Lynch joked about the tank, thinking that it was destroyed. Suddenly the tank opened fire on the column with its machine guns and main gun. Another tank, hidden along the side of the mad, joined the first in raking the column with fire. Colonel Lynch’s jeep lurched to a stop, with the passengers scrambling to find some semblance of cover in the ditch along the side of the mad.13 All along the length of the task force, vehicles stopped and the men in them scurried to meet the enemy threat. Lieutenant John Hill, Lynch’s S2, moved forward to collect the infantry platoon that was the point element and bring them and their 3.5-inch bazooka back to attack the enemy tanks. The crews of the T-34s became nervous and started the engines of their tanks, but they did not move. It was a fatal mistake for the enemy tankers, as Lieutenant Hill led an attack that destroyed one of the T-34s with a shot from a 3.5-inch bazooka. Before the second tank could be engaged, it lurched forward onto the road and ran over two jeeps and several trucks before it ran off the -it0 a rice paddy, several hundred yards from its starting point. A barrage of 57-mm and 75-mm recoilless rifle fire crashed into the enemy monster, immobilizing it in the darkness.14 A brave trooper, Sergeant William Hopkins, ran up to the T-34 and climbed aboard. Hopkins tossed several grenades inside the tank, but the motor kept running. Frustrated at their inability to “kill” the tank, Lieutenant William Woodside, the L Company commander, brought a five-gallon can of gasoline forward and dumped a small amount into the engine compartment of the tank. When the tank still ran, Captain James Webel, the regimental S3, jumped on the tank and took the can from the hands of the lieutenant, pouring the whole thing into the engine compartment. A huge explosion blew Captain Webel 30 feet in the air, as the tank began to bum fiercely. Luckily, Captain Webel suffered only minor burns to his hands and face.”

At 0012 hours on the morning of 27 September, Colonel Harris was able to get through to the 1st Cavalry G3 on the radio and inform him that Task Force Lynch was in a fire fight. Harris did not ask for help, but indicated that the enemy resistance would be readily dispatched. He was not so sanguine just an hour later when he reported that Lynch was being held up eight miles south of the objective. “Send tanks forward immediately. We can-Task Force Lynch BIB

I F l z E P S

Flgure 1 not disengage,“ radioed Harris.’6 After the fmt two enemy tanks had been dispatched by the cavalrymen, more NKPA tanks clanked down the road toward the stalled task force. The village was burning and several of the trucks that had been run over by the rampaging T-34 were also on fire. Colonel Lynch heard the roar of tank motors and the clanking of treads coming down the road from the north. He held out the hope that they were Lieutenant Baker’s tanks, but realized they were not when he saw two more T-34s clearly illuminated in the glare of the collective fires. It Seems that Baker’s three tanks and the I and R squad that reached Osan had somehow bypassed a strong enemy contingent of tanks and infantry along the road. Lynch ordered his driver, Corporal Billie Howard, to get in the closest truck and move it astride the road to block the movement of the NKPA tanks.”

Corporal Howard dashed to the truck and got it in position with two enemy tanks only 100 meters away. The two tanks halted at this brazen and quizzical action by a truck in what should have been a secure area. The tank commander of the lead tank opened his hatch and shouted in Korean; “What the hell goes on here?” The Americans answered this query with a hail of small arms and recoilless rifle fm that set the truck ablaze, and caused the tanks to slam their hatches shut. Eight more T-34s rumbled up behind the two now sitting at the burning truck They arrived just as 2d Platoon, C Company, 70th Tank Battalion had fmally been able to make its way to the front of the column past the entire task force.’8 The American and NKPA tanks exchanged shots from almost point blank range. Nearly simultaneously, one T-34 and two of the Shermans were hit. The lead American tank fired again and penetrated a T-34 with a Hyper Velocity Armor Piercing (HVAP) round just to the left side of the gun mantlet. There were simply too many T-34s, however, and their combined fm immobilized the last M4A3.19 One of the T-34s pulled out from where the truck had stopped the first two tanks, and began to meander down the line of the stopped task force vehicles. Once again, jeeps and trucks were crushed and machine gunned. As the tank wound its way through the column, it came to where the Headquarters Company of 3/7 Cavalry was stopped. Incensed at the destruction being caused by the tank that he thought was “friendly,” Captain Robert McBride, the company commander, jumped out into the road and started screaming and shouting at the tank commander for running over his jeep. A burst of machine gun fm creased the captain in the rear end and sent him scurrying into the ditch?’

The rogue T-34 continued down the line of vehicles. The courageous Sergeant Hopkins fought it with grenades, but his luck did not hold with this tank, and he was killed. As the tank approached the rear of the force, Captain Theodore Wardlow, commanding the artillery battery, unlimbered a 105-mm howitzer with three of his men, and manhandled it into firing position astride the road. The men fmd several rounds into the oncoming tank, with the final round blowing the turret off the tank when it was only 30 meters away from the howitzer?’

Colonel Lynch moved back south among his troops in an effort to reach Colonel Harris and to coordinate hunter-killer operations against the remaining eneny tanks. He did not have to worry about his men, as they had already formed several groups that were stalking the NKPA tanks in the darkness. Over the next hour, four more of the T-34s fell victim to 3.5-inch bazooka teams. Finding Colonel Harris amid the din of battle, Colonel Lynch and he decided to consolidate their position for the night before attempting to continue north. A perimeter defense was organized, and by 0200 hours the fighting died down. Seven of the enemy T-34s were destroyed in the night’s fighting, with the other three moving away to the north?2 At 0700 hours, Colonel Lynch reorganized his task force for a foot approach to Osan. Scattered resistance was encountered and quickly silenced by the lead company. At 0800 hours, Y the force was in Osan, and 26 minutes later, Task Force Lynch linked up with H Company, 31st Infantry. The drive was complete, but fighting would continue for the next two days, as trapped pockets of NKPA soldiers and tanks attempted to escape the converging American forces. C Company, 70th Tank Battalion destroyed four more T-34s on 28 September in Pyongtaek and Osan, while Air Force planes caught two more in the open and destroyed them?3 The drive of the 1st Cavalry Division and Task Force Lynch had eaten up enemy terrain in a spectacular fashion. The task force and the &vision had cut across enemy lines and linked up with X Corps because of the courage of leaders at all levels of command. A large sign erected at the north end of the road leading out of Osan boasted of the movement of the 1st Cavalry Division, the 7th Cavalry Regiment, and Task Force Lynch. It read At 0826 hours on 27 September 1950, forward elements of Company L,, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division made firm contact with Company H, 31st Infantry, 7th Infantry Division at this location, thereby making a solid United Nations front from Pusan to Seoul. This drive. from Taegu to Osan, a distance of 196 road miles and I16 air miles, marked the longest advance in the history of the American Army through enemy held territory. - GARRY OWEN=

A young tank platoon leader led for 106 miles of that advance. Notes 'General Gay as quoted in Eighth Army Armor Section, "Report of Observations of Performance of Ordnance Eqoipment in Korea." 2 December 1950. copy found in 70th Tank Battalion War Diary, Deamber 1950, Washington National Records Center, Suitland. Maryland, Record Group 407. (hereafter WNRC), Box 4433.

9th Cavalry War Dairy, September 1950. Box 4431. WNRC.

3tatement of First Lieutenant R O W W.

Baker, found in 70th Tank Battalion War Diary, September 1950, Box 4433. Hereafter cited as Baker Statement.

4tatement of Lieutenant Colonel ame H.

Lynch. found in 7th Cavalry Regiment War Diary (hereafter cited as Lynch Statement), September 1950, Box 4431; 7th Cavalry War Diary, September 1950, Box 4431. 'Baker statement. %id.; 7th Cavalry War Diary, September 'Baker statement. 'bid. 'bid. 'OLyna Statement. ' ' bid.

12Baker statement; 70th Tank Battalion War Diary, September 1950. Box 4433. Quotations taken from Stars a d Stripes, Pacific Edirion. lhursday 28 September 1950, copy found in 70th Tank Battalion War Diary. The 31st Infantry Regiment War Diary for September 1950, Box 3179. records the link-up time as 2345 hours instead of 2226 hours. 131st Cavalry Division War Diary, September 1950. Box 4409, WNRC; 7th Cavalry War Dairy, September 1950. Box 4431; Lynch Statement. l4lbid.

"1st Cavalry Division War Dairy, September 1950. Box 4409; 7th Cavalry War Diary, September 1950, Box 443 1.

161st Cavalry Division War Diary, G3 Journal. 27 September 1950. Box 4409. 1950. Box 4431.

ARMOR - "Lynch Statement 1st Cavalry Division War "bid.

1970th Tank Battalion War Diary, September 1950. Annex Number 1, "Actions in Which M4A3E8 Tanks Were Damaged or Destroyed," Box 4433.

Diary, September 1950. Box 4409. PLynch statement.

2'bid; 7th Cavalry Regiment War Diary, Sep- "Lynch Statement; 7th Cavalry War Diary, pynch Statement 70th a n k att tali on c m -9 t h Cavalry War Diary. September 1950, tember 1950. Box 4431.

September 1950, Box 4431. mand Report, September 1950, Box 4433. Box 4431.

Major Arthur W. Connor Jr. is currently a history instructor at the U. S. Military Academy. His previous assignments include platoon leader and executive officer in 3d Battalion (ABN), 73d Armor, 82d Airborne Division: tank company and headquarters company commander in 3d Battalion, 37th Armor, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; a tour as a United Nations Military Observer in Lebanon and Syria: and graduate school at Temple University in Philadelphia.