Ep 8 "An Entirely New War" (ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

Korean War
On January 4, 1951, Seoul falls for a second time to the opposition. UN forces are pushed back to the 37th parallel. Morale among the UN forces is at the lowest ebb. Ridgeway orders his forces to hold ground, use terrain and fall back when necessary and counterattack with superior force of arms. The combined Chinese/North Korean forces try to defeat the UN in South Korea. Ridgeway's change of strategy meant that the UN forces would hold ground, relinquish it, then counterattack with superior air and artillery support. Napalm became the UN's favored aerial bombardment weapon, with over 14 million gallons of it used in the Korean War. The US military's reliance on artillery and airstrikes during the war causes enormous damage in the populated areas of Korea where it is used. By early March 1951, the UN forces were just south of Seoul, and pushing back. Peng Dehuai, the Chinese Army commander, gives up on "victory". MacArthur still wants to attack China. He tells Philippe Daudy, a French journalist, that he would like to drop five atomic weapons on China's main cities. MacArthur criticizes the US president again for wanting to negotiate with the opposition. MacArthur is fired due to his criticism of President Truman. Although it is known that MacArthur wanted to use atomic weapons on Chinese cities, what the Truman administration didn't want others to know is that they too agreed with the general policy of nuking China. Truman fired MacArthur partly because he wanted a reliable field commander who would "pull the trigger" when the president, and ONLY the president, ordered it. MacArthur returns to the USA, with his termination as commander becoming his "finest hour". Secretary of the Army, Frank Pace Jr. believes that although Truman paid dearly in popularity polls for sacking MacArthur, Truman's decision was probably one of the greatest achievements of his administration(!) Right wing South Koreans believe that losing MacArthur as commander dashed their hopes of reunifying Korea under their control. James Van Fleet takes over for Ridgeway, as Ridgeway takes Mac's job. One of the heaviest battles of the war takes place as the Chinese/North Koreans challenge the Imjin River-Gapyeong defensive line. The Glosters of the British 29th Brigade are taken prisoner of war after the Battle of the Imjin River in April 1951.