1st Infantry Division (South Korea)

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[edit] History

The 1st Infantry Division was a military formation of the Republic of Korea Army during the 20th Century. The Division was located at Susaek and consisted of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Regiments.

The 1st Division was the first element of the ROK Army to be attacked by the North Koreans on June 25, 1950. At 4 a.m. the North Koreans began an artillery barrage on the 1st ID's positions along the 38th Parallel. The artillery bombardment was quickly followed by ground attacks by the NKPA's 1st and 6th Infantry Divisions against the 1st Division.

Became part of II Corps after the first fall of Seoul.

Was part of the defensive line to slow the North Korean advance from Seoul to Taejon.

Fought in the Battle of Pusan Perimeter.^[1]

On October 14, 1950 Company F, 5th Cavalry, entered Pyongyang, followed shortly thereafter by 1st Division elements from the northeast. The next morning, the fifteenth, the 1st Division reached the heart of the city and took the strongly fortified administrative center without difficulty. The entire city was secured by 1000 that day. ^[2]

In the far west, as part of the U.S. I Corps’ general advance on October 25, 1950, the 1st Division was spread out on the road that ran from the Chongchon River to Unsan. The division’s 15th Regiment passed through Yongbyon and continued toward Unsan without opposition. In the lead were elements of Company D, 6th Medium Tank Battalion, which also passed through Unsan without incident. Just before 1100, as the tanks approached a bridge one and a half miles northeast of the town, enemy mortar fire blew the bridge. Engaging the enemy force, the South Korean soldiers reported a half-hour later that three hundred Chinese troops were in the hills just north of Unsan. Second in the division column, the 12th Regiment turned west when it arrived at Unsan. It, too, ran into the Chinese just beyond the town. The CCF’s attacks against the 1st Division continued on the twenty-sixth but eased up the following day.^[3]