1950
June 25-North Korean forces cross the 38th Parallel, and rout theSouth Korean army
One Minute to Zero (1952)-when South Korea is invaded, a US officer evacuates all American civilians and then organizes the defense until MacArthur’s landing at Inchon turns the tide

July-August-units from the American Occupation Army in Japan arrive but are repeatedly forced to retreat by the North Korean army, as individual units are surrounded and cut off from each other.
Men in War (1957)-a US platoon retreats through North Korean held territory in early September
The Steel Helmet (1951)-a US Sgt. tries to survive the retreat to Pusan when he is cut off from his unit
Marines, Let’s Go (1961)-Marines in Occupied Japan and the Korean War

July 31-Lt. General Walker organizes a defensive perimeter around Pusan, with the remaining 90% of South Korea already conquered there could be no further retreat, so the perimeter held against the fanatical North Korean attacks

August 31-the last major North Korean frontal attack ran out of steam because the North Korean army no longer had the reserves to break through US lines

September 15-the successful US amphibious landing at Inchon allows US forces to move on Seoul, thus cutting North Korean supply lines and taking the pressure off the UN troops at Pusan.
Retreat, Hell! (1952)-the 1 st Marine Division during the Inchon Landing and street fighting in Seoul

October 7- US troops cross the 38 th Parallel, ignoring Chinese warnings that doing so will be considered an act of war

October 19- Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, falls to the US Eighth Army

October 24-MacArthur allows US troops to advance towards the Chinese border

October 27-29-US troops encounter Chinese troops

November 1-Russian MIGs with Chinese pilots are sighted above the Yalu River, and the first air battle takes place a week later.

The Air War
The Hunters (1958)-US Sabrejets vs Russian MIGs
The McConnell Story (1955)-the highest scoring US air ace in the Korean War
Battle Hymm (1956)-a former preacher regains his faith while training South Korean pilots
Dragonfly Squadron (1954)-the training of South Korean pilots

Moving only at night, hundreds of thousands of Chinese “volunteers” cross into North Korea without being discovered by UN forces and then launch overwhelming attacks.

November 27-the 1 st Marine Division is surrounded by the Chinese at Chosin Resevoir, but manages to hold them off until a retreat is ordered on November 30. It proved to be a fighting retreat, the 10,000 Marines had to fight every step of the way until they reached the port at Hungnam on December 10 and were evacuated.
Retreat, Hell! (1952)-the 1 st Marines retreat to Hungnam

December 5-Shocked by the sudden assault of massive Chinese forces, the 8 th Army abandons Pyongyang and basically collapses, dissolving into a leaderless mass of men driven by the desire to get as far away as possible.

December 27-Lt. General Ridgway takes command of US ground forces in Korea after General Walker dies in a jeep accident, and begins revitalizing the demoralized troops.

1951
January 1-the Chinese start a new offensive and take Seoul.
Fixed Bayonets (1951)-A small group of infantrymen have to hold off the Chinese to cover their division’s retreat during the January offensive.
A Hill in Korea (1956)-a British unit tries to survive the UN retreat from the Yalu River
All the Young Men (1960)-the 1950 offensive against the Chinese and North Koreans

January 15-the Chinese advance has been stopped, and the UN counter offensive begins.

March 13-the Chinese begin a general retreat, and UN troops retake Seoul two days later.

April 11-Realizing that there were two foreign policies in America, Washington’s and MacArthur’s, President Truman sacks MacArthur and replaces him with Ridgway. MacArthur (1977)-MacArthur from WWII to his failed attempt to win the Republican nomination for president.

April 22-a Chinese offensive pushes the 8 th Army backwards until it is stopped on May 1 and a second Chinese offensive fails to make any progress two weeks later

May 23-the 8 th Army takes the offensive

June-Operation Strangle begins. First, the road network, and then the railway network in North Korea were targeted for bombing by carrier based planes that continued night after night and day after day.
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)-carrier based pilots who bomb bridges
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954)-carrier based pilots

June 12-the 8 th Army takes control of the Iron Triangle, the center of Communist supply lines, deliberately moving away from the Yalu River in order to avoid provoking China into all-out war. Instead, the goal was to hurt China enough to force it to negotiate.

July 10-Armistice negotiations begin, but quickly prove to be a propaganda channel for the Communists and an opportunity to re-supply their armies.

August 23-a new Chinese offensive shows that the breathing space was not long enough, and the huge casualties force China to resume negotiations on October 25. However, they dragged out negotiations for over a month while the Chinese army built a massive series of fortifications that were so solid that the lines were basically the same by the end of the war, a situation eerily reminiscent of WWI.
Target Zero (1955)-a US unit is forced off a hill on the main line of resistance and the survivors must retake the hill.
Battle Circus (1953)-the adventures of a MASH unit
MASH (1970)-the adventures of a MASH unit

1952

May 7-Chinese agitators infiltrated UN prison camps and held General Dodd, commander of a major camp, hostage until May 11.

June-Operation Strangle ends, when UN planners realized that it simply was not working. 343 planes had been lost, and it was later learned that the operation was doomed to failure since a Chinese division needed only 50 tons of supplies a day, as opposed to the 610 tons needed by a US division.

June 23-Power installations on the Yalu River are bombed to encourage a more sincere Chinese attitude towards the negotiations.

August 29-the largest UN bombing raid of the war is launched against Pyongyang, but what little heavy industry that had existed in North Korea was already rubble.

1953

The Chinese launch a series of attacks during the late winter and early spring to win concessions in the negotiations
War Hunt (1962)-a recruit joins an army unit on the front near the end of the war

April 16-the Chinese attack Pork Chop Hill, and were only forced to retreat on April 18
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
Directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Gregory Peck and Harry Gaurdino
As peace talks near the end of the Korean War it an impasse, an American platoon is told to take a strategically unimportant hilltop in an attempt to convince the Chinese to resume negotiations in good faith. However, the Chinese respond by recapturing the hill, so the GIs have to retake the hill, which soon becomes a key symbol during the on-going peace talks.

April 26-the Chinese return to the negotiating table

June 8-the prisoner-of-war problem is settled. Actually, much of the delay in the drawn-out negotiations was due to disagreements over prisoners. The UN did not believe Chinese figures on UN prisoners, and China could not accept that 62,000 of 132,000 prisoners refused to return to China.

Prisoners
Prisoner of War (1954)-an American officer volunteers to investigate reports of brutality in North Korean camps and finds that the US soldiers are facing the extreme torture with courage
Time Limit (1957)-a US officer is tried for treason for his actions in a North Korean POW camp
The Rack (1956)-a US officer is tried for collaboration in a North Korean POW camp
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)-an officer is captured during the Korean War and brainwashed into becoming an assassin.

June 10-30-the Chinese launch a series of attacks against UN positions

July 27-the Armistice is signed at Panmunjom
The Hook (1963)-US soldiers struggle over whether to obey a direct order to shoot a captured North Korean pilot in cold blood just as the war ends