As we all know, during the Korean War, the two warring parties basically fought back and forth around the "38th Line".
The Chinese People's Volunteer Army fought across the "38th Parallel" and gained prominence in the world, frightening the Western powers. Finally, it also forced the " United Nations Forces " led by the US military to cease the war on the "38th Parallel". It was only a few years after its establishment. The People's Republic of China created a strategic buffer zone with a depth of more than 300 kilometers, creating an era of peace that continues to this day.
What is little known is that the "38th Parallel" as an artificial dividing line was actually created by two unknown US military colonels.
On August 6 and August 9, 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs codenamed "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The fireballs that shot into the sky killed more than 200,000 people. The lives of the residents also frightened the Japanese militarists. On August 10, Japan decided to surrender unconditionally. When the generals of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff saw a large number of Soviet troops advancing across the Korean Peninsula, they were all anxious. How could he allow others to comment on his fatness? So he urgently ordered the Department of the Army to come up with a plan to block the Soviet troops from going south that day.
Assistant Secretary of the Army McCloy immediately met with Assistant Secretary of State Dunn, senior Army Department official Budd and others. The "night train" started in Pentagon McCloy's office
Dunn proposed that the army should rush as far north as possible to accept the surrender, but the troops that the US military could transfer were still stationed in Okinawa hundreds of kilometers away. Island , even if it immediately dispatches to compete with the Soviets, it will be difficult to reach the deep northern area before the Soviet army. If it can get a stronghold in Busan in the south, it will be considered a good job.
The clock is ticking little by little. McCloy, who was forced to panic, urgently ordered the two colonel staff Dean Rusk and Bonistiel present to go to the lounge next door to create a line that could push as far north as possible without being rejected by the Soviet Union. .
The two colonels thought hard and finally focused on the 38th parallel of the combat map.
This line not only passes through North Korea almost from the center, but more importantly, it is the capitals Seoul and Incheon . The two important seaports were in the area where the United States surrendered. According to the strength of the US military at the time, it was impossible to reach this far north when competing with the Soviet army.
This suggestion by the two colonels was in line with the appetite of the American ruling group that was trying to occupy North Korea but was unable to do so. As a result, it quickly received the consent of the military and the State Department, and was allowed by President Truman
html On August 15, Truman sent a top-secret letter to Stalin and attached the relevant information to Douglas MacArthur, commander-in-chief of the Far Eastern Army. "General Order No. 1" detailing the surrender of the Japanese Armed Forces.The next day, Stalin replied to the letter, unexpectedly agreeing with the proposal.
This was exactly what the Americans wanted, and it was marked as "top secret". When the reply letter was circulated between the White House and the Pentagon where the Department of Defense is located, Rusk, Bonistiel and others felt so proud of their masterpiece!
On September 2, 1945, MacArthur After holding a Japanese surrender signing ceremony on the Tokyo Bay "Missouri" ship, he proudly issued "General Order No. 1", announcing that Japanese soldiers north of the 38th parallel Surrendered to the Soviet army, and the Japanese troops south of the 38th parallel were surrendered by the US military.
At this time, the 25th Soviet Far East Army, under the command of General Chestyakov, and the Korean People's Revolutionary Army fighting bravely had already liberated the northern territory of North Korea.
Lieutenant General Hodge, commander of the U.S. 24th Army, led his troops as late as September 9 to slowly land in Inchon and Pusan and begin to occupy the southern region.
In order to abide by the agreement, the Soviet army retreated from occupied cities such as Seoul and Sinchuan to the north of the "38th Parallel".
The seemingly plain "38th Parallel" on this map actually passes through more than 300 kilometers of North Korean territory, intercepts 75 streams and 12 rivers, crosses high mountains at different angles, and crosses 181 small roads, 104 rural roads, 15 inter-road all-weather highways, 8 high-grade highways and 6 north-south railway lines.
The area south of the "38th Line" is 98,000 square kilometers and has a population of about 21 million, accounting for 12 of the country's 20 major cities, including the capital Seoul with 2 million people. It is basically an agricultural area. Providing food to the whole country.
The area north of the "38th Line" covers an area of 120,000 square kilometers and has a population of about 9 million. It has highly developed hydropower resources and therefore has most of the factories. Its products support the agricultural economy in the south, and neither side is economically able to do so. to self-sufficiency.
In the modern history of Japan, Japan and Tsarist Russia twice conspired to carve up Korea along the "38th Parallel".
The first time was in 1896, when Japan secretly proposed to Tsarist Russia; the second time was in 1904, when the Tsar decided at a royal meeting to "allow Japan to land south of the '38th Parallel'" while Russia plundered north.
However, these two attempts to carve up North Korea were not realized due to conflicts of interest between the two parties.
The two colonels Rusk and Bonistier easily created a "38th Line" on the map. It was originally temporarily drawn for the surrender of the Soviet Union and the United States, but later it became the military occupation zone of the United States and the Soviet Union. The dividing line between Korea and Korea was divided into two and became another divided country after World War II. It almost became the trigger for the Third World War. This was probably the result of two unknown young men. The colonel never expected it. They never thought that the "38th Parallel" would make China proud of the world.
