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The Battle of Wawon ((トルコ語:Kunuri Muharebeleri)), also known as the Battle of Wayuan (), was a series of delay actions of the Korean War that took place from November 27–29, 1950 near Wawon in present-day North Korea. After the collapse of the US Eighth Army's right flank during the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River, the Chinese 38th Corps〔In Chinese military nomenclature, the term "Army" (军) means Corps, while the term "Army Group" (集团军) means Army.〕 advanced rapidly towards the critical road junction at Kunu-ri in an effort to cut off United Nations forces' retreat route. In what was considered to be Turkey's first real combat action since the aftermath of World War I, the Turkish Brigade attempted to delay the Chinese advances at Wawon. Although during the battle the Turkish Brigade was crippled after being encircled by Chinese forces with superior numbers,〔.〕 they were still be able to breach the Chinese trap and rejoin the US 2nd Infantry Division. Delay of Chinese troops' advance after meeting with heavy Turkish resistance helped United Nations forces to withdraw without suffering many casualties and reassemble later in December.〔 ==Background== After the destruction of the Korean People's Army by mid-1950, China entered the Korean War by sending the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) against the United Nations (UN) forces in Korea who were then very close to the Chinese border. In a series of surprise attacks, Chinese forces managed to cripple the US Eighth Army's right flank by decimating the Republic of Korea (ROK) II Corps, completely stalling the UN advances towards the Yalu River by November 4, 1950.〔.〕 Despite the seriousness of this setback, the undeterred General Douglas MacArthur ordered the Eighth Army to launch the Home-by-Christmas Offensive on November 24, 1950.〔.〕 As part of the offensive, the newly arrived Turkish Brigade was assigned as the reserve of the US IX Corps, and was placed directly behind the center of the Eighth Army's advances.〔.〕 Despite MacArthur's optimism, a massive Chinese counterattack soon developed on the night of November 25.〔.〕 Hoping to repeat their earlier successes against the US Eighth Army, the Chinese again attacked the ROK II Corps, and the UN right flank was routed by November 26.〔 Encouraged by this development, PVA commander Peng Dehuai instructed the PVA 38th Corps to advance westward from the UN right flank and cut off the US IX Corps at the road junction of Kunu-ri.〔.〕 As a counter, the Turkish Brigade was ordered by IX Corps to advance east from Kunu-ri on the afternoon of November 26.〔 Because the Turkish soldiers understood neither English nor Korean,〔.〕 the deployment of the Turkish Brigade quickly ran into difficulties, and the lack of accurate intelligence on Chinese forces further added to the chaos.〔.〕 During their advance eastward, the Turks were forced to conduct long marches in the Korean countryside because of misunderstanding of the IX Corps' instructions.〔.〕 On 26 November 1950, a column 200 South Korean soldiers of the ROK 6th and 7th Infantry Divisions fleeing from Tokchon were attacked by a battalion of Turks who were the first to arrive at Wawon, after the Turks mistook the Koreans for Chinese. 125 Koreans were taken prisoner and many others were killed by the Turks. On the other hand, the Turks can hardly be blamed for that accident.〔(Appleman 2008 ), pp. 88–89.〕 Because of false intelligence, the Turks were expecting to encounter with Chinese somewhere on the road.〔(Appleman 2008 ), pp. 88–89.〕 The event was wrongly reported in American and European media as a Turkish victory over the Chinese and even after news leaked out about the truth to the Americans, no efforts were made by the media to fix the story.〔.〕〔.〕 On the night of November 27, the exhausted Turkish Brigade entered the village of Wawon to the east of Kunu-ri, and Brigadier General〔Yazıcı had volunteered for a reduction in rank to Colonel to lead the Brigade.〕 Tahsin Yazıcı of the Turkish Brigade ordered a semicircular perimeter to be established towards the northeast.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Wawon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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