The Wargamer

Just Holding On!

The arrival of General Matthew Ridgeway to take over the fighting in Korea had a great stabilizing effect on the troops there. He brought with him a fierce spirit of determination and aggressiveness that was sorely needed by these troops that had been up and won the length of Korea more than once in less than a year. It was certainly a “see-saw” kind of war and it needed some stabilizing.

In spite of the fact that all UN forces had been driven back hundreds of miles and lost nearly all of the ground that they had previously worked so hard to gain, Ridgeway was determined to implant a new spirit of victory in these men. He understood the deep depression suffered by his troops as they retreated over ground that they had fought so hard to conquer only a few months earlier.

Ridgeway, during World War II, was an airborne commander. He was actively involved in Sicily, and airborne operations in Salerno, Normandy, Holland, and Germany. After Normandy, he was made Commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps. He was serving in the US when the death of the 8th Army Commander, Johnnie Walker, thrust him into that position.

On arriving in Korea, he toured the entire shifting battlefront. After inventorying the situation, he had some officers replaced, others shifted to different jobs, and handed out a few promotions. On one occasion, Ridgeway visited Mike Michaelis, already a hero in Korea, and asked him, "Michaelis, what are tanks for?"

The immediate reply was, "To kill, Sir!"

Ridgeway then told Michaelis "Take your tanks north."

The younger officer explained to the new Commander, "Sir, I can go take them there. It’s the coming back that will be difficult."

Ridgeway put that famous stare on the man and asked, "Who said you were to come back? If you can stay up there 24 hours, I'll have the 24th Division right in behind you. If they stay another 24 hours, I'll send 1st Corps behind them." That was the kind of man he was.

This was the change that was so drastically needed in Korea at that moment. With Ridgeway came new enthusiasm. Troops felt that the man believed in them, and in his cause. On January 21st, 1951, he wrote a personal message to his troops and had it conveyed to every soldier in the Eighth Army. It traveled like an electric shock, like a catharsis throughout the cold and depressed American soldiers all over Korea. Here was a new commander who had confidence in his soldiers. This man wanted to win this war! Such an attitude bolstered the badly sagging morale to a level as high as it had been as the Inchon invasion and the Pusan breakout.

The overall assessment by the General of this particular war was that the strength of the enemy was MANPOWER. Like most Asian countries, China and Korea were composed of many people, almost an over- abundance of humanity. The Allied strength lay in FIREPOWER. While always facing a foe far superior in numbers, the United Nations forces had the capability of evening the odds through air supremacy, better training, superior weapons and move adequate communications.

“We are at war,” said Ridgeway, “and our primary purpose is to kill the enemy.”

To counter, therefore, the enemy's strength, he developed a policy known as the "Meatgrinder." Whenever Allied forces faced an enemy assault, every available piece of firepower was brought to bear. This included infantry weapons, tanks, artillery, air power and anything else he could dig out of his arsenal.