Operation Tomahawk was an airborne military operation by the 187th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) on 23 March 1951 at Munsan-ni as part of Operation Courageous in the Korean War. Operation Courageous was designed to trap large numbers of Chinese and North Korean troops between the Han and Imjin Rivers north of Seoul, opposite the South Korean I Corps. The intent of Operation Courageous was for I Corps, which was composed of the U.S. 25th and 3rd IDs and the ROK 1st Division, to advance quickly on the North Korean and Chinese troops and reach the Imjin River with all possible speed.
Operation Tomahawk was the other half of the plan. This operation was designed to drop the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team about 30 kilometers north of the then current front line. They did so, parachuting from over a hundred C-119 Flying Boxcar transport aircraft. When they landed they linked up with Task Force Growdon, which was made up of armored elements from the 24th Infantry Division (United States)'s 6th Medium Tank Battalion and infantry elements from the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division. The forces advanced to their goal, meeting weak resistance—mostly minefields—but the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (CPVA) had retreated before they got there.
One hundred twenty C-119s and C-46s dropped 3,437 paratroopers of the 187th Regimental Combat Team and 12 officers and men of the 60th Indian Parachute Field Ambulance near Munsan-ni in the second largest airborne operation of the war.[2]
References[]
External links[]
- A period piece written by Time on 2 April 1951 at Again at the Parallel
- The Korean War in March 1951
- List of operations and code names in the Korean War
- 35th Infantry Regiment in Korea
The original article can be found at Operation Tomahawk and the edit history here.