As the helicopters flew low over the enemy, the Koreans launched several MANPADs (shoulder-launched surface-to-air-missiles) at them, and began using their anti-aircraft guns. The choppers immediately began to swerve from one side to the other in an effort to duck and dodge the enemy missiles and gun fire. One of the helicopters took multiple hits from one of the anti-aircraft guns, and immediately began to spew heavy black smoke from its main engine. Although the pilot did his best, the chopper began to lose control as he attempted to aim back towards the beach area and friendly lines.
Another pair of Cobras flew in and unloaded their rockets on the enemy lines, and then they began to fire their own heavy machine guns on the anti-aircraft guns. The assistance was unfortunately short-lived; within only a few minutes, both of the new choppers exploded when multiple surface-to-air missiles were fired at them from farther behind the enemy lines.
It took nearly five minutes and several short starts and stops before Sergeant Long’s squad made it to the first series of buildings overlooking the beach. They each threw in a handful of grenades, making sure everyone was dead before they burst into the nearby buildings to clear and secure them. While they did this, the rest of their platoon double-timed it to his position and began to set up a new perimeter. Other platoons arriving on the beach began to move forward as they now focused their efforts on securing more and more of the city, expanding the beachhead so additional Marines and heavy equipment could begin to be offloaded.
Tim paused for a moment to catch his breath, and looked back at the beach. He saw several of the LCACs make their way up the shore, dropping their front gates. Now that some of the beach had been secured, Sergeant Long could see the occasional Abram’s battle tank roll off onto the sand, or a few light-armored vehicles.
“Finally,” he thought, “those vehicles are exactly what we need to expand the beachhead.”
Within the first hour of the invasion, the Marines had moved off the beach and secured nearly a quarter mile inland, along with most of the coastal villages nearby. Dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles were now being brought ashore as additional waves of Marines continued to join them. It would not be long until they were able to secure the entire surrounding valley and other key objectives.
Fourteen hours later, as the Marines tightened their grip on the city of Hamhung, several North Korean soldiers began to wave a white flag out of one of the government buildings they had been trying to assault for hours.
Sergeant Long yelled at his men. “Hold your fire!”
As the other platoons also began to stop shooting, a slight sense of calm began to envelop the area. Gun battles continued to rage on in other parts of the city, but in the bubble around Sergeant Long’s position, the cacophony of war and death had been paused.
Three enemy soldiers emerged from the building, holding a white flag. They began to walk towards the American positions, shouting something Korean that none of them could understand. As they approached Sergeant Long’s position, he and a couple of his Marines stood up and motioned for them to stop. Once they had stopped, his Marines moved forward and began to search them for weapons or booby traps.
One of the Koreans, who appeared to be a high-ranking officer, spoke in barely intelligible English. “I want to speak with the Marine commander to discuss terms of surrender,” he requested.
Their company commander, Captain Dwayne Pepper, came up to them and began to talk with the Koreans. They repeated their request to speak with the marine commander to discuss terms of surrender. Captain Pepper, along with several additional Marines, escorted the enemy soldiers further back behind the line while they sent a message to battalion HQ that they had some Korean officers who wanted to request terms of surrender.
It took a few minutes, but eventually, they were able to speak with the brigade commander, who arranged for the officers to be brought to the beachhead, where Lieutenant General Roy Cutter had just landed and was establishing his new headquarters.
Cutter was caught by surprise, but he was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth either. If a local commander wanted to discuss terms of surrender, and he could possibly save the lives of more Marines, then he was more than willing to talk with them. As the enemy soldiers arrived, his executive officer joined him, along with an interpreter.
The senior Korean officer introduced himself. “I am Colonel General Ryu Shin, and I am the senior ranking military member left alive. In the absence of other military commanders from Pyongyang or the other major military headquarters, I have assumed overall command of North Korean forces. I want to discuss terms of surrender with the Marine Commander and find a way to put an end to the killing.”
This speech caught General Cutter by surprise; he had not expected to be talking with someone who was now implying that he was the overall commander of North Korea. He invited them to sit down, and had some of his aides bring in some hot coffee, tea, and whatever grub they could muster together. The Korean officers gladly accepted the hot drinks, and ate the warm food like men who had not eaten a meal in days.
While the officers were ravenously chowing down, Cutter excused himself to go make contact with General Bennet and the PACOM Commander. Once General Cutter had explained the situation, Bennet asked, “Can you find out if this man is legit? And can we verify if his claim to be the new overall commander is true? Because if it is, then we might be able to put an end to this conflict sooner rather than later.”
Over the next couple of hours, the intelligence community, along with the South Koreans, confirmed that they had made a number of signal intercepts that indicated that Colonel General Ryu Shin was, in fact, the new leader of North Korea, or at least he had been asserting himself as such. The South Koreans sent over their terms for what they would accept for surrender, and so did General Bennet and the US PACOM Commander. President Gates and SecDef Castle were also made aware of the development.
It was determined that these gentlemen should be flown out to the Theodore Roosevelt Supercarrier, where they could meet with senior representatives from the South Korean government and the US Government. By the early hours of the following day, a deal had been reached.
The North Koreans were set to announce their unconditional surrender, and would make a formal request to the United Nations to have the Chinese withdraw their military forces from North Korea and end the fighting in their country. As hostilities ended between the two Koreas, a transition period would occur, and UN observers would help to disarm the Korean People’s Army. After a three-month period, and full disarmament, the two Koreas would once again be united.
It was determined that a formal cease-fire and peace agreement would be signed later; it was imperative to get Colonel General Ryu Shin back to his forces, so he could begin to issue the ceasefire orders. While he could not control what the Chinese did, he would do his utmost to have his forces lay down their arms and end the hostilities.
Within an hour of General Ryu returning to his lines, allied forces intercepted a transmission of him issuing ceasefire and surrender orders to the North Korean People’s Army.
“The war is lost,” he told his people. “It is now time to start taking care of your families, if they are still alive. The U.S. and South Korean soldiers will begin to bring us food, medicine, and water, but you have to lay down your arms. You cannot fire on them. I hereby order you to surrender and return to your homes.”
While this order was being carried out, the Chinese government issued a stern warning to the North Korean Army, telling General Ryu that he did not have the authority to surrender to the allies, and that they would shoot any North Korean soldiers who surrendered or abandoned their posts. They also began to pour more of their own soldiers across the border, in an attempt to hold the country together while they worked on pushing the Americans back across the DMZ.