North Korea in the Korean War Soviets. Neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the 38th parallel, however, and border skirmishes were common. Even so, the North Korean invasion came as an alarming surprise to American officials. As far as they were concerned, this was not simply a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships on the other side of the globe. Instead, many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. For this reason, nonintervention was not considered an option by many top decision makers. As the North Korean army pushed into Seoul, the South Korean
United States in the Korean War late July 1950 Task Force Smith was overrun in the city of Taejon. Troops from the Army's 25th Infantry Division were deployed to Taejon to establish a new line and pullout the decimated 24th I.D. This addition of combat troops did not stop the North Korean advance and both American and South Korean troops were pushed further south. The first battle the Americans entered in the Korean War was the Battle of Osan, where about four hundred U.S. soldiers landed in Pusan airport on the first of July. The American troops were sent off to Taejon the next morning where