MASH (properly M*A*S*H) was an American anti-war situation comedytelevision show about a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War. MASH was created by Larry Gelbart, and Gene Reynolds and projected Alan Alda in the starring role of 'Hawkeye' to international fame. MASH was produced by CBS and TCF and ran from 1972 to 1983, becoming more and more shocking and anti-war until its highly disturbing final episode.
George Blake (born George Behar) was a Dutch-born British KGB spy. He was born in 1922 at Rotterdam. After serving with the Dutch resistance he joined the British Royal Navy and in 1944 joined the SIS. In 1949 he was posted to South Korea and upon the outbreak of the Korean War was interned by the invading North Korean forces. In 1951 he defected to the Russians, and volunteered to work as a Soviet Spy, being assigned the KGB codename Diomid. Information supplied by Blake to the Soviets enabled them to eliminate the entire Western intelligence force in East Germany between 1953 and 1955. Blake also informed the Russians about the American CIA intercept tunnel built from West to East Germany, and designed to intercept Soviet communications - a tunnel which the CIA believed to be a success until the truth was revealed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union some forty years later. Blake was identified following information provided by the Polish defector Michal Goleniewski in 1961. Sentenced to forty-two years in jail, Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs prison after serving five years and travelled to East Berlin and from there to Moscow. Research George Blake
Theodore Samuel Williams (Ted Williams) is an American baseball player. He was born in 1918. He played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960, and was the best batter of his era making 2654 hits and 521 home runs, with a lifetime batting average of .344 and in 1941 hitting an average of .406. His career was disturbed by his service in the army during the Second World War and Korean War, otherwise his totals would have undoubtedly been much higher. Research Ted Williams
The Green Berets, the US Army's Special Forces, originated in the early 1950s and established a base at Fort Bragg, South Carolina, site of the Army Special Warfare School. America has a rich history of operations by unconventional forces, dating back to the French and Indian wars in the days when the thirteen colonies were still British and including Rogers' Rangers who were active during the War of Independence. A vast conglomeration of special operations units grew like mushrooms during the Second World War, but they were quickly disbanded after the war. Interest was revived in the 1950s following the Korean War, and that led to the formation of the Special Forces. At the time they were kept at low strengths. They were only grudgingly tolerated by the traditionalists in the army's high command, who did not like any unit with pretensions to elite status. Army administrators discouraged officers who wanted to spend more than one tour with the Special Forces, on the basis that they would lose experience in their basic branch, and thus be unfavourably looked on at promotion time. With the inauguration of President John F Kennedy in 1961 the fate of the Special Forces changed. Kennedy strongly believed that such units were the best way to counter communist 'wars of liberation'. As it became chic in Washington to support the Green Berets: so named because of their distinctive headgear which had been approved by the President, their numbers increased by several orders of magnitude.
The original Special Forces mission was to organise guerrilla warfare in enemy-held countries. That role changed as more and more Green Berets were sent to South East Asia, where they became increasingly involved in counter-insurgency operations. The Special Forces were among the first Americans in action in Vietnam: the 5th Special Forces Group took over the CIA's border surveillance programme, teaching the fundamentals of reconnaissance and local defence to remote tribes in Laos and the Vietnamesehighlands. Operating in small teams with large numbers of native auxiliaries, often only marginally less hostile to the government in Saigon than to the communists, they ran patrols from border camps to uncover communist infiltration on the HoChi Minh Trail.
In more settled parts of Vietnam the Green Berets were assigned as advisors by the US military authorities, to provide anything from advice on personal health and drainage to teaching unarmed combat and demolitions to members of the Civilian Irregular Defence Groups. Following the end of the war in South East Asia, the Green Berets suffered under the general malaise which afflicted the US armed forces but the low intensity conflict that now prevails worldwide ensured that they would not be disbanded. In 1987 Special Forces were made a separate branch of the army, and their orders now come via the US Special Operations Command, which incorporates all special operations units from all US services. Research Green Berets
The Korean War was fought between North Korea and China on one side, and South Korea, the USA, and United Nations forces on the other, from 1950 to 1953. From the time of their foundation in 1948, relations between North and South Korea were soured by rival plans for unification, and on 25 June 1950 war finally broke out with a surprise North Koreanattack that pushed American and South Korean forces far south towards Pusan by September. In the temporary absence of the Soviet representative, the Security Council asked members of the UN to furnish assistance to South Korea.
On 15 September American and South Korean forces, under the command of General MacArthur, launched a counter- offensive at Inchon, and by the end of October UN forces had pushed the North Koreans all the way back to the Yalu River, the frontier with the People's Republic of China. Chinese troops then entered the war on the northern side, driving south to recapture the South Korean capital of Seoul by January 1951. After months of fighting, the conflict stabilised in near- deadlock close to the original boundary line (the 38th parallel). Peace negotiations, undertaken in July 1951 by General M. B. Ridgway (who had succeeded MacArthur in April of that year), proved difficult, and it was not until 27 July 1953 that an armistice was signed at Panmunjom and the battle line was accepted as the boundary between North and South Korea. Research Korean War
The M20 Rocket Launcher (also known as the Super Bazooka) is an American smooth-bore, shoulder fired infantry anti-tank weapon that saw action during the Korean War. The M20 Rocket Launcher has a calibre of 89 mm and a maximum range against armour of 110 meters, and a maximum range of 1200 metres. Research M20 Rocket Launcher
The M26 Pershing was an American tank developed from the abandoned T20 project, and produced from 1945. The M26 Pershing had a top speed of 30 mph and was armed with a 90 mm gun and three machine-guns. M26 Pershing tanks first saw action in the allied invasion of Germany in 1945, and were later employed in the Korean War. Research M26 Pershing
The M40 was an American self-propelled gun designed at the end of the Second World War, being mainly used in the following Korean War. The M40 was based on the M4A2tank chassis fitted with a 155 mm Gun M2 ('Long Tom') gun and manned by a crew of eight. The M40 was powered by a Continental nine-cylinder radial piston engine providing a top speed of 40 kmh and a range of 160 km. Research M40
The M7 Priest was an American self-propelled gun of the Second World War based on the M3tank chassis and mounted with a 105 mm howitzer and a 12.7 mm machine-gun. The M7 Priest was manned by a crew of five protected by armour ranging from 12 to 108 mm thick, and powered by a Continental nine-cylinder radial piston engine providing a top speed of 42 kmh and a range of 200 km. The
M7 Priest was first produced in 1942, with production ending in July 1945 though the M7 Priest remained in service until 1960, seeing action again during the Korean War. Research M7 Priest
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
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