Country South Korea Type Infantry | Branch Republic of Korea Army Part of II Corps | |
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Active 10 June 1949. ~ Present Garrison/HQ Hwacheon County, Gangwon Province (South Korea) | ||
The 7th Infantry Division is a military formation of the Republic of Korea Army, currently employed on patrol duty in the Korean Demilitarized Zone around Hwacheon County, Gangwon Province.
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Structure
Korean war
The division first started from Youngsan, Seoul in June 10, 1949. The division first saw combat in September 14, 1949, in an operation on Jirisan Mt. to fight Communist guerillas. This division was, after the fall of Taejon, only had a few hundred survivors to participate in the Battle of Pusan Perimeter. During the Battle of Pusan Perimeter, The 7th Infantry Division regrouped with the 3rd, 5th, and 8th infantry regiments to become what formation they have, and destroyed size of two divisions of North Korean army during the Battle of YoungChen.
On 26 November 1950, a column of retreating ROK Korean soldiers of the ROK 6th and 7th Divisions from Tokchon was attacked by a battalion of the Turkish Brigade who were the first to arrive at Wawon, after the Turks mistook the Koreans for Chinese. 125 Koreans were taken prisoner and many of them were slaughtered by the Turks. The event was wrongly reported in American and European media as a Turkish victory over the Chinese and even after news leaked out about the truth to the Americans, no efforts were made by the media to fix the story.
After the Chinese intervention and attacks in November 1950, the U.S. 2d Infantry Division, the Turkish Brigade, and the ROK 6th, 7th, and 8th Infantry Divisions suffered substantial loss that they needed extensive rest and refitting to recover combat effectiveness. After recovery, The 7th Division took part of the operation as II Corps's command such as Retaking of Hwacheon, Battle of Gumsung.