6·25전쟁기 영천전투의 재조명

Abstract

The Battle of Yeongcheon is a battle in which Division 8th under the ROK Army Corps 2th and Reinforcements and the North Korean Army Division 15th were engaged in fierce battles for the Yeongcheon area, a strategic location at the battle on the Nakdong River Line of Defense in the Korean War from September 5 through 13, 1950. The first outcome of research on the Battle of Yeongcheon is “The Yeongcheon Area Battle” (Yeongcheonjiguhoejeon) by the ROK Army Office of the Chief of Military History (1954). This study stated the situations of the actual battle, not distorted and purely written without other elements considered based on the detailed report on the battles concerning the ROK Army Division 8th and Reinforcements and the historical materials written immediately after the truce. Also, it has a high value as a primary historical material since it was written by the Korean War veterans a few years after the Battle of Yeongcheon and it recorded what happened in the field, immediately. The result of an examination of the progress of the battles based on “The Yeongcheon Area Battle (1954)” and “The Korean War History 󰊵 (2008)” recently published, confirms that there were differences in the ROK Army’s activities and their timelines. Thus, the future studies of the Battle of Yeongcheon should shed new light on it, analyzing various materials and outcomes, comprehensively. Besides, based on these two materials, the historical significance of the Battle of Yeongcheon can be examined as follows. The Battle of Yeongcheon made a definite contribution to blocking the North Korean Army’s full-scale offensive at the battles on the Nakdong River Line of Defense, and as the U.N. Forces successfully performed the Incheon Landing Operation, it provided the motive force for gaining the initiative at the battlefield. The Battle of Yeongcheon is not just a victory at a battle higher than the division level but a great triumph that had a decisive impact on the life or death of the Republic of Korea in the development of the Korean War. This is the very historic significance of the Battle of Yeongcheon in the Korean War.