Korean War/CCF Spring Offensive (1951)/Operation Strangle
From Month/Year
May / 1951
To Month/Year
July / 1951
Description Operation Strangle (Korean War) was a U.S. Air Force (USAF) bombing campaign of the Korean War. In Summer 1951, as the war bogged down into mutual defensive ground warfare characterized by trench warfare, United Nations close air support found fewer and poorer targets for its fighter-bombers. The USAF turned to interdiction of Korean lines of communication in an effort to cut the communist supply lines.
Operation Strangle's 87,552 interdiction sorties were credited with destroying 276 locomotives, 3,820 railroad cars, and 19,000 rail cuts. They also destroyed 34,211 other vehicles. However, by December 1951, the communists repaired rail cuts in less than six hours, bridges in two to four days, and other bomb damage accordingly quickly. By May 1952, it was apparent that the communist supply efforts had actually increased support to their front line troops despite the air attacks. By June, half of communist antiaircraft guns—132 cannons and 708 automatic seapons—were posted along North Korea's railroads.
