Smith Realty Group
The United States Army began the Korean War in a panic. The first ground troops rushed to the front to try and stop the North Korean Army were drawn from men on occupation duties in nearby post-WWII Japan. The first boots on the ground was a unit built around 400 men of the 1st Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment with an attached group of artillery. It was led by Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith (hence the Task Force Smith moniker). The unit was understrength, comprised of very junior soldiers (some 85 % had never seen combat), and under equipped. The Task Forces biggest problem was that it had no practical anti-tank weaponry. This was suicide for a light infantry force being told to stop tanks.
Flown to South Korea within 24 hours of the North Korean armored advance, Task Force Smith was ordered to hold the road north of Pusan and delay the oncoming forces as long as possible. In World War Two this had been accomplished by infantry with the help of air support and anti-tank mines; however Task Force Smith did not have either of those two luxuries. Its hopes were placed in mortars, a pair of 75mm recoilless rifles, a battery of six 105mm howitzers and a half dozen M9A1 2.36-inch "bazooka" rocket launchers. The mortars and howitzers could have normally been used in an anti-tank role but the battery was only issued a total of six armor-piercing rounds. This left the pair of recoilless rifles and the bazookas were the only tools left to do the combat with the tanks.
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