5th Division (North Korea)

5th Infantry Division
Active	July 1949 -
Country	Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry

The 5th Infantry Division was a military formation of the Korean People's Army during the 20th century. It was activated at Nanam, North Korea, during the early part of August 1949, composed of Korean veterans of the Chinese Communist 8th Route Army’s 164th Division, which had been stationed in Changchun, China until July 1949. All non-Korean troops of the 164th CCF Division were transferred to other Chinese Communist organizations in July 1949 and in their place, the division began to receive Korean soldiers from various other units of the Chinese Communist Forces. During the latter part of July 1949, the 164th Division, with a strength of approximately 7,500 men, was allegedly transferred by railroad from Changchun to Nanam, where it was integrated into the expanding North Korean Army and redesignated the 5th Division.

Around mid-February 1950 the Division began to receive new recruits, numbering approximately 1,000 men between the ages of 18 and 26 years, until it got up to full strength.

On June 19, 1950, leading elements of the division were said to have departed Nanam by rail for Yangyang, where they arrived by June 23; by June 25 the movement of the division’s combat elements had been completed. The 10th Regiment, which was the first to assemble at Yangyang, allegedly departed south immediately after its arrival and backpacked into the vicinity of the 38th Parallel. It was followed in short order by the other two infantry regiments and on the night of June 24, the 5th Division, with the exception of a few rear echelon units still en route, was reportedly deployed along the 38th Parallel south of Yangyang.

At approximately 0500 hours on June 25, 1950, the 5th Division lunged across the 38th Parallel in an offensive down the main road that parallels Korea's rugged east coast. The division's drive was allegedly supported by the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment, an organization with a strength of 1,500 men which appears to have been part of a larger amphibious force under the direct control of the North Korean Army's General headquarters in Pyongyang.

The 5th Division in two weeks of heavy battles forged its way toward Yongdok and finally captured the town on or about August 3, after sustaining prohibitive casualties. During the siege, the 10th Regiment allegedly pressed the attack from the west and fought its way into the outskirts two or three times, but was forced to withdraw each time under withering artillery and small-arms fire. In its drive on Yongdok the division is said to have been subjected to almost constant bombardment from UN aircraft and naval vessels; even at night the troops were apparently not given any respite, for prisoners complained that artillery opened up with heavy fire after the naval and air attacks ceased. To illustrate the terrific casualties that the division sustained in these battles, one POW related that in a single naval barrage 700 men were killed and huge stores of supplies and equipment were destroyed. Altogether the 5th Division is estimated to have suffered a 40% reduction in strength in the battle for Yongdok.

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