Operation Thunderbolt (1951)
Operation Thunderbolt, also known in China as the Defensive Battle of the Han River Southern Bank, was a US offensive during the Korean War.
Operation Thunderbolt 1–11 February
General Matthew Bunker Ridgway was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). Although he saw no combat service in World War I, he was intensively involved in World War II, where he was the first Commanding General (CG) of the 82nd "All American" Airborne Division, leading it in action in Sicily, Italy and Normandy, before taking command of the newly formed XVIII Airborne Corps in August 1944. He held the latter post until the end of the war in mid-1945, commanding the corps in the Battle of the Bulge, Operation Varsity and the Western Allied invasion of Germany.
Ridgway in 1951
Ridgway and members of his staff outside Ribera, Sicily, July 25, 1943. To Ridgway's right is his aide, Captain Don C. Faith Jr..
From left to right: Major General J. Lawton Collins, British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery and Ridgway, December 1944
Ridgway and Major General James M. Gavin during the Battle of the Bulge, December 19, 1944