Canada's Army in Korea

Canada's Army in Korea Preface The First Canadians in Korea Background of the Conflict Formation of the CASF The Fighting in 1950 Canadian Troops in Action Political Aspects The Patricias at Kapyong Training at Fort Lewis The 25th Brigade Goes In Early RCN Operations The 25th Brigade in Action, 1951 The 2nd RCR at Chail-li Political Developments During June 1951 Canadian Operations During June and July Formation of the 1st Commonwealth Division Across the Imjin The "Rotation" of Canadian Troops Enemy Attacks During November The Political Front, July-December 1951 Holding the Line, 1951-1953 The First General Rotation Patrols Against the Boot and Hill 113 Canadian Troops on Koje Island The RCR on Hill 355 The Patricias' Second Rotation Winter on the Hook Korean Personnel with the Canadian Forces The Second General Rotation The End of the Fighting The Attack on the 3rd RCR Political Developments, 1952-53 Administration Behind the Canadian Brigade, Juny 1951-July 1953 Supporting Arms Air Support and Supply The RCN in Korean Waters, May 1951-July 1953 The Toll of the War Conclusion Main Provisions of the Armistice Agreement The Canadians After the Armistice Canadian Troops Withdraw Korea in Retrospect Books and Articles for Further Reading Abbreviations

[edit] Canadian Operations During June and July

The American 65th Regimental Combat Team, relieving the 25th Canadian Brigade on 1 June, had taken under its command the 10th Philippine Battalion. This unit was replaced in the Canadian order of battle by the 2nd Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, which since its last major action-the Kapyong engagement-had been under command of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade. Almost immediately on rejoining its parent formation (then in 1st U.S. Corps reserve) the Canadian battalion was again attached to the 28th Brigade, now located in the area of the Imjin-Hantan junction. Its next task was to establish and hold a "patrol base" north of the junction, from which other Commonwealth troops would probe deeply into the heights beyond. The Patricias set up such a position on 6 June and held it until the 11th, when they were relieved by the Royal 22e.

By 18 June the Eighth Army had broadened its salient on the east coast and advanced about ten miles up the centre of the peninsula. Except in the western sector and to the east of Kumhwa, the line now held was to remain substantially the same until the end of the war.

The Canadian Brigade, coming under operational control of the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division (of the 1st Corps), took over a 7500-yard front stretching southwestward from Chorwon which, together with Kumhwa and Pyonggang (not to be confused with the North Korean capital), formed what was known as the "Iron Triangle". North-east of the brigade area stretched the Chorwon plain, and to the front was a network of hills and narrow valleys. Brigadier Rockingham allotted the right half of the sector to the Royal Canadian Regiment, the left to the Patricias. The Royal 22e, having returned from the 28th Brigade, was in reserve.

On 21 June two companies of the RCR and two troops of the Strathconas' tanks, supported by a troop of the 2nd Regiment RCHA and accompanied by a tactical air support party, carried out the first in a series of large-scale patrols on the brigade front. While one company and one tank troop formed a firm base near Chungmasan, the remaining armour and infantry of the patrol advanced towards Hill 730. On finding three to four hundred Chinese dug in here, the patrol called for an air strike on the position, then withdrew to the brigade area. Subsequent patrols, in the main, followed a similar pattern and achieved much the same results. In wet weather a troop of the 57th Canadian Field Squadron was allotted, for without engineer assistance the supporting tanks and guns could not get over the numerous streams and ditches.

After one month in this role the Brigade, again under command of the 25th Division, was transferred southward to the Imjin-Hantan sector. The focal point of its new position, which lay in the path of any enemy threat to our main supply route in the Chorwon area, was a ferry crossing on the Imjin some 5000 yards above the junction. The RCR held a bridgehead covering the crossing, while the 2nd Patricias were stationed on the east bank of the Imjin. The 2nd Royal 22e Regiment, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel J. A. Dextraze, occupied Hill 183, two and a half miles north-west of the RCR position. On the left of the Canadian Brigade was the 28th Commonwealth Brigade, and on the right the 27th U.S. Infantry Regiment. Scarcely had the 25th Brigade got into position when it was called on to assist in guarding the approaches to another ferry in the American regiment's sector. For this task Colonel Dextraze detached his anti-tank platoon and one rifle platoon; these, with one troop of the Strathconas, were deployed 4500 yards west of the second ferry and two-thirds of that distance north of Hill 183. This detachment was later increased to a company group. On the night of 18-19 July a Chinese fighting patrol raided a Vingt-deux company position, but was repulsed in short order. Next night the enemy attacked in company strength, withdrawing after a three hour engagement. (The attackers were identified as members of the 64th Army's 192nd Division.) On the evening of the 20th the Chinese appeared to be preparing for a further attack, and before midnight unknown numbers of enemy had infiltrated between company localities and were working their way back towards their own lines. In the meantime, heavy rains which had started on the previous day were swelling the Imjin to dangerous proportions. The south ferry was put out of order and the north one washed away completely, and telephone lines across the river were broken by drifting debris. Thus the Royal 22e and, in fact, all units and detachments west of the river faced the dual threat of an enemy attack and isolation by the flood. Fortunately, the story ends in anti-climax. The expected attack did not develop, communications were partially restored, and in less than a week the Canadian Brigade was withdrawn to a concentration area south of the lower Imjin.