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] The RCR on Hill 355

Returning to the front between 8 and 10 August, the Canadian Brigade relieved the 29th British Brigade in the Commonwealth Division's right sector, opposite the boundary between the 39th and 40th Chinese Armies. The brigade front lay between what had been the villages of Paujol-gol and Kojanharisaemal, the Royal 22e being on the left, the Patricias on the right and the RCR, on Hill 355, in the centre. During the next three months the Brigade was to experience heavier shelling and mortaring than in any other period in the line. Heavy rains occasionally silenced the enemy's artillery, but would then further damage the trenches and bunkers; and as the skies cleared and the mud began to dry, the Chinese would resume shelling on a still greater scale. Attention was given to the improvement of defences; and at the end of the month the Canadians began once more to send out fighting patrols.

Early in September General Cassels turned over command of the Commonwealth Division to another British officer, Major- General M. M. Alston-Roberts-West. One of the first orders issued by the new divisional commander was that, in view of the continued enemy shelling, the forward troops should wear steel helmets at all times.

On 24 September the RCR sent a patrol consisting of Lieut. H. R. Gardner and five men of "B" Company to a known enemy position 1000 yards north-west of Hill 227. The party entered No Man's Land at approximately 3:30 in the morning and, by first light, had established a firm base some 200 yards east of its objective. Finding no one on the latter, Lieut. Gardner, accompanied by Corporal K. E. Fowler, made his way to the enemy kitchen area. Here they broke a telephone wire, and a Chinese signaller who came to investigate the failure of communications suddenly found himself their prisoner. Three would-be rescuers were killed or wounded by the firm base group. Although under fire from other Chinese, the entire patrol managed to get back safely, with the captive still in tow. The prisoner turned out to be from the 346th Regiment (of the 116th Division, 39th Army). It was about this time that the Chinese began a series of limited attacks in the central and western sectors. Such operations did not for some time directly affect the Commonwealth Division, but an increase in hostile shelling early in October suggested that the enemy was soon to strike in this direction; another warning factor was his sharp reaction to our patrols. On the night of 12-13 October "B" Company of the RCR staged a raid against Hill 227, and was ambushed short of the objective. A brisk firefight ensued, during which Major Cohen received the order to withdraw. The company's casualties in this action were two killed and 12 wounded. Three nights later a 25-man patrol of the Patricias, clashing with a Chinese platoon in the area of Hill 217, lost two killed and eight wounded.

Since early September the RCR had been guarding Hill 355 (referred to by the press as "Little Gibraltar") with five companies - the four normal rifle companies plus a fifth, known as "E" Company, specially created from unit resources. The company dispositions on the evening of 22 October were as follows: "A" in a line running due west from the summit of the hill; "B" immediately east of the saddle between Little Gibraltar and Hill 227; "E" Company to the left of "B"; and "C" and "D" Companies behind "E" and "A", respectively.

Between the 17th and the 22nd the enemy's artillery and mortars had been very active against the area which "B" Company occupied on the latter date. Consequently Major Cohen found the field defences very badly damaged and most of the telephone lines cut; and many of the weapon pits in which the reserve ammunition was stored had caved in. In view of the likelihood of an enemy attack the company maintained an almost total "stand to" all night, one occupant of each fighting slit watching while the other rested at the bottom of the trench.* One man of the left-hand platoon shot three members of an enemy patrol-one of several probing parties that were reported that night. So grave was the state of the defences and shelters on the right that, on the morning of the 23rd, the company commander withdrew No. 6 Platoon from that flank and doubled it up with No. 5, in the centre. Enemy shelling during the day caused several casualties and kept most of the company underground; it made impossible any effective work on the defences or on line communications and wrought further havoc on both, and prevented ammunition and fresh rations from being brought forward. Plans to reorganize, refit and feed the company after dark came to nought; for shortly after six the enemy put down a very heavy artillery concentration - a thousand rounds within ten minutes on "B" Company alone - and then assaulted with infantry.

• • Normally there would have been a 100 percent stand to

only at dust and first light, with perhaps one-third of the company standing guard while the remainder patrolled, worked or slept. Reliefs were so arranged, when feasible, as to permit each man to have two or four hours' sleep at night, in addition to what he might get by day (when only a skeleton force was required on the posts.

Owing to the darkness, the confused nature of the fighting and the lack of communications, the situation unfolded itself only gradually during the next three hours. No. 4, the platoon on the left, had been dislodged by the first rush. Major Cohen, his last link with Battalion Headquarters gone, had transferred his command post to "A" Company's area, while the commander of No. 5 Platoon had established a position between his former area and the new company CP. The battalion's acting CO, Major Francis Klenavic, now ordered tank and mortar fire on the ground that had been lost, and called "D" Company forward for a counter-attack.

The counter-attack force, having turned over its position to a company of the 1st Royal Fusiliers, arrived at about nine o'clock; but Major Klenavic decided not to commit it immediately. First he brought down all available supporting fire on "B" Company's former area to forestall a threatened attack on "E" Company, and ordered out a patrol from the latter to investigate. The patrol, returning at about half-past eleven, reported light machine guns firing from "B" Company's bunkers. The counter attack went in towards mid night, one platoon of "D" Company moving up through "A", another through "E". The left-hand platoon encountered considerable resistance and suffered some casualties, but by the time the two groups reached the objective the enemy was no longer there.

The last troops to leave the position, however, were not the Chinese. Lieut. Gardner and some men of Nos. 5 and 6 Platoons had held out to the traditional "last round", and then played dead. Gardner himself, after having shot five of the attackers, had been wounded.

Through shelling during the day, and in the night's action, the unit had suffered 75 casualties-18 killed, 43 wounded and 14 captured. The enemy force, estimated at one battalion, had left nine dead behind and dragged away many others. Three days later one of our patrols discovered six more dead Chinese in or near six large bunkers, which apparently had served as a forming-up place for the attack and subsequently as a regimental aid post. Pioneers of the RCR blew up these bunkers.

On the night of 26-27 October the Commonwealth Division's right boundary was shifted westward, a battalion of the 1st ROK Division relieving the Patricias. The latter moved to a reserve position on the Wyoming Line. The RCR and the Royal 22e remained forward for five more days, after which the 28th Brigade took over the Canadian sector. Thus ended one of the Brigade's most trying periods of the war, and certainly its most costly-in less than three months the RCR had suffered 191 casualties, the Patricias 18, and the Vingt-deux 74.