The Imjin and Kapyong Battles, Korea, 1951

1 IMJIN: THE FIRST DAY

39 Imjin:TheFirstDay As Eighth Army intelligence had rightly predicted, the Chinese People’s Volunteers were preparing to launch a major offensive in the spring of 1951 under the overall command of Peng Te-huai. What was less clear was when, where, and in what strength the enemy would strike, and what he would seek to accomplish. As it happened the ultimateobjectiveremainedtodriveU.N.forcesfromthepeninsulaand unite Korea under Kim Il-sung. The immediate aims of the Fifth Phase offensive included the recapture of Seoul and the destruction of no less than three U.S. divisions, two ROK divisions, the Turkish brigade, and both 27th Commonwealth Brigade and “the British 29th Brigade.”3 To accomplish this Peng had amassed over 350,000 men serving in forty assault divisions divided between eleven armies organized into three corps or groups. As in the past the Chinese had little in the way of artillery support and no air cover, but each rifle company now had two Soviet-made medium machine-guns, three Soviet-made light machine -guns, and a 60-mm mortar. As for the individual Chinese soldier, the mixture of Japanese, American, and British weapons with which he had initially been equipped had largely given way by the start of the offensive –albeit with comparatively limited supplies of ammunition–to plenty of Russian rifles and the notorious burp gun.4 The first part of the Fifth Phase offensive would involve more or less simultaneous attacks all along the western half of the U.N. line. Toward 29th Brigade on Sunday, 22 April came the 187th, 188th, and 189th divisions of the 63rd Army and 198th Division from the 60th Army. This one 40 The Imjin and Kapyong Battles, Korea, 1951 meant that upwards of 40,000 Chinese troops were advancing against a force that consisted of a little over 3,500 officers and men. It was the sheer number and bravery of the enemy they faced that would remain uppermost in the minds of many British survivors. Carrying only light bandoliers of ammunition and rations in addition to their weapons, wearing rubber-soled canvas shoes rather than boots, dressed in sand-colored, rather shapeless quilted cotton uniforms, sporting soft caps on their heads (very occasionally supplemented by helmets captured from the Japanese), and often far from intimidating in terms of stature, Chinese soldiers were neverthelessa greatdeal more formidable thantheiradversariesexpected.“Theykeptcominginwaves,largenumbers of them,” Corporal Ronald Norley of the Glosters would later vividlyrecall ,addingthat“howeverintensethefiretheyjustseemedtokeep coming.”5Itwasanalogous,anumberofparticipantsexplained,tofacing a crowd streaming out of a soccer stadium or motion picture palace, the effect made worse by the shouts, whistles, and trumpets calls–the latter sounding like “something between a hunting horn and a French horn” according to one unwilling auditor6–used in lieu of radios to signal actions . Indeed, so willing were the masses of shouting and screaming Chinese infantry to keep up attacks in the face of mounting losses that would have caused an equivalent British assault to collapse that it was widelythoughttheyweredrunkordrugged.7Makingadifficultsituation worse was the fact that, in contrast to earlier engagements, the Chinese soldiers on the Imjin were quite well armed; one Gloster private estimated that half were equipped with automatic weapons, the rest with rifles, and everyone with four or more stick grenades.8 At dawn on 22nd April, though, few in 29th Brigade were aware of what was about to happen. As the sun rose the spring weather was cool but sunny, and soldiers went about their business much as usual. The Northumberlands were preparing to celebrate their patron saint, St. George, the following day, having already taken delivery of paper roses to adorn their headgear and prepared a feast, while the Ulsters were relaxing in reserve and looking forward to a film show that evening. This beingaSunday,morningchurchserviceswerebeingorganizedinallfour battalions.Noneofthechaplainsinvolvedcanhaveknownthatforsome who attended, this communion would be their viaticum, though Father Ryan with the Ulsters apparently took no chances. “Boys,” a subaltern Imjin: The First Day 41 recalled him saying, “some of ye’ll not see another day. So if you will all make a good Act of Contrition I’ll give you General Absolution.”9 Meanwhileatbattalionandbrigadeheadquartersthereweresignsof amajorincreaseinenemyactivitywithinno-man’s-land.AlocalGlosters patrol north of the Imjin bumped into a Chinese force and by 6 am was withdrawing in the face of the enemy. Three hours or so later a 1RNF patrol was also in contact a few miles north of the river. Lieutenant Sam Phillips, commanding...