The Korean War: The Untold Truth

Chapter 67 Going to the Abyss (4)
The next main attack point of the Chinese pointed to the 2nd Division of the US Army, just to the west of the South Korean army, specifically, the B Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment.The company's first mission was to capture Highland 219, an important ridge on the west bank of the Qingchuan River. B Company, like most companies in the Eighth Army, was a mix of recruits and veterans, one of whom was Corporal Walter Crawford, a rifleman from South Boston, Virginia, who was only 8 years old. Roughly a third of the 17 officers and soldiers were black (including executive officer Lieutenant Ellison Wayne), and there were more than a dozen Korean soldiers.

Soldiers in Company B grumbled over their breakfast of beef and mash and coffee.Every time the regiment fought, they said, B Company had taken the lead, and now they accepted the drudgery.They did not expect how many battles there would be.In fact, many soldiers even threw away their steel helmets, saying they were obtrusive and too heavy; moreover, the fresh woolen caps provided better protection against the cold.They were also reluctant to carry a lot of ammo - an average of 1 grenade per person and only 16 rounds per rifle.What about the tools for digging trenches?Lost or thrown away on the road.What about canned military food?It's too heavy.They marched with empty rucksacks on their backs, relying on North Korean migrant workers to bring food and bedding rolls back in the afternoon.What about the field phone?The only one was not yet operational (although the company maintained a tenuous connection to the rear via a telephone line from the artillery forward observation post).This is a typical company situation in the 8th Army's "offensive to end the war".

Highlands 219 are a series of low hills covered with loose stones and dense shrubs. The lead platoon of B Company encountered no resistance as they went up the hill, and when they were 25 yards from the summit, they were suddenly stopped by a rain of grenades from the Chinese.During the day's firefight, B Company suffered heavy casualties - including Captain William Wallace, whose ear was cut in half by mortar shrapnel - but was unable to dislodge the Chinese from their fortified positions. .

The regimental commander, Colonel Charles Sloan Jr., briefly observed the intense fighting, and then radioed to 2nd Division headquarters: "I think this time is different. This may be the real thing. We'd better watch." But the division did not agree.

The Chinese launched a fierce attack that night, routed and partially annihilated the 9rd Battalion of the 3th Regiment on the far left, and surrounded the 2nd Battalion on the Qingchuan River.However, for B Company, the battle evolved into defending two small hills on the side of the 219 highland: there were 14 people on one hill, and about 40 people on the other hill. people.

The Chinese climbed into foxholes within 20 feet of the larger hill led by Lieutenant Theodore Weathered, and lobbed hand grenades at the hill.The narrow terrain at the top of the hill meant that soldiers could not dodge the grenades, they had to kick them away or throw them off before they exploded.Weatherred later estimated that 60 grenades were dropped on the hills and 40 were thrown off in two hours.From time to time during the fierce battle, harsh whistles could be heard, and then the Chinese jumped out of the foxholes and tried to rush up the hill.In this way, the Americans learned to keep their rare hand grenades until the whistle was heard.When the whistle blew, they threw grenades down the hillside.The Chinese repeated this error a dozen times, and the piles of dead bodies on the hillside were sufficient to form another defensive barrier.

When the fighting lulled slightly, Weatherred called to Lieutenant Wayne, 150 yards away, where he commanded a group of surrounded soldiers. "Come closer to us," he cried, "it's better here."

Wayne agreed. "Get ready to run, I'll cover you," he said to the others.

The tall and strong black officer had no weapons in his hands, but he was fearless.He bent down and picked up a large pile of stones and canned food, stood alone on the edge of the unshielded hill, and threw the stones and canned food at the heads of the Chinese people less than 25 feet away.Shocked by his bravery, the Chinese stopped firing for a moment.An American soldier climbed outside the perimeter and stood with Wayne.He swung his empty rifle, ready to knock any enemy that charged Wayne to the ground.

Wayne left after everyone had cleared the hill.The soldier threw his rifle at the Chinese down the hill as the last blow before retreating.

As Wayne turned to walk away, a Chinese grenade exploded above his head, shaving off one side of his face.However, until the early evening air strikes drove the Chinese out, he remained on the mountain, refusing to receive bandages and anesthesia. "Give it to those who are seriously injured," he said.Wayne was carried away after he collapsed from blood loss and spent 117 days in hospital.

When this brutal 26-hour battle started, there were 129 people in Company B; at the end of the battle, only 34 people remained, of which 6 were "wounded who could walk."

Meanwhile, Company G of the 9th Regiment survived the first night of the battle without incident, although all of the company's troops were divided around its positions along the Ching Chuan River.However, at dawn on November 11, the company ran into trouble, and the circumstances gave G Company a pre-emptive strike.When dawn broke, the company's riflemen dug trenches on a higher hillside by the Qingchuan River, shivering in the freezing cold of minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit, watching the morning fog rising from the river.As Sergeant Major William Long yawned and stretched, he saw some men moving along a creek below him, showing no concealment.Lang watched them indifferently, thinking they must be Americans to be operating openly in the area.Lang kept his eyes on them, and when they were within 15 yards he realized what he had seen. "Chinks!" he shouted to his platoon, "they're Chinese!"

The first volley of bullets from rifles and Browning automatic rifles knocked half the Chinese to the ground, and the survivors scrambled to hide behind stones in rice fields and river beds.Captain Frank Munoz, the company commander, called in a tank.In five minutes, Company G killed 5 Chinese and captured 70.

However, the Chinese pounced on Company G fiercely that night, driving both Company G and Company F off the high ground along the river.The Chinese attacked doggedly in wave after wave, firing heavily with rifles and machine guns and throwing what appeared to be an inexhaustible supply of grenades.They rushed to the American positions and bayoneted them to death in foxholes.That night, in less than 20 minutes, more than 70 people from Company G were killed.

The Chinese captured a private named Smalley and two South Korean soldiers assigned to the division and took them to a rear area.The interrogator, a military officer who spoke fluent English, snapped his fingers, and the Korean was escorted a few paces away and shot.

"We know you inside and out," the officer said, turning to Smalley. He went on to describe G Company and the names of its officers. "You go back now and tell your company commander not to use Molotov cocktails—napalm—on us. Your troops are over there," he said, pointing across the river. "Let's go."

Feeling he was going to be shot in the back, Smalley hurried to the river and found the remnants of his army.He was one of many infantrymen who were captured by the Chinese and immediately released, apparently for publicity purposes, which failed to work against Smalley. "Give me a machine gun," he said to the company commander, Captain Munoz. "I saw what they did to the Koreans."

However, not every soldier is as strong-willed as brave Smalley.During the retreat, Munoz heard crying from a simple wooden shed by the river.He wondered, then spotted a terrified American soldier huddled on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

"What are you doing here?" Munoz asked.

"I don't know--no," the soldier stammered and cried.

"follow me."

"Captain, I don't want to go there—"

Munoz couldn't take it anymore, grabbed his arm and pulled him up. "Get your ass on those tanks!" he ordered.The soldier obeyed.Munoz rounded up the other stragglers and wounded and marched toward the river.Some Chinese came at him, and he drew a .0.45-inch pistol and knocked out five of them.His group finally fled to safety.

Eighth Army in disarray

On November 11, the 26th Army began to fall apart, and a well-coordinated offensive directed by the United Nations Command was no longer in existence.By this point, the war had become a series of company-level skirmishes, all fighting in isolation, with no hope of reinforcements, surrounded on all sides by the swarming Chinese and cut off from higher command.Eighth Army could not even stabilize the situation in order to allow its superior firepower to work.Writer Ferrenbach (who also did important research on the Korean War) was commanding a unit of the 8nd Division, and he wrote: "It is impossible to maneuver in areas where its wheels cannot reach, and in these mountains it is impossible to observe or communicate , the U.S. military was eaten bite by bite, not crushed in large numbers."

The officers of the US 2nd Division did not know the severity of the division's defeat until the afternoon of November 11.Colonel George Peplo, commander of the 26th Infantry, guarded the division's right flank and was supposed to coordinate with the South Korean division to the east.From his command post he saw a whole regiment of South Korean troops routing through the American positions.The Korean division had been smashed by the Chinese, and their commanders told the soldiers to flee to American territory to save their lives.

Peplo called General Kaiser, commander of the 2nd Division. "A whole regiment of the South Korean army is rushing towards my defense zone. How on earth should I treat these people?"

Keizer flew into a rage at the question, which sounded like nonsense, and snapped back, "Command 'em, use 'em, asshole!"

To plug this sudden gap in the right flank of the front, General Walker hastily dispatched there a Turkish brigade of 5000 men who had arrived in North Korea only a few days earlier. (Historian Marshall likened this maneuver to "plugging a beer keg with an aspirin cork.") The Turks were not briefed in advance; although they desperately needed close coordination with the US 2nd Division , but they do not have American advisers attached to their troops.They were hastily thrown into battle.

However, a few hours later came the amazing news of the complete victory of the Turks: they held their positions for the first time against the "swarming Chinese", and won a "bloody battle" with hand-to-hand combat. "Hundreds of prisoners" were taken.The intelligence department of the US 2nd Division sent a translator, Lieutenant Gengfu Lu, to interrogate the prisoners.He discovered that the captives were down-on-his-luck Korean soldiers who had strayed into Turkish lines while fleeing their positions near Tokuchon.The "Chinese" who were killed were all South Koreans.

The next day, November 11, when the Turks encountered a large Chinese army at the village of Woyun, they could no longer be mistaken for their identity.People will never know exactly what happened at the time.Whatever the case may be, the Turks fought and lost most of their lives.According to some reports, the officers threw their caps to the ground as a line not to back down, "to live and die with the position".After the battle, only a few Turkish companies survived, and all suffered heavy losses.

MacArthur's offensive has apparently been stalled.General Walker's goal is no longer to reach the Yalu River, he must now do everything possible to save the 8th Army from disaster.

(End of this chapter)