The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Battle of Imjin River/Kapyong (4/22/51) - April 22nd, 2003

http://members.tripod.com/~Glosters/Imjin.html ^

[PhilDragoo]

The Belgian Forces in the Korean War (BUNC)

THE IMJIN BATTLE HONOUR

On 4 January 1952, the BUNC received its first battle honour, for the battles it fought on the Imjin River. Translated, the citation reads :

"By Royal Decree No. 447 of 4 January 1952 the Expeditionary Corps for Korea is mentioned on the Army's Order of the Day for :

Having fought with the greatest valour during the battles on the Imjin, near Hantangang, in Korea, during the period of 20 to 26 April 1951.

During these battles the Expeditionary Corps for Korea, composed of Belgians and Luxembourgers, repulsed the enemy and inflicted heavy casualties by firing and by courageous counterattacks with the bayonet. Following the order to retreat, the Expeditionary Corps saved its weapons, its wounded and its vehicles; on being put back in the line at its own request, it has successfully fought delaying actions which allowed neighbouring units to retreat. This citation is accompanied by the battle honour "IMJIN (Korea)" solely on the flag of this unit."

The BUNC received two more unit citations for these battles : the US Presidential Unit Citation and the Korean Republic's Presidential Unit Citation.

The Imjin Battles (20 - 25 April 1951)

At the time of the Imjin battles, the BUNC, numbering 600 men, was attached to the British 29th Brigade and on 20 April 1951 relieved the 900 men of the Royal Ulster Rifles in the frontline. Three infantry companies (A, B and the understrength C-company) take up positions on the far right of the Brigade's main line of resistance, in front of the Imjin River. On 22 April increased enemy activity is reported and a patrol of A-company has first contact about 2 kilometres in front of its lines. Promptly it is decided to man a listening post in front of C-company at a point where the enemy could be expected. This post, manned by 1st Sergeant Leyding (1) and a few men, reports enemy movements around 21.30 h at which time B-company also signals enemy attempts to infiltrate. Around midnight C-company is also attacked but the infiltration attempt is stopped and the enemy withdraws temporarily. Attacks on C-company are renewed from 02.00 h onwards but all are repulsed. Around 03.00 h B-company is attacked in its turn but with the aid of mortar fire the enemy is stopped. At 04.00 the enemy renews the attacks on C-company and also charges the positions of B-company with a frontal assault. All attacks are met with determined opposition and both companies maintain their positions. At this point a patrol, lead by Cdt. Poswick and consisting of a platoon from A-company and a MG-section of B-company, is sent out to clear two bridges in the battalion's rear, on its supply route, which are suspected to have been captured by enemy troops that infiltrated through the lines.

At daybreak on 23 April, the enemy doubles its attacks on C-company's positions and manages to push back one of the platoons. Its platoon leader is heavily wounded but brought back from no-mans land (2). Despite the furious attacks, C-company stands fast. Meanwhile, the patrol sent out to secure the bridges in the rear, finds them to be controlled by the Chinese. A determined attempt to clear the area fails (3) and the battalion's supply route is cut. C-company, lead by Lt. Janssens, continues to defend itself heroically (4). Around noon the BUNC is advised that a retreat will be ordered but is requested to maintain in its position in the line to allow the neighbouring 65th Infantry to withdraw first. At 17.15 h the order to withdraw is received and the bulk of the battalion proceeds to extricate itself methodically and to wade across the Imjin River while air strikes with napalm on the abandoned positions screen the retreat. The rolling stock of some 80 vehicles, covered by two platoons of tanks sent up for the purpose, take the road across the bridges which are still under enemy control and succeed to make their withdrawal without loss of life. As night falls, the entire battalion is safely installed in its rear area.

The other units of the 29th Brigade's had also been under very heavy attacks and were slowly withdrawing from their original lines. In order to protect the retreat of these units, the roads east and west of the Kamak-San mountains were vital. As soon as the BUNC companies were re-supplied, the battalion - though depleted - announced its readiness to return to the lines shortly after noon on 24 April. Positions on Hill 340 near Sinsan-Ni were taken up covering the junction of both roads. That night only skirmishes with enemy patrols are reported.

In the morning of 25 April, however, intense enemy activity is reported on the western road by a patrol of A-company and a devastating barrage of mortar fire is directed on these enemy units. Shortly after, however, orders are received to retreat and take up new positions near Hansansang-Ni to cover the withdrawal of the Northumberland Fuseliers and the Royal Ulster Rifles. B-company is detached for the protection of the Brigade's Command Post but a troop of 3 Centurion tanks is attached to the battalion in return. Around 12.30 h the enemy takes up positions on Hill 191 and directs heavy fire on the battalion. Shortly after, at about 13.00 h, C-company's position is plastered with artillery and it withdraws south of the road (5 & 6). Around 14.00 h the Ulsters and Northumberlands have sufficiently retreated for the BUNC to receive their withdrawal order and while fighting rearguard actions the battalion slowly retreats. The battalion will finally regroup at Tokchong at 17.00 h and take up positions covering the road to Seoul until replaced in the line at midnight.

In the course of these battles, the 29th Brigade, attached to the US 3rd Division, was attacked by the Chinese 63th Army consisting of 3 divisions, each about 8,000 strong. The Brigade, some 4,000 strong, thus faced a 6-fold enemy majority. The allies eventually halted the Chinese offensive and counterattacks drove the enemy back to their original positions north of the Imjin River.

[Victoria Delsoul]

LOL!!!!! That's better.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bumpity, bumpity, bumpity, bump, bump, bump!

[PhilDragoo]

Pictured above is the Vickers .303 inch Machine Gun Mk 1 on a .303 inch Machine Gun Mk IV 'B' Mounting Tripod in its 1914-1918 configuration. Note the Mk 1 muzzle attachment and the emergency mount below the water-jacket. The riveted belt is in position, and is being fed from the No.8 belt box.

The Gun weight is approximately 42.5 lbs with 7.5 pints of cooling water to prevent overheating. The actual mounting weight is 48 lbs. Not only did they have to carry the gun and tripod, the poor soldiers also had to carry the belt boxes, which weighed 22 lbs with 250 rounds of ammunition in each belt.

The Gun weight could vary, according to the type of barrel casing and whether 'lightening' had been carried out. The overall length of the gun was 3 feet 8 inches and it's cyclic rate of fire was between 450 and 600 rounds of ammunition per minute. Therefore, while one member of the eight man gun team carried the gun, another would carry the tripod and the other six would have laden themselves down with belt boxes to be sure they would be able to carry out an effective performance once the gun was set up.

The operation of the gun was recoil and fuzee spring.

The Vickers MK1 belt-fed machine gun, a favorite of the British military, played a crucial role in World War I and World War II. The gun is cooled with a special water-filled jacket. As the water boils, the steam flows out to a collection can, where it condenses back into a liquid for re-use.

The Vickers Gun

The Vickers gun is perhaps the longest serving weapon the Canadian Army has ever fielded. The gun was retired in 1968 - 85 years after the first patents had been taken out. The Vickers was adopted in 1912, named after the company that manufactured it, and replaced the Maxim gun, the standard machinegun of the British Army at that time. The Maxim, like any prototype, had much room for improvement, and Vickers used high grade steels and aluminum to reduce the weight considerably - by almost 25% in fact. The simple act of turning the toggle action upside down reduced the depth of the receiver by nearly half. Though stronger and lighter than the Maxim, the watercooled jacket and heavy tripod still made the Vickers a heavy weapon. Aircooled versions were used in aircraft, and some variants fired .50 calibre and 11mm rounds. The standard gun in Canadian service fired the standard .303 calibre round used in the Lee Enfield rifle and, later, the Bren Gun.

In 1915 and 1916, Canadian infantry battalions were entitled to four machine guns, either the Vickers or the Colt. In August 1916, the battalion MG detachments were reorganized into brigade machinegun companies, armed with 16 Vickers guns. One such company was assigned to every infantry brigade in the Canadian Corps. The battalion machinegun units were increased to 14 Lewis guns and 2 Colt machineguns. In early 1918 the brigade machine gun companies became battalions, and were assigned one MG battalion per division. At first the battalions had three companies, and in May 1918 this increased to four, with a total complement of 96 Vickers Guns.

In fact, the first machinegun units has been developed upon mobilization when Raymond Brutinel, a reservist officer, proposed the creation of a motorized machinegun unit. The Canadian Minister of Defence concurred, and the Canadian Machine Gun Corps was formed. Four batteries were equipped with Colt machine guns and sent to England, where British authorities objected to their use and did not send them to France until June of 1915. In August 1916, these motor machine gun troops became Corps Troops.

During the Second World War, machinegun support was again provided by specialist units. Upon mobilization, one machine gun battalion was assigned to each brigade of infantry; by the time the units went into action, only one machine gun battalion was assigned to each Division. Three machine gun companies, with three machine gun platoons of four Vickers guns each, as well as a heavy mortar company, made up the MG battalion.

In Korea, Vickers Guns were assigned directly to the infantry battalions, in a specialist Vickers platoon.

In addition to direct fire, Vickers Guns were often used indirectly; this type of fire was first used in the First World War. During Operation Veritable in February 1945, Vickers Guns added their fire to the "pepperpot" supporting fire that was used during the largest artillery operation of the Second World War. Vickers Guns had also "thickened" the barrages leading up to the assault on Vimy Ridge in April 1917.

Chipyong-ni, Korea, February 1951. A Vickers .303 machine-gun in action against the Chinese, manned by Sergeant Chaperlin, 3 RAR.

[Jen]

I thought I was evil with 9 earths, until I saw other posts here.

[Jen]

ok

[Jen]

Hi Snippy. Hope you had a good day.

[Jen]

I want to present you this present for being so faithful in being present in the Foxhole each day. ;-)

[SAMWolf]

LOL! I love it. Brought a big smile to my face.

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo.

Thanks for the excellent additional info on the Imjin River Battles. Even though the US provided the main forces it's often forgotten that there were a lot of Brigade size units from other countries involved and many of them did all that was called upon them to do.

[Jen]

Hi Pip! I was in earlier and am just now getting back to the Foxhole.

[SAMWolf]

The Vickers gun is perhaps the longest serving weapon the Canadian Army has ever fielded.The way the Canadian government has been treating it's military lately I would't be surprised to see them start toaking some Vickers out of mothballs. Great info on the history of the Vickers.

[Jen]

Hi there. I think your post was intended for someone else on a different thread. (Happens to me all the time...)

[SAMWolf]

LOL! Well said Jen
I think

[Jen]

Hi Victoria! Did you have a good day?

[Jen]

Great post! Thanks Phil.

[Valin]

Well with only 4.9 there's not much I can say, except to endeavor to do better next year.

[Jen]

HAHAHAHA! I just noticed that I posted my reply to you on the wrong thread! (And I haven't even been drinking Margaritas tonight...) ;-)

[Jen]

See #48 and #73 and you'll understand why I think it's so funny.

[Jen]

You have an answer for the dimensional door question waiting for you at yesterday's thread.

You have a reply to your reply over there too. ;-)