Korean War Imjin River

As of October 1950, a quarter of a million Communist Chinese troops, in twenty-seven divisions, had poured across the Yalu River into North Korea, with the singular objective of forcing General Douglas MacArthur’s United Nations troops back across the 38th Parallel and into the Sea of Japan. Shortly before midnight on 22 April 1951, to the west of the US Eighth Army’s defensive front, the Chinese Sixty-third Army fell on the British 29th Brigade. On the left flank, the 1st Battalion, Gloucester Regiment (‘Glosters’) held a tenuous position at a ford on the Imjin River. Despite a gallant defense, the battalion was pushed back to make a desperate but futile stand on Hill 235. On what became known as ‘Glosters’ Hill’, the battalion ceased to exist. It was subsequently estimated that the attacking force of 27,000 Chinese troops suffered 10,000 casualties, forcing the Chinese army to be withdrawn from the front. From August 1951 to the summer of 1952, the USAF conducted Read more