One for the Road

by Will Roberts

  In March the Glosters were positioned overlooking the Imjin River. The brigade was, however, extremely overstretched. Between the Glosters and the ROK, to their left, was a gap of around two miles.

  These were relaxing days for the Glosters. There was no activity from the Chinese and no advancing from the UN forces from the south.

  The highlight of each day was the arrival of the NAAFI truck, from where the soldiers collected their rations of chocolate and biscuits.

  The snow had melted and long gone and though March was rainy, in April Spring had arrived and this was the time that Jackie fell in love with Korea.

  Lim and Jackie spent hours during these leisurely days talking about the history of Korea – a country that it seemed was continuously being fought over and occupied: by the Chinese, the Mongols and, of course, the Japanese, who saw Korea as a gateway to China.

  Lim explained that Genghis Khan actually crossed the Imjin at the very point they were observing. It was the Japanese, of course, who had occupied the country during the Second World War.

  Lim very much loved his country and said he would never leave and Jackie believed him.

  Looking out across the Imjin River shimmering in the spring sunshine, Jackie couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place – the small village with the paddy fields where the villagers worked in their drab white clothes and where the birds sang and the hills and valleys became a mass of colour as a myriad of different flowers came into bloom.

  Lim explained about the different flora in Korea, including the many different species of orchids; he showed Jackie the Hibiscus Syriacus, or Rose of Sharon, with its beautiful purple petals, which was to become the National flower of South Korea, and Siebold’s Magnolia, or the Korean mountain magnolia, with its white petals, which would later become the North Korean national flower. There were also the Azaleas; the whole hillside seemed to be covered with the rose-purple flower, with a special fragrance that often wafted across the valley.

  These were languid days, the time when Lim and Jackie got to know each other. Mina, as she was now known, was also here at this time and assisted the medic, Jimmy Conroy, though there was little for them to do during this time of inactivity.

  Every day, Mina cleaned and dressed Lim’s wound, but despite her dedication, the wound would never heal properly.

  The most exciting part of these weeks were the patrols that were sent across the Imjin River to capture Chinese soldiers although most of these patrols were fruitless – rarely did they see any. On one occasion when Jackie and Lim were patrolling with the Hussars and their Centurion tanks, they did manage to capture an enemy soldier. He was a young Korean soldier who, he told Lim, was forced to ‘volunteer’ for the NKPA. When he was asked where the rest of the army was, he told them, “Further back.”

  As the weeks went by and the middle of April was upon them, intelligence heard that the Chinese were now massing and had been reinforced with several divisions that had previously been fighting Chiang Kai-shek, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (known as the Kuomintang, or KMT) in the Chinese War of Independence. These were veteran soldiers with a lot of experience.

  The company spent many hours setting trip wires connected to grenades all along the north facing slopes. Not only were they to prove extremely effective in regard to injuries inflicted on the enemy, but also as an early warning system.

  It was late afternoon on the 22nd April. More and more movement had been reported across the river. All units were now on high alert. Extra bandoliers of ammunition were issued and there were more magazines of cartridges for the Bren guns, but what wasn’t known by Jackie or anybody else in the Glosters was that more than a third of a million Chinese and North Korean soldiers were assembling on the north banks of the Imjin River.

  The Battle for the Imjin River

  22nd April 1951

  Jackie had just finished a cigarette, an American brand. His supply of Woodbines had long since finished. Now he was trying to get used to the Yankees ‘Lucky Strike’ brand. Ah well, he thought, beggars can’t be choosers.

  He stubbed out the butt-end and flicked it out of the trench that he had dug with three other soldiers, privates Henderson and Butler and Corporal Lim, alongside the Bren gun trench that Kelly and Dolan had set up.

  This trench was built for four inhabitants. (Normally the slit trenches were for two soldiers, but Lim was not present at this time.) There had been more prisoners captured and Lim was at battalion headquarters assisting with interpreting during the interrogation.

  Jackie’s feeling was that this was the night, and had told Lim to take Mina, which normally would not happen. Lim looked Jackie in the eye and nodded knowingly.

  “I will get back as soon as I can, Jackie,” Lim said.

  “Take your time, my friend,” Jackie replied, as he turned to take his position in the trench.

  The new Bren gun team seemed to be getting on very well. The outgoing, talkative Kelly had brought Dolan around, it seemed. Laughter could now be heard from the Bren gun trench.

  Kelly was cleaning the Bren, for the twentieth time that day. He was fully aware that it was prone to jam if the mechanism was dirty and so he kept it spotlessly clean.

  “Keep it down, you two!” Taffy Howells’ Welsh twang was heard through the darkness.

  The mood was tense; word was that a Chinese offensive could be expected at any time.

  Henderson and Butler were asleep, but Jackie was restless; he had tried to close his eyes and sleep, but sleep would not come. He was about to light up another cigarette with the new Zippo lighter he’d ‘acquired’ from an American tank commander when, to the left of his position, the sky was lit up by a para-illuminating round from a mortar fired close to the banks of the Imjin River, which shimmered in the moonlight as it flowed before them on its way to the Yellow Sea.

  Jackie leant forward in the trench; he could see, far below him to his left, many Chinese soldiers crossing the river at what was now known as ‘The Gloster Crossing’, a ford in the river around one hundred and fifty yards across at this point.

  Immediately, there was a response with rifle fire and the unmistakable sound of two Bren guns as they were brought into action from a position on the riverbank.

  As the flare died, the firing stopped, but within seconds a second flare lit up the night sky and firing resumed. It was then that a machine gun opened up on the opposite bank, positioned to cover the Chinese advance.

  As the second flare died, Jackie could see the remnants of the Chinese platoon returning to the far bank. Henderson and Butler, woken from their sleep by the action below them, had now joined him. Then everything was quiet for several minutes.

  At the same time Jackie could see that, to his right, a hill on the northern side of the river occupied by a Belgian Division was coming under attack. The red tracers from the Belgians could be seen and the green tracers from the Chinese were clearly visible.

  “They are in a difficult position, Sarg,” Jackie said. “They could easily be cut off, there.”

  “Aye, you’re dead right, Jackie. I’m glad I’m not out there with them,” Taffy Howells replied.

  After what seemed like an age another flare exploded in the air before them and an even larger throng of Chinese could be seen wading across the river. The firing recommenced, but this time it was joined by the howl of heavy artillery and the twenty-five-pound shells could be heard as they roared over the heads of the on-looking B Company.

  What Jackie and his compatriots were witnessing was a patrol by C Company, of the Glosters, led by the popular Second Lieutenant, Guy Temple. Temple’s brief was to capture an enemy soldier from the opposite side of the river and bring him back for interrogation.

  The astute Temple believed that he would not encounter a small number of the enemy, but many.

  Temple was right. He had issued his patrol extra ammunition, dug his patrol in on the southern bank of the river and then ambushed the advancing Chinese as they tried to ford the river
at Gloster Crossing.

  The shells were firing too long, striking the far banks. There was a pause as the artillery adjusted their range; this time the range was good with the shells landing in the middle of the river, with devastating effect.

  Again, there was a pause of several minutes before another flare was fired. This time the river was crammed with Chinese.

  “Jesus!” Henderson whispered.

  Temple then called for the full force of the artillery: twenty-four guns, firing twenty-five-pound shells simultaneously, repeated ten times; Jackie knew because he was counting them as they flew over his head.

  But still, the Chinese came. The firing had stopped to the left. Temple and his men had run out of ammunition and were retreating, but more firing had started, immediately in front of them and to the right as the Chinese forded the river right across the front that the twenty-eighth brigade protected.

  “Looks like we are going to have a long night, gentlemen!” said Sergeant Taffy Howells, who was lying prone alongside the slit trench occupied by Gee, Henderson, and Butler.

  “You can say that again, Sergeant Howells.” This was from Lieutenant Hall, who had appeared out of nowhere and was crouched behind Jackie’s trench. “Get ready, men! I estimate within thirty minutes they’ll be on us,” as he stood and went over to Kelly and Dolan’s trench to offer the Bren gunners encouragement.

  It was going to be a long night; Lieutenant Hall was right. Within thirty minutes, the sound of the advancing Chinese could be heard.

  The Chinese were excellent at camouflage. They could conceal themselves remarkably well: they carried with them a white sheet, which they would lie under and completely blend in when the snow covered the ground. They also carried small trees or bushes, which they used to merge in with the mountainous terrain. They were, however, not well-disciplined when it came to chatter. Many times they would give their position away by talking to each other when they had gone totally unobserved by the UN forces.

  The Chinese officers controlled the movement of their men by using whistles and bugles. Jackie could not see the Chinese, below them on the hill, but he could hear them: the bugle call, sounded by a Chinese officer, would haunt Jackie for the rest of his life.

  Then somebody fired a flare and Jackie could see the hillside crawling with Chinese. Immediately, Kelly’s Bren gun could be heard as it spat five hundred rounds a minute at the advancing Chinese and Henderson, Butler and Jackie began firing with their Lee Enfield’s, but not before Jackie had told his two colleagues to fix bayonets. “I think we might be needing these,” he said as he secured his bayonet to his rifle barrel.

  The trip wires that the company had set were working, the advancing Chinese setting off the grenades as they inadvertently pulled the pins from the concealed grenades. Many explosions from the grenades could be heard and seen across the hill as the Chinese moved up the hill.

  The initial wave was seen off without any casualties that Jackie was aware of; then the second wave hit them and this time the Chinese managed to advance as far as Jackie’s slit trench. A Chinese grenade landed in the trench and young Butler screamed, but Jackie lobbed it back from where it had come before it exploded. The scream from the Chinese who had perished from this grenade was sickening.

  This second wave was also repelled, followed by a lull as the Chinese regrouped. The platoon now restocked with ammunition, and the injured and the dead were taken off the hill. Fortunately, casualties were few.

  They were close – very close! Again, though, the Chinese gave away their position by talking. A flare lit up the night sky and, once again, the hillside was crawling with Chinese, certainly more than the previous waves; Jackie thought the whole Chinese army were climbing the hill. He kept firing, picking off the Chinese almost at will. There were so many of them. His rifle was getting very hot, though he barely noticed. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a movement to his left. An enemy soldier had managed to get to the summit and was running towards him.

  Jackie stood and turned and fired at the soldier, hitting him full in the chest, but still, the soldier rushed at Jackie. This was probably only his momentum, as the .303 round from Jackie’s Lee Enfield had blown a hole in the Chinese soldier’s chest, with an exit hole through his back as big as a fist.

  As the enemy soldier fell upon him, he thrust his bayonet into the gut and twisted it, as he had practised so many times during his training, only this time it was on a human being and not a straw dummy. The trench to his left had been overrun, there seemed to be Chinese everywhere.

  “With me, private Gee!” Lieutenant Hall had appeared again and was walking towards the trench where the breach had been made and the Chinese had broken through. Jackie was impressed by the composure of his commanding officer, whose voice was calm yet exerting authority.

  The Lieutenant was firing his Webley handgun and when the chambers were empty, he stopped and reloaded, as calm as you like. The Webley revolver required the firer to manually load each cartridge into the revolving chamber. Jackie instinctively moved to cover the Lieutenant as he reloaded his weapon. He fired repeatedly, using his bayonet also, as the summit became overrun by the Chinese; Lieutenant Hall was, by now, aware that the summit was lost as the enemy continued to pour through the Glosters’ defence.

  “Retreat,” Lieutenant Hall shouted, the first time he had raised his voice. “The hill is compromised,” he added.

  It was then that a Chinese soldier rushed at the Lieutenant with his bayonet. The Lieutenant moved to his left to avoid the thrust and shot the man in the head, spraying blood and gore on the young officer’s tunic.

  Kelly’s Bren gun was still firing and then suddenly went silent. Jackie looked across at the Bren gun trench.

  Had it jammed? he thought, but he saw Kelly slumped over the Bren.

  “Get out you two!” he shouted to Henderson and Butler, who were still firing from their trench. “It’s time to leave.”

  The two immediately left the trench and backed off towards the rear still firing their rifles. These two young soldiers impressed him. They had stood up well.

  Jackie’s rifle then stopped firing. “Damn, out of ammo.” He threw down his rifle and ran to the trench were Kelly and Dolan, and the Bren gun were.

  He pulled Kelly off the Bren, who then moaned. “Kelly! You okay?” he shouted. There was a large gash in the side of Kelly’s head where a bullet had creased the scalp, but he was alive.

  It was then that he noticed Dolan in the corner of the slit trench, cowering with fright.

  “Dolan!” Jackie grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slapped him across the face. “Get Kelly off this fucking hill, or I’ll kill you myself, you hear me!” he screamed.

  The young soldier nodded and began dragging the dazed Kelly away.

  Jackie reloaded the Bren gun just in time as three Chinese appeared at the slit trench. Jackie opened fire with the Bren. The Chinese crumpled to the floor. He continued firing as more Chinese appeared.

  As Jackie was leaving the split trench, a mortar exploded to his left, throwing him to the ground. For a moment, Jackie was dazed and his ears rang. He shook his head and looked down at his body. Was he hurt? It appeared he was not, though as he moved his hand over his face and brought it down, there was blood on it.

  “Come on Private Gee. This is no time to take a nap!” urged Lieutenant Hall. Jackie was immediately on his feet and grabbed the Bren gun, which was miraculously still intact.

  As he was backing towards the rear, giving covering fire to Dolan and Kelly, he noticed Taffy Howells lying face down, firing with a handgun at the advancing Chinese. He had been hit in the leg but was still able to fire his handgun. Jackie sprayed an arc of fire at the Chinese and rushed across to help his platoon sergeant. After another burst of fire from the Bren, he bent down to help the sergeant to his feet. “Butler!” he shouted. “Butler!” he yelled again.

  Henderson appeared at his side. “Where’s Butler?” he asked Hend
erson.

  “Dead, Jackie. Butler’s dead!” There was a look of abject fear in the young soldier’s eyes.

  “Okay, Billy. Get the sergeant off the hill,” Jackie said calmly.

  Lieutenant Hall was to Jackie’s right, still firing his Webley, but Jackie noticed he was holding his right side with his left hand. The bayonet thrust he had tried to avoid had found its target, it appeared.

  “You okay, Lieutenant Hall?” Jackie asked.

  “Yes, Private Gee. Just a scratch, I’m sure,” he replied.

  Jackie could see the right side of officer’s tunic was covered in blood. It was somewhat more than a scratch, he thought.

  Another wave of Chinese soldiers appeared. Jackie sprayed them with a burst from the Bren, and then the Bren was empty. Grenades! Jackie remembered his grenades. He took a grenade from his tunic, pulled the pin and lobbed one to his right at the advancing men, then another to his left, but still, they kept coming. He noticed a fallen colleague on the floor to his left. It looked like Thomas, but he couldn’t be sure; half of his face was missing. He reached down and took the two grenades from his webbing and promptly lobbed them into the advancing enemy. He also picked up the rifle that was lying alongside the body.

  “I guess you won’t be needing this anymore, Thomas!” he said.

  As Taffy Howells was being dragged away, Jackie heard him say, “I’m definitely signing that private Gee for my village cricket team when we get out of this place!”

  Even in the heat of battle, Jackie managed a smile and glanced back at his sergeant, who was also smiling but had a faraway look in his eyes.

  Jackie and Lieutenant Hall continued to give covering fire, the Lieutenant with his Webley and Jackie with the Lee Enfield, as what was left of his platoon made their way down the rear of the hill. Together they stumbled backwards down the steep hillside, still firing at the Chinese as they appeared on the brim of the hill’s summit.

  They were around halfway down the hill and the Chinese had stopped their pursuit of the Glosters when Lieutenant Hall collapsed. Jackie ran to the stricken officer.