The Spirit of the Digger

by Patrick Lindsay

  Realising the North Koreans were relying on their surprise attack to conquer the South before the rest of the world could react, MacArthur called for, and received, US Infantry troops to bolster the collapsing South Korean Army. The RAN and the RAAF Mustangs were in action early as the UN forces tried to slow down the North Korean advance sufficiently to deploy their ground troops.

  Australia’s first casualty was Squadron Leader Graham Strout, killed in action during an air strike against the railway at Samchok. The RAAF played a prominent role in the crucial air defence, which harassed the North Korean advance and allowed the UN land forces to make a difference. MacArthur, in what turned out to be a masterstroke, split his forces: landing the US 10th Corps at Inchon, on the eastern coast, level with Seoul and well behind the then front line, and the US 8th Army in the South. He trapped the North Koreans in the pincer and cut their supply route. They faltered and then collapsed under the weight of MacArthur’s forces. By 29 September the UN forces had driven the North Koreans out of the South and MacArthur was able to hand back Seoul to its South Korean president, Dr Syngman Rhee.

  The Australian contingent, the 3rd Royal Australian Regiment, was below full strength when the war came. It was brought up to its full complement by a special recruiting campaign that drew an enthusiastic response, including a substantial number of experienced World War II combat troops. 3 RAR arrived two days before MacArthur reclaimed Seoul and missed most of the fighting. But they were soon called into action. The UN forces, led by the US, decided to take advantage of the defeat of the North Korean forces by continuing their advance past the 38th parallel and driving the communists before them. The ultimate aim was to unite Korea under the control of Dr Syngman Rhee.

  The Australians’ first major battle was near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Here the 3rd Battalion was part of the general advance across the 38th parallel. It passed through Pyongyang to reach Yongju, where it was ordered to help relieve US paratroopers who were in difficulty. The Australians performed superbly. They claimed 270 North Korean dead at a cost of just four wounded. The British commander of the Commonwealth Brigade to which they were attached later wrote:

  I saw a marvellous sight. An Australian platoon lined up in a paddy field and walked through it as though they were driving snipe. The soldiers when they saw a pile of straw, kicked it and out would bolt a North Korean. Up with a rifle, down with a North Korean and the Australians thoroughly enjoyed it.

  Towards the end of October the North Korean forces seemed to be at the end of their tether, and it looked like the UN forces would push right to the border between North Korea and China. But MacArthur had ignored a series of warnings from China that if he continued to advance they would intervene. On 27 October 1950, as the winter set in, 27 divisions of Chinese troops, 300,000 in all, attacked without further warning.

  MacArthur completely misjudged the situation and, while he was sending out a press release advising of what he called his final ‘decisive effort in Korea’, the Chinese split the UN forces with a massive thrust, decimating the South Korean Corps and savaging the US 8th Army. The US 2nd Division lost one-third of its troops during the disastrous withdrawal.

  The Chinese assault pushed the UN forces out of Pyongyang and then drove them south. By 4 January 1951, Seoul was again in North Korean hands. The UN successfully counterattacked and, for the fourth time in less than a year, the South Korean capital changed hands.

  MacArthur renewed his call for an all-out attack against China. But by this stage Truman had had enough: ‘We are trying to prevent a world war, not to start one.’ On 11 April 1951, he shocked both America and the world when he announced he was replacing the great man with General Matthew Ridgeway. The move signalled a renewed drive by the Chinese. Once again they broke through the UN defensive line, and 3 RAR, which had been relieved and was resting at Charidai, was ordered on an hour’s notice to shore up the Kapyong Valley where the Chinese threatened to break through.

  The South Korean division defending the area had broken, and was retreating down the Kapyong River Valley with the Chinese hard on its heels. The Australians established a defensive position where the river and another stream met. The Chinese took advantage of the South Korean retreat and joined in the chaotic flow of Korean troops. In the confusion, some Chinese troops slipped behind the Australians. Captain Reg Saunders, the first indigenous Australian to win a commission in the Australian Army (and brother of Harry Saunders, a gallant and much-loved member of the 2/14th Battalion in World War II who died at Gona in the Kokoda campaign), recognised the danger, as quoted in Norman Bartlett’s With the Australians in Korea:

  The clamour on our front became easily recognisable as that of a defeated army in retreat. I had heard it before in Greece and Crete and earlier in Korea. I must admit I felt a little dejected until I realised I was an Australian company commander and if my morale got low then I couldn’t expect much from my troops. This served to buck me and I lay down in a shallow trench and had a little sleep.

  The sound of small-arms fire awoke me and soon after the crash of tank cannon in B Company area. I could also see flashes of fire coming from the direction of battalion headquarters and I realised that the enemy were now in a good position to cut off the companies.

  The Chinese launched a series of human-wave assaults against the Diggers. But, in another example of the endurance and courage of the Digger, the men of 3 RAR overcame the odds, as the official historian of the Korean War, Robert O’Neill, wrote:

  The Chinese seemed to have enormous numerical superiority and their attacks increased in frequency to become one continuous onrush of troops. All three Bren gunners of the 1 Platoon were killed or wounded and the fighting strength of the platoon was reduced from thirty to thirteen.

  Yet another Anzac combination played a crucial role: the New Zealand artillery helped the Diggers hold their ground under these relentless assaults by bringing their fire to within 50 metres of the Australian positions. The Diggers, the US 72nd Tank Battalion and the Canadian Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry Battalion, fighting alongside each other and supported by the 16th NZ Field Regiment, eventually weathered this firestorm. They inflicted massive casualties on the Chinese, who finally broke off the attack.

  It transpired that the three UN units had withstood an attack by a full Chinese division. The Australians had lost 32 dead and 59 wounded, but the Chinese death toll was between 500 and 600. Ironically, some of the heaviest fighting had taken place on Anzac Day 1951. All three units received a Presidential Unit Citation for heroism. The citation read in part:

  … the seriousness of the breakthrough on the central front had been changed from defeat to victory by the gallant stand of these heroic soldiers [who] displayed such gallantry, determination and espritde corps in accomplishing their mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions as to set them apart and above other units participating in the campaign and by their achievements they brought distinguished credit on themselves, their homelands and all freedom-loving nations.

  The Chinese offensive petered out by the end of April and they had suffered 70,000 casualties, compared to the UN’s 7000. By 15 June, when the UN forces had recaptured the ground as far as what became known as the Kansas Line, north of the 38th parallel and south of the Imjin River, both sides entered into a series of cease-fire talks. The talks initially attracted great optimism, as both sides appeared to accept that their original aims of a total victory over their opposition were unrealistic. No-one could have predicted the talks would drag on for another two years and one month before an armistice would finally be concluded.

  In the meantime, on 28 July 1951, the Australians became part of the 1st Commonwealth Division under British Major General Jim Cassels. This division, in turn, formed part of the US 1 Corps under US Lieutenant General John ‘Iron Mike’ O’Daniel, a renowned gung-ho leader in the Patton mould.

  In October 1951, the Commonwealth Division joined three other UN divisions
in ‘Operation Commando’, an advance designed to adjust the front line and eliminate the Chinese advantage over some of the high ground. General O’Daniel placed the Commonwealth Division in the vanguard of the attack and ordered the Diggers of 3 RAR to capture a steep hill, called Maryang San by the locals and known as Hill 317 by the UN forces.

  The Diggers were now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hassett, a 33-year-old Duntroon graduate who had proven himself with a fine record in the Middle East and the Pacific in World War II. He wrote of his first impressions of his men, as quoted in The Battle of Maryang San, by the Australian Army HQ Training Command:

  I found the battalion in good heart, though some thought they were being forgotten by Australia. All looked fit, lean and confident, as they were entitled to do after performing so well in their first arduous winter campaign, culminating in their epic defence at Kapyong. There were more older soldiers in 3 RAR then than I was to see in later years in our regular battalions.

  Many were K Force volunteers, patriotic and adventurous young men fired up by experiences and stories of the Second World War. The battalion reminded me very much of Second World War battalions after a hard campaign. These were warriors, in the sense that their job was to close with the enemy with butt and bayonet and they had done this well.

  Before the battle, Hassett assigned specific tasks to his various company commanders. One of them was Major ‘Basil’ Hardiman, commander of D Company:

  About a week before the big operation the CO called an officers’ conference. I don’t recall the details but afterwards Colonel Frank [Hassett] asked me to come down to his caravan. After the pleasantries, such as enjoying a can of beer, he told me of the projected operation and that my company had been selected to lead an assault on the final objective – Hill 317 (Maryang San). I thought of that steep, totally bare, conically shaped hill rising sheer out of the valley. It seemed an impossible task. I must have gone pale and looked awful, bad enough for Colonel Frank to say – ‘Are you alright, Bas?’ I am positive that for a second my heart actually stopped – skipped a beat – it was as if I had just received a death sentence. However, I hastily gulped down the rest of my beer, managed a smile and said I was fine.

  Frank Hassett was well aware of the task facing his battalion:

  The battalion was given an enormous task – a long approach march with open flanks and an attack to a depth of over 3000 metres against a well-equipped, well-sited enemy, determined to stay. Further, two companies had been designated as Brigade reserve and there was no telling what they would have to do in this role or what shape they would be in when they returned to the battalion.

  Frank Hassett also succinctly summed up both the loneliness of the commanding officer in these circumstances and the emotional differences between him and the men he was about to place in harm’s way:

  Only the CO has the time, the background detail, perhaps the experience to appreciate fully the problems and inherent dangers in an operation of this nature. At the company level and below a spirit of excitement, adventure and confidence prevailed. It was only sensible to leave it like that.

  The battle began in the early hours of 3 October 1951, with two companies of 3 RAR starting their advance on Maryang San at 3 am. By 8 am they had taken their first objective, Hill 199, and were joined by British Centurion tanks. The Diggers had surprised even themselves, as 7 Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Maurie Pears recalled:

  We were down to two sections but this was unknown to us. Somehow we reached the top of the feature and sheltered behind some rocks. The enemy was firmly entrenched and opposing further movement with small arms fire. We sent one section to flank from the left whilst we held the ridge line. They made no progress.

  We sheltered behind granite boulders which seemed the size of peanuts, trying to contact the reserve for some help but contact was lost. At this stage Jack Gerke got fed up with waiting and so did the Bren gunner Jim Burnett. Jack screamed up with his trusty McFadzean and urged us forward. Burnett blasted onwards with his Bren at the hip, Mark Young with the Owen, and the remaining elements of 7 Platoon (about eight of us) surged on to the position.

  The sight of these desperate, wild-eyed Australians must have been too much for the Chinese. They withdrew. But they left 19 dead and 3 prisoners were taken. The guts and determination of Gerke, Burnett and Young and his leading section had won the day. It was a substantial victory against overwhelming odds. My overall memories are of total confusion and amazement that we were not all killed.

  Two days later, under cover of thick mist, B and D Companies 3 RAR, with Centurions in support, attacked the eastern ridge of Maryang San itself. Despite the earlier successes, the final assault was a prodigious task. The Diggers had to cover a kilometre to the first Chinese defences and then another 1500 metres through a mutually supporting Chinese bunker system. Although they didn’t know it at the time, the 320 Australians faced around 1200 fresh Chinese infantry troops.

  The Diggers performed with great dash and spirit, and their swift advance made quick inroads into the lower Chinese defences, as Private Jim McFadzean later wrote:

  … D Company made a magnificent contribution, literally tearing the heart out of the Chinese positions on the lower features leading to 317 [Maryang San]. In these actions D Company killed 68 Chinese, wounded a large number and took 30 prisoners. Their cost was three killed and 14 wounded. Surprise, speed and aggression had won the day.

  Frank Hassett then called on Captain Jack Gerke’s C Company to make the final attack on the summit of Maryang San. Climbing on hands and knees because of the steepness of the terrain, Gerke’s men launched an outstanding assault on the summit, taking the defenders by surprise and winning the ground before nightfall. Frank Hassett:

  I judged C Company’s immediate follow-up to be a faultless performance; the company did everything right, from ready acceptance of a most difficult task, to the sweeping over Pt 317 [Maryang San] with great dash, to providing depth to its position at first light the following day. I mentally gave full marks to Jack Gerke. Not many officers could take on that sort of task and execute it so well.

  Too few realise how often battles turn on the efforts of a handful of gallant infantry. There were thousands of men in the Commonwealth Division and Maryang San was a principal objective. Yet in the final assault on the last major feature in front of Point 317 the attacking platoon led by Clark was less than half strength, down to some 17 men, its losses including the platoon sergeant and two of the three section commanders.

  The platoon was in no way deterred by its casualties, or the fact that every advantage was with the Chinese – numbers, volume of small arms fire, deep cover and pre-planned mortar and artillery fire. Nor was it a blind rush by 11 Platoon. Its tactics were good and the supporting fire, including that from the other two platoons, carefully laid on.

  I have used 11 Platoon as an example, the other platoons were equally good. It is small wonder that, over the years, experienced commanders have stressed the need for good infantry and have often waxed lyrical in its praise.

  The Diggers of 3 RAR earned their place alongside the finest feats of arms achieved by their predecessors. Jack Gerke and Frank Hassett both won Distinguished Service Orders for their roles at Maryang San. Maurie Pears won one of ten Military Crosses awarded for gallantry there:

  I have a lot of fragmentary and disconnected memories of this attack and the aftermath. A visit to the Norwegian MASH [Mobile Army Surgical Hospital]; my first sight of a Swedish female; finding a piece of meat in the ham and beans; smoking three packets of Camels a day; dreaming of Dawn Lake in the concert party; the humour of men under woeful conditions; Mark Young pulling me into line when my inexperience showed; the always cheerful Reg Whalley reduced to tears having to sew up the dead – he grieved for all of us; the misery of the misplaced Koreans; sleeping in the snow or in a hole in the ground; putting Barbosal on the frostbite; ripping the skin on frozen gun barrels; spraying DDT on the hair and crutch to g
et rid of the lice; McFadzean groaning under the weight of the WS [wireless set]; the courage of the stretcher bearer, Bill Massey; ‘Horse’ Goggin firing a 3-inch mortar without bipod or baseplate; Morrison passing the bottle around for collective urine to cool the Vickers; arguing with Karl Schmidt about who would cover who and his saying ‘Do as you are bloody well told, Sir, or we’ll both be bloody killed.’ We were battle weary but stood up to it well.

  But the deep and enduring memories are those of the men who saved my life and shaped my future. I am in their debt. I have seen little of them since that time and wonder how those men who deserved so much have fared. I fear they are yesterday’s heroes left with yesterday’s promises.

  In addition, 3 RAR won two Distinguished Conduct Medals and ten Military Medals, and another 13 Diggers were Mentioned in Despatches. Frank Hassett would become a general and be rewarded with a knighthood for his contribution to Australia’s military, but Maryang San always held a special meaning for him: