EvanL
02-25-2004, 12:45 AM
http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/fourth_dimension/2004/feb04/19/HISTORY6MED.jpg
Hill 419, South Korea; February 24, 1951: Pte Bill Hoskins of 2 PPCLI, the second man in his section’s Bren-gun team, hauls nearly his own weight in ammunition and other kit.
National Archives of Canada
By Charmion Chaplin-Thomas
February 19, 1951
In Korea, the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (Lieutenant-Colonel J.R. Stone in command) is finally moving into the line, after two months of brutal training to condition them for the rigors of mountain fighting. The mission has changed a lot while 2 PPCLI has been forming, travelling and training, and the soldiers originally recruited as occupying troops arrived in Korea to find themselves slated for the front line in one of the most difficult campaigns in living memory. Despite considerable pressure from very high command, however, LCol Stone has firmly refused to take his battalion into the line until they are ready.
The battalion is much smaller than it was when it left Canada; dozens of men with old injuries and long-standing problems like bronchitis, arthritis and alcoholism were unceremoniously raked out of the ranks and sent home as “unlikely to be efficient”. LCol Stone has also implemented a fierce disciplinary régime to eliminate drunkenness, carelessness and theft among his soldiers. The tactical situation is difficult enough, facing a tough, wily enemy in this harsh landscape in the dead of winter. Only discipline, fitness and field-craft will bring the Patricias through the next few weeks.
In January, during their collective training, the battalion spent four days searching for Communist guerrillas in the hills around Miryang. With Major C.V. Lilley (OC B Company) in charge, B Company and C Company surrounded and attacked the guerrillas’ rocky caves one after another, finding caches of ammunition and food, and blood trails that indicated considerable improvement in their shooting skills. Maj Lilley considered the operation the best training the unit could get, writing in his after-action report: “Men learnt to live, keep warm and alive in the open. I consider hunting guerrillas the best company exercise… It brings out all the tactical and administrative lessons that have to be learnt.” The finishing touches were applied in Exercise MAPLE LEAF, held during the first week of February, to test the soldiers in all aspects of the advance, attack, defence and withdrawal.
On February 15, they were ready to go into the line, and at 1 p.m. on February 17, the battalion’s main body arrived in their concentration area near the town of Changhowon-ni, located at a river and road junction about 3 km south of Yoju and 75 km southeast of Seoul. 2 PPCLI is now part of the 27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade (Brigadier B.A. Coad), a seasoned formation that also includes the 1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), the 1st Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise’s), the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, the 60th Indian Field Ambulance, and the 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery. The battered villages nearby are occupied only by a few terrorized civilians burdened by sickness and the still-unburied bodies of relatives and neighbours killed in recent fighting. The weather is bitterly cold, with occasional gusts of snow.
Today, LCol Stone is under orders to take the battalion north up the valley to capture Hill 404, one of Korea’s hundreds of hills identified only by its height in metres. First they move to Chuam-ni, in the brigade area, and then at 11 a.m. they begin the advance. That afternoon, they come across a terrible sight: the remains of an entire company of Americans overrun and slaughtered by the Chinese. Worst of all are the 65 soldiers found dead in their sleeping bags, killed before they could even get on their feet. From this point on, Canadian soldiers in Korea will use only blankets, never sleeping bags.
This encounter makes the news in Canada in days: “Pats learn grim lesson from sight of slain GIs”, dated February 22, appears in papers across the country under the byline of experienced war correspondent Bill Boss. Despite having passed the military censors, the story ruffles feathers at every level of the US Army, for the incident has never been mentioned in any of their press briefings.
Hill 419, South Korea; February 24, 1951: Pte Bill Hoskins of 2 PPCLI, the second man in his section’s Bren-gun team, hauls nearly his own weight in ammunition and other kit.
National Archives of Canada
By Charmion Chaplin-Thomas
February 19, 1951
In Korea, the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (Lieutenant-Colonel J.R. Stone in command) is finally moving into the line, after two months of brutal training to condition them for the rigors of mountain fighting. The mission has changed a lot while 2 PPCLI has been forming, travelling and training, and the soldiers originally recruited as occupying troops arrived in Korea to find themselves slated for the front line in one of the most difficult campaigns in living memory. Despite considerable pressure from very high command, however, LCol Stone has firmly refused to take his battalion into the line until they are ready.
The battalion is much smaller than it was when it left Canada; dozens of men with old injuries and long-standing problems like bronchitis, arthritis and alcoholism were unceremoniously raked out of the ranks and sent home as “unlikely to be efficient”. LCol Stone has also implemented a fierce disciplinary régime to eliminate drunkenness, carelessness and theft among his soldiers. The tactical situation is difficult enough, facing a tough, wily enemy in this harsh landscape in the dead of winter. Only discipline, fitness and field-craft will bring the Patricias through the next few weeks.
In January, during their collective training, the battalion spent four days searching for Communist guerrillas in the hills around Miryang. With Major C.V. Lilley (OC B Company) in charge, B Company and C Company surrounded and attacked the guerrillas’ rocky caves one after another, finding caches of ammunition and food, and blood trails that indicated considerable improvement in their shooting skills. Maj Lilley considered the operation the best training the unit could get, writing in his after-action report: “Men learnt to live, keep warm and alive in the open. I consider hunting guerrillas the best company exercise… It brings out all the tactical and administrative lessons that have to be learnt.” The finishing touches were applied in Exercise MAPLE LEAF, held during the first week of February, to test the soldiers in all aspects of the advance, attack, defence and withdrawal.
On February 15, they were ready to go into the line, and at 1 p.m. on February 17, the battalion’s main body arrived in their concentration area near the town of Changhowon-ni, located at a river and road junction about 3 km south of Yoju and 75 km southeast of Seoul. 2 PPCLI is now part of the 27th British Commonwealth Infantry Brigade (Brigadier B.A. Coad), a seasoned formation that also includes the 1st Battalion, The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), the 1st Battalion, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise’s), the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, the 60th Indian Field Ambulance, and the 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery. The battered villages nearby are occupied only by a few terrorized civilians burdened by sickness and the still-unburied bodies of relatives and neighbours killed in recent fighting. The weather is bitterly cold, with occasional gusts of snow.
Today, LCol Stone is under orders to take the battalion north up the valley to capture Hill 404, one of Korea’s hundreds of hills identified only by its height in metres. First they move to Chuam-ni, in the brigade area, and then at 11 a.m. they begin the advance. That afternoon, they come across a terrible sight: the remains of an entire company of Americans overrun and slaughtered by the Chinese. Worst of all are the 65 soldiers found dead in their sleeping bags, killed before they could even get on their feet. From this point on, Canadian soldiers in Korea will use only blankets, never sleeping bags.
This encounter makes the news in Canada in days: “Pats learn grim lesson from sight of slain GIs”, dated February 22, appears in papers across the country under the byline of experienced war correspondent Bill Boss. Despite having passed the military censors, the story ruffles feathers at every level of the US Army, for the incident has never been mentioned in any of their press briefings.