Korean War (23)

41st Royal British Commandos

 

31 October 1951, the Communists agreed to a demarcation line for the armistice based on the MLR (Main Line of Resistance).  In response, Gen. Ridgeway ordered Van Fleet to not participate in any operation larger than a battalion (about 1,000 men) without authorization.  The Eighth Army offensive actions were basically brought to a halt and veterans began to return home.

17 November, the Americans proposed that the MLR should be the armistice line if the Chinese signed the papers within 30 days.  All they really resulted in doing was give the CCF a month to improve their positions.  During the reprieve, they constructed 77 miles of tunnels and 3,427 miles of trenches , which constituted a defensive line 14 miles deep and 155 miles long from coast to coast.  Then they allowed the deadline to run out.

Korean peace conference guards

1 December, the HMS Cockade was hit by shore battery fire while assisting a friendly-force evacuation from Tashwa-do after a Chinese assault.  There was one casualty.  Between 3-4 December, a unit of the 41st Royal Marine Commandos, from the USS Horace A. Bass, conducted a landing raid on the east coast to destroy enemy installations in an area around Tachon.

5 December, the enemy sortie count of 310 MiG-15s engaged or encountered by the U.N. air force was the highest amount in a single day as yet seen in the war.  By 12 December, an increase in air cover was ordered for troop movements (by sea) into Inchon.  This was a joint effort by the U.S. Navy and the FEAF (Far East Air Force)

17-18 December, Ung-do and Changyang-do, on the west coast , were overwhelmed by an enemy attack.  The guerrillas pulled out of the area to allow the planes to strafe and bombard the sector.

19 December, Operation Farewell went into effect at 0700 hours when one infantry battalion was airlifted by the 1st Marine Air Wing helicopters to Hill 864 and the occupying battalion of Hill 884 were returned and put in reserve.  Despite the high gusting winds of 30 to 40 knots, the mission went as planned.  This continued the following day with air support.  They received no fire from the enemy, but opposing the ground forces was the North Korean 1st, 15th and 47th divisions.  A coordinated air and sea bombardment was held on Wonsan as well.

 

HMAS “Tobruk”

Patrols were sent out at the Chaho-Hungnam area with orders to prevent the enemy from re-mining the sector, eliminate any enemy encountered, prevent any fishing and destroy any junks and small craft.  In the vicinity of Cho-do and Sokto Islands on the west coast, anti-invasion stations were assumed by the USS Manchester, USS Eversole.  HMAS Tobruk, HMS Alacrity and other UN ships.  The Tobruk received one hit from enemy shore fire while covering a LST landing.

 

West coast island map

22 December, a jet aircraft similar to a F-86 was spotted, the third such sighting in the past 2 weeks.  The FEAF considered this a confirmation of MiG-21s in Korea.  LST 661 was hit by enemy shelling from Sokto Island.  Two days later, the evacuation of 7,196 refugees off Cho-do, Taechong-do and Paengnyong-do Islands (west coast) was complete.

 

Wonsan Harbor map to show island locations

26 December, the ROK ship PC-740 (subchaser) blew up and sunk after striking a mine off To-do Island in Wonsan Harbor.  27 December, the enemy captured Sosuap-To on the west coast, but was re-captured 2 days later by friendly guerrillas.  The USS Eversole received strafing fire that night as they patrolled the waters south of Skto Island.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Farewell Salutes – 

Eugene Ostlund – Fargo, ND & Fredericksburg, VA; US Navy, WWII & Korea

Abert “Tito” Leon – Los Angeles, CA; US Army, 2 tours Vietnam

Albert McElroy – Chicago, IL; US Army,  WWII

John Hough – Long Island, NY; US Navy, WWII

John Paul Christian – Silver Springs, MD; US Navy, WWII, Pearl Harbor survivor

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