Colonel Paul Freeman’s regiment was uncovered and exhausted. Chinese language forces had been massing close by. On Feb. 13, 1951, Lieutenant Common Edward Almond, X Corps commander, licensed a withdrawal 15 miles south.
Lieutenant Common Matthew Ridgway overruled Almond.
The Eighth Army commander reversed the order after assembly Common Douglas MacArthur, agreeing that the communists needed to be stopped. Almond favored warning after two divisions had been mauled at Hoengsong. The ever-aggressive Ridgway noticed a chance. The Chinese language had overextended their provide traces. One decisive blow may shatter them and cease their devastating advance down the Korean peninsula.
Ridgway directed Almond to launch a aid effort if Freeman was minimize off. His orders to Freeman had been to carry in any respect prices.
A Strategic Crossroads
Chipyong-ni sat 40 miles east of Seoul, straddling a number of very important roads via the Han River Valley. If it fell, the whole Eighth Army entrance may collapse. The twenty third RCT reached the village on Feb. 3 following a brutal victory on the Twin Tunnels, the place Freeman’s regiment had mauled three Chinese language regiments. The unit was working at 75 p.c power.
Freeman commanded 4,500 males, together with 2,500 front-line squaddies. Connected models included the first Ranger Firm, thirty seventh Area Artillery Battalion, components of the 503rd Area Artillery Battalion, Sherman tanks, antiaircraft weapons, and fight engineers from varied models.
One attachment was the French Battalion below Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar. Born Raoul Magrin-Vernerey, the 58-year-old had voluntarily demoted himself from three-star basic to lieutenant colonel to steer 800 Frenchmen in Korea. Wounded seven occasions in World Struggle I, he had led Overseas Legion troops in Morocco and commanded Free French forces in World Struggle II. On the eve of retirement, Monclar selected to go to battle once more.
He wore a monocle, carried a cane for his limp, and commanded respect from his males. His battalion included hardened Legionnaires and 180 South Korean troopers.
Freeman’s battalion commanders had been Lieutenant Colonel George Russell (1st Battalion), Lieutenant Colonel James Edwards (2nd Battalion), and Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kane (third Battalion).
The Tactical Scenario
Freeman confronted a horrendous scenario. Eight hills surrounded the village, making a 12-mile ridgeline his depleted power could not man. He concentrated his troops in a decent defensive ring on the low floor.
Chinese language forces lacked air superiority and long-range artillery. A compressed perimeter would forestall enemy infiltration whereas maximizing overlapping fireplace.
Freeman positioned Russell’s 1st Battalion within the north, Kane’s third Battalion within the east, and Edwards’ 2nd Battalion within the south. Monclar’s French Battalion held the west. Firm B and the Rangers remained in reserve.
For 10 days, the troops dug in, registered their artillery, despatched out patrols, and coordinated air help.
Ridgway’s objective in refusing to withdraw was to remodel Chipyong-ni right into a killing floor. He knew Chinese language commanders could not resist a surrounded UN regiment and would throw in the whole lot they needed to destroy it.
With sufficient firepower and air help, the encircled troops may inflict large casualties and probably disrupt the whole Chinese language offensive. If not, they might be destroyed.
The Chinese language went for it. Following their assault on X Corps at Hoengsong on Feb. 11, components of the thirty ninth Army and divisions from the fortieth and forty second Armies converged on the village. Chinese language intelligence estimated just one,000 UN defenders held Chipyong-ni.
The Battle Begins
Each most important roads had been minimize by enemy troops on the afternoon of Feb. 13. The twenty third RCT was remoted 20 miles past pleasant traces. Freeman known as his commanders collectively.
“We’re going to keep right here and battle it out,” Freeman instructed his officers.
“When Col. Freeman mentioned at Chipyong, ‘We’re surrounded, however we’ll keep right here and battle it out,’ we supported him with enthusiasm,” Captain Bickford Sawyer of Firm E later recalled. “There was by no means a doubt in our minds. We knew we had been going to succeed.”
The Chinese language started their assault at 10 p.m. Mortar and artillery fireplace hammered the UN positions. Temperatures dropped close to freezing. Chinese language bugles and whistles pierced the air across the village.
Infantry wave assaults struck Russell’s 1st Battalion first. The battle rapidly unfold to Edwards’ 2nd Battalion and Monclar’s French Battalion. Solely Kane’s third Battalion remained initially unengaged.
The French Battalion fought with ferocity that surprised each the People and the Chinese language
Because the Chinese language forces attacked the French sector, they overran a bit of the third Firm’s line. Lieutenant Ange Nicolai commanded a rearguard that purchased time for a withdrawal. Nicolai was wounded and left behind within the chaos.
Monclar’s troops launched a direct counterattack in contrast to something the Chinese language had encountered so far. The French blasted their very own sirens and bugles, mimicking the Chinese language assault alerts.
The charging Chinese language forces slowed, confused by what was taking place. Then the French mounted bayonets.
The French troopers leapt from their positions and charged howling throughout open floor proper into the Chinese language wave. The Legionnaires had been educated in shut fight, utilizing blades, rifle butts and their bare-hands to kill the enemy troops.
The sudden assault shattered Chinese language cohesion. The enemy troops broke and fled again into the hills. The French retook their positions and held them for the remainder of the battle. It turned probably the most celebrated motion of the French Battalion’s Korean Struggle service.
Firm G in Edwards’ sector got here below assault across the similar time. Lieutenant Thomas Heath commanded his males via the determined combating. A Sherman tank supplied help because the place almost collapsed.
A whole bunch of Chinese language infantry ran head-first into the wall of American firepower as flares, artillery blasts, and the muzzle flashes of a whole bunch of rifles and machine-guns lit up the night time.
The occasional Chinese language soldier that reached the American combating positions quickly discovered themselves in hand-to-hand fight.
Heath’s males held the road.
Valentine’s Day
At daybreak on Feb. 14, the Chinese language withdrew to consolidate and keep away from potential American air strikes. Contemporary snow dusted a whole bunch of our bodies throughout the battlefield. The defenders had suffered roughly 100 casualties. Freeman took shrapnel in his leg and limped via the perimeter whereas encouraging his troops.
The lads set to work repairing their defenses and getting ready their weapons for the subsequent assault.
Overcast skies hampered UN air help and emboldened the Chinese language. The communists may proceed massing close to UN traces with out the concern of fighter-bombers. Air Drive, Navy, and Marine pilots waited on station for any breaks within the clouds. C-119 Flying Boxcars made 24 ammunition airdrops as they might, however shut air help remained not possible in such climate.
That afternoon, Ridgway flew in by helicopter. He toured the garrison, promised aid was coming, and requested them to carry for only one extra night time.
The lads knew the Chinese language had been going to assault quickly. They wanted a miracle to outlive one other night time.
The Determined Hours
The Chinese language renewed their assaults after darkness set in on Feb. 14. Edwards’ 2nd Battalion confronted the heaviest stress.
Heath rallied artillerymen from Battery B, 503rd Area Artillery Battalion, to bolster his line. When some hesitated below fireplace, Heath grabbed them by their uniforms.
“Goddammit, get again up on that hill!” Heath yelled. “You may die down right here anyway. You would possibly as properly go up on the hill and die there.”
Captain John Elledge, an artillery liaison, heard Heath’s shouting. He raced to the firing positions, grabbed a couple of dozen artillerymen, and compelled them as much as the road. Elledge carried a .30-caliber machine gun. He met the Chinese language head to head and killed two in hand-to-hand fight earlier than a grenade blast mauled his left arm.
Corporations E and G defending Hill 397 detonated fougasse drums stuffed with gasoline and oil. Because the attackers closed in, the defenders detonated grenades beneath them, spraying Chinese language troops with burning liquid.
Within the midst of the battle, Sergeant First Class William Sitman was main his troops from Firm M. Chinese language grenades detonated round them, knocking out one in all their machine-gun crews.
Sitman and his males reoccupied the place, however then he noticed one other grenade land amongst his males. He threw himself on it with out hesitation. The explosion killed Sitman immediately however saved at the very least 5 troopers. He acquired the Medal of Honor posthumously.
Simply earlier than 4 a.m., Lieutenant Robert Curtis led a composite power of Rangers, Firm F, and Firm G males in a counterattack. Captain John Ramsburg joined them however was wounded. Heath was significantly wounded as properly. Most platoon officers had been killed.
The surviving People and lots more and plenty of Chinese language troops had been engaged in fierce close-combat.
Three tanks all of the sudden unleashed fireplace on the hilltops, assuming they had been blasting the enemy, not realizing People had been within the combine. Solely Curtis’ screaming throughout the battlefield halted the pleasant fireplace. A Chinese language counterattack overwhelmed the exhausted males.
Curtis and the survivors fell again down the hill and shaped a last-ditch ring of 15 males in entrance of the 155mm howitzers.
They held the road towards overwhelming waves of Chinese language assaults.
Air Help Arrives
By the morning of Feb. 15, Freeman’s perimeter was collapsing. Ammunition was critically low. The southern hills remained in Chinese language palms and casualties had been mounting. His perimeter was shrinking below relentless enemy assaults.
Non-public Bruno Orig had been on a wire-laying mission when he returned to search out his Firm G place below enemy assault. He administered first support to the wounded sprawled alongside the bottom. As Chinese language fireplace flew over his head, Orig started evacuating the wounded.
As he returned to the road once more, he realized most of a machine-gun crew had been wounded. Orig manned the weapon himself. He unleashed heavy fireplace into the attacking waves of Chinese language troops, which allowed one other platoon to withdraw.
When American forces retook the bottom quickly after, they discovered Orig lifeless behind his machine gun with piles of enemy troopers lifeless in entrance of the weapon. Orig initially acquired the Distinguished Service Cross, which was upgraded to the Medal of Honor in January 2025.
Instantly, the climate cleared up.
Patches of blue sky had been now seen to the troops on the bottom, who knew help was possible on the way in which. Air Drive jets and Marine Corsairs dove via the clouds. The pilots risked flying blind via cloudy mountain valleys to succeed in Chipyong-ni.
The fighter-bombers dropped 500-pound bombs into Chinese language positions and raked formations with machine weapons and rockets. Napalm tumbled into the hills the place Chinese language troops massed for one more assault. Navy pilots from plane carriers joined the strikes.
The depth of shut air help turned the tide of the whole engagement. Chinese language troops, caught within the open, broke and scattered into the wilderness.
The Aid Column
As ammunition dwindled on Feb. 15, aid lastly arrived. Colonel Marcel Crombez of the fifth Cavalry Regiment organized an armored activity power to interrupt via to the encircled males.
Activity Drive Crombez consisted of 23 tanks and 160 males from Firm L mounted on the armor. Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Treacy, commander of the third Battalion, fifth Cavalry, protested Crombez’s plan to ship infantry driving in uncovered via heavy fireplace. When Crombez refused to alter his techniques, Treacy insisted on accompanying the mission alongside the squaddies. Crombez denied him permission.
Treacy went anyway, hitching a journey on the sixth tank.
The column departed at 3 p.m. and instantly got here below fireplace. Chinese language roadblocks and troops on the ridges hammered the uncovered infantry. Tank commanders buttoned their hatches. The lads on high had no safety.
Communications broke down. Some tanks moved ahead whereas infantry had been nonetheless dismounted and clearing enemy positions. Chinese language troops swarmed the street, reducing off troopers from the column.
Captain John Barrett watched his firm disintegrate. Males fell from tanks below machine-gun fireplace. Others jumped to take cowl and had been left behind. The engineers assigned to clear mines had been minimize off completely. Chinese language troops overran any remoted teams within the ditches.
The lead tank, commanded by Lieutenant Lawrence DeSchweinitz, blasted via the ultimate roadblock. At 5:10 p.m., the tanks rolled into the perimeter. Barrett frantically counted his males. Solely 23 riflemen had made it. Greater than 130 troopers had been lifeless, wounded, captured, or stranded alongside the route.
Treacy was among the many captured. Chinese language troops stopped a truck following the column and took the boys prisoner, together with the wounded battalion commander. Treacy would die as a POW three months later from malnutrition.
His household petitioned for the Medal of Honor. The award was by no means granted.
However the tanks had been very important to the protection. The Chinese language had already suffered heavy whereas charging the perimeter. The shut air help had decimated their ranks. Now the UN troops had additional fireplace help on the bottom.
The Chinese language additionally found the garrison really contained greater than 6,000 troops fairly than the estimated 1,000. The Chinese language knew there was no level in launching any additional assaults. They started withdrawing from the battlefield.
Freeman was evacuated by helicopter on Feb. 15 for the injuries he sustained. Lieutenant Colonel John Chiles assumed command. Chiles went on to reward the French Battalion for his or her heroics through the battle.
“The French are a few of the fightingest males I’ve ever seen,” Chiles mentioned. “Once they assault a place, they carry it. Once they maintain a place, they maintain it.”
The Turning Level
UN casualties totaled 52 killed, 259 wounded, and 42 lacking. Chinese language losses reached as much as 5,000 killed and wounded. The twenty third RCT and hooked up models acquired the Presidential Unit Quotation. Freeman earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic management.
Chipyong-ni marked the primary clear Chinese language tactical defeat since coming into the battle. The psychological influence exceeded the army outcomes. For 3 months, UN forces had retreated at any time when the Chinese language attacked in power. The UN forces had retreated ever since Chosin, towards a seemingly invincible enemy military.
Freeman’s stand shattered the communists. Inside every week, Ridgway launched Operation Killer to inflict most casualties on withdrawing Chinese language forces. UN troops superior aggressively for the primary time since November. They recaptured Seoul on March 14. By the month’s finish, UN forces had pushed throughout the thirty eighth parallel once more.
Chinese language commanders by no means once more tried large encirclement operations towards dug-in UN positions. They realized that American firepower, notably air help and artillery, may devastate massed infantry assaults. The strategic initiative shifted again to UN forces.
Ridgway addressed Congress in Could 1952 and mentioned the profitable battle.
“Twice remoted far prematurely of the final battle line, twice fully surrounded in near-zero climate, they repelled repeated assaults by day and night time by vastly superior numbers of Chinese language infantry,” Ridgway mentioned. “I wish to document right here my conviction that these American combating males and their French comrades in arms measured up in each method to the battle conduct of the best troops America or France has produced all through their nationwide existence.”
Army historians dubbed the Battle of Chipyong-ni the “Gettysburg” of Korea. Like that 1863 battle which halted the Accomplice advance, this engagement stopped Chinese language momentum. Chinese language forces by no means once more threatened to drive UN troops from the peninsula.
