The Battle of Yongyu (영유永柔 전투), also known as the Battle of the Apple Orchard or the Battle of Yongju by the Australians who fought in it, took place between 21 and 22 October 1950 during the United Nations Command (UNC) offensive into North Korea against the Korean People's Army (KPA) that had invaded South Korea during the Korean War. The battle was fought between the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the KPA 239th Regiment.
On 20 October, the US 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (187 RCT) staged a parachute assault at Sukchon and Sunchon, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Pyongyang, with the objectives of cutting off KPA forces retreating ahead of the US Eighth Army general advance from the south, capturing important North Korean government officials evacuating Pyongyang, and liberating American prisoners of war (POWs) being moved out of Pyongyang. On 21 October, two 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment (187 ABN) combat teams started southwards in a reconnaissance-in-force to clear the Sukchon–Yongyu highway and rail line and to establish contact with the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade that was leading the Eighth Army advance northwards from Pyongyang. 187 ABN came under fire from the KPA 239th Regiment in the vicinity of Yongyu. As a result of the US airborne operation, the KPA 239th Regiment found itself caught between the Eighth Army advance and the 187 ABN attack in its rear. The KPA 239th Regiment attempted a breakout to the north just after midnight on 21–22 October. Facing determined attacks, the American paratroopers at Yongyu requested armoured assistance from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade on the Pyongyang–Sukchon road just south of Yongyu.
The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade had departed from Pyongyang at noon on 21 October, headed north on the Sukchon highway, tasked with reaching the Chongchon River. The 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highland Regiment (1 ASHR), leading the brigade advance, pushed up the highway until fired upon by KPA in the hills south of Yongyu. By nightfall, the hills were cleared by the Highlanders and the brigade halted for the night. The British could hear the sounds of a heavy battle taking place to the north. 3 RAR was directed to take the lead when the brigade moved out the following morning. C Company, 3 RAR, was selected to lead the Australian advance. C Company, with elements mounted on US tanks and the rest of the company following in motorised transport, was to pass through Yongyu as rapidly as possible and effect a relief of the 187 ABN defenders to the north. At first light on 22 October, 1 ASHR and the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (1 MR) advanced into Yongyu to clear the town of KPA. 3 RAR, with C Company on point, passed through 1 ASHR and 1 MR and moved through Yongyu, headed north on the Yongyu–Sukchon road.
C Company, 3 RAR, came under fire from a KPA 239th Regiment rearguard force entrenched in a hillside apple orchard north of Yongyu and aggressively counterattacked off the line of march into the orchard, routing the KPA from the high ground. The KPA 239th Regiment, now on open ground between 3 RAR and 187 ABN, was forced to withdraw westwards with heavy casualties. 3 RAR then relieved the American paratroopers in their defensive positions. By midday, after three hours of fighting, the battle was mostly over. Many KPA soldiers who had been unable to escape hid or feigned death until captured or killed. With the linkup completed, the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade relieved 187 RCT at Sukchon and passed through for the continuation of its drive to the Chongchon River. The Australians had distinguished themselves in their first major battle in the Korean War, and the battalion was later praised for its performance.
The Battle of Yongyu (영유永柔 전투), also known as the Battle of the Apple Orchard or the Battle of Yongju by the Australians who fought in it, took place between 21 and 22 October 1950 during the United Nations Command (UNC) offensive into North Korea against the Korean People's Army (KPA) that had invaded South Korea during the Korean War. The battle was fought between the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) of the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the KPA 239th Regiment.
On 20 October, the US 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (187 RCT) staged a parachute assault at Sukchon and Sunchon, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Pyongyang, with the objectives of cutting off KPA forces retreating ahead of the US Eighth Army general advance from the south, capturing important North Korean government officials evacuating Pyongyang, and liberating American prisoners of war (POWs) being moved out of Pyongyang. On 21 October, two 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment (187 ABN) combat teams started southwards in a reconnaissance-in-force to clear the Sukchon–Yongyu highway and rail line and to establish contact with the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade that was leading the Eighth Army advance northwards from Pyongyang. 187 ABN came under fire from the KPA 239th Regiment in the vicinity of Yongyu. As a result of the US airborne operation, the KPA 239th Regiment found itself caught between the Eighth Army advance and the 187 ABN attack in its rear. The KPA 239th Regiment attempted a breakout to the north just after midnight on 21–22 October. Facing determined attacks, the American paratroopers at Yongyu requested armoured assistance from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade on the Pyongyang–Sukchon road just south of Yongyu.
The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade had departed from Pyongyang at noon on 21 October, headed north on the Sukchon highway, tasked with reaching the Chongchon River. The 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highland Regiment (1 ASHR), leading the brigade advance, pushed up the highway until fired upon by KPA in the hills south of Yongyu. By nightfall, the hills were cleared by the Highlanders and the brigade halted for the night. The British could hear the sounds of a heavy battle taking place to the north. 3 RAR was directed to take the lead when the brigade moved out the following morning. C Company, 3 RAR, was selected to lead the Australian advance. C Company, with elements mounted on US tanks and the rest of the company following in motorised transport, was to pass through Yongyu as rapidly as possible and effect a relief of the 187 ABN defenders to the north. At first light on 22 October, 1 ASHR and the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (1 MR) advanced into Yongyu to clear the town of KPA. 3 RAR, with C Company on point, passed through 1 ASHR and 1 MR and moved through Yongyu, headed north on the Yongyu–Sukchon road.
C Company, 3 RAR, came under fire from a KPA 239th Regiment rearguard force entrenched in a hillside apple orchard north of Yongyu and aggressively counterattacked off the line of march into the orchard, routing the KPA from the high ground. The KPA 239th Regiment, now on open ground between 3 RAR and 187 ABN, was forced to withdraw westwards with heavy casualties. 3 RAR then relieved the American paratroopers in their defensive positions. By midday, after three hours of fighting, the battle was mostly over. Many KPA soldiers who had been unable to escape hid or feigned death until captured or killed. With the linkup completed, the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade relieved 187 RCT at Sukchon and passed through for the continuation of its drive to the Chongchon River. The Australians had distinguished themselves in their first major battle in the Korean War, and the battalion was later praised for its performance.
Background
On 26 July, the Australian government announced that it would commit the under-strength and poorly equipped 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) then in Japan to South Korea, following a period of preparation. Training and re-equipment began immediately, while hundreds of reinforcements were hastily recruited in Australia as part of K Force; they soon began arriving to fill out the battalion. The battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Floyd Walsh, was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Green. An officer with extensive operational experience fighting the Japanese in New Guinea during the Second World War, Green took over from Walsh due to the latter's perceived inexperience.
On 23 September, 3 RAR embarked for Korea, arriving at Pusan on 28 September. There it joined the British 27th Infantry Brigade, a garrison formation hurriedly committed from Hong Kong by the British as the situation deteriorated around the Pusan Perimeter in late August to bolster the US Eighth Army under the command of Lieutenant General Walton Walker. Commanded by Brigadier Basil Coad, the brigade was renamed the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and consisted of the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highland Regiment (1 ASHR), the 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (1 MR) and 3 RAR. The two understrength British battalions had each mustered just 600 men of all ranks, while the brigade was also short on transport and heavy equipment, and had no integral artillery or armour support, for which it would rely entirely on the Americans until the 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery arrived in January 1951. As such, with a strength of nearly 1,000 men, the addition of 3 RAR gave the brigade increased tactical weight as well as expediently allowing the Australians to work within a familiar organisational environment, rather than being attached to a US formation. Also under the command of the brigade were a number of US Army units, including 155 mm howitzers from the US 90th Field Artillery Battalion, M4 Sherman tanks from the US 89th Tank Battalion and a company of US combat engineers.
Prelude
Opposing forces
By the time 3 RAR arrived in the theatre, the North Koreans had been broken and were in rapid retreat, with General Douglas MacArthur's UNC forces conducting a successful amphibious assault at Inchon and breakout from the Pusan Perimeter on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. A steady advance began, driving the North Koreans northwards towards the 38th Parallel. The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade was airlifted from Taegu to Kimpo Airfield north of Seoul on 5 October. However, its vehicles had to move by road, driving 420 kilometres (260 mi) and did not arrive until 9 October. It was attached to the US 1st Cavalry Division under the command of Major General Hobart R. Gay. The brigade would function as a separate task force at a considerable distance from, and without physical contact with, that division or other friendly units. On 16 October, the brigade took over from the US 7th Cavalry Regiment as the vanguard of the UNC advance into North Korea, its axis intended to take it through Kaesong, Kumchon County and Hungsu-ri to Sariwon, then through Hwangju to Pyongyang. Although the North Koreans had suffered heavily in the preceding weeks, they continued to resist strongly, while a lack of accurate maps and the narrowness of the roads made rapid movement difficult for the advancing UNC forces. During this time, 3 RAR had a platoon of US M4 Sherman tanks attached and a battery of field guns in direct support.
The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade moved 70 kilometres (43 mi) from Kumchon, with the Argylls capturing Sariwon, an industrial town 54 kilometres (34 mi) south of Pyongyang, on 17 October. Supported by 3 RAR and US tanks, the Highlanders killed 215 KPA and took several thousand prisoners for the loss of one man killed and three wounded in a one-sided action. Prior to the attack, the Australians had moved through the town to establish a blocking position 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the north. During the evening, 3 RAR encountered a KPA force withdrawing north. Using the same road and moving in the same direction, the KPA mistook the Australians and Argylls for Russians in the poor light and were bluffed into surrendering, with the Australians capturing thousands of KPA and their weapons and equipment following a brief exchange. Mounted on a tank, the 3 RAR second-in-command, Major Ian Ferguson, captured over 1,600 KPA soldiers with just an interpreter. Australian involvement had been limited, however, and they regarded their first exposure to the fighting in Korea as a relatively minor incident. Pyongyang fell to US and South Korean troops on 19 October. On 21 October, the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade passed to the command of the US 24th Infantry Division under the overall command of Major General John H. Church, while the US 1st Cavalry Division remained in Pyongyang to complete its capture. Coad had hoped to rest his men at Pyongyang; however, the advance continued north with little respite and the brigade moved through the village of Samgapo. The British and Australians were ordered to seize Chongju.
The previous day, Colonel Frank S. Bowen's US 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (187 RCT) had parachuted into drop zones around Sukchon and Sunchon. 187 RCT was tasked with cutting off retreating KPA forces withdrawing up the west coast of the Korean Peninsula and releasing US and South Korean POWs. The 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment's 1st and 3rd Battalions (1/187 and 3/187 ABN) dropped southeast of Sukchon to seize the town, hold the high ground to the north and block the highway and rail line south of Sukchon, cutting off the main supply route and line of communication that led north from Pyongyang; the 2nd Battalion (2/187 ABN) was dropped near Sunchon, 24 kilometres (15 mi) east of Sukchon to seize the town, block another highway and rail line, and intercept a POW train that US intelligence indicated was moving northwards by night from Pyongyang. The US paratroopers were to hold their positions until relieved by the US Eighth Army push northwards to link up with them, a task that was expected to be completed within two days. After observing the airdrop, General MacArthur flew to Pyongyang where he announced to the press that the airborne operation was a brilliant tactical maneuver that seemed to have been a complete surprise to the North Koreans. Estimating that 30,000 KPA, perhaps half of those remaining in North Korea, had been caught between 187 RCT in the north and the US 1st Cavalry Division and ROK 1st Infantry Division to the south at Pyongyang, he predicted that they would soon be destroyed or captured. He termed the airdrop an “expert performance” and said, “This closes the trap on the enemy.” MacArthur's optimism would not be supported by events. Anxious not to expose the lightly armed and lightly equipped paratroopers by projecting them too far forward of the Eighth Army advance, MacArthur had kept them back too long. The operation came too late to intercept any significant KPA elements. By this time, most of the KPA remnants had already succeeded in withdrawing north, and had crossed safely behind the Chongchon River, or were in the process of doing so, while Premier Kim Il Sung's government and most important officials had moved to Kanggye in the mountains 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Manpojin on the Yalu River. Through no fault of their own, the paratroopers were less successful on one other score, that of rescuing POWs who were being moved northwards from Pyongyang; most of the American POWs had been moved to more remote parts of North Korea and were unable to be rescued. Although sound in concept, the US airborne operation may have had more chance of success had a complete airborne division been employed.
Only the KPA 239th Regiment remained, having been ordered to delay the UNC forces as they attempted to follow up. With a strength of 2,500 men, the regiment occupied positions on the high ground astride the road and rail lines east of Yongyu, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of the US drop zone at Sukchon.
Battle
KPA 239th Regiment is encircled, 21 October 1950
The most important action growing out of the 187 RCT airdrop occurred in the 3/187 ABN sector, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of Sukchon in the vicinity of Op'a-ri and Yongyu. At 02:30 on 21 October, K Company repulsed an attack on its Sukchon–Pyongyang highway roadblock by an estimated company-sized KPA force that attempted to break through to the north. At 09:00, the 3/187 ABN command post (CP) advanced two combat teams from the roadblock position in a reconnaissance-in-force to clear the Sukchon–Yongyu road towards Pyongyang and establish contact with the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade that was leading the 24th Infantry Division northwards from Pyongyang. I Company was assigned to clear the rail line and K Company was given the mission of clearing the highway. I Company reached Op'a-ri at 13:00, where it was attacked by an estimated battalion-strength KPA force equipped with heavy mortars and automatic antiaircraft guns. After a two-and-a-half-hour firefight, I Company, with two rifle platoons overrun by the KPA and 90 men missing, was forced to withdraw west of the rail line to Hill 281. Failing to exploit the advantage, the KPA withdrew to defensive positions on the high ground around Op'a-ri. Meanwhile, K Company, receiving harassing fire during its advance along the highway, proceeded to a point about 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) north of Yongyu, where it encountered a KPA force of about three companies. After a heavy firefight, the Americans forced the KPA to withdraw to defensive positions on the high ground to the south and east of the town. K Company continued into Yongyu, taking up defensive positions in the town and on Hill 163 to the north of the town.
I and K Companies now occupied defensive positions roughly opposite each other—at Op'a-ri (Hill 281) overlooking the rail line and at Yongyu (Hill 163) overlooking the highway—yet these positions were now almost 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) apart and unable to mutually support each other. The distance separating the highway and the railway which ran north either side of Yongyu was greater at that point than anywhere else between Sukchon and Pyongyang. Extending on a southwest–northeast axis, and cutting across both the highway and rail line at Yongyu and Op'a-ri, is a line of high hills offering the best defensible ground between Pyongyang and the Chongchon River. Here, the KPA 239th Regiment had taken up defensive positions, deploying a battalion in each locality. The last organised KPA unit to leave Pyongyang, its mission was to fight a delaying action against the expected UNC advance from Pyongyang. Now, as a result of the unexpected US airborne operation, it was encircled and found itself attacked from two separate points in its rear. The KPA 239th Regiment, by this time convinced that both routes to the north had been blocked by the US airborne forces, would attempt one last push to regain contact with the other KPA forces that had infiltrated northwards.