Operation Courageous - Chinese Defense and Retreat

Chinese Defense and Retreat

Somewhat unexpectedly, the 3d Division had come up against unusually strong Chinese positions. On March 23 General Soule's forces had occupied the Uijongbu area with little difficulty. First to enter the town was Task Force Hawkins, built around the bulk of the 64th Tank Battalion and two platoons of tanks from each of the 15th and 65th Infantry Regiments. Reaching Uijongbu about 09:00 and finding it undefended, the task force reconnoitered north several miles on Route 33 before returning to the division position. Mines disabled two tanks, but otherwise the task force made no contact.

Though it thus appeared that the 3d Division could continue to move forward with relative ease, General Soule's forces came under heavy fire when they resumed their attack on the morning of March 24. The Chinese had organized strong positions in Hill 468 (37°45′45″N 127°0′7″E / 37.76250°N 127.00194°E / 37.76250; 127.00194 (Hill 468)) rising three miles (5 km) northwest of Uijongbu and Hill 337 (37°45′51″N 127°3′57″E / 37.76417°N 127.06583°E / 37.76417; 127.06583 (Hill 337)) about a mile (1.5 km) north and slightly east of town. From these positions they were in fair condition to block advance on the Route 33 axis to the north and over Route 3 leading out of Uijongbu to the northeast. On the division's right, the 15th Infantry eventually managed to clear Hill 337 on the 24th, but the 65th Infantry on the left failed in an all-day attempt to force the Chinese from the Hill 468.

General Milburn viewed the situation at corps center as an opportunity to trap and destroy the Chinese holding up the 3d Division. After General Soule's forces encountered the strong Chinese positions on the morning of March 24, he ordered General Bowen to pull in his patrols and prepare the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team for an eastward attack on the Route 2Y axis. The objective was high ground abutting Route 33 about ten miles (16 km) north of Uijongbu, thus just above the trace of line Aspen, whence Bowen was to prevent the Chinese in front of the 3d Division from withdrawing over Route 33. The 3d Division was to continue its northward attack in the meantime and eventually drive the Chinese against Bowen's position.

General Bowen started east at 18:00, intending to march as far as Sinch'on during the night and open his attack the following morning. From Task Force Growdon, Company C was the only unit of the 6th Tank Battalion able to move at 18:00; all other companies of the battalion had too little fuel after patrolling and were to catch up with Bowen's column after being resupplied from Seoul. Task Force Growdon now also was short the 2d Battalion, 7th Infantry, which had been sent back to the 3d Division.

A force shaped around the tanks of Company C led the way toward Sinch'on. But after seven miles (11 km), as Bowen's column moved through a system of ridges, landslides twice trapped the leading tanks, and in the second instance no bypass could be found. As engineers tried to open the road, rain began to fall and became steadily heavier. With the rain making a poor road even worse, Bowen ordered the tanks back to Munsan-ni. After the engineers had cleared the road sufficiently, his remaining forces proceeded to Sinch'on, arriving about 06:00 on March 25.

A half hour later Bowen ordered the 2d Battalion, with the 3d Battalion following in support, to seize Hill 228 (37°55′4″N 127°2′50″E / 37.91778°N 127.04722°E / 37.91778; 127.04722 (Hill 228))rising on the west side of Route 33. Running into small arms, machine gun, and mortar fire from positions on several nearer hills and hampered by a continuing driving rain, the two battalions at day's end were some two miles (3 km) short of Hill 228, and Route 33 remained available to the Chinese in front of the 3d Division if they chose to withdraw over it.

Withdrawal seemed to be the Chinese intention. The 3d Division met only light resistance when it resumed its attack from the south on March 25 and advanced two miles (3 km) beyond the hills where strong Chinese positions had delayed it the day before. The tank company of the 65th Infantry meanwhile moved ahead on Route 3X, a secondary road angling northwest off Route 33 to Sinch'on, in an attempt to contact the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. Mines along the road disabled four tanks and kept the company from reaching its destination, but it encountered no enemy positions. The withdrawal of the Chinese delaying forces was confirmed on March 26 when the 3d Division and the 25th Division as well moved forward against little or no opposition.

To the north, the Chinese continued to oppose the efforts of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team to capture Hill 228. Using Route 33 and a lesser road to the west, two tank columns from the 3d Division joined Bowen's forces during the afternoon of March 26, but, even with armored support, it was 09:00 the following day before the 187th captured Hill 228. Using the remainder of March 27 for reorganization and resupply, General Bowen attacked the heights on the east side of Route 33 early on March 28 and occupied them after an all-day battle to eliminate stiff resistance.

The 15th and 65th Infantry Regiments of the 3d Division meanwhile reached the airborne forces, the 1st Battalion of the 15th Infantry making first contact late in the afternoon of March 27. Despite General Milburn's hopes for the operation, the two regiments drove no forces into the guns of the airborne unit. Either the Chinese resisting the eastward attack of the 187th had kept Route 33 open long enough for the forces withdrawing before the 3d Division to pass north, or the withdrawing Chinese units had used another road, perhaps Route 3. Moving through spotty resistance, the 25th Division on the right had kept pace with the 3d Division, and by nightfall on March 28 both were on or above line Aspen.