Across the rice paddy, the road ran upon a low embankment, crossed a slightly higher bund at right angles, to enter the village and form a crossroads, only to desert the houses once more as it plunged down steeply through a cutting to the very water’s edge.
Originally, perhaps for generations, the road had been but a poor cart track, hardly capable of carrying tracked, much less wheeled, vehicles in wet weather. But the Sappers had widened and strengthened it, had laid steel-mesh matting upon a re-graded surface in the cutting and, by now, had set a series of marker buoys showing the course of the underwater bridge; a ford which the Koreans had built and used long before the Japanese had established their rule throughout the land.
This was Gloster Crossing.
Along the bund to the right of the road, a small group of figures were lying on their stomachs observing the opposite bank. After a second glance, I picked out the Colonel and Henry, the Intelligence Officer, and went over to them.
“What’s up, Henry?”
He wriggled his way up to the edge of the bund.
“Over there,” he said, pointing. “That’s the fourth group we’ve seen—just a few men. The Colonel has got the mortars on to them.”
A moment or so later there was a series of tiny flashes on the edge of the hill, over the river; a series of puffs of black smoke that disappeared swiftly in the light wind.
“That ought to tickle them a bit,” said Henry.
The Colonel put his glasses down and began to look at his map. I joined him.
“This looks like the real thing,” he said. “It may only be a feint— we’ve had all these other reports about patrol action to the east; but I don’t think that it is. We’ll have a fifty per cent stand-to, to-night. I think C Company had better put an ambush party on Gloster Crossing—a strong fighting patrol. They’d better come down immediately after last light. I’ll brief the patrol commander myself.”
I went back to the scout car and we drove back to Battalion Headquarters, where I wrote the signal about the scale of sentries and alertness, and telephoned Paul, to warn him about the ambush party. Paul said it would come from Guido’s platoon; and that he and Guido would be down for the briefing.
The light was fading as Henry came up the steps into the Command Vehicle and said: “The party on Gloster Crossing is in position.”
“Just let everyone know, Henry,” said the Colonel.
In front of my built-in desk was the one-inch map on which were marked our positions: chinagraph symbols that formed a comprehensible if uneven pattern; symbols that translated the business of defending the approach along this country road to Seoul, the capital, from the personal to the impersonal. Yet here, in an infantry battalion headquarters, in the quiet that only the passing of the stream disturbed, we knew what other watchers at higher echelons could not know in the same detail: each hill, each trench, each weapon, and, above all else, each man who would be fighting when the battle was joined.
I looked across at the Colonel. Thick rings of blue-grey smoke rose from his pipe as he sat, one hand upon his crossed knee, lost in thought. Before a battle, there must come a time when every commander reviews his strength, his dispositions, and—his prospects. And, regardless of his past successes, each ensuing combat must raise for most at least a momentary doubt, a second’s fear, as to its outcome. Now, too, demands for secrecy of sentry posts, of trip flares, and of all alarum measures, must prevent, at least by night, a general tour of the force and thus withhold from its commander the special moral strength imparted by the troops’ stout hearts.
As minutes passed, as hours grew upon the clock, I thought most often of those watching eyes along each section, each platoon, each company front; of all the eyes that peered into the darkness to our west and to our east, battalion flanked by battalion, Geordies, Belgians, Riflemen, Puerto Ricans, Americans, Turks, ROKs. And down by Gloster Crossing, where the river splashed against the fifty-gallon drums that marked the ford, sixteen men of 7 Platoon were watching especially as the moon rose over the broken walls of the village and lit the black waters.
A voice said, “There’s someone at the Crossing, sir.”
Guido looked across to the north bank and saw that four figures had entered the stream and begun to cross, moving clumsily as the current caught at their knees, their thighs, their waists, as they progressed.
The night wind seemed lifted amongst the old ROK trenches. It seemed as if a sigh stirred the men in ambush before they awoke to complete, absolute alertness; before the shock of certain, impending action was absorbed by their minds and they became accustomed to and at ease with the thought of it.
Now the first crossers were nearer the shore and had been caught up by a further three. Already, the splashing of their cold bodies, pushing across the tide might be heard above the noise of the river hurrying past the buoys and lapping upon the beach. Now their figures were more distinct, their caps and tunics moonlit, their weapons outlined. Soon they would leave the water, already receded to their knees, and step up on to the shore and then ascend the cliff, up through the cutting.
No other sounds yet break the stillness, except the river splashing round the stones, the markers, and the men. No cry of fear, no fleeing feet, no shot in panic disturbs the April midnight quiet. These men are resolute.
No cough, no careless cigarette, no clatter of a weapon clumsily handled alarms the enemy’s approach. These men are trained.
The seven moonlit figures still come on; each second adds another detail to their faces, arms, accoutrements. Another twenty yards, fifteen, now ten, now five,—now——
Now!
The light machine-guns fire! The silence dies abruptly as the guns’ fierce echoes sound east and west along the river between the cliffs; south to the slopes of Castle Hill where eyes and ears, alerted by the flashes, strain for more news. And north, across the river, to whatever force may be in wait along the hills that, almost yesterday, we searched so closely.
The seven men are gone, swept away, lifeless, by the fast flowing water; except for one, poor wretch, whose groans are dying away in the shallows, as the bloody water washes over him, foam-spread, and ruffled lightly from his last, faint breath.
But there are more coming, hailing, many screaming, as they run into the water, firing their weapons, splashing; careless of noise now that they see from whence the crossing is opposed. Seven, seventeen, twenty-seven, thirty, more than thirty stumbling and heaving their heavy limbs against the current’s drag, panting and excited as they try to bear down by weight of numbers the ambuscade whose total strength theirs far exceeds. The echoing shots are now all theirs. A sub-machine-gun—homophonous, the ‘burp’ gun—is fired until its magazine is emptied, when another sends its charge of bullets to the cliff tops, and another splits the mud and wattle of the empty village walls. There is no lack of fire from the attackers, and their comrades on the northern bank provide support; heavy and light machine guns fire from bank to cliff across the water; mortars throw their streamlined bombs up into the night. Flash follows flash; the air above the unheeding river trembles with explosions.
Still there is no reply from the patrol on the hilltop. From somewhere to the south, their ears detect the sounds they have awaited; and, almost quicker than the thought, the shivering noise of shells is overhead as our artillery fire descends with all its might upon the northern bank and shores. In each succeeding sudden flare of the exploding shell is seen the last black veil of smoke from those preceding it. The mortars and machine-guns falter, quieten, die away.
But now, again, the crossing party move in shallow water. This is the moment. Again, the weapons of the ambuscade are used: light machine-gun, rifle, Sten gun, find a target each amongst the yelling figures underneath the cliffs; grenades are hurled amongst the leaders. The light of the full moon is temporarily augmented by the flares from our light mortars.
Confusion now appears amongst the enemy: of those that stand unwounded some draw back; one yelling figure
waves them on from deeper water near midstream; others remain in doubt, shouting in high-pitched voices from the cover of scattered boulders in the shallows, arguing back and forth. Two wounded men, whose unsure feet are turned towards the northern bank, are swept, quite suddenly, down stream, their weakened limbs incapable of fighting with the river. The ambush party’s weapons find new marks amongst the indecisive ranks now scattered below them. New flashes and explosions rise again to force decision on the enemy, whose few remaining numbers rush in panic back across the river, the last shots of the defenders cutting the stragglers down into the water, to be swept away westward through the Imjin’s mouth into the Yellow Sea.
Now there is a lull. The men in ambush examine their weapons. Guido, their commander, checks the ammunition. Among the village walls, upon the cliff top, a few soft phrases are exchanged; a drink of water taken: some black smudges of burnt powder removed from a cheek or forehead. The April night seems warm to these men.
Upon the other shore, the enemy is formed again to force the crossing at all costs, the numbers of the force now ten times greater than the first small group.
Again, the tiny dark figures are illumined by the moon as they descend the northern bank. The word is passed along the ambush lines. Again, the gunners fire with terrible effect. The mortar flares burn brightly over the black water. The lull is over: battle is joined once more.
Imagine, now, the scene on Castle Hill and that long hill on its right flank where the men of D Company stand-to. Riflemen, machine-gunners, mortar and gunner Observation Posts, signallers, medical orderlies, stretcher-bearers wait now, alert and ready; those under cover smoking; those outside scanning the moonlit slopes that lead to their positions, searching vainly the black pools of shadow that mark re-entrants, folds, depressions in the ground. Often those eyes are drawn towards the river and the crossing from whence the short fierce engagements are apparent, marked by light and sound.
Behind, a little to the south, and east, the other members of the Battalion Group are wakened, too, and ready. Long since, the medium and heavy mortars have been firing and the valley mouth, wherein the Main Headquarters stands, has echoed to the noise of their discharge. The Regimental Aid Post staff is up, the dressings and the instruments laid out. Drivers and drummers, snipers and signallers perform their duty or stand by. The cook-house has brewed up a special tea container. Guy listens to the signal traffic of the Field Regiment on his wireless and then comes into the Command Vehicle, where the air is thick with tobacco smoke. Sergeant Lucas, the ‘G’ clerk, brings in more coffee which he has brewed up. Richard brings in another message from Guido.
“They’re still trying to cross in hordes, sir,” he says to the Colonel who has just come in. “In another five minutes, he reckons they’ll be out of ammunition.”
The Colonel looks across to Guy and then to me.
“Tell them to start withdrawing in three minutes,” he says. “Guy, f m going to ask you for one last concentration, and then start dropping them short of Gloster Crossing as soon as the patrol is back at the first cutting south of the river.”
By Gloster Crossing there is another lull: a fourth attempt to cross has just been repulsed. The smell of mould and decay from the village and the cold river smell are mingling with the acrid fumes of burnt explosive. Guido’s ammunition is down to less than three rounds per rifle, to less than half a magazine for the Sten machine-carbines and the Brens. With the numbers against them, this will not hold another attack. But the task is nearly done as Guido looks at his watch. The second hand moves upwards, the minute hand closes on its next division. One after another, sixteen shadows slip south out of the village. Already some of them have formed a little covering party at the bund while their comrades go past, when they, in turn, slip softly back under cover of just such another party at the first cutting. Noiseless, as shadows are, they slip back across the unsown rice paddy. Calmly, as they have fought, they withdraw. Back to their slit trenches to continue the fight from there. Behind them, the body of the enemy remains unharmed—but, already he has a bloody nose.
In the quiet darkness upon Castle Hill, the word is passed: the word that began on the Hps of a signaller who had heard it from the receiver of a field telephone. And now the news is sent along a fresh series of telephone lines from the company headquarters to the platoon positions, where, whispered from a dugout, it is passed from slit trench to slit trench, man to man, Up to ear. So the word ascends the steep hillside to the very earthworks upon the ancient castle foundations, where John’s platoon stand watch. Yet it arrives too late, in this most forward position, to be the latest news; for as it is passed from company to platoon headquarters it meets a newer, more vital piece of news coming the other way.
“Listen, Jack: the patrol from C Company has come back and confirm a large number of enemy north of the Crossing.”
There is a murmur at the far end of the telephone as this piece of news is passed to the proper quarter. Then:
“Well, I’ve some news for you, whacker. The officer says to tell the Company Commander the enemy isn’t only on the north bank of the river: they’re coming up our path now and they’ll be knocking on the front door any minute!”
The signaller at A Company Headquarters hears the sound of an explosion in his receiver as he turns to pass this news to Pat.
The overture concluded, the curtain has risen on the first act.
The stage is almost in darkness: only the outlines of the hills appear at first in the moonlight. Yet we know where the defenders lie. Here and there appears a dull reflection of light from gunmetal; an occasional movement may be perceived in the gloom.
The attackers enter: hundreds of Chinese soldiers clad in cotton khaki suits; plain, cheap, cotton caps; rubber-soled canvas shoes upon their feet; their shoulders, chests, and backs criss-crossed with cotton bandoliers of ammunition: upon their hips, grenades—rough stick grenades so like the Boche “potato masher”, but inferior. Brown eyes, dark eyes beneath the long peaks of their caps peer forward to the back of whatsoever “comrade” they are meant to follow. Those in the forefront of the battle wear steel helmets that are reminiscent of the Japanese. Their weapons—rifles, carbines, “burp” guns, and Tommy guns that we supplied to Chiang Kai-Shek—are ready in their hands. Behind, on mule or pony limbers, are drawn their guns and ammunition. Between the two lines, on sweating backs, or slung between two men upon stout bamboo poles, their mortars and machine-guns travel forward. No Oxford carriers, no jeeps and trailers, no gun prime-movers here; but if they lack these aids to war, they do not lack what we do most: men. The hundreds grow to thousands on the river banks as, padding through the night, they close with us: eight hundred Glosters stand astride the road to Seoul—the road the Chinese mean to clear at any cost.
Originally, the Chinese plan had been a simple, silent night assault straight through the front of our positions. D on their left and A on their right once removed by overwhelming, fierce assault, they reckoned on a swift withdrawal by our frightened remnant. Following this, they planned, at best, to cut this off and thus destroy at once the whole left wing of the UN 3rd Division; and at worst, to open speedily the way to Seoul.
Speed in their plan was all-important: time was against them. Irrespective of our weakness and their corresponding strength in men, they could not force a battle, once our own command, appreciating where the main threat lay, disposed our few reserves to counter it. Our skills, and our equipments, were superior to theirs, once opportunity was given us to meet them in the open. And, too, once they deployed completely, their system of communication was so poor that they could not manoeuvre speedily, either to exploit our weakness as it became apparent, or to gather their strength against a counter-attack from us.
Thus, their aim was to break into, to destroy, and pass beyond our forces holding the approach to Seoul before we knew from whence the main thrust would come. And it was feasible, so thinly held were those approaches, with such gaps between the flanks of o
ne unit and another.
Each of those units was thus forced to fight a lone battle, to resist stubbornly until the enemy’s intention was clear, when the field might be arranged again to meet the new requirement.
Already their time schedule for the battle had been disrupted. The check by Guido’s ambush at the Crossing had put them back for many precious hours of darkness; precious since the daylight might bring aircraft to restore, at least in part, the balance which their numbers now disturbed.
The second crossing point, unknown to us, lay west of Gloster Crossing on an unmarked, ancient underwater bridge that brought them straight across on to a sand spit, thrown up by the river waters on a hairpin bend. These were the attackers who crept forward on to Castle Hill to meet A Company in a mighty clash of arms. At that same moment, the assault force fording at Gloster Crossing should have attacked D Company. But they were still reforming from the blows the ambush party had inflicted.
Now, therefore, with silence once again restored after the noisy struggle at the Crossing, a party of about three hundred Chinese riflemen crept up the slopes towards the Castle Site, whilst others slipped across the terraced paddy fields to take the western flank and rear defences of A Company.
CHAPTER TWO
23rd April 1951.
BELOW John’s trenches on the Casde Site, a tin can holding stones is rattling; another sounds close by. The watchers, listeners all, respond without a sound to this first warning. The barbed wire rattles, barb scrapes barb and locks; the tin cans sound again. A whispered word and all safety catches are released. Here and there, the split pins of grenades are eased across the cast-iron shoulders.
A faint, incomprehensible sound is heard in the night; the air is ruffled lightly; an object falls near, by a slit trench, smoking. Less than two seconds pass in which the occupants regard it, understand its nature, duck and take cover as it explodes. This is the first grenade: the first of many.
The Edge of the Sword Page 2