Army - Kicking Tires On Jltv

arrier created a weakness. In any event,
both sides exchanged fire in the darkness.
About midnight, the Chinese
showered the defenses with 82 mm and
120 mm mortar rounds and a mix of
Russian 76 mm and American-made 75
mm pack howitzer shells. The barrage
ignited an American truck, and the Chinese
used the blaze as illumination to
guide additional shelling and the approaching
hostile infantry.
Out of the darkness came the tinny
bleat of bugles and shrill whistles, Chinese
signals that also served to unnerve
the defenders. The French immediately
cranked up a siren, and old Monclar directed
his forward platoons to fix bayonets.
As the first wave of Chinese ran
into the French wire, a squad of Monclar’s
men appeared on their flank, firing
rifles and tossing grenades. Stunned, the
Chinese backed off.
An hour or so later, the entire perimeter
erupted. Big 155 mm howitzers
of Battery B, 503rd Field Artillery, an
African-American unit, alternated shooting
up parachute flares with delivering
lethal bursts of high explosives. The defenders’ 105 mm artillery
fired round after round as the Chinese milled in front of the
barbed wire. Machine gunners ran through belt after belt.
Tanks maneuvered to pre-chosen firing steps, cranking off main
gun shots and steady machine-gun fire. Staff officers recorded
four major enemy thrusts but to the soldiers engaged, it was all
one long, awful night. But when dawn came, the Chinese
Communists pulled off.
Daylight brought the U.S. Air Force, and they did not hold
back. Heavy bombs and napalm canisters rained down. The
suffering Chinese replied by firing their mortars into the U.S.
positions. One lucky shot hit just outside the regimental command
post, killing one officer and wounding two others. One
Then-Col. Paul L. Freeman Jr., center, of the 23rd Infantry Regimental Combat Team, and then-Maj.
Gen. Edward M. Almond, X Corps commander, right, confer with other officers during the Battle of
Chipyong-ni, South Korea.
was Freeman. His left calf was ripped open, his shinbone
cracked. The colonel was in agony, but he refused evacuation
when aircraft landed to retrieve the wounded.
The Chinese tried again that night. They got close—too
close, in some spots. But the enemy never broke the RCT’s line.
Nor did the Chinese break the spirit of the American and
French defenders. Just before sunset on Feb. 15, a tank column
from the 1st Cavalry Division broke through. The siege was
over. The casualty toll was 51 killed, 42 missing and 259
wounded. The Chinese left behind almost a thousand dead.
What did it all mean? A historian of China’s People’s Liberation
Army understood. As Chen Jian put it: “Chipyong-ni
changed everything.” The Chinese had thought the Americans
wouldn’t stand and fight. Now, they
knew otherwise. There would be other
battles, and a lot more killing. There
would be no more mass bugouts. The
soldiers of the 23rd Infantry Regimental
Combat Team did not win the Korean
War. Neither side did. But the American
and French defenders ensured their
side wouldn’t lose. Sixty-five years ago
in Korea, that was enough. ✭
U.S. Army
U.S. Army
Then-Lt. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, left, and
Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond salute during the
presentation of a battle streamer to an attached
French battalion for service in the Battle of
Chipyong-ni, South Korea.
February 2016 ■ ARMY 59