Seventh Infantry Division - Yearbook (South Korea)

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'Wi Men and ammunition silhouetted against the flare of firing Howitzer. a hail of exploding grenades and point-blank gunfire. The men finally attached their bayonets and routed the fanatic Reds with cold steel in hand-to-hand battle. October, 1951, brought brief relief, this time a semi- permanent camp at Kapyong which we established for use by other divisions after us. Then, on 21 October, 1951, we went back again, this time to the line above Yanggu between the Mandung-ni and Satae-ri Valleys. It earned itself the notorious title of Heartbreak Ridge. Heartbreak Ridge was a strategic ridgeline four miles long which pointed like a dagger at the heart of a Red supply and assembly point. Like the other hills, it was steep, hot, barren and razor-sharp. The defending enemy troops lived in log-topped bunkers deep in the bowels of the hillside and were grimly determined to defend this point with its obvious advantages at all costs. During the bitterly-cold winter, Heartbreak Ridge was the subject of a constant see-saw action. U. S. Battalions would scale its deadly heights only to be beaten back by the determined North Koreans. One battalion stormed to the top of the ridge at a loss of two-thirds of its men fabout 650 soldiersj and only three men gained the top. The Reds stormed back and re-captured it. Another time during theiwinter cam- paign, neither side held the top. Battling only a few yards apart, the enemy and UN forces fought from deep I Taking ten, during lull in action. Sgt. P. Wiener takes a break after being relieved from his position on Old Baldy , Korea. 3 A Ei

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Systematic Bunker Busting Mission. dered. Objectives: the key terrain some 3,000 meters to the front. The maps called this stretch of Hills 851, 682, 461, 658 and 6025 a series of dusty, bald, needle- like blisters in the land fortified by earthen bunkers and protected by an enemy so Well protected that mor- Foxhole bathing. -TX, fl' . y , I ' ' IA 1 ,W 1' ',! . J 0 f ' ' fl, L A t tal l f , 6 , ,Q ff DQ ' -S X ' - 2,-' 0 - v .' 5 Q9 fn .f 4, . ,V . A ' -X , ', . TH J. s X A Alwry' . ',, . A. X , A ' 'vg Q .- 'if' .lf V , A , RYMQWN The lousy bums! Now huw'll I wash? tar shells could not reach him. Air strikes and napalm bombs singed the ground and made grotesque stumps of trees. The ground Was cracked, hot and hard. But nothing could budge the Laundrymen. Finally the Divi- sion had to attack the ridges, one after another through

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