Seventh Infantry Division - Yearbook (South Korea)

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position there or counterattack the enemy and reoccupy the position if it had fallen. By 0200 B was assaulting the first bunkers on Baldy and battling against small arms and hand grenade fire. The enemy was so deployed and in such strength that each time the lead elements attempted to advance they were met by intense small arms attack and a brutal barrage of hand grenades. The company immediately started to reorganize its position. bfi Reserves and ammunition, meanwhile, had been sent to Pork Chop and the base position on Hill 200, which now was under attack by the Reds. L was ordered to stand fast and hold its position until the arrival of Com- pany A, part of the regimental reserve which had been attached to the 3rd Battalion. It was planned that two companies join the platoon from Company L which was holding Hill 200 and Mg B.. tai- it ,,,i ,a . ,k,. M gt- . , , E' 7 '

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,, ff? if s in --sv is ' ' , ag- ., an f The Ethiopian Bn. is trained in the use of the bayonet. stalled, they reorganized and tried again, this time reaching the southwest slopes of the overbearing hill. Casualties had been heavy and the Chinese were looking down the throats of the counterattacking force. By 2200 UN forces had swarmed over about one-quarter of Old Baldy and the attack had once again bogged down. They remained there for the rest of the night. At 0430 they tried again, this time Company maneuvering around the right flank to assault the NCS? northeast finger of the objective. Once again the Reds blasted them with all types of fire. The UN forces were literally walking into a wall of gunfire. Cut down, the force once again dug in and held their new line. By 1315, the battalion commander reported he had a fight- ing strength left of only four officers and fifty-four men. He was ordered to reorganize his attack once more and to evacuate the dead and wounded from the gutted hillside. Company B was then ordered to pull back to Westview and hold that position while the lst Bat- talion withdrew. The Division Commander then ordered the 2nd Battalion of the 31st Infantry to prepare to launch an attack on the hill. For five days they practiced the assault on terrain similar to Old Baldy. Then, at a conference on the morning of 30 March, the Eighth Army Commander and Major General Arthur G. Tru- deau, who had assumed command of the 7th from Gen- eral Smith on 21 March, decided that the psychological and tactical advantages of Old Baldy were not essential to the defense of the sector. After a week of attack and counterattack, Old Baldy was abandoned. For the next three weeks the see-saw battle continued, with the Reds unsuccessfully attempting several major assaults on our positions along the MLR and OPLR. On 13 April, Outpost Dale was attacked by heavy enemy forces twice in the same day and both times Dale's de- fending force threw the Reds back. At 0202 the next morning, another enemy platoon probed Dale but with- drew under heavy fire by units on the hill. The heavy barrages which had preceded these attacks had torn up many of the communications trenches on the position and damaged or destroyed several defending ones. At 23 16 on 16 April, Dale was hit by two more enemy com- panies. By this time, however, Companies L and I of the 31st Infantry were attached to the lst Battalion. An intense fireiight followed as the enemy closed in. Through heavy VT fires, the Reds charged at the de- fense positions and bitter hand-to-hand combat fol- lowed. But Dale held. At 0450, the Communists scat-