On 13 October 1951 a troopship arrived in Pusan harbour, to the sound
of a US Army jazz band playing 'Hold That Tiger'. The tune was particularly appropriate for the men on board were the 1st
battalion Royal Leicestershire Regiment, and of their number perhaps 60% were National Servicemen. These 18 and 19 year olds,
on a two year tour of duty, had left behind the safety of their homes in the midlands to fight for a country of which a couple
of weeks earlier, few had even heard.
Just three weeks later, on 5 November, these men were in the
thick of the 'Gunpowder Plot' battle, part of the last major UN offensive of the war. A major Chinese assault had thrown British
and Commonwealth troops off Point 317, the hill known as Maryang San (above). The Tigers were ordered to recapture the position,
and advanced into withering Chinese fire. Their objective was the ridge codenamed 'United', and by nightfall, after savage
hand to hand fighting they had captured it. However, weakened by casualties, the Leicesters were not strong enough to hold
on to the prize, and were ordered to withdraw to the hills codenamed 'Italy' and 'Crete'.
On 17 November, however, the Chinese renewed their own offensive, and
all along the Royal Leicesters' front line that night Chinese attacks broke like waves against a cliff. Again and again they
attacked, each time accompanied by bugles and fearful screams intended to terrify their enemy, but time and again the waves
were beaten back by machine gun and mortar fire.
The battalion's Support Company kept its six Vickers guns and 3 inch
mortars in continuous action all through the night, but in spite of this, contact was lost with the troops holding the exposed
position known as 'Italy'. When the position was eventually retaken, the quantities of spent .303 cases told their own story
- the defenders had put up a spirited fight. When those few men who were captured eventually returned from North Korean POW
camps, they told how the position had been overrun by sheer weight of numbers, the Chinese even attacking through their own
artillery barrage.
Left: This rare photo shows Royal Leicestershire Regt men in
a North Korean POW camp. They were captured on 'Italy' on 17 November
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Second Lieutenant Geoff Havilland (above) of No 1 platoon took
part in the attack on 'United', receiving the Military Cross for his actions that day. The events of that day remained engraved
on Havilland's memory. He later recalled: "A Chinese soldier in the trench immediately to my front stood up ... we stared
at each other for a very brief moment before he bent down to pick up his weapon; and as he did so I instinctively fired a
burst from my sub machine gun. Four rounds hit him in the back. Four puffs of kapock from his padded jacket. The number remains
distinct in my memory."
Cpl Joe 'Froggy' French (right) remembered the attack on 'Italy':
"We heard the bugles start up soon after midnight (Chinkie always heralded his attacks with bugles being blown) ... When
he attacked, his first waves always carried rolls of coconut matting. As soon as they reached the wire they would quickly
roll the matting over it. Once they had sufficient pathways through the wire they would be pretty well impossible to hold."
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Above: UN Propaganda leaflets dropped on the Chinese lines.
Quite a few blew back across the positions of the Royal Leicesters, and proved useful as toilet paper
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