On the banks of this river in korea.
In nineteen fifty one.
America,britain and the united nations allies were locked in a battle with tens of thousands of communist troops.
What moved the allies to cross the world to fight here in korea only five years off the bloodshed of the second world war.
Which they drive to stop communism spreading further.
I have been revealing the dramatic reversals in military fortunes of the days of the capitalist west and the communist east.
I'm telling the story of how event in korea nearly spiralled out of control,raising the spectre of nuclear war.
The korean war was waged by men from twenty four different countries around the world,and then divided by ideology.
But also,by the way,they fought,on one hand,massive firepower on the other.overwhelming numbers.
I'll be telling the story of what it was like for the ground troops when these two very different armies clashed.
I'm describing the brutal fighting often wage an extreme conditions across the entire korean peninsula.
This is the story of a largely forgotten conflict,and the battle that took place here on the imjin river during the communist spring offensive of nineteen fifty one.
A battle that was to be a turning point in the war for career.
I'm on a journey that perhaps the world's.
Reduced border,the bold,arbitrary north and south korea.
Right now,i'm about to the south korean side of the four kilometer wide security zone that straddles the entire length of the body.
This zone is effectively a no go area.police by troops from the united nations,marked out by miles of bob 1fences.
And defended with land mines.
At the border itself,there are no fences or gates.
Here,the quarter is simply marked by this block of concrete just four inches high,yet absolutely no one is allowed to step across.
Guarding the border on the south side stand the soldiers of the south korean army.
Immediately opposite,the men of the north korean army.
The only place along the entire border.
That the two sides are in direct communication is of bebop,where a few huts literally straddle the border.
Strictly speaking,standing here,i'm in south korean territory,but if i step beyond this table here,in theory i'm inside north korea.
Although,practically speaking,the mysterious country of north korea lies beyond that guarded and locked door over there.
So how come such a bizarre situation exists yet?well the fact is that north and south korea are still officially at war.
And have been for more than half a century.
Before the second world war,the entire korean peninsula was under the control of japan.
When japan was defeated,the victors divided the country along this line of latitude.here,the thirty eighth parallel.
The soviet union sponsored a communist regime up here in the north,under criminal song in his capital,pyongyang.
And the americans put sigma,fiercely rightwing nationalist in control of south korea in his capital.
Sing mr.,i wanted to govern,not just south korea,but the entire peninsula.
He wanted the unite north and south,under a capitalist regime.
In the north,his opposite number and bitter enemy,camille's son also wanted the unify the korean peninsula.
But under the banner of communism.
Each man had his dream of unifying korea under his room,but neither of them did much.budget.
Until just after four air on the twenty fifth of june nineteen fifty,when,without any warning,north korea invaded the south.
Within hours,a hundred and thirty thousand men of the north korean army were pouring across the border.
The north korean army caught the south koreans utterly unprepared,the south koreans could barely muster a fighting force.
Outgunned and overwhelmed by enemy tanks,the ill equipped army were rapidly.
Thirdly,forced back.
Even though we fired a gun at them,the tanks were not damaged at all,we could not destroy them.
We in the panic,we couldn't resist the enemy.
It was terrifying.
In just forty eight hours,the communist soldiers were poised to attack the south korean capital.soul.
So.
The jewel in the crown of south korea and the north korean armies attack 8was swift and certain.
The communist burst through these narrow streets,meeting little resistance.
As they took control.
The north korean troops swamped the city.
And by june,the twenty eighth,just three days after the invasion,communist flags were flying over.
But the north koreans didn't stop here.and soul.
They pushed on southwards,aiming to take the whole peninsula in the name of communism.
They cross rivers.they traversed mountains.
And they defeated the week south korean army at every encounter.
For the north koreans,it was beginning to look like a walk.
The west and its allies feared the loss seizure of south korea.
Would be another dangerous advance of communism throughout the world.
And the west was determined to do something about it.
The americans took the lead in persuading the united nations go to the defense of south korea.now the soviet union could have vetoed this proposal.
They went that.
In the soviet union's absence,the vote was passed.
For the first time,the united nations was going to war.
Twenty one nations from around the world,including britain,would send men and equipment.took career.
But there would be no doubt as to who would be in charge.
America,by far the biggest single force,was in command.
Devising and korea was no longer a small skirmish of far flung country is a dragged in a superpower.
Within days,allied troops began to flood into south korea.
American troops for the first of the un.forces to arrive in korea.
Shipped in from their bases in nearby japan.
And they enter care through korea's southernmost port.
When they landed,they faced a desperate situation and it was getting worse,because by now,the south korean army had almost totally collapsed.
Under the advance of the north korean steamroller.
But the american troops will actually powerless to improve matters.
Because these were not the same battle hardened,well equipped men that have been victorious in the second world war.
We had equipment left over from world war two.
Most of which had been unaware,unpleasant,it was from unserviceable to nonexistent.
We will have very poor shape for everything.
We were not ready to find war that's along in the short of it.
Just.
Weeks off,the setting foot on korean soil,the american land forces faced a terrible humiliation.
By now,the north koreans controlled nearly the whole of the korean peninsula,and this meant the american troops and their south korean allies.
Were packed into an increasingly tight corner,an area that became known as the pusan perimeter.
This was a tiny pocket of land just fifty miles by fifty miles around the port of pusan,in the southernmost tip of the peninsula.
Everywhere else was in north korean.
United nations forces were surrounded and in danger of being pushed out of korea all together.
What was needed to rescue united nations forces from disaster.
Was a bold stroke from a decisive leader.and that's exactly what they got from the man in charge,the american general douglas macarthur.
Macarthur was one of those commandos who was larger than life.
He was america's most decorated officer in the first world war,and he relished the fame he'd won,leading the defeat of japan in the second world war.
Now,the korean war gave the aging general a chance of yet another triumph.
Mcarthur knew that he was to push camille songs,coming,assume back into north korea,you'd have to come up with a much more ambitious strategy.
The simply battling it out on the person.burton.
In world war two,mcarthur's greatest victories had been achieved through amphibious landings,sending troops in by sea.
To attack behind enemy lines.
Such landings carry grave risks that macarthur was convinced he had mastered the technique.
Malfa not proposed to use the same strategy in korea,with a bold attempt to take the pressure off his forces.
Trapped in this household in the southeast of the peninsula.
He would deliver an amphibious hammer blow,not down here,around percent,but a hundred and fifty miles behind enemy lines to the northwest,at the port city of incheon.
If he could seize in chong,his troops could move on to sell a mere twenty miles inland and north koreans off from behind and force simplified on two fronts.
Here and here.
The north koreans will be surrounded and crushed.
But the landing at inchon would be a high risk exercise.
Bahamas said it was placed at the end of a treacherous passage called flying fish channel,where the tide raced in and out twice a day.
When the tide fell by much eleven metres long,thirty six feet,vast mud flats were exposed,making an approach impossible.
Even when the tide was in,the city was protected by high seawalls and a fortified island of the mozilla harbour named,well,me down.
Macarthur's plan,code named operation chromite,was to assemble a vast naval thoughts carrying seventy thousand u s troops who had braved the dangerous tides of incheon harbor.
And land on the beaches.
The marines would first have to take the key beach at well meadow code named green beach,which is only possible during the short.
When the tide was high.
Once the other had been silenced on rome,then the rest of the landing force would have to wait a whole twelve out of the time to rise again before they could solve red beach to the north of.
And blue beach.lusk.
Set for mid september nineteen fifty.operation crime might was to be the largest amphibious landing since d day.
Many maz's colleagues told his plan near impossible,one of them said,we drop a list of every natural and geographic handicap.
And inform animal.
But gather himself privately admitted his operation chromite was risky.
It was going to be a tough assignment for the crack u s marines hand-picked to carry out the operation.
Like,yes,no,there's one like free to speak.
The marine success clung on,meticulous planning.
But when i went to visit the british royal marines,old h.m.s.albion,i found out just how many factors can throw the best plan.of course.
There's the weather,there's the tide that has an impact the estate,because the americans didn't.chong had real problems of the tides,very high tides,just a twelve hour gap between them.how important is it to get the times absolutely right?
Well,if we get it wrong,then we're going to end up either getting caught on sandbars offshore.the absolutely.and if it is too high,then of course she may be actually slamming into the seawall.
Equally difficult to get people off.so timing is absolutely crucial.
Now,when you're landing craft to run away,and you're on that landing craft,your guys,how critical to you is the covering fire that's coming down on the enemy.
As you go to the beach,the absolutely fundamental that's that's why i'll destroys our figures.have a big guns on the front.that's what,therefore is to buy us that time.to get a.
But this will be a mattress.supreme concern for the lads that are now on the landing craft and steaming into the beach like it,like being able to land a craft on their way into a beach.
There will be guys that are utterly disorientated,they won't have a clue if they're an exactly the right position,what they're going to see when they get off,get off the landing craft.
Given with that some will have been sick,some will be dizzy,some will be confused and frightened.a hugely frightened one of the crew of the landing craft,who's working up on deck.
That will be shouting five hundred meters to go four hundred meters to go,and then counting them down.and of course they get to one hundred meters to go.they all stand up the doors,get get pushed open,and then they just stood there waiting for the right to drop.
Hit the beach ramp,goes down.and then the.
A u s marines waiting off the coast of incheon were about to go through exactly the same experience as everyone for the amphibious landing drew near.
At around six am on the fifteenth of september,the actual landing part of the operations swung into action.
Under the cover of allied naval gunfire.
Six british and american destroyers had already steamed in the within a mile of the city.
And then gives some of their guns,could find at point blank range,on boomtown and the entire in jan area.
For two days in shown that been bombed by aircraft,dropping napalm on the north korean defenses.
And founded by warships.
Now,they get more covering.
The landing craft used the high tide to sweep in from the sea and land on world widows green beach.
Through the chaos caused by the supporting fire wave after wave of landing craft headed for green beach.
Smoke was boiling out of incheon,the entire beach area simply disappeared in an enormous cloud of dust and smoke,with only the occasional glitter rocket burst showing through.
It was just awesome.
But as the first wave of marines approached green beach,they're faced with the daunting task.
Scaling the 32foot high,defensive seawalls under enemy fire.
Well.
This is green beach on walmart do today not quite the same site that would have greeted the first wave of u s marines as they clambered up the sea wall.
With the second wave of.
Just four minutes behind,they quickly advanced inland,the landscape blackened and blasted by the covering fire.
The marines swept over the island,meeting limited resistance and suffering few casualties.
In just two hours,the marines commander radioed the waiting fleet.romeo secured.
Face,one of their mission had been accomplished.
The marines,the battle had only just.
Begun.
As this tide retreated,that took with it the landing craft,their vital lifeline to the allied ships out there.
They had to dig in for the next twelve hours.they had done enviable task of defending the island against a possible counterattack.
It was vital the marines held their ground only if they retained control of this crucial island,could further waves of landing craft,moved safely on to insure itself.
They waited hour of the hour for the tide to turn.
Waiting to defend against any north korean counterattack.
But the big attack never came.
Only at half past five did the tide come back in,and conditions were again favorable for the next phase of the american landings.further up the channel.
Red beach felt the marines,with little resistance.
But there was still one more beach to capture.
Almost simultaneously,the marines assaulted here.at.
Beach,about a mile south of in.
But things on blue beach didn't go quite as smoothly.
Out to see twenty five separate assault waves and formed,but as they approached the shore,many of them were swept.
Wildly off course,by the strong currents.
The assault on blue beach was in disarray,landing craft the risk of capsizing men in danger of drowning.
Those who did make it through found the beach choked with smoke from the earlier naval bombardment.
The actual landing conditions were terrible.
The city was on fire,and the rain was mixing with the smoke and fire of the bombardment.
So it is very difficult finding the beach.
Some units got mixed up,landing on the wrong beaches.
We just had to get it all sorted.
Despite the problems,there was no serious opposition to stop the allied advance.
They managed to push on through incheon and further inland.
Their journey took them eastwards,liberating village after village,rapidly crushing what little north korean resistance they met.
Their bold attack behind enemy lines had been a resounding success.
In just eleven days,the men of the united nations army had reached their target and recaptured the south korean capital.
So.
The war in korea was taking a whole new turn.
By now,the allied forces,hidden down inside the pusan perimeter.
Had been reinforced with fresh battle ready troops.
They broke out and thrust north to join those who would recapture the soul.
The united nations forces could not attack the north korean troops from two directions.
Kimmel's songs,zombie was effectively surrounding,and quickly collapsed.
Within just two weeks,the allies of bush,the crumbling north korean army,back over the thirty eighth parallel.
Back into the bull's career.
It was an incredible turnaround.
The two careers were now back,where they began.
Divided by the thirty eighth,parallel.
The question for the un.allies was what to do next?
The united nations could have ended the wall,right?that.
But macarthur wanted to press on.
He didn't just want to kick communism out of south korea,but crashed in north korea as well.
He said the north should pay the penalty of invading the south.he urged the united nations to take the wall across the border.
At the end of september nineteen fifty,mccarthy got his way.
He was given the go ahead to cross the thirty eighth parallel and pushing into north korean.
The un army were no longer repelling an invasion,they had themselves become the invaders.
The allied invasion of both career began very well.
Along with the seventh,the main body of the united nations force drove northwards,and within a month they overrun the communist capital,pyongyang.
Still,they pressed on,scattering in the north koreans who oppose them.
The united nations forces were now within reach of fulfilling macarthur's vision of a total victory over communism and the united anti-communist career.
Word went around that macarthur had even promised his troops would be home by christmas in a month's time.
But every step,his men took north.
Threatened to awaken a sleeping dragon.
Macarthur's troops were now fast approaching the yalu river.
The border between north korea and communist china.
The chinese leader.
Moshe 2had been watching events in korea.
His new communist regime was only a year old and far from secure.
Now,the united nations army was rapidly approaching his eastern board.
As far as my is concerned,this was blatant imperialist aggression,and it had to be stopped.
In september nineteen fifty,he ordered the chinese people's volunteer army into north korea.
Led by commander upon their why,their aim was to confront and crush the united nations.
The vast armies of china had joined the war.
Almost overnight,the men of the united nations faced a very different enemy.
The chinese were tough,they were battle hardened veterans of years of civil war experts in close quarters,fighting.
And used to the rugged terrain.
What really set them apart as a fighting force that they were highly politicized?each man had to sign a pledge of commitment to the cause,and each unit.
Had to swear an oath to destroy imperialism.
They want us,if we didn't wipe out the enemy,and korea,now,one day they will come back to china and we would lose everything.we swore,a triumph in the communist cause and protect everything the revolution had won for us.
We want ever going to be oppressed by imperialists again.
The chinese may have been rugged and determined,but the real advantage lay in the sheer vastness of their numbers.
The un,on the other hand,ride on completely different strategies,rather than the use of troops travelling swiftly and silently,across open countryside.
The u n had fewer troops relying on road bound tanks and artillery.
Artillery was the key weapon that would form the bedrock of the allied battle plan.
Dan and i were given the chance to experience what it's like to be on the live artillery fire when we visited the bombard shelter.
Of the british royal school of artillery.
A converge a p d a two rounds at momma walmart,round 5,perfect.
Ones are far.
Even in this bunker,you can actually feel the shock waves go through.you can't,you're telling me.
How critical.
Is the artillery defending a position like this against imaging these waves of chinese attacking absolutely vital,the contribution that artillery makes in delaying the enemy,taking them out.
Taking out large numbers,which been absolutely critical with the chinese,because they did the human wave tactics,was vital.
Police,in effect,would probably be about one hundred and fifty meters in a circle.
Taking people out,that would be killing them,and then the actual damage will go out to about two or three hundred meters,and that that effect would be continuous.dioni,all weather twenty four hours a day.
That's what you will receive.
The effect of that incident,devastating.
Even inside the reinforced bunker,we could feel the force of the explosions.
But it was only out in the open that we could see the impact those explosions would have on an enemy attack.
So these shells that basically,just like giant hand-grenades,absolutely,and that's the effect we're after,each shell breaks up into hundreds of fragments,thousands of thousands of fragments.
There,i would have been black with those fragments,and i've got some here,which we fired today,actually,a whole range.the optimum size is probably this one.and if you.
Just look at that.you see how heavy and sharp as that's just a jagged edge.one of those were killed,someone cause it easily easily.these two here would have taken this chaps arms off,this one here would have killed him.
That one up the top is a serious head wound,and the last one on here would have hurt his life.and if they came on the chinese,they came on weight of numbers.
But as they're coming forward,you know,they're encountering their comrades,wounded,injured,screaming,do they keep going to help them out?what do they do the whole time?we're just sapping the momentum out of this attack.
But no matter how lethal the artillery fire.
It did little to stem the mass attacks of the chinese army.
We swarmed into action.like.
The enemy comes overheated with the continuous use.they began to misfire.could no longer hit that target.
In the end,they would see so many people coming at them,they would panic.
One after another,united nations positions were simply overwhelmed by wave after wave of chinese infantry.
Some united nations units.
Fought hard,others fell back in disarray,generally morale collapse and to make matters worse,the bitter korean winter you're setting in.
By late november nineteen fifty,with the temperature well below zero degrees,men of both sides were fighting at the limit of human endurance.
The chinese soldiers were wearing only lightly padded cotton uniforms and thing canvas shoes.
Protect them against the bitter cold.
The allies fared little better,and much of their equipment simply seized up.
The men had to keep themselves awake for fear of freezing to death as they slept.
The first night the chinese hit us,i lost thirty nine men to frostbite.
The next afternoon,i went down to the medical station.
And the doctors will break off all those frozen toes.but forceps.
And never saw those.many.
I lost a whole tone to frostbite.
Fighting a war in these dire conditions was not what these men are expected to make matters worse,some american marines found themselves surrounded at a place called choice inn.
Despite relentless chinese attacks,the americans managed to fight their way out.
But elsewhere on the battlefield,other soldiers couldn't cope.
Without waiting for orders,some turned around and fled.
We moved headlong,helter skelter,trying to get to the point at pusan.
It was disgusting.
Unbelievable.
I never felt so ashamed in all of my life is to be a part of an army that was running away.
Allied defences were crumbling.
Across practically the entire frontline.
The united nations generals had no choice,they ordered a full scale withdrawal.
It was the largest military withdrawal in u.s.history.
As with chinese drove south,the united nations army,hold it in front of,and by january nineteen fifty one,the americans of the allies.
Had been thrown back south of seoul.
Once again,the south korean capital was in the hands of the.
But this proved a step too far.
Because the chinese had moved so far south,then supply lines,when not some village strained and the tide turned yet again.
The un,army once more,began to push north.
Over the first weeks of nineteen,fifty one.
The allies call their way back to a line just north of south of just south of the old border.
After seven months of seesaw monsoon withdrawal,once more,the two sides were practically back to where they've been when the war began.
The huge sweeping moves of the two sides,little town,the peninsula.
Subsided into a apparent stalemate.
But how to break this stalemate was the lead to a crisis of the very highest level of the american leadership.
The american president,harry truman,did not want to do anything to escalate the war in korea.
But general mccarthy still demanded total victory over his communist enemy.
Mcarthur believes his president's policy was too timid,and he was going to say so loud and clear.
It also achieved total victory.he demanded that the war should be taken into china itself.
What macarthur was proposing was not simply to attack china.
But to have the option of attacking it with nuclear weapons.
This wall was threatening to go nuclear.
With magazine now publicly challenging washington policy.
President truman had to make a decision,and he made a brave.
I believe that we must try to limit the war to korea.
For these vital reasons.
The make sure that the precious lives of our fighting men are not wasted to see that the security of our country and the free world is not needlessly jeopardize.
And to prevent a third world war.
I have therefore considered essential to relieve general macarthur macarthur is one of our greatest military commanders.
But the cause of world peace is much more important than any individual.
Macarthur's dismissal marked the end of an era,the ends of the allied aim to unite the two careers under a democratic flag.
Mcgrath's job went to general matthew ridgway.
A man both liked and respected by his ground troops and a man who accepted the idea of a divided korea.
Ridgeway aim was to establish a defensible line of the mountains and rivers,just north of.
From where he could keep the communists?
But the chinese come on the pending way has entirely different plans.he wanted to demolish the allied forces and throw them out of korea once and for all.
Unknown to the mainly british and american soldiers who were starting to dig in,china's vast armies were preparing the long jump,massive attack.
As spring offensive.
As night fell on the twenty second of april nineteen,fifty one.
Hundreds of thousands of north korean and chinese troops prepared to attack right along the battle front,marked here in the western section of the peninsula by the imjin river,only thirty miles from seoul.
These chinese troops were masters,and infiltration and concealment.
Morale was high.
Confidence of victory,the chinese leaders told their men they be celebrating may day in the streets of seoul.
That night,the chinese took their positions along the banks of the imjin and lay in wait for the order to move.
The chinese commander pathways plan.
Was for a huge,coordinated attack practically from coast to coast.
And the aim of his spring offensive to destroy entire u.n.divisions by swamping them with sheer weight of numbers,carving them up into small pockets and wiping them out one by one.
Then he'd moved to recapture.
Paying all that the north koreans,being pressure on the east end of the line here.
But the major check would be by the chinese themselves punching a hole through a line in three places against the south korean forces.here,american forces.
Yeah.
And here in the west,where i am now,the chinese was a large force against the mainly british twenty ninth brigade.
Who had defending the historic invasion route to sell across the imjin river.
Until now,the americans and south korean troops upon the brunt of this war.but the next few days,the men of the mainly british twenty ninth brigade.
Led by brigadier tom brady,would play a vital role.
The twenty ninth brigades,nine mile long front along the imjin river,was pivotal.
If the chinese breached the line in this position,the allied divisions either side would be exposed.and the rooster sol would be open.
Of vital importance were two river crossings with tracks leading to the capitol just thirty miles to the south.
Seven hundred men of the gloucestershire regiment guarded this track.
From the hills,just size of a form,which they later called cluster crossing.
This second crossing and track were gathered by another seven hundred men from the battalion of the royal northumberland fusiliers.
In support,both british battalions could call on the royal artillery's.feedback.
All this,plus some text in reserve here and some other units on either side.what part of produce 2019brigade?and after taking this region under the overall command.
Of the american third.
There were just four thousand men in the british twenty ninth brigade,findlay faced,and not yet properly dug in a pitifully small contingent.
To be defending such a crucial stretch of front.
Advancing on them,the entire chinese sixty third army,over twenty seven thousand men.
The british were outnumbered by iran's seven to one.
Ten p m on the twenty second of april,the first chinese troops.
Started to wade across this shallow section of water here.but they were held back,and only two hours by less than sixteen men from a platoon of the gloucesters.fine from up here on the south bank.
And then we saw the chinese.
They were thick in the water somewhere around.
Two thousand men.
It was an astonishing target.
And we did use up all our ammunition.
After hunting four separate chinese assaults,the british troops finally ran out of ammunition and had no choice but to pull back and rejoin their units.
Was now nothing to stop the chinese from advancing further.
Throughout the night of the twenty second of april,vast numbers of chinese soldiers succeeded in crossing the imjin river.
It's it down there,and pushing southwards towards here.this area,known as castle hill,was held by around a hundred men of the clusters.a company.
They were in for a very long night.
For six hours on the bright moonlight,under the glare of parachute.
A company for the ferocious close quarters battle for control of this.
Again and again,the chinese attacked 50.
And again and again,a company drove them back with machine gun and mortify all the time.they received vital help from their artillery just over five miles away.to the rape.
The shells rained down in front of me.a whole squad was blown to pieces.
And the bodies of dead and wounded scattered along the track.
I didn't know what to be killed,i ran beyond that barrage just as fast as my legs would carry me.
At times,the supporting artillery was the only thing slowing the chinese advance.
At first light on the twenty third of april.
Things were looking to decided they bleak for the whole twenty nine brigade.in fact,it was looking grim right away along the whole allied line.
Some thirty miles over there,the east,a south korean division,collapsed under chinese pressure and america than commonwealth troops were desperately trying to plug the gap.
It made it all the more vital that the british twenty ninth brigade,held on here at all costs.
Little fumble infusion is guiding the easterly track on from the river and found that four positions threatened.
The chinese have begun to gain the high ground here,and the fusiliers were being pushed back.the line was weakening.
And the chinese were infiltrating the gaps between the british position.
As for the gst,does five miles of the west that a company unable to hold out any longer.on castle hill.
There was no other option for the soldiers here,reduced to just one officer and fewer than sixty men.but the pull back and join the rest of the italian father,son.
Relying completely on supporting artillery fire,they managed to retreat to a hill that became known as just a hill by drawn.on the next day,the twenty fourth of april.
Do you have taobao?italian,reduced to around four hundred men,all defending gloster hill against the around ten thousand chinese soldiers.
And they were practically surrounded.
Fine,not the ghost's situation was so precarious that the twenty ninth brigade commander,brigadier,brandished a column of tanks.
Along this valley.
In an attempt to blast its way through them.
But the lead tank was hit.
And it blocked the route and the attempt to break through to the gangsters had to be a band.
All hope of getting help for them.if vaping.
Then afternoon general,so the american,on the whole,the units in the area,radio draws how things were going.
Brigadier brody,instead of urgently requesting the loss of withdrawal,replied simply that things were a bit sticky.
He couldn't have chosen a worse moment for a bit of british understatement.the american general was given no idea how bad things really well.and so we ordered 209brigade.
To hold that position.
What followed was disaster.
At ten p m.
Chinese struck the gloucesters fought a bloody hand hand battle and push back attack after attack.the battle raged all through the night.
It was the beginning of the end for the glasses.
The entire twenty ninth brigade was a breaking point.
If they didn't withdraw,they face death or captivity.
The attempt to get any relief to adjust,as may have been blocked.
But on the right,a little fumble line of retreat was still clear.
Brigadier roddy and order tanks up the track to escape the night.
But the withdrawal became chaotic as the chinese managed to swap out of the track and climb on.the british takes.
Crews of neighboring tanks forced to hold each other's time between going back is a desperate attempt to dislodge the cambridge chinese.
Rescue little semblance was succeeding.but they just.
The clusters off to the west were left to their fate.
In the face of a rapidly advancing chinese brigadier brand by not been forced to withdraw their artillery,supporting his troops.
And once these vital guns were silence.
The men of augustus really work at the mercy of the chinese.
The men stranded just stop there on the top of gloucester hill,were preparing for nearly impossible task they were going to try and make a break for it.
But many had not slept or eaten for days,and we've virtually no ammunition,getting back to friendly lines would be a near impossible task.
But the gloucesters had little choice.they set out across the enemy,infiltrated stretch of land on what,for many,would be their final journey.
The gangsters that started the battle of the imjin,with seven hundred men.
Fifty eight had been killed in the fighting,only sixty three made it back to the safety of british lines that night.
Nearly six hundred blusters were taken prisoner.
It was a very shameful moment,surrendering.i hated doing.
Surrendering.
Seemed to go against everything that i thought.soldering should be about.
The rest of twenty nine brigades fared little better than the gangsters,but those few days in april nineteen,fifty one had taken their toll on the enemy.
Although twenty nine brigades that gloucester quarter of its men is it destroyed nearly half of the covid,this forces attacking them across the mgm.and right the way along the entire battle front in korea.
Other british,american and allied forces fought heroic battles of their own.
No one knows.
Exactly how many the chinese lost,but it was in the tens of thousands.
The communist offensive.
Ground to a halt along the entire battle.
It was to be the last major assault of its kind.
The chinese would never again should attack on the scale of a spring offensive of nineteen fifty one.
Like the americans,they too had finally realized that neither of them could win control of the whole of korea.
While the allied crushing of the communist spring offensive in great cause along the imjin river did not end the fighting immediately.
It did bring both sides to the negotiating table.
Yet when they first met on july the tenth,nineteen,fifty one few could have had any inkling that the negotiations.
Would drag on for over two years.
All this time,the vicious battles for minor stretches of tactical grounds continued and the casualty rate sold.
This increasingly futile war was to go on another two years before the fighting finally ended.
The two sides agreed the position of the new board of between them,and they agreed on roughly the line of the thirty eighth parallel.justified here.
And on the twenty seventh of july nineteen fifty three,they agreed a ceasefire.
In three years of warfare,more than two million people had lost their lives,and a country had been devastated.
And yet the border between north and south korea had barely change.
And was one even bigger hourly.the two sides have never signed a peace treaty.
The state of war between north and south korea still officially exists.
To this day,korea's two sides remain in an uneasy stalemate.
North korea is still one of the most developed countries in the world,and fiercely secretive.
South of the border,it's a very different story.
South korea had developed into a vibrant and thriving democracy.
Today,the two koreas may be vastly different,but one thing hasn't changed.
For the people of north and south korea,the threats of a returns,hostilities still looms.
Fifty years after the ceasefire,south korean still plan for the worst.
Around swissgear siren sounds across the south korean capital here in seoul.it's a drill for the taking of immediate shelter.
In the event of a north korean attack.
For a few minutes,these city streets empty,in readiness for return to hostilities.
A lot of very brave fiscal line.
Next time twentieth century battlefields brings you the tech offensive fought in vietnam,this massive communist assault.
Was the turning point of the twentieth centuries longest war?i'll be explaining how the american military had to adapt itself to face up to a largely guerrilla fighting.
And i'll be experiencing what it was like for the soldiers as they fought their way through south vietnam.the tet offensive was one of the most decisive battles of the twentieth century.