At the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 the Australian army was a shadow of the army which had served during 1939-1945...
Demobilisation and financial restrictions imposed since 1945 had resulted in an army that was barely capable of fielding one combat ready battalion. In 1950 the undermanned Australian element of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan was all that was available to meet the crisis in Korea. Due to constraints imposed by their terms of enlistment and the poor state of readiness of many of the occupation force soldiers, very few were available for immediate deployment. Unwilling to send what would have been a small and unprepared force into battle, the Army withheld committing any troops to Korea for several months. In the meantime the first-ever regular infantry units of the Australian Army had been formed with the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) being brought up to war strength and readied for service in Korea.
The soldiers of 3RAR were mostly World War II veterans and all had volunteered for service in Korea.
In October 1950, 3 RAR was operating as an integral battalion within the British Commonwealth 27th Brigade. The Australians took part in the pursuit of the broken North Korean army after the Pusan breakout. Hard fighting followed as 3RAR, along with all other UN forces, contended with the Chinese intervention.
In July 1951, the 1st Commonwealth Division was formed, to which the Australian Army contributed 2 infantry battalions as part of the 27th Brigade, which was later redesignated the 28th Brigade.
The Korean War was mostly an infantryman's war, and the Australian battalions, composed as they were of veteran soldiers, served with consistent competence.
Although Australians had few opportunities for higher operational command, the Australian Army provided the most senior leadership positions in the British Commonwealth forces in Korea. Lieutenant General Sir Horace Robertson was the first of 4 Australian Lieutenant Generals to fill that role.
During the 3 years of the Korean War, the Australian Army deployed 10,657 soldiers. Of these, 276 were killed in action, 16 died from other causes, 1,210 were wounded in action and 23 became prisoners of war (POWs). One died while a prisoner.
Medical services
A Royal Australian Army Medical Corps corporal and four stretcher bearers were with each Australian infantry company in Korea...
Medics operated from a casualty collecting point near the company headquarters. Their task was to provide first aid, then carry the wounded man to the Regimental Aid Post (RAP). The RAP held the Regimental Medical Officer, a sergeant, an orderly and 4 stretcher-bearers. The RAP sat close behind the front line, preferably on a road.
Up the road from the rear came the jeeps of a Field Ambulance. The field ambulance vehicles transported wounded to a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) 10 km behind the front.
This was the ideal procedure, but in war the weather, the terrain and the enemy conspire against the ideal. During the Korean winter, snow blocked the roads. Even in good weather, mountain tracks could be impassable for an ambulance.
The alternative, carrying a wounded man on a stretcher over mountains for long distances, was so tiring it sometimes required 8 bearers.
Evacuation sometimes took place under enemy fire. At Kapyong, the Australian RAP was fired on by infiltrating Chinese troops while the wounded were being moved to the rear.
In the first few months of the war before the Australian casualty evacuation system was established, Australian casualties were delivered to an American Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). One unfortunate effect of sending Australian wounded through the US system was that relatives in Australia might not be notified for weeks.
The Australian evacuation system was established in January 1951.
Men suffering wounds, injuries, frostbite, trench foot (dubbed ‘rice-paddy feet’) and illnesses were carried by stretcher bearers or walked to a regimental aid post, passed to the field ambulance, and finally moved by Jeep or helicopter to a field hospital behind the lines. If they could not return to their unit, they were evacuated to a Commonwealth hospital in Seoul.
If they were not expected to recover within 3 weeks, they were sent to the British Commonwealth General Hospital in Kure, Japan. The hospital was staffed by Australian, British and Canadian personnel.
Some patients were then flown back to Australia.
Australian doctors, medics and nurses served at hospitals in Seoul and Korea, in physically wearying and emotionally draining conditions.
The RAAF’s No 30 Transport Unit, which became No 36 Squadron in March 1953, flew casualties to Japan, where RAAF nurses often cared for them.
Royal Australian Army Nursing Service
Most nurses of the Royal Australian Army Nursing Service (RAANS) were stationed in Japan, but some served in Korea.
The nurses in Korea completed rifle and pistol training to ensure they could defend themselves against North Korean and Chinese troops if they did not respect the Red Cross or Geneva Convention.
The last 2 years of the war were a period of trench warfare. There was less fighting, and battle casualties were sometimes exceeded by injuries from road accidents, frostbite, trench foot and snow blindness.
Medical services had improved since World War II. Evacuation to a MASH directly from the front line by helicopter was sometimes possible. This, together with the new antibiotics and the increased use of plasma, meant the proportion of seriously wounded Australians who survived the Korean War was greater than in any previous war.
Medical air evacuation. Australian airmen assisting in a medical air evacuation. The wounded are being carried on stretchers from an ambulance vehicle to a waiting aircraft to be flown from Kimpo to Japan for treatment at one of the Australian base hospitals at either Kure or Iwakuni. Artist Ivor Hele. Painting made South Australia, Aldinga, 1953. Oil on hardboard. [AWM ART40301]