Fought from 3 to 8 October 1951 during Operation Commando, the Battle of Maryang San was a major Australian offensive before the Korean War settled into static trench warfare. Using the ‘running the ridges’ tactic, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hassett led the Australians to capture key heights and repel heavy Chinese counterattacks. Australian casualties totalled 20 killed and 104 wounded. Described as the Australian Army's greatest single feat in Korea, the victory secured the front along the Jamestown Line.
Maryang San was the Australian part in a four division offensive called Operation Commando, and the last Australian manoeuvre battle before the war became one of trench lines...
The Battle of Maryang San, fought from 3 to 8 October 1951, occurred during a pivotal transition in the Korean War, as the conflict shifted from fluid, large-scale manoeuvres to static trench warfare.
The 1st Commonwealth Division was to advance across the Imjin River and take a line of heights from the 19th Chinese Division. The Chinese line was not continuous, but rather consisted of company- and battalion-sized entrenchments on the key hills.
The 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) was part of the 1st Commonwealth Division.
Commanding 3RAR during the attack, Lieutenant Colonel Hassett used a tactic that had been successful for the Australians against the Japanese in similar terrain in New Guinea during World War II. Called ‘running the ridges’, it involved attacking along the crest of a ridge rather than up the sides.
The operation began on 3 October with 28th Brigade attacking, supported by 16th Field Regiment, Royal New Zealand Artillery and Centurion tanks of the 8th King's Own Irish Hussars.
First, B Company 3RAR took Hill 199, which Hassett intended to use as a base for the main attack along the Maryang San ridge 2 days later.
Meanwhile, C Company moved forward to support the King's Own Shropshire Light Infantry (KOSB) attack on the next hill to the south, Kowang San. The KOSB attack failed. So, on the following day, C Company was committed to attack the hill from the north-east. This time the hill fell.
Hill 317 (Maryang San), September 1950. (AWM 044421)
On 5 October, the main assault on Maryang San commenced. In a successful attempt to deceive the Chinese that the main Australian attack was coming from south of Maryang San, A Company attacked west along a parallel ridge. They captured a Chinese position and drew local Chinese reserves towards it.
The main attack along the northernmost ridge was a series of company assaults.
First, B Company took 'feature whiskey' and provided fire support when D Company assaulted through and took the next 2 Chinese positions. Lastly, C Company, which had marched by a circuitous route from Kowang San, passed through B and D companies along the ridgeline and seized the crest of Maryang San.
The battle was not yet won as 'the Hinge' and Hill 217 remained in Chinese hands. Believing 3RAR required support to take the whole hill, the divisional commander sent the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (RNF) to aid 3RAR. This battalion attacked but failed to take Hill 217.
Non-wounded survivors of the 5th Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), Korea, 8 or 9 October 1951. B Company had just been withdrawn from the line at the end of the Battle of Maryang San (3 to 8 October 1951). The 5th Platoon helped capture the Hinge and held it through days of heavy shelling and human wave assaults. Identified in the back row, Private Frederick Charles Healy, far right; in the middle rows, Lieutenant Russell John McWilliam (in dark singlet); Corporal John Park (with white shaving cream on face) and Private Raymond James 'Tubby' Hellings, 5 Platoon runner (smiling, without shirt, behind Park); in the front row, Sergeant Ray Norman Parry MM, Platoon Commander (in light-coloured undershirt). Also in the photo, Cooke (probably Corporal Stanley Dennistoun Cooke). The shirtless soldier, front, right, is a reinforcement who did not fight at Maryang San. Parry, Park, Cooke and several others in this photo also fought during the Battle of Kapyong. Donor Ray Parry. AWM P04953.002
On 7 Oct, 3RAR, now in one body along the spine of Maryang San, attacked and took the Hinge. Chinese reinforcements from 3rd Battalion, 571st Regiment arrived to counterattack. A bombardment from Chinese artillery, the worst the Australians had experienced in the war so far, preceded an assault by the fresh Chinese battalion.
The Chinese assault failed. The Chinese conceded defeat and withdrew to the next line of hills 2 km away. They also evacuated Hill 217.
Australian casualties were 20 killed and 104 wounded. The 2 Chinese battalions that 3RAR opposed lost 340 killed and wounded.
The capture of Maryang San was one of the last major deliberate offensive victories of the manoeuvre phase. After the battle, the front line stabilised into a 2-year static trench-warfare stalemate along the Jamestown Line until the 1953 armistice. As a classic battalion operation, the official history describes the battle as 'the greatest single feat of the Australian Army during the Korean War.'
