Between 1952 and 1953, the Korean War settled into a stalemate of trench warfare along heavily fortified lines. Both sides fought intense, small-scale battles to capture strategic high ground while armistice negotiations continued. Artillery caused most casualties as nearly 2 million troops dug-in. While communist forces constructed deep defences, United Nations (UN) forces maintained sea and air superiority. Australian troops conducted hazardous raids and night patrols. Both sides exchanged sick and wounded prisoners during Operation Little Switch.
The last two years of the war in Korea resembled the trench warfare of the western front in World War I …
A war of rapid movement gave way to night patrols in no-man's-land and set-piece offensives launched from trenches across enemy minefields and barbed wire, with massive artillery support.
Like both World Wars, the war on land became an artillery war. Artillery inflicted most of the casualties. Without artillery support, there was no prospect of storming the strong trench systems both sides constructed.
While neither the United Nations Command (UNC) nor the communists now aspired to total victory, seizing vital ground still mattered to influence the ceasefire negotiations that began in July 1952.
The communists reasoned UNC democracies were susceptible to political pressure from home to make concessions at the negotiations if the UNC was seen to suffer repeated battlefield defeats or high casualties. A ceasefire might not occur, so improving the defensive lines made military sense.
Typically, battles in 1952 and 1953 were small but intense. They were designed to seize a high point on the enemy line that gave observation into the enemy rear area.
The areas where the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) served – Heartbreak Ridge, Pork Chop Hill and The Hook – were examples of the kind of war waged.
If either side had tried, a major breakthrough would have been unlikely because the armies were growing so large. By the start of 1953, nearly 1 million men on each side held the 200 km front line. With an average of almost 5,000 troops per km of front, the prospect of a breakthrough was small.
As the more manoeuvrable army, well supplied with vehicles and able to transport troops by sea and air, the UNC was better placed in the mobile war of the first year in Korea.
Now the stability of the front lines gave the communist forces some advantages. Over months, they built up huge reserves of ammunition for their artillery and massed their troops without revealing where along the line they planned to strike.
The UNC retained the great bonus of control of the sea and the air. They could rapidly transfer firepower to wherever it was needed.
By 1952, the UNC maintained at least 3 aircraft carriers at sea at any one time, including HMAS Sydney.
In the air, the UNC had 640 combat aircraft, including the Meteor jets of No 77 Squadron RAAF. They controlled the skies overall, but not in the far north of Korea, known as MiG Alley. In that airspace, the Soviet-supplied and partly Soviet-crewed Chinese air force held air superiority.
R.O.K. Wolfpack headquarters. Oil on canvas on plywood, August 1952 by Frank Norton. WOLFPACK was established by South Korea to organise partisan operations behind North Korean lines on the south coast of Hwanghae Province. WOLFPACK initially established its headquarters on Yonp'yong-do, an island group at the mouth of Haeju Estuary centrally located between Paengnyong-do to the west and the mouth of the Han River to the east. The headquarters later moved to Kanghwa-do, an island at the mouth of the Han adjacent to the mainland. It was thought at the ceasefire that clandestine operations in the enemy rear kept over 100,000 of their troops on security duty. [AWM ART40011]
Operation Buffalo
On 13 to 14 August 1952, B Company of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) conducted Operation Buffalo, a raid against Chinese positions on Hill 75.
Despite heavy artillery preparation, Chinese defenders retreated into deep underground tunnels and called down intense mortar fire onto the Australian raiding party. B Company was forced to withdraw under heavy fire, with the loss of 2 killed, 22 wounded and one missing.
During the night-long withdrawal, Corporal Ronald Cashman carried his badly wounded comrade, Private Elvin 'Tubby' Ballard, back to Australian lines from behind enemy positions. He was later awarded the Military Medal for his actions.
Withdrawal from the front line
On 31 January 1953, after extensive operational service, the 1st Commonwealth Division was withdrawn from front-line combat for a period of rest and reorganisation.
During this reserve period, which lasted until April 1953, 2RAR arrived in Korea to relieve the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR).
On 21 March 1953, a rare joint parade was held at Camp Casey near Tongduchon, marking the only occasion when all 3 battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment were assembled together in the field.
Operation Little Switch
As armistice talks progressed at Panmunjom, both sides agreed to exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war under Operation Little Switch in April 1953.
The UNC repatriated 6,670 communist prisoners, while communist forces released 684 UN POWs, including 5 Australian soldiers from 3RAR.
Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS) sisters assisted in escorting the exchanged Commonwealth prisoners on medical air evacuation flights from Seoul back to hospitals in Iwakuni, Japan.