"Glorious Glosters at Imjin River" Topic

Today is the 70th anniversary of the start of one of the greatest battles fought in the Forgotten War, the Chinese attack across the Imjin River in Korea. 300,000 troops attacked along a 80 mile front catching UN forces with strategic surprise.

The key to this battle was defended by the British 29th Brigade near Choksong. The British, and a Belgian battalion, held several isolated hilltops.

For 4 days, outnumbered 7 to 1, they fought, stubbornly holding the hills, co-ordinating artillery and air strikes as wave after wave of Chinese infantry assaulted them.

This heroic defence allowed the UN to stabilise and co-ordinate planned retreats and blunted the Chinese offensive capability. The Chinese offensive failed to achieve its objectives and 5 weeks later the ground was recovered preceding the stalemate that became the Korean Peninsula.

I am building a board to refight a part of this battle, the defence of hill 235 by the Gloucestershire regiment, known after this battle as the Glorious Glosters. For 4 days they held, surrounded and cut off until ammunition ran out. Relief attacks failed, air drops missed. Finally the battalion issued the order for individual break outs.

Days later only 170 out of the 850 nominal troops were able to muster to receive the US Presidential Unit Citation award. If you don't know about this battle read Andrew Salmon's To the Last Round: The Epic British Last Stand on the Imjin River, Korea 1951. It a terrific book and an amazing story.

I will be using the All Hell Let Loose rules (AHLL), available from Wargames Vault, with some minor adaptations and building a 6ft by 4ft board, with 1inch to 100m ground scale. Work is well underway on the board. Figures will be Adler, WW2 commandos for the Glosters and Winter Russians for the Chinese.

I've added some photos of work to date. I will post more information on the blog allhellletloose.co.uk.

What do you mean this is the flat bit?!???

My word that's a lot of foam board. Looks like it's going to be an incredible gaming board though.

Awesome layout!. It show the verticalness of Korean war Terrain wonderfully.

Impressive effort – both from you and the Gloucesters!

Looking stunning already. And all glory to the Gloucesters for their determined stand!

Looks like quite the effort on those boards, congrats!

I always wonder what was so glorious about getting annihilated? Another british tradition of celebrating an outstanding defeat.

The Australians and Canadians at Kapyong did the same thing against the same odds. The Australians,gave the Canadian battalion the time to dig in a bit and then after a very good defense, conducting a controlled retreat under fire. Given that their battalion was a mile ahead of everyone else. The Canadians then managed to hold.

They certainly earned their play there !

I served 22 months, '84-'85 in the ROK with a forward deployed Mech Bn(M113) of the 2ID. With 2 tours on the DMZ. We studied many of the battles & actions from the Korean War. That was one of them. The terrain looks good/familiar ! 👍👍

IIRC the Gloucesters fought Washington's Army during the AWI ? 😯

Wow. That's some fantastic looking terrain. Great job! It's going to be a lot of fun to play on that!

I shall be ordering that book on your recommendation.

IIRC the Gloucesters fought Washington's Army during the AWI ? 😯

I don't know about the AWI, but they were certainly unpleasant to Napoleon's army from Alexandria in 1801 to Waterloo in 1815.

I had the privilege of visiting the battlefield in 1995. Your terrain looks remarkably challenging for recreating this engagement.

I don't know about the AWI, but they were certainly unpleasant to Napoleon's army from Alexandria in 1801 to Waterloo in 1815.

I may be mistaken about AWI. May have to do more research.

I had the privilege of visiting the battlefield in 1995.

I was deployed on the DMZ, both in '84 & '85. Where the US FOB – Warrior Base is near the Imjin. Actually in our rear. That is the where the war stopped at than point in '53.

I'm not sure but I think the 2 US Guard Posts and Warrior Base were farther to West of where the British & Belgian positions were on those hilltops. I need to look at a map …

Thanks for the comments and thumbs up chaps! I'll keep you posted on progress.
CtM

Hope this helps:

The 28th Regiment of Foot arrived in America in May of 1776 during the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. After the fall of Charleston, the 28th sailed north to
New York, where it saw action at Brooklyn Heights in August of 1776.The regiment saw action again at Germantown in October of 1777.

The 28th Regiment of Foot returned to New York, and in
October of 1778 left America for the West Indies. The regiment was granted the county title of the North Gloucestershire Regiment in 1782.

(From 'British Regimental Drums and Colours' website.)

The regiment also fought the Spanish in the Mediterranean theatre.

Thank U !!! 👍👍

OK, contours complete!

More details on how I did it at allhellletloose.co.uk

CtM

Before the Gloucesters were called the "Glorious Glosters", as the 28th (North Gloucestershire) they were known as "The Slashers" – following a scandal that brewed up when stationed in Canada between the 7YW and the AWI.

They also cherished their earlier nickname, "The Old Bragge's"- after a long-serving Colonel (Philip Bragge 1734-59). As a later commanding officer is supposed to have recited during a grand review:

"Neither King's nor Queen's, nor Royal Marines.
But 28th. Old Braggs:
Brass before and brass behind*
Never feared a foe of any kind:
Shoulder Arms!"

{*A reference to the "Double Front", the Back Number badge worn in commemoration of Alexandria in 1801}

Very Interesting unit history …

28th of Foot were legendary in the Napoleonic Wars for facing a cavalry attack in Egypt while in line. They were attacked front and back by the French but did not form square (no time). Instead the rear rank about-faced and blew away the cavalry behind the regt. That entitled them to wear the unique cap badge front AND rear of any headwear for generations to come.

My anaesthetist's brother-in-law was a CSM in the GGs and was very proud of their history from Egypt to the Imjin

To be fair, at Alexandria the 28th were not in the open field but manning a three-sided redoubt in front of the ruins of Helipolis. In fact, Moore's Right Flank position was infiltrated several times by both French infantry and dragoons requiring several battalions to face rear rank about and fire in bothdirections, notably the 42nd who were singled out together with the 28th in Dispatches.

The difference was that, to commemorate the action, the 28th unofficially adopted a badge to mount on the rear of their caps, a version of the Sphinx emblem awarded to all troops of the Egypt expedition, combined with the regimental number- a unique and entirely non-regulation distinctive mark which was referred to variously as the 'Back Number' or 'Double Front.'
In 1830, the 28th were granted permission to continue this custom, which they claimed as a "badge of honour" and again in 1843 by the Duke himself, who did not "object to the continuance in wear of these ornaments by the officers and soldiers of the 28th Regiment."

Interesting information … Thanks again. And of course, the terrain board is amazing …