Battle on T-Shaped Hill

In late January 1953, an artillery unit and an infantry sub-unit of the KPA defended T-shaped Hill against the US imperialists’ large-scale offensive.

At that time the enemy prepared a massive attack on the hill in a bid to fathom the feasibility of their success in the “new offensive” and bring in more forces by raising the sagging morale of their allied states. They mobilized huge forces and combat equipment and invited the UN Press Corps and an inspection group, taking their victory as a fait accompli.

However, the carefully-prepared “exemplary battle” ended in a fiasco by the KPA units’ unexpected powerful gunfire and counterattack. This ignominious defeat augured ill for the enemy’s “new offensive.”

They lamented that they did not seize the hill even after suffering over 6 000 casualties, which had been estimated to be about 200. An American publication said that Mark Clark and Van Fleet had 300 000 shells poured on the hill on a daily basis and the elite mechanized units mobilized to conquer the hill of tactical importance, and their operation proved a complete failure.