ROK Army hat
pin.EASTERN BUNKER
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The "Lost Bastards" of Iron Ridge
During the
Battle of the Kumsong Salient
13 July to 21 July 1953
Compiled by
John R. Carpenter
Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
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EASTERN BUNKER
The eastern bunker complex was crescent shaped with the back toward the corner of the airfield. Its base was below the military crest and it became a multilevel bunker. The bunker complex was about 100 yards long and about 35 yards deep in the center. On each end of the crescent horn was a quad fifty half track with its back end facing the valleys below. In the middle about 25 yards apart were the halftracks with the twin forties. Behind them were communication trenches and the entrance to the lower levels. This entrance was basically a covered and steep stepped hole about 20 yards behind one of the 40 mm halftracks.
Being on a slope allowed the bunker to have several levels. The lower levels contained the original bunker and with the rust colored fill deepened from the leveling of the airstrip. They were deep enough to be constantly cool during the heat of the summer.
The top level (level 1) was the dug in central command and firing area which was roughly centered and near the front of the bunker complex. It was about 8 feet wide by 10 feet deep. Radios, codes and map were central to this level. Each level below was divided up into rooms with a corridor or enclosed trench toward the ridge behind. Thick firing ports, with firing steps, faced the valley for observation and for firing the ROK machine guns. This level viewed from down slope appeared to be only about three feet above the surrounding dirt. To all outwards appearances the complexity of this bunker complex was not apparent.
The "roof" or ground level was where the halftracks and observation posts were behind and between the sand bagged berms. Only the observation posts on either end were fully enclosed with a tin roof for shade. Three 60 mm mortar pits were also on this level. All were connected with a series of communication and firing trenches.
The second level down (Level 2) was divided into rooms and used as a barracks for many of the ROK and American troops. The third level (Level 3) was a supply warehouse, This had many sacks of rice and five gallon jerry cans of water. This level also had a kitchen where food was prepared. It was divided into many rooms. The lower levels appeared to have been cut from sandstone and extended for hundreds of feet with large timber shoring at the doors and in the passage ways. Many of the ROK soldiers lived and worked here. This level would later become their hospital.
The lowest level (Level 4) was the largest area below and was centered in the bunker complex. This level stored their ammunition and supplies. The Americans had brought a full resupply not knowing the supply situation. The ROKs had done the same thing for the new halftracks. This level was the largest area below and was centered in the bunker complex. It was comprised of a series of rooms and was stacked almost floor to ceiling with supplies. Later one large room on this level would become their morgue. Much previous fighting had almost denuded the ridge area, now new growth was struggling to hide the scars of war. ROK soldiers were sent out to clear any remaining bush or small trees growing in front of the bunker to provide clear fields of fire. Metal stakes were placed at one hundred yard intervals out in a half circle to the front of the bunker. This was done out to about 800 yards where possible. Weapons and radar were sighted in and tested based on these range markers.
There were about 105 ROK officers and soldiers from the Headquarters Company of the Capitol (Tiger) Division that were assigned to this bunker complex. They had two thirty caliber machine guns, at least one bazooka and three 60 mm mortars in addition to rifles and BARs (Browning Automatic Rifles - it fired the same cartridge as the M1 Garand rifle but in a 20 round magazine). Twenty five others were assigned to the AA battery. This placed about 130 ROKs in the bunker complex.
ROK Army hat
pin.
The Americans really did not expect any major combat action. The bunker complex was a couple of miles from the MLR (Main Line of Resistance). They figured they might get shelled or have the boredom broken by an air raid or something. Radio reports indicated that the Cease Fire could happen any day. They became complacent because the expected Chinese offensive did not happen by the end of May.
They kept watch on what they could see and used the radar at night to report vehicle movement, patrols (friendly and enemy) and infiltrators. A few of these infiltrators turned out to be ROK deserters. These deserters were summarily executed by the ambush patrols sent out by radio. The radars worked perfectly.
Combat and a change in the MLR (Main Line of Resistance or forward defensive line) would later change their status from a behind the line security and supply bunker for the air strip to a defensive forward supply dump.
The heat was oppressive but the monsoon season had not yet started in central Korea. The lack of shade bothered many of the Americans. Unlike the basic ROK soldier of the time, the Americans were not restricted from taking many of these ten foot long pierced steel metal planking from the stacks at the end of the airstrip for shade. They figured since work on the air strip had stopped they could borrow some of these metal planks. These were laid from the edge of the berm to the top edge of the halftrack. They provided adequate shade. Later the ROK troops following their example did the same, they probably figured they could blaim the Americans later on.
Click on picture for larger image.
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