Iron Ridge

IRON RIDGE

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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

***

IRON RIDGE

On 9 May 1953, they boarded two 2 1/2 ton trucks with trailers and led by a jeep and trailer they trucked into the highlands. They drove up the narrow, windy, dirt roads into the Republic of Korea's (ROK) Capitol Division area of operations. This was on the eastern edge of the IX Corps area of the Central Front. The Capitol Division was nicknamed the "Tiger" Division at that time after one of its Commanders who was known as "Tiger" Kim. After the Cease Fire it was renamed the Tiger Division. Different books sometimes refer to the Capitol Division as the "Capital Division."

Capitol Division (Tiger) patch. 1950s version

Iron Ridge is located on the left flank of the Capital Divisions area of control about ten kilometers from Kimhwa between roads then designated 117 and 117A. The village of Yanggok was to the north east of this east-west running ridge line. In May of 1953 it was then behind the main line of resistance. Today it is just north of dead center of the DMZ, the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The ROK Capitol Division held road 117 to a position more than three quarters the way toward Chinese held Kumsong from Kimhwa. Road 117A was their main supply route and Iron Ridge was between these two major roads. Road 6 ran east west and was several miles to the south. (9) This area was on the left side of the Kumsong Salient, a twenty to twenty one mile bulge that pressed in toward the Chinese Army. (9A) A modern (1991) map no longer shows 117A because it is now called the Military Demarcation line. The immediate hills north of this line that had been held by the United Nations forces on July 27, 1953 were ceded back to the Communists due to the redrawing of the proposed DMZ on 20 July 1953 based on the front line positions on the evening of the 19th. The 1991 map no longer shows 117 and road 6 is now called 5. Iron Ridge, Hill 432 on the 1945 map is now Hill 433 and looks slightly different due to the contour lines being redone.

The top of the ridge runs from about a height of 420 meters in the east to a high point of 432 meters on the west side. To the right or east of the ridge is a steep drop off. To the north west front is mostly a gradual drop toward the river and valley road. The west side of this ridge had more rough terrain and many blind sports. The southern part of the ridge was more gradual that the north east front and had a dirt track (from a non-marked turnoff off route 117A) coming up from leading up to the airstrip and the two bunkers guarding the northern face. This not quite a mile long ridge western edge was a bit farther north then the eastern edge thus it faced a little east of north.

An utility air strip was being worked on along the ridge in May. Earth moving equipment and blasting the hard rock slowly began to level out the eastern ridge top working toward the western side of the ridge. The dark reddish soil and rock turned toward rust when baked in the sun. By June they moved the heavy equipment off the ridge. Ten foot pierced steel airfield planking was brought up and stacked adjacent to the airfield and eastern bunker for the next phase of construction. This airstrip was never finished.

The Americans took over the four halftracks that the ROK AA battery had present. The M-3 halftracks seemed newly delivered and were identical to the equipment they had practiced on in Germany. They inventoried their gear and readjusted the halftracks a little tail down behind the upper berms within of the bunker complex. The ROK soldiers manning these halftracks were not very happy about sharing until the Americans began to train and teach them on the new equipment. Most of the ROKs had never received anything but basic weapon instructions. Under the tutelage of the American "experts" they became quite proficient with the new toys.

Click on picture for larger view.

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Contents

Home - Introduction - Lost Bastards - Iron Ridge - Eastern Bunker -

Western Bunker - Radar Units - June 1953 - July 1953 - Aftermath - Comments - Notes

Iron Ridge & the Capitol Division