Before the Battle of White Horse Hill, South Korean soldiers were seen as a hollow force, known for running in the face of the enemy. American commanders called them "bug-out" units. Entire ROK divisions seemed to collapse when Chinese forces attacked. General James Van Fleet pulled them off the line and rebuilt them from scratch.
In October 1952, one of those rebuilt divisions faced three Chinese divisions on a 395-meter hill northwest of Cheorwon. The ROK 9th Infantry Division did not run. They held against 28 separate assaults over ten days of continuous fighting. The hill changed hands 24 times. When it was over, the 9th Division had inflicted roughly massive casualties on China's elite 38th Army.
The Battle of White Horse Hill became the bloodiest engagement of 1952 and one of the defining victories of the Republic of Korea military. It validated Van Fleet's training program, proved South Korean soldiers could stand against overwhelming odds, and created a legacy that endures in the ROK military today.
The Impending Assault
On October 3, 1952, a Chinese lieutenant from the 340th Regiment surrendered to South Korean forces near Hill 284. Lt. Paul Braner, a forward observer with the 213th Field Artillery Battalion, discovered ROK soldiers torturing the prisoner not far from his bunker. He immediately encoded a message to IX Corps headquarters. Within an hour, a reinforcement team arrived to take custody of the defector.
Under further interrogation, the lieutenant revealed that the Chinese 38th Army was preparing a major assault on Hill 395 in the coming days. He had surrendered specifically because he did not want to die in the attack.
American intelligence officers corroborated his information. IX Corps commander Lt. Gen. Reuben Jenkins immediately reinforced the ROK 9th Division with 22 tanks from the 53rd Tank Squadron and the U.S. 73rd Tank Battalion's C Company. Rocket launchers, antiaircraft guns configured for ground targets, and additional artillery batteries moved into position. The U.S. Fifth Air Force ordered B-29 strikes against enemy artillery positions north of the hill.
Major General Kim Jong-oh commanded the 9th Division. He was trained in the Japanese Imperial Army and had led ROK forces in combat before. He positioned the 30th Regiment under Regimental Commander Im Ik-sun on the left flank and the 29th Regiment under Commander Kim Bongcheol on the right. The 28th Regiment under Commander Lee Ju-il stayed in reserve. Tanks and antiaircraft guns covered the valley approaches on both flanks. Searchlights and flare aircraft stood ready for night illumination.
The 9th Division had roughly 12,000 men defending the hill. The Chinese 38th Army was assembling more than 23,000 combat troops for the assault, with another 10,000 in support roles. The 38th was one of China's most experienced formations. It had shattered the ROK II Corps at the Chongchon River in 1950 and received personal commendation from General Peng Dehuai.
The Chinese plan was to take White Horse Hill, then push through the Cheorwon Valley toward Seoul. The hill dominated the entire valley and controlled the critical road networks. Losing it would force IX Corps to abandon the Cheorwon area entirely.
The assault on White Horse would not happen without an all-out assault. The Chinese planned simultaneous attacks on Hill 281, known as Arrowhead, two miles southeast across the valley. A French battalion attached to the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division held that position. The attacks on Arrowhead would pin down American forces and prevent them from reinforcing the ROK 9th Division.
Ten Days of Hell
The Chinese opened their attack on the evening of October 6, 1952, with a massive artillery and mortar barrage. Shells struck not just the hill but the American artillery batteries behind the main line of resistance. The Chinese knew they had to neutralize UN firepower to have any chance.
Two battalions of the 340th Regiment moved up the northwest slopes around 7:15 p.m. They slammed into the 10th Company of the 30th Regiment. The fighting was brutal, chaotic, and lasted through the night. Chinese and South Korean soldiers often engaged in brutal melee combat in the trenches. By dawn, the Chinese had seized part of the crest despite losing an estimated 500 men.
The 28th Regiment counterattacked that night. Two battalions swept the Chinese out of the ROK positions by 11:05 p.m. The Chinese committed fresh battalions the next morning. A Chinese prisoner later told interrogators that many companies had been reduced from 190 men to fewer than 20 after just two days of fighting.
This pattern repeated for the next eight days. The Chinese would take the crest in massive night assaults. The ROK regiments would counterattack and drive them off. Then the Chinese would attack again.
A U.S. sergeant from Seattle watched the fighting from a nearby position. "That hill was a bouncing, flaming hell," he told TIME magazine. "It's hard to believe that any of them could live through that shelling, let alone stay there and fight."
The Chinese fired more than 55,000 artillery and mortar rounds during the battle. The South Koreans fired over 185,000. The American artillery battalions averaged 15,000 to 20,000 rounds each across ten days. The 213th Field Artillery Battalion alone fired more than 26,000 rounds.
While Chinese artillery was wild, sporadic, and usually inaccurate, UN fire decimated Chinese ranks and supply points.
The accuracy of that fire came from two observation posts nearby. OP "Love" sat on the forward-most point of White Horse itself, giving observers a commanding view of the entire valley. OP "Roger" occupied Hill 284 to the right. Throughout the battle, these remained the only effective observation posts in the forward zone. Every Chinese movement in the valley drew an immediate artillery response.
The U.S. Fifth Air Force also flew 745 sorties over those ten days. The pilots dropped more than 2,700 bombs and 358 napalm canisters on Chinese positions. One strike caught elements of the 335th Regiment in an assembly area north of the hill before they could join the attack. A Chinese prisoner later told interrogators that the airstrike had inflicted heavy casualties and delayed the regiment's commitment to the battle.
Lt. Joseph Adams served as a forward observer on the hill itself. When Chinese troops overran his observation post, he called artillery fire on his own position.
"When I called Fire Direction Center, I think I called some stupid fire mission," Adams later recalled. "I said something like 'The Chinese are all over the place, start shooting at my bunker!' or something like that."
Adams and his team fought hand-to-hand in the darkness of their bunker while waiting for the shells to land. Chinese soldiers threw grenades through the entrance. Adams fired his carbine left-handed around the corner. The artillery eventually drove the attackers back. Adams survived the battle and the war.
The ROK Army Holds the Hill
The fighting was unlike anything American observers had seen from ROK forces before. When ammunition ran out, South Korean soldiers fought with bayonets, knives, rocks, and fists. The hand-to-hand combat was sometimes illuminated by searchlights and flares. In the darkness, ROK troops allegedly resorted to identifying friend from foe by grabbing an unsuspecting soldier’s head. If his hair was shaved, he was Chinese.
One ROK lieutenant became furious when he heard radio reports claiming the Chinese had taken the hilltop.
"Who reports that the enemy has the top of White Horse?" he transmitted angrily. "We are still here! Send us grenades and machine gun ammunition. We will remain!"
General Kim rotated his regiments skillfully throughout the battle. Fresh troops replaced exhausted units at crucial moments. He committed his reserves at precisely the right times. His soldiers responded with a ferocity that shocked the Chinese commanders and impressed American observers.
"These little guys are unbelievable," one U.S. major from Pennsylvania told reporters.
Across the valley, the French battalion on Hill 281 held firm against repeated Chinese assaults. The attacks on October 6, 9, and 12 all failed. The French inflicted heavy casualties on each wave. The diversionary attacks proved expensive for the Chinese and failed to draw American forces away from supporting the ROK defense.
General Jenkins added pressure of his own. On October 11, companies from the 140th Tank Battalion and 51st ROK Infantry Regiment pushed 500 yards into no-man's land on the right side of the hill. They shot up Chinese positions and withdrew. The same day, tanks from the 73rd Tank Battalion and infantry from the 30th ROK Regiment did the same on the left flank, past the French positions.
On October 13, Jenkins sent tanks and elements of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division even deeper into enemy territory on the far right of the sector. The raids forced the Chinese to hold back reinforcements and artillery in case the Americans pushed further.
On October 12, IX Corps launched a devastating "Time on Target" strike. Eight artillery battalions coordinated their fire to hit a Chinese assembly area simultaneously. Two entire battalions preparing for another assault effectively ceased to exist.
The Chinese made their final major push on October 14. Elements of the 112th Division, which had replaced the shattered 114th Division, fought their way to the crest in a hand-to-hand struggle. By mid-morning, ROK forces had thrown them back. The 29th Regiment swept the hill and forced all remaining Chinese troops down the forward slopes.
That night, the Chinese 38th Army received orders to abandon the assault. The Battle of Triangle Hill was beginning further east, and Chinese commanders had decided to concentrate their forces there instead. After ten days, 28 separate attacks, and thousands of casualties, the 38th Army withdrew.
The Battle of White Horse Hill was over.
The Cost of Holding White Horse Hill
The Chinese 38th Army committed seven of its nine regiments to the battle. South Korean sources documented more than 14,000 Chinese casualties. Chinese records admitted to 6,700. The actual number was likely somewhere around 10,000 killed and wounded.
The ROK 9th Division suffered 3,422 casualties across its three regiments. Of those, 505 died, 2,562 were wounded, and 391 went missing. The casualty ratio heavily favored the ROK Army.
Major General Kim Jong-oh praised his men publicly. "Their stand has been valiant and exemplary," he told reporters.
A UN officer surveyed the devastated hilltop after the fighting ended. Trenches and bunkers had been obliterated. The dead lay everywhere. "Nobody can hold the top of that hill," he observed.
So long as the Chinese did not hold it, White Horse remained a victory for the South Koreans.
The U.S. Army awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to three ROK soldiers for their actions in the battle. Major General Kim received one. Second Lieutenant Chung Nak-koo of the 28th Regiment and Sergeant Kim Man-su of the 29th Regiment received the others.
The ROK 9th Division gained a new name after the battle. The intense bombardment had stripped the forested hill bare. What remained looked like a white horse lying on its side, giving the battle its official name. The division became the White Horse Division, and it carries that name today.
The ROK Army Legacy
The battle was significant. TIME magazine called it the bloodiest engagement of 1952. More importantly, the magazine noted that the ROK Army now outnumbered all other UN forces combined on the peninsula. White Horse proved that the South Korean military could fight.
General Van Fleet had spent a year transforming and expanding the ROK Army. He pulled divisions off the line for intensive training. He sent Korean officers to American military schools. He provided better weapons and equipment. His critics questioned whether it would matter when the shooting started again.
White Horse proved that the reform was a success. The 9th Division had stood alone against an elite Chinese formation over twice its size. American support came from artillery, tanks, and aircraft, but at the end of the day the infantry fight was done almost entirely by South Korean troops.
The battle demonstrated that South Korea could defend itself. That realization shaped American strategic thinking for decades. It made possible the eventual reduction of U.S. ground forces on the peninsula after the war. It also gave South Korean leaders confidence that their nation could survive.
Today, the ROK 9th Infantry Division still guards the DMZ near Cheorwon. The White Horse Hill battlefield lies within the demilitarized zone. A memorial monument stands at the southern edge, erected in 1990 to honor the men who fought there. South Korean military teams continue recovering remains from the site.
The visible scars from the battle have mostly disappeared over the decades. Trees cover the slopes again, but it was once the sight of one of the bloodiest battles of the Korean War. When it mattered most, South Korean soldiers stood their ground against overwhelming odds and didn't break. The battle helped ensure that South Korea would survive to become what it is today.
