Korean War: The Veterans Of Imjin River

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2022

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fought between the 22nd-25th of April 1951, the battle of Imjin River was part of a Chinese counter-offensive after United Nations forces had recaptured Seoul in March 1951. The assault on ‘Gloster Hill’ was led by General Peng Dehuai who commanded a force of 300,000 troops attacking over a 40-mile sector. The 29th Independent Infantry Brigade Group, under the command of Brigadier Tom Brodie, of the 1st Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, was responsible for defending a 15-kilometre section of the front, over which General Peng Dehuai sent three divisions of his force. What resulted was the bloodiest battle that involved British troops in modern history since the Second World War.

Taken from the 2021 Gloucester History Festival, Dan is joined by two battle veterans of the 1951 Korean War battle, Tommy Clough and Brian Hamblett. Tommy served as a gunner with the Royal Artillery which was attached to the Gloster, Brian served in the British military in Infantry manning machine guns in his platoon - both were Chinese prisoners of war for more than two years. They join Dan to explore the battle of the Imjin River on what was its 70th anniversary.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's History at this is a very special episode indeed.
0:05.6	A few months ago I went to the Gloss to History Festival, I met two veterans from the the
0:10.0	British Army's first time the Gloss to regiment, better known as the Glorious Glossters because
0:15.4	of what happened on this river in Korea in April 1951.
0:21.2	So Mark the 70th anniversary of the battle I met with Tommy Kluft.
0:24.2	He was actually gunner with the Royal artillery, he was attached to the Glossters and Brian
0:27.5	Hamlet, he served in a machine gun platoon in the Glossters and they were both at the battle.
0:33.0	They were both Chinese presence of war as you'll hear.
0:36.1	For more than two years the battle of the Imjoon River is probably the single
0:40.6	most remarkable, most memorable brigade-sized action the British Army has fought since the
0:47.6	Second World War. In the spring of 1951 a massive Chinese offensive against
0:52.6	United Nations forces in South Korea had begun they were trying to retake Seoul, the
0:58.9	front line had been seisoring up and down the Korean Peninsula.
1:01.7	We've got several podcasts available on the Korean War which you may want to go back and listen
1:05.5	to either on this feed or on HistoryHitTV, our digital history channel where we have all our
1:11.1	podcasts, where we add and all our television shows, 100 hours of TV shows.
1:15.9	So head back and listen to all those but we're talking about the spring offensive of 1951 now.
1:19.6	A massive Chinese force assaulted a section of the UN line composed of Northumberland fuseliers,
1:27.5	the Glossters and other units. The local commander was Brigadier Tom Brody and he was responsible
1:34.6	about a 15 kilometer section of the front. The battle at the fall over had the highest casualties
1:39.6	of any British action since the Second World War. It was amazing talking to Tommy Tough and Brian
1:46.6	Hamlet in Glosster about their experiences. As you'll hear they were irrepressible. In fact,
	...

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