American soldiers face obstacles before and behind them when they are ordered to attack a high ridge with a name that will go down in military legend.
Short Pitch
It is called Heartbreak Ridge
It is a war drama
In the vein of Hamburger Hill
It is like Hacksaw Ridge meets 12 Strong
It follows brilliant maverick Col. James Y. Adams
And battle-loving veteran Maj. Virgil E. “Gene” Craven
As they fight for three hills atop Heartbreak Ridge
Problems arise when the well-dug-in Communists refuse to give ground and American commanders continue to send men to their deaths using the same ineffective tactics over and over.
Together, Adam and Craven’s love for their men and personal courage will create a strategy that captures the ridge line.
The idea came to me when I read Heartbreak Ridge by Arned L. Hinshaw to find out more information about the real battle mentioned in the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name.
My unique approach would be the brutality of battle contrasted with the bravery of the men fighting it and the courage of their officers who stand up for them at headquarters.
A set piece would be when Adams, Cravens, and the French officer Ralph Monclar sit in Adam’s command post, discussing the battle situation and the new commander who has just flown in. Montclar gives his thoughts, suggesting a flanking attack. Adams gives the French general an appreciative nod. He looks over at Craven, who gives him a look of approval. Adams lets out a deep breath, walks toward the phone, picks up the receiver, and says, “Get me General Young.” A moment passes as mortars explode in the distance. The officers exchange looks, slight betrayals of nervousness. “General, this is Jim Adams. I am regimental commander of the Twenty-Third.” A moment of silence in the tent as machine guns fire in the darkness outside. Adams bites his lip. ”General…you may think that for the last fifteen days we have been fighting some sheepherders up on that ridge. Well, sir, that is not so…If we continue trying to operate against that ridge as we have for the past two weeks, then in another week there will be no more Twenty-Third Regiment.” Adams catches his breath. He reaches for a bottle of Kentucky bourbon, opens it, and starts to raise it to his lips. “You know what the French think? They say that the division must attack first by the Mundgung-ni valley. We’ll never succeed any other way. Attacking by the interior is suicide.” There is silence as Adams holds the receiver with a shaking hand. Then he hangs up the phone, a sigh escaping his lips. “Very well…” He reaches for some glasses. “The general will be here tomorrow.” Ralph Monclar asks, “He will hear our little story?” Adams pours the bourbon into the glasses, says. “He will listen to us.” The officers raise their glasses of bourbon to a toast.
Target audiences would be military servicemembers, their families, veterans and their families, Korean War veterans and their families, South Koreans, Korean Americans, history buffs and gamers.
Audiences would want to see it for its themes of bravery, heroism, courage, brotherhood, honor, and officers’ love for their men.
Introduction
Today’s book I would like to pitch as a movie is Heartbreak Ridge: Korea, 1951 by Arned L. Hinshaw, published by Praeger.
While there is a fictitious movie called Heartbreak Ridge, it is not based on the real Korean War battle of Heartbreak Ridge. It’s not even set during the conflict. This aroused my interest in studying the real battle. Just about every major study of the war has a chapter or several pages dedicated to the engagement. The Bloody Road to Panmunjom by Edwin Palmer Hoyt spends several pages covering the courageous actions of First and Third Platoon, Company G, Third Battalion, 23rd Regiment in attacking and securing Hill 520. However, Hinshaw’s book focuses on operations against the three main hills atop the ridge numbered 894, 851, and 931. With all due respect to the talented Mr. Eastwood, the real battle for these hills is much more interesting than his movie. With all respect to the reader, please pardon this post’s length, but I hope it gives a sense of the exhilaration and exhaustion of combat in Korea. As they say in the film business, “Whatever it takes to tell the story.”
Act I
Beginnings (Page 1-5)
Korea, Summer 1951. Armistice talks between US representatives of the United Nations and those of Communist North Korea and China begin on July 10th in Kaesong, North Korea, a no-go zone for the war still raging around them. The peace talks breakdown on August 23rd when the North Koreans claim that Americans have bombed the conference site.
Meanwhile, the American-led forces continue fighting along the 38th parallel in what is quickly becoming a static war, like the trenches of the Western Front of World War I, only with mountains resembling medieval castles, using 19th-century infantry tactics with the latest 20th-century technology. As one veteran, Robert Elizarraz, recalled, “We attacked mountains because they were on top of the mountains.” The military objectives were to straighten the Kansas-Nebraska Line, secure better defensive positions, deny the enemy observation points, and protect supply routes. Much of the fighting is around northeast South Korea at The Punchbowl (31 August – 21 September 1951) where US forces attack Bloody Ridge (18 August – 5 September 1951) which the Communists have been using to fire upon UN supply lines.
U.S. Eighth Army commander General James Van Fleet planned an amphibious assault behind the Communist lines, but after sustaining 2,700 casualties at Bloody Ridge, scrapped the plan. Instead, the U. S. Army will use “elbowing” tactics in “tidying up” operations in the hope of few casualties. Since North Korea’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) sustained a defeat on Bloody Ridge, Van Fleet thought that immediate thrusts would keep them off balance and allow the US Army to gain new ridge lines before the Communists recovered.
The high ground Van Fleet planned to take was a 7-mile-long narrow ridge of dark mass and rock rubble looming 3,000 feet into the gray skies. A barren landscape more formable than Bloody Ridge, it is described as a landlocked iceberg. With spur ridges arching east and west from the main ridgeline like “the spinal column of a fish, with hundreds of vertebrae,” it is more defensible than the nearby American-occupied X-Ray Mountain. Running north and south between the Mundung-ni Valley and the Suip-ch’on River on the west and the Satae-ri Valley on the east, possession of the central ridge would prevent the enemy from using the valleys to attack UN defensive lines west of the Punchbowl.
Inciting Incident (Pages 5-20)
While Van Fleet waits for approval from General Matthew Ridgeway, commander of all American forces in Korea, the film focuses on the soldiers in the Twenty-Third Regiment. John Bud Seybert writes home that the autumn days make him homesick for the corn fields of Collinsville, Illinois. Linus Mark Juneau, a platoon leader in A Company, First Battalion, and full-blooded Cajun from Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, is assigned to take over C Company. Charles “Chuck” Rothernberg, a Jew from Chicago who despite having a college graduation, still got caught up in the draft. His friend, Captain James Dick, a former high school athlete who had been a parachute trooper during World War II and volunteered for an infantry division in Korea so he could see more action. Master Sergeant Gaither “Nick’ Nicolas, an expert rifle shot from the hills of East Tennessee. Private Carl Kleinpeter, an ammo bearer attached to “Easy” Company, and his cousin, Olen Kleinpeter, both from East Baton Rouge Parish, are told by their sergeant that if they take the ridge, they will be given a rest. After months of hauling boxes of ammo, each weighing forty pounds, they could use a rest.
Attached to the Americans are Netherland troops and the French Battalion, commanded by Ralph Monclar, who played a part in another Korean War battle that should also be a movie, Chipyong-ni. The Americans and French get along, playing volleyball games.
Ridgway approves the mission. Major General Clovis E. Byers of X Corps gives the mission to the Indianhead Division, the Second US Infantry Division. Acting division commander Brigadier General de Shazo passes the orders down to the Twenty-Third and its attachments.
The Twenty Third’s commander, Col. James Y. Adams, a West Point graduate, was born in Tientsin, China where his father served in the U. S. Army. Like his father, Col. Adams is a brilliant but eccentric maverick who is unafraid of standing up to authority when it comes to the welfare of his men. At six feet six inches, he is known as “Skinny Adams.”
Major Virgil E. “Gene” Craven commands Third Battalion. An ROTC graduate of Kansas State College, he distinguished himself in combat during World War II. When Adams first took control of the Regiment, the over six-foot tall soldier introduced himself as “Sir, I am Virgil E. ‘Gene’ Craven, and I am a’craving for a fight.”
“I ought to send this brash young man right back where he came from,” Adams thought with an oath. But then when he orders Craven to pull back during a fight, which could be shown earlier in a movie, and the major replies he would be an S.O.B. if he did, he decides that the major will be a splendid commander.
Brigadier General de Shazo plans to use only the 23rd Regiment to assault the ridgeline formed by three principal hills, Hill 894, Hill 851, and Hill 931. Hill 894 at the southern terminus commands the approach. Thirteen hundred yards north of 894 rises the highest peak of the three, Hill 931. Twenty-one hundred yards north of 931 stands the needle-like projection of Hill 851. The hills are in infantry weaponry range of each other, allowing the North Korean defenders to easily lay down supporting fire from one to the next.
On paper, the plan seemed simple enough. The 23rd would reach the designated spurs that extend eastward right down the Satae-ri Valley, which would serve as their approach to the ridgeline, and then they were to turn west. Ascending the spurs they would cut the ridgeline between the center hill (932) and the north hill (851). 3rd Battalion would then turn north and secure Hill 851 while 2nd Battalion would attack down the ridgeline to take Hills 931 and 894. The division’s other two regiments, the 9th and 38th, were to give only limited support or be held in reserve.
Second Thoughts / Climax of Act I (Page 20-25)
Some think the operation will only take a day. Others think the North Koreans would fight like hell. “We are prepared to run into some fighting, but once we get that ridge, we are going to hold it,” General de Shazo tells Byers. In a movie scene, Col. Adams and Major Oliver Le Mire of the French Battalion could discuss the situation. The latter observes that the North Koreans they face, “Would only give terrain foot by foot – they are decidedly tougher than the Chinese.”
In K Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Lieutenant Daniel “Bill” Williams says to his men, “I want to make sure you guys shave before we leave in case you get hit in the face.” The soldiers look blankly at each other, thinking, “Oh, my God, this is it.”
Act II
First Obstacles (Page 25-30)
In the predawn hours of September 13th, an artillery barrage fires upon the ridgeline. At 0830 hours the infantry attack begins. Little enemy resistance is met, but as I Company, 3rd Battalion, approaches a spur extending eastward, they come under fire from Hills 931 and 851 and a hill extending right down into the Satae-ri Valley. Hill 656 will become known to the troops as The Watchdog.
The soldiers discover that despite the 45-minute bombardment, the enemy bunkers are still intact. The lull in fighting between 5 September and 13 allowed the KPA to prepare and strengthen their bunkers, trenches, and gun positions. They dug deep bunkers, covering them with timbers, rocks, and hardened dirt that could withstand artillery and mortar shells, including direct hits by a 105-mm. The communists had also reinforced their troops guarding the ridges. Bunkers protecting hundreds of men were located just 25-30 yards from the crest of the ridge, allowing the communists to easily run to the prepared machine-gun positions once an American bombardment ended.
Despite the growing casualties, Craven’s forces press on until pinned down by mortars, machine guns, and small arms fire. The men of 3rd Platoon have to create a defensive perimeter, dig in, and wait out the night where they were. Everyone expected the enemy to counterattack from Hill 894 and Hill 931 to “clean out the valley.” In the darkness the men can see Colonel Adam’s tall figure moving among them, raising their morale. But the attack never comes.
At headquarters, de Shazo assures General Byers that everything is all right. “We didn’t get on top of the ridge, [but the 23rd is] fighting an unorganized resistance.” Byers believes him.
As daylight breaks on September 14, the 23rd begins moving along the rocky ridge, closer to the crest between Hill 931 and Hill 851. Suddenly the gray fog lifts and the soldiers are surrounded by bursting mortar rounds of all calibers, throwing up dirt, rock, and hot shrapnel. Heavy enemy artillery, directed by KPA observers atop the ridge, continues through the morning, inflicting heavy casualties. In the midafternoon L and I companies attack up the finger connecting Hills 931 and 851.
Major Craven sends Adams a message that they have broken the crest and will try to cut through the ridge that night. But the crest has not broken, and Craven’s men must dig in for the night. In a scene straight from Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, the erroneous report causes more battalions to be ordered forward. Even after it is apparent that the report is false, the battalions continue to move forward. By nightfall, they are all dug in. The regiment and its attached French Battalion have sustained 75 casualties without taking either Hill 931 or Hill 851, let alone the ridge line between them.
General de Shazo realizes that he underestimated the KPA’s defense, but tells his superiors, “Tomorrow, we will clear it all up,”
On the 15th, Craven’s men in L, I, and G companies crawl foot by foot up the rocky slopes of Hill 931. They come under small arms and automatic weapons fire and a thick blanket of hand grenades thrown at them from concealed enemy bunkers. At 1230 hours the soldiers are stopped by a withering hail of bullets 200 feet shy of the ridgeline. Meanwhile, Easy Company advances under mortar fire until reaching the northern nose of the hill. The waiting North Koreans surround them with fire from four sides. The company is almost annihilated before extracting itself from the trap.
At headquarters de Shazo reports to Byers that “Adams is right down into the bunkers. They will continue over there tomorrow.”
“Do you think that one will collapse completely tomorrow,” asked Byers.
“I am sure, sir,” De Shazo reported.
Then he gets off the phone and orders Col. John Lynch’s Ninth Infantry Regiment to coordinate with Adams in a three-pronged assault upon Hill 894.
Rising Obstacles (Pages 30-50)
Attacking from a northeastern approach, Lynch’s men take Hill 894 after eight hours of fighting. Sergeant Dale E. Hall from Michigan, a company medic, sees several wounded men lying in an area swept by constant enemy small arms fire. He crawls out to them to treat their injuries. He is hit but refuses evacuation until his comrades have been cared for first. He will receive the Silver Star for his valor.
On the morning of the 16th, Adams orders his battalion to switch from column to abreast formations in their attacks. But the Americans encounter a new obstacle: minefields. By the time they skirt them night has fallen. The surrounding rugged peaks, ridgelines, and hills, still in enemy hands, close out the sun early.
The KPA controls the Mundung-ni Valley on the opposite side of the valley, giving them an easy route to reinforce and resupply their positions from their base at the Fluor Spar Mine. That night they swarm off hill 851 in a counterattack, firing burp guns full blast. It is repelled after fifteen minutes.
Adams gives de Shazo a detailed update, saying that his companies were reducing the enemy bunkers. De Shazo informs Adams that General Van Fleet, who believes the artillery bombardments were working, says that if they are smart, they would just keep capturing the bunkers without taking casualties. He does not know that guns of the 57-mmm rifles are useless against the timber-reinforced sandbagged walls. The gunners have to be so accurate as to send the projectiles through a two-foot by two-foot opening that the enemy gunners use to fire their weapons.
Adam informs de Shazo that they are taking casualties from mortar rounds fire on the other side of the ridge. Despite reports that the communists are receiving reinforcements, including ones from the Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) De Shazo reports to his superiors, “Some progress, not a complete success.”
By now war correspondents, hearing that a major battle was raging, are descending upon the area. “To send battalion after battalion up this ridge only to have them slaughtered,” Colonel Adams says during an interview. “With no reinforcements to back them up, is such a heartbreak for me.” The word “heartbreak” catches the ear of a correspondent, and he dubs the mass of rock “Heartbreak Ridge.” Soon news reports back in the United States refer to the battle raging in far-off Korea by the same name.
To exploit the gains by the Ninth Infantry, Adams dispatches Company C, First Battalion, to Hill 894. Around 2300 hours the enemy begins bombarding the hill and by 0300 hours are assailing it in a full-scale assault. C Company runs out of ammunition as mortar fire scatters the supply parties. Outlying posts are overrun. The soldiers fight the communists with their fists as their buddies fall back. A Company moves up to support C Company, which is glad to see their old platoon leader First Lieutenant Juneau come to their rescue. Together these two companies fight off a two-pronged attack by the communists.
As 3rd Battalion prepares on September 17th to attack Hill 931 from the west, it is hit by a 30-round enemy mortar barrage. Easy Company advances to the north knob, but stalls in the face of mortar and small arms fire and pulls back.
Carl Kleinpeter digs a foxhole on the north knob of the hill. His platoon leader had separated him from Olen the day before after figuring out that they were cousins. He digs 12 or 14 inches before hitting a big rock. Under that rock, he finds an even bigger rock. He places them outside his hole for protection.
The North Koreans zoom in on the battalion’s position, firing away with their burp-guns. A bullet tears into Carl’s abdomen. With his hands over his intestines, he helps another soldier who has lost his arm walk back to the aid station.
Meanwhile, Olen carries ammunition to a machine-gun position. A mortar round impacts near him, sending several shell fragments into his back. Both cousins are evacuated on the same day. They get their rest.
On September 18thAdams decides upon a new tactic – a night attack on Hill 851. Major Craven chooses West Pointer 1st Lieutenant Peter H. Monfore to lead Love Company. Hopes run high that this assault will end the battle. In This Kind of War T. R. Fehrenbach uses the experience of Monfore’s company to characterize the whole battle.
At 2300 hours Love Company advances up Heartbreak Ridge. Once on the ridge Love turns north, and heads for the night’s final objective. Soon Item Company tops the ridge, repaired to follow Love onto Hill 851. King Company moves right behind Item, followed by Fox and George. All is going well. Unbelievably, the battalion has suffered no casualties thus far.
Bullets of .30-cals light up the night like fireflies but cannot stop the advance of Monfore and his men. The men of Love Company use flame throwers to flush out the North Koreans from the bunkers. Twenty-three prisoners are taken. Lieutenant Monfore gives the order to form a perimeter defense. Immediately the men dig foxholes and set up machine gun and mortar crews.
Peter Monfore and his men fight bitterly in an exchange of small arms fire with the North Koreans. Yellow streaks from tracer bullets sweep back and forth in deadly brilliance. Machine guns rattle angrily but at last, the prize is won. They were atop Hill 851 and the enemy flees, disappearing in the darkness down the hill’s other side.
Enemy counterattacks have been increasing each night. After midnight North Korean soldiers come screaming out of the dark. The men of L company cut them down, but the North Koreans seemed to have an endless supply of troops to draw from. Artillery puts down “a wall of steel” around the Americans but communists make it into a deep saddle separating Love and the other American companies. A bloody slaughter ensues, leaving only 55 effectives in the whole company. Of these, only 12 or 14 are unwounded. But they still hold onto their 21 North Korean prisoners.
Lieutenant Bill Williams of K Company volunteers to reinforce Love. When he arrives he sees that all the officers are dead, including Lieutenant Pete Monfore, his body slumped over a machine gun. A sniper’s bullet missed the little Bible he always carried in a bullet-proof metal case in his shirt’s left pocket.
Lieutenant Williams takes over. With ammunition running low, he wants to get everyone off the hill but is ordered to stay. When a 120-mm mortar round severs the EE-8 telephone hookup with headquarters, Williams orders his men off Hill 851. But the men of L Company will not leave Lt. Monfore’s body behind. They cut poles from saplings with a shelter half stretched between them to serve as an improvised litter to carry the lieutenants’ remains. Morter rounds come in, turning rocks and pebbles into missiles. An explosion blows the body and litter down a cliff. Five men volunteer to crawl out and retrieve the body despite the danger. Williams orders them back. At least they tried.
The North Koreans once again occupy Hill 851.
Mid-Point (Pages 50-60)
Meanwhile, A Company and Second Lieutenant Juneau’s C Company attack Hill 931 from the south. Yellow-red bursts of fire from bunkers light up the gray morning fog. Company C takes the knob after three hours. A Company advances 50 yards before becoming engaged in a small arms firefight. After six hours of combat, Captain Dick’s company is 300 yards to the left of the highest point, nearly two-thirds away from the top when mortars begin raining down on them. Captain Dick calls in heavy artillery. Some of the “friendly artillery” falls among Captain Dick’s men. The North Korean bunkers stay intact, stalling the soldiers with yellow-red bursts of light from their embrasures. The Americans once again have nothing to show for a total of 130 casualties, 65 from First Battalion alone.
A set piece of this human tragedy is when Adams calls Captain Dick as mortars fall all around. “Jim, this is Adams,” the colonel’s voice comes over the telephone. “I want you to get in touch with Lieutenant Griffin and tell him his wife had a baby boy.” Lieutenant Griffin had just been killed, his head blown off by a mortar round, his body standing perfectly erect for a few moments before falling.
The stalemate on the ridge leads Colonel Lynch on September 19th to suggest to General de Shazo a broadening of the attack. He urges him to send the 9th Regiment across the Mundung-ni Valley and seize hills southwest of Hill 894. If the KPA thinks this is the beginning of an envelopment of Heartbreak Ridge, they might divert men and guns off the center of the ridge. But de Shazo believes tanks cannot operate in the valley beyond the ridge. He rejects the proposal since General Byers has directed that Hill 931 be given “First priority.”
Rising Obstacles (Pages 60-70)
September 20th marks the first day of the second week of fighting but is relatively calm. The North Koreans were still getting reinforcements. Observers are identifying vital centers in the Twenty-Third’s area and placing accurate artillery fire upon them. Artillery landing near the regiment’s forward command post, staff, and tent area inflicts casualties among office clerks, cooks, mailmen, and other noncombat positions. Mortar rounds scatter the South Korean porters carrying food and supplies to forward positions. Now the soldiers act as porters and fighters as they climb the ridge.
Death is random as men sent to get rations or ammunition are killed by shells during their trip to the C. P. (Command Post) or return to find that their buddies were killed during their absence. Other soldiers move from one bunker to another only to look back later to see a mortar round take out a direct hit on the one they just left.
With ammunition, medical supplies, and rations running low, Colonel Adams asks General de Shazo to pull his men off the line. The message is relayed to General Byers. “I hate to see them withdraw, Tom,” Byers replies. De Shazo informs Adams that he would not give him the authority to pull back. “My reputation is at stake. Your feet are to the fire. Go take that damn hill.”
The colonel’s men understand his position. Jim Dick says that the men hold high respect for Adams, adding, “I would have gone up that hill armed with paper clips and rubber bands had Jim Adams told me.”
When Adams visits the frontline, he finds a second battalion commander in a dugout who keeps yelling “Incoming! Incoming!” Adams dives into the dugout next to the commander. He realizes the young man cannot distinguish between incoming or outgoing mortar fire. He has the battalion commander replaced.
September 21st passes like the day before as an early morning attack on Hill 931 is planned for September 22nd. The next morning First and Second Battalions attack the hill from the north and south. The fanatical defenders call artillery down on their own positions. Every occupant of a bunker has to be annihilated before it can be taken. Four times First Battalion gains the top of the south knob of Hill 931 and four times are driven off.
Private First-Class Willis Taylor, a BAR man in B Company fires his weapon without letting up, inflicting many casualties upon the enemy. During the North Korean counterattack, Taylor stubbornly holds on to his position. A superficial bullet is removed from his arm on the post by the medics. After a mortar kills his foxhole mate, sending bone fragments into his ankle, Taylor pulls another wounded man into his foxhole and waits for over an hour to be picked up by the medics.
On the north side of Hill 931, Company E knocks out bunker after bunker as they charge up the rugged terrain. By 1700 hours Easy reaches the base of Hill 931’s north knob. Heavy artillery forces them to pull back two hundred yards. Two more attempts to take Hill 931 come within 150 yards of the south knob but are repulsed by mortar fire. North Koreans counterattack all through the night but are held off.
Sergeant “Nick” Nicholas looks around at his men and discusses the situation. “I’m tired of running up and down this hill,” says a corporal from Kentucky. “Let’s go take it.” “If we don’t take it this time,” adds another grunt, “We’ll just be sent back again and again.”
The men fix bayonets and prepare to drive out the enemy once and for all. Sergeant Nick watches as a black squirrel, a sign of bad luck back in his home state of Tennessee, runs across no man’s land. Despite this omen, Sergeant Nick leads the way up the rocky ridge. Suddenly a North Korean appears before him, a burp gun, capable of a cyclic rate of fire of 100 rounds per minute, in hand. The dirt around the sergeant bursts as nine rounds tear into and through his body. But he manages to hold onto a bush to keep himself from falling. With his free hand, he fires several rounds at the enemy soldiers. He is evacuated from Heartbreak where his life is saved in a field hospital. The old black squirrel was wrong.
Captain Dick leads Company A in more attempts to take Hill 931, the fifth assault coming at 1750 hours. The attacks are repulsed as the enemy throws grenades down in a shower, “like apples pouring out of a bushel basket.” A grenade fragment strikes Dick in the calf, but he refuses evacuation until he has led Company A to the top.
The hill has taken such a pounding from artillery and mortars from both sides that the rocky ground is now pulverized dust, making climbing the steep grade an added difficulty as men’s feet slip on the fine powder. The vibrations of exploding shells loosen rocky cliffs, crashing down on men taking shelter beneath them.
Finally, his reinforced men use bayonets and hand grenades to gain the crest. Dick, despite sustaining a second wound, leads them in a final assault. By 2000 hours fifteen soldiers have clawed their way up the slopes to the final summit of Hill 931.
Now they have to hold it.
Disaster (Pages 70-80)
The slopes are too rocky for foxholes so they stack enemy bodies several high. Dick is hit again by small arms fire but remains in his position. Reinforcements are delayed due to the ammunition supplied being depleted during enemy probing attacks the previous night.
By midnight there are about 40 men on top of Hill 931, fighting off 200-300 Communist troops. With their ammunition running dangerously low, there was nothing to do but give up the prize. Even after retreating to their main line, A Company has no rest as they fight off enemy attacks all night.
French correspond Le Mire describes the fight over the 300 meters long and 100 meters wide summit amid the shells and mortars fired by both sides
“In the middle of…crushing of iron and bursting of rocks, the First Battalion…section by section, group by group renews its attempts. Three men from here, from there, without orders, jump forward to try to take foot and to permit the battalion to attain its objective at whatever cost, just to finish it, so that the nightmare ends. All bloody, The First Battalion is like a mortally wounded wolf who does not want to allow himself to be taken.”
On September 23rd First Battalion launches an assault from the south against Hill 931. They attack again and again and are again and again repulsed by Communist defenders chucking sacksful of hand grenades while aided by crisscrossing machine gun fire. Some elements gain the crest but are driven off.
Back at the division headquarters Brigade General Haydon L. “The Bull” Boatner studies the situation. Veteran officers of the European Campaigns liken being cursed by his high-pitched voice to being chewed out by General George S. Patton.
But beneath that crusty outer shell are deep emotions for young officers. His own son, 2nd. Lt. Jaes G. Boatner, will soon be coming to Korea. He can see his face as he briefs and appoints the newly arrived second lieutenants to companies. As he orders the young officers to the frontline at Heartbreak Ridge, he feels like he has proclaimed a sentence of death on each of them. As the lieutenants lead reinforcements forward, they see dead bodies from the previous firefights still awaiting evacuation.
The dawn of September 24th sees yet another unsuccessful assault on Hill 931. G Company leads Second Battalion on an attack from the north. Throughout the day the enemy stubbornly remains in their impregnable bunkers, their interlocking fire sending a withering hail of machine gun and small arms fire upon the attackers. Unable to scale the steep northern approach, the decimated ranks of the Second Battalion halt at dusk.
Later that day the French Battalion replaces the Twenty-Third on the positions north of Hill 931 while Second Battalion moves to the southern slope. During the exchange of positions, they coordinate an attack upon the hill. During the fight, Captain Goupil places Lieutenant Barre under arrest for arguing with a superior officer.
The three battalions of the 23rd remained in defensive positions all September 25th. Anytime a man moves a hail of enemy fire pours down upon him. Attempts to relieve the Americans during the night take place under a barrage of artillery shells and enfilading machine-gun fire that constantly cuts the Frenchman’s telephone wires. By the morning of the 26th, the French Second Company, led by Captain Goupil, make it to a ridge separated from the objective by a little knob. “Okay, we go,” orders Goupil as mortars land all around him. A moment later he is dead. That night his comrades take turns walking up to the tent where his body lays in repose, giving it respectful salutes. He is replaced, ironically, by Lieutenant Barre.
The next French attack is proceeded by an air strike. One section goes up the west slope while the other attacks from the east. The French get within 32 yards of Hill 931, losing over 100 men and six officers, a casualty rate of 50%, before being stopped by a blockhouse and ordered to pull back to resupply.
Climax of Act II (Pages 80-90)
On September 27th, the soldiers fighting along the ridge look up to see a single strut-brace, high-wing L-19 plane fly over the battlefield and land at the main command post. A new commander, Major General Robert Young, is replacing General de Shazo, slated to leave upon Young’s arrival. However, due to a bureaucratic foul-up, de Shazo remains to run operations while Young makes his own assessment of the situation, flying over the ridge several times. Despite reports that the terrain would not prevent tanks, he wants to see for himself.
As soon as Young is in full control, Adams resolves to convince him to do what he was unable to convince de Shazo to do: Call off the suicidal piecemeal attacks.
General Ridgeway points to Colonel James Adams’ stand for his men as an example of the highest moral courage. “For a field commander to express it to his superior takes high moral courage, the sort of courage I have always felt is more important in a commander even than physical courage. Physical courage is never in short supply in a fighting army. Moral courage sometimes is.” (Ridgway, Matthew B., The Korean War [New York: Doubleday, 1967], p. 189.)
General Young agrees with Adams and presents the plan to General Byers. The suicidal piecemeal attacks are called off and the troops pulled off the line for three days of rest. Veteran Paul Linerode recalls that he and his buddies found several boxes of unopened beer rations, many belonging to their comrades who were no longer with them.
So, they all got drunk.
Act III
Final Effort (Pages 90-100)
On October 1st the officers made new plans – Operation Touchdown. They would now use a joint infantry-tank column to attack the hills west of the Mundung-ni Valley while simultaneously assaulting Hills 851 and 931, and a new objective, Hill 728, almost equal to the importance of 931. The target date of October 5 gave them five days to get ready. Supply dumps of ammunition, gasoline, and c-rations are stockpiled at points along the path of their attack.
There could be a movie scene in which the officers describe Heartbreak Ridge as a medieval fortress, the central hills 851, 931, and 894 making up the castle keep. Several hills ringing this central ridgeline are the bastions set at intervals in the fortress wall, their guns covering each other to keep an attacking force at bay. Touchdown calls for different regiments to attack the outlaying hills while others focus on the main castle keeps.
The Night Infantry would advance upon Hill 867. The Thirty-Eighth Infantry’s focus will be Hill 728, while the Seventy-Second Tank Battalion, with elements of combat engineer battalions in support of the Thirty-Eight Infantry, will drive up the Mundung-ni Valley and seize the village of the same name. The tanks will support the infantry and the infantry will support the tanks. The Twenty-Third Infantry was to seize Hill 931 then take the unnumbered ridge south of Hill 851 and assist the Thirty-Eight in taking Hill 728. The 38th would stop near Saegonbae, southwest of Hill 894. The 3rd Battalion of the Thirty-Eight was to be the division’s reserve and could be used only with the permission of General Young. The attached Netherlands Battalion provided the 38th with three full battalions.
The 23rd Infantry organized Task Force Sturman, named after its commander Kenneth R. Sturman, to protect the division’s flank and raid the Satae-ri Valley. Composed of the 23rd Tank Company, the 2nd Reconnaissance Company, a French pioneer platoon, and an infantry company from the Special Divisional Security Forces, Task Force Sturman would also destroy KPA bunkers on the east side of Heartbreak Ridge, acting as a decoy to draw KPA fire away from the 23rd Infantry foot soldiers on the ridge.
On October 2nd the 2nd Division regiments receive replacements to bring their battalions up to full strength. The regiments build up their supplies of food, equipment, and ammunition for the upcoming operation to ensure that Touchdown will not fail because of shortages. The 23rd Regiment pulls its battalions off the line for forty-eight hours to integrate the replacements. Because the attack would be at night, Craven prepares his men by making a dry run in battle order over neighboring hills. He goes out in reconnaissance parties and selects the battalion’s attack positions on Heartbreak. During their time off the line, many soldiers like Bud Seybert receive letters from friends and family in the States who have heard about the battle from the news. Meanwhile, engineers use 2000 pounds of explosives to blast rock off the mountainsides to build a road for Task Force Sturman.
At 1545 hours on October 3 Task Force Sturman moves up Satae-ri Valley while the US Air Force flies thirty-five shorties over Hills 728 and 864. One bomb hits the communists’ main ammunition and supply base at the Fluor Spar Mine, sealing the mine shaft and trapping North Korean reinforcements inside.
October 4th sees artillery and plane attacks on Hills 728, 857, and 851. In the afternoon the tanks of Task Force Sturman engaged in a firefight in the Satae-ri, scoring hits on 14 North Korean bunkers. As they rounded the last bend leading to Satae-Ri Village Hill 656 – The Watchdog – came into view. The tankers fired a few shots, then moved forward before the enemy could get a zoom on them.
At 1700 hours that evening, as smoke from napalm drifts off the peaks of Heartbreak, Young radios Byers, “We are all racked up and very confident and ready to go.” At 2020 hours, he radios Colonel Adams. “I know we have made every preparation for this. Have we organized and trained these assault squads to go after those bunkers?”
“We have trained with recoilless rifles, flame throwers, and bazookas,” Colonel Adams assures him.
Assistant Division Commander Boanter reports, “Everyone is confident here. I believe that Lynch will have his objective by 1300 tomorrow.”
“Adams is going to have Hill 931,” Young tells another officer. “We will crack this thing.”
Everything is counting on Operation Touchdown’s success.
At 2100 hours on October 5, the operation starts right on schedule. Elements of the Second Infantry Division’s three regiments simultaneously moved toward their assigned objectives. The Thirty-Eight Infantry regiment’s commander, Frank T. Mildren, was wounded at Heartbreak Crossroads in December 1944. He wonders if his personal history will repeat itself. Instead, in the words of Maj. Gen. Young, Mildren “went out and stole” his first objective, Hill 485, ahead of schedule.
However, all other units fall short of their objectives. The attack will be renewed at 0530 hours the next morning.
October 6th marks 23 days since the first piecemeal attack by Adams and the Twenty-Third Regiment against Hill 931. Today, however, he would use all four of his battalions and the French Battalion in the attack on the hill. Except for First Battalion, which would take diversionary action to the north against Hill 851. The troops advance, using the evening shadows to conceal their movement. Lieutenant Hank Daniels of Second Battalion tells Craven that “to know that an ol’ night owl outfit like yours will go up on that hill gives me the certain feeling we’ll be eating breakfast in the gooks’ bunkers when the sun comes up.”
Craven and his men endure enemy shells as they advance 600 meters up the ridge toward 931. But now the fire is less effective as the full-out attack by the UN forces the communists to scatter their shots over a wider range. Craven’s men cut the ridge running west from the hill, stopping the flow of enemy reinforcements.
A hail of fire pours forth from the North Korean bunkers atop Hill 931. Private First-Class Gerald Underwood crawls out in front of his position, inches his way to within a few yards of an enemy bunker. Then he throws first one, then several hand grenades into the bunker through the enemy’s gun slit. Then as the North Koreans run out of the bunker, he stands up, fully exposed, and fires his carbine from the hip, killing and wounding several. For his heroism, he receives the Silver Star.
Flame throwers, grenades, and small arms rout the KPA from the formidable bunkers that have blocked the 23rd’s advance for so many weeks. By 03:00 the 2nd and 3rd Battalions have won the southern half of Hill 931. The expected KPA counterattack comes and is repulsed. With the coming of daylight, the advance renews. The French Battalion moves in from the north and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions press on to meet it.
Before noon Hill 931 finally belongs to the 23rd Infantry.
Craven moves his command post to the top of Hill 931 and sets it up in the bunker that had belonged to the North Korean commander. When Lieutenant Hank Daniels enters the bunker later that morning, Craven holds up a can of C-rations and offers him “breakfast.”
By daylight of October 6th, with US troops entrenched on Hill 931, all the central and highest peaks of Heartbreak Ridge are at last in UN hands. Craven’s 3rd Battalion pushes on to join the 1st Battalion in its assault against the last objective on Heartbreak Ridge, Hill 851.
Obstacles (Pages 100-110)
But General Young says that Hill 867 is holding everything up.
Task Force Sturman accomplishes another successful raid into the Satar-Ri Valley, destroying 35 bunkers with only four tanks disabled by enemy fire. Communist infiltrators try to sabotage the parked tanks that night but are ambushed by the French.
The morning of October 7th brings the fantastic news that the Ninth Infantry’s First Battalion had captured Hill 867!
With this hill in friendly hands, the Twenty-Third was now free from a flanking threat and could push on to Hill 851, the final peak at the northern end of the Heartbreak Ridge. Two prominent boulders at the hill’s sharp granite crest become known as The Teeth.
There are reports of North Korean agents in US clothing with US weapons infiltrating American lines. The Military Police guard is doubled.
This news does not deter Brig. Gen. Boatner from hiking to the top of Hill 931, where he met Craven in the bunker. “This is the first damn time I have been an aid to a lieutenant colonel,” Boatner said as he pulls out a pair of silver leaves. “General Young dispatched me to pin these on you, Gene.” Craven is now a lieutenant colonel
The encirclement of Hill 851 is the downfall of the fortress of Heartbreak Ridge. The third battalion moves out to cut the ridgeline at the 700-meter level running west from 851. The enemy resist this advance with intense fire from automatic weapons and mortars.
I Company attempts to move west of the hill but is thrown back on its first try. The Third Battalion’s remaining rifle company, K Company, passes through the consolidated positions of L Company. K Company attacks to the east toward Hill 851 but is halted by the enemy artillery and mortar fire. Task forces Sturman moves up the Satae-ri valley and places tank fire on Hill 656, diverting the enemy’s fire from attacking companies on the ridgeline., allowing the infantry to move forward.
The Third Battalion continues to press hard on its attack during the night and morning of October 7th-8th. After five attempts I Company succeeds at 0415 hours in taking up a position about halfway between Hill 851 and the Fluor Spar Mine.
Meanwhile, First Battalion’s attack from the south is met by showers of hand grenades and a hail of automatic weapons bullets from the bunkers. C Company repeatedly assaults these bunkers guarding a small ridge just south of 851’s main peak. Each time the infantryman got to within 75 yards of the bunkers, the North Koreans left their fortifications to engage the attackers in hand-to-hand combat, driving them back. Finally, C Company succeeds in digging in about 50 yards from the bunker line.
They are now 400 yards from the peak of Hill 851.
October 8th dawns with reports of possible enemy reinforcements and an attack by the CCF. This does not stop the attacks of the three infantry regiments upon the ridge. All across the peaks of Heartbreak, there are acts of valor for which the Bronze Star and Silver Star will be given. For Sergeant First Class Tony K. Burris’s heroic actions, he will posthumously receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
His citation reads…
On 8 October, when his company encountered intense fire from an entrenched hostile force, Sfc. Burris charged forward alone, throwing grenades into the position and destroying approximately 15 of the enemy. On the following day, spearheading a renewed assault on enemy positions on the next ridge, he was wounded by machine-gun fire but continued the assault, reaching the crest of the ridge ahead of his unit and sustaining a second wound. Calling for a 57-mm recoilless-rifle team, he deliberately exposed himself to draw hostile fire and reveal the enemy position. The enemy machine-gun emplacement was destroyed. The company then moved forward and prepared to assault other positions on the ridgeline. Sfc. Burris, refusing evacuation and submitting only to emergency treatment, joined the unit in its renewed attack but fire from hostile emplacement halted the advance. Sfc. Burris rose to his feet, charged forward and destroyed the first emplacement with its heavy machine gun and crew of six men. Moving out to the next emplacement, and throwing his last grenade, which destroyed this position, he fell mortally wounded by enemy fire. Inspired by his consummate gallantry, his comrades renewed a spirited assault which overran enemy positions and secured Hill 605, a strategic position in the battle for “Heartbreak Ridge.” Sfc. Burris’ indomitable fighting spirit, outstanding heroism, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest glory upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.
Colonel Adams spends the night building up a supply base to support the final assault on Hill 851. General Young agrees with him, saying“ Let’s make it cagey.” There is no need for patrols that night since the Americans are “eyeball to eyeball with the enemy.” A North Korean counterattack is repulsed in 15 minutes.
October 9th sees 3rd Battalion, 23rd Regiment consolidate its position on the ridgeline west of Hill 851. At 1800 hours I Company jumps off to secure two knobs north of the Fluor Spar Mine area.
Meanwhile, Task Force Sturman thrust up the Satae-ri Valley so that its tanks could fire on Hill 851. Coordinating fire from First Battalion knocks out eighteen bunkers, but many bunkers remain intact on 851. Before the hill could be secured every bunker would have to be reduced.
The 23rd closes in, tightening the noose around the Teeth of Hill 851. Some units have advanced so far that they have to be supplied by C-119 airdrops. Elements of the regiment occupy most of a spur that slants down to the west from 851 and terminates in a flat knob, designated Hill 520. Here the North Koreans still held a firm grip.
Climax of Act Three (Pages 110-115)
The morning of October 10th when the fog lifted it revealed the Mundung-ni Valley below. It is a great morale boost to the men atop Heartbreak Ridge who have for a month fought for that view. Down below they see a column of Sherman M4A3 Tanks waiting in anticipation. With the trail clear of mines for six miles, the tanks shift to top gear. Dogfaces atop the ridge cheer as they watched the metal beast lumber forward.
The column reaches the Flour Spar mine and opens fire with its turret guns. The mine explodes, destroying the North Koreans’ supply base.
The task force catches the KPA and the CCF out in the open, relieving their rapidly disintegrating elements atop Heartbreak. Scattering the terror-stricken Communists in every direction, the tankers race to the town of Mundung-ni and beyond. They inflict heavy losses upon the enemy, cut off the supply and replacement routes, and completely disrupt Northern Korean relief up the western slopes of Heartbreak Ridge.
Major Craven witnesses the armored thrust from atop Hill 931. “What a sight those tanks are,” he said. “…The sight of tanks operating where the red said no tanks could come,” Craven believes inspired his men that, “We could go all the way – right to the top of Hill 851.” He shifts the 3rd Battalion to the spur between Hills 520 and 851, applying pressure from the west.
The 23rd closes around the Teeth of Hill 851. Heavy fire from the North Koreans pinned down a platoon, killing a brand-new lieutenant in the first minutes of his first combat action. Private First-Class Harry Schmidt ties a yellow panel around his waist so fire elements can identify the attacking platoons.
Private Cliff R. High leads his platoon in the absence of a lieutenant. With two dozen soldiers, he occupies a position halfway to the objective. Then leads a charge across 60 yards in the face of grenade concussions and automatic fire. High is knocked down by a concussion grenade but gets up and leads BAR men and flame throwers in destroying the bunkers. With only five men left, he leads the final assault, capturing Hill 520 and eight North Koreans. For his actions, he will receive the Distinguished Service Cross.
Meanwhile, Frenchmen and Americans, officers and enlisted men alike, are fighting shoulder to shoulder, side by side to take Hill 851. They are stalled by three humps that barre access to the ridge.
Task Force Sturman and The French Pioneer Section receive an enemy counterattack in the Satae-ri Valley. One tank explodes and the Pioneer Section is reduced to 14 men. When orders come to relieve the Frenchmen, the tankers ask to keep them. “These fourteen men are enough for us.”
Resolution and Descending Action (Pages 115-120)
On October 11th the final assault begins on Hill 851. At 1610 hours, First Battalion, 23rd Regiment, proceeded by a bombardment from Task Force Sturman, launch their attack.
Companies B and C rush to the little hillocks in front of the hill’s crest. A Company rushes forward and gains the south slope but is driven back by intense automatic weapons and small arms fire from the enemy bunkers.
At 1700 hours the French Battalion is called in.
Xavier Company leads the French attack at 2000 hours. The French establish a firebase southwest of Hill 851, firing just meters in front of the advancing infantrymen. Using hand grenades and flame throwers, the Frenchmen come near the first tooth of the hill before sustaining heavy casualties and running low on ammunition.
Zoe Company is ordered to continue the attack. They vault around the hemlocks, opening a path with a shower of hand grenades. Huge searchlights stationed on a nearby hill illuminate the battlefield at night, to either blind the enemy or produce artificial moonlight to brighten the ground for the advancing Americans and French. The French advance so rapidly that they catch several communists in their dug-in positions completely by surprise. Just beyond them is the brilliantly illuminated first tooth of Hill 851.
The Frenchmen charged toward Hill 851 without stopping, scaling the rocky cleft. They kill dozens of the enemy and took several of them prisoner while forcing the rest to plunge into nearby ravines and disappear into the night. At 0230 they are on Hill 851’s crest, capturing the first tooth.
Now the second tooth lies 150 meters away.
On October 12, The French artillery continues to change their targets to keep the enemy off balance, raining artillery and mortars down on the Chinese and North Koreans. But with the enemy still entrenched between the French and Americans, any soldier who raises his head is immediately fired upon by the Communists. An assault will have to wait until dark.
As soon as darkness falls the Americans, reinforced by some French, move forward, climbing up the slopes of Hill 851. They are stopped by heavy automatic, machine gun, and grenade launcher fire. The French Battalion moves forward. Their artillery fires on Hill 851, then on enemy positions to the north, then deep into the valleys, then on the enemy’s artillery, before shifting back to Hill 851. They continue this routine to keep the enemy off balance
At daylight on October 13th, elements of three French battalions move out, working their way through a ravine, creeping out of sight of the enemy, and climbing up a rocky incline before finding themselves among a honeycomb of bunkers. Here they fix their U. S. bayonets onto their rifles and charge into the position, throwing grenades. After a climactic dash, the Frenchman clear the enemy off the 851’s summit.
Americans of K Company, Third Battalion advance up the west finger of the hill. Using flame-throwers, they knock out the last enemy bunkers on Heartbreak Ridge. When they link up with the French at 0730 hours, Hill 851 is finally, completely secure.
Conclusion
The Battle of Heartbreak Ridge cost the UN forces 3,700 casualties, including 1,832 men from the Twenty-Third Regiment and its attached French Battalion alone. Veterans say that half of the casualties were men falling to their deaths as they climbed the slopes. The Communists’ losses totaled close to 25,000 men. North Korean propagandists claim they inflicted a high casualty rate in both men and materials on the attackers in their victorious defense of the heights. However, the fact that the Communists gave in to UN conditions to resume peace talks shortly after the battle makes any such “victory” hollow.
Despite the name “Heartbreak Ridge” becoming synonymous with the brutality and hardships of war and the toughness required by those who fight, the story of the actual battle is relatively unknown. It is mentioned in the South Korean film Brotherhood of War and the French novel Les Mercenaire. The English-language juvenile fiction book The Korean War Soldier at Heartbreak Ridge by Carl R. Green and William R. Sanford dedicates less than five pages to the actual battle. Heartbreak Ridge by Walker E. Blake, penname for W. E. B. Griffin, starts interesting but then, in typical Griffin fashion, gets bogged down in on-leave “romances” and military-grade paperwork and jargon. Even the most famous representation of the battle, the opening credits to a movie set during the 1983 U. S. invasion of Grenada, gets it wrong, portraying a Marine instead of a soldier as a veteran of the battle. The controversy extends to Eastwood’s portrayal of a Medal of Honor recipient.
The real story of Heartbreak Ridge is one of love and honor that deserves a cinematic presentation. It is the story of the love that officers like Young and Craven had for their men that drove them to put all on the line for them. It is this story of the love of superiors for subordinates that can only exist in a democratic society versus the dehumanization of Communist authority that ultimately makes the story worthy of a movie. This love inspired the common soldier to so many remarkable acts of honor and heroism that a movie would have to be four hours long to properly portray them all.
I had to cut many acts of valor to get my post down to a reasonable length. The race of the Seventy-Second Tank Battalion into the enemy’s rear is on par with George S. Patton’s race to Bastogne. This would have been impossible without the bravery of engineers who worked under fire to make a road. Engineer Corporal James Harsh received the Bronze Star for his heroism. There was courage in the air as Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots provided air support, dropped leaflets encouraging the Communists to surrender, and strung radio wires. Pilot Capt. George B. Daniels received the Silver Star. Helicopter pilot Major Edward Lee Barker would also receive a Silver Star for rescuing downed pilots.
Since I mean no disservice to those who I had to cut, I hope presenting the citations for Medal of Honor recipients who fought and died on Heartbreak can serve as avatars for them.
Private First-Class Herbert K Pililaau
Pfc. Pililaau, a member of Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The enemy sent wave after wave of fanatical troops against his platoon which held a key terrain feature on “Heartbreak Ridge.” Valiantly defending its position, the unit repulsed each attack until ammunition became practically exhausted and it was ordered to withdraw to a new position. Voluntarily remaining behind to cover the withdrawal, Pfc. Pililaau fired his automatic weapon into the ranks of the assailants, threw all his grenades, and, with ammunition exhausted, closed with the foe in hand-to-hand combat, courageously fighting with his trench knife and bare fists until finally overcome and mortally wounded. When the position was subsequently retaken, more than 40 enemy dead were counted in the area he had so valiantly defended. His heroic devotion to duty, indomitable fighting spirit, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.
Second Lieutenant Jerome A. Sudut
2d Lt. Sudut distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. His platoon, attacking heavily fortified and stategically located hostile emplacements, had been stopped by intense fire from a large bunker containing several firing posts. Armed with submachine gun, pistol, and grenades, 2d Lt. Sudut charged the emplacement alone through vicious hostile fire, killing three of the occupants and dispersing the remainder. Painfully wounded, he returned to reorganize his platoon, refused evacuation, and led his men in a renewed attack. The enemy had returned to the bunker by means of connecting trenches from other emplacements and the platoon was again halted by devastating fire. Accompanied by an automatic-rifleman, 2d Lt. Sudut again charged into close-range fire to eliminate the postion. When the rifleman was wounded, 2d Lt. Sudut seized his weapon and continued alone, killing three of the four remaining occupants. Though mortally wounded and his ammunition exhausted, he jumped into the emplacement and killed the remaining enemy soldier with his trench knife. His singlehanded assaults so inspired his comrades that they continued the attack and drove the enemy from the hill, securing the objective. Second Lt. Sudut’s consummate fighting spirit, outstanding leadership, and gallant self-sacrifice are in keeping with the finest traditions of the infantry and the U.S. Army.
Because it is a story of remarkable bravery, courage, and comradery in the face of a brutal enemy and impossible obstacles is why I believe the Real Heartbreak Ridge Should Be A Movie.
