Exploration of the Happy Valley(Samsang-ri, Ilyoung, Yangju, Korea) Battle Place for Memory of the British Ulster Rifles
70 years ago in
the time of the Jan. 4th Refugee Exodus, the British battalion unit of Royal
Ulster Rifles stood in the Happy Valley to deter Chinese onward to Seoul.
Today in 5 Jan. 2023, I have just excursed the
battle field area around which the military actions were taken place, in line
with the book and internet source describing the battle scenes and background.
I and my wife get on the bus for the bus station
of the Jaeng-gogae(pass). On arrival, we walked along the road sided by the
Seoul Outskirt Railway now closed but in the Happy Valley battle, it was existed
to cross the nearby Gongneung creek southward. A long ridge of the mountain is
stretched northward, west side of which is paralleling with the Seonyu-dong
Valley and Pulmiji village. The B& D companies of the Ulster were occupied
this ridge to deter speed of Chinese force pursuit in the time of full UN
retreat. We are walking along this valley between Gongneung creek on the right
and Gaemyung mountain ridge on the left to remind of the battle situation on
the same day; the camouflage surrender of Chinese soldiers, dispatch of the
British search party, Battle Patrol urgent dispatch, napalm bombs dropped from
the US Shooting Stars & the British counterattack. I have checked the
Ilyoung station office and platform now which is closed, Samsang primary school
and the mountain bulge carved by a stream of Gongneung and Seokcheon creeks and
covered by the A company as at a blocking position.
The total route of
this valley is 4 km approximately, and we take a walk for 1.5 hours. The actual
Happy Valley was referred to the withdrawal route between Jaeng and Menemi
passes by the British veterans but some fightings were carried out on these valley
and mountain ridges.
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