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. The below photo was depicted the railways southward to Jaeng pass and Pulmiji village on the left, and the mountain ridges of Gaemyung-san where the British force were occupied.  














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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