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THE HOOK

The Second Battle of the Hook started at about 7pm on 18th November 1952 when two companies of Chinese infantry were spotted by a standing patrol 500 yards below the forward positions on the Hook. They radioed a warning back, but the patrol was quickly attacked and silenced by the Chinese. Half an hour later the company deployed on the Hook was attacked from three different directions. The battle relied mainly on the forward platoons. The Dukes watched the battle from their positions on Yong Dong, two thousand five hundred yards away, and laid into the Chinese with their machine guns firing on fixed lines over the Samichon valley and across the Black Watch for over eleven hours. At the end, over 50,000 rounds had been expended. A lull in the battle came shortly before midnight as the Chinese appeared to have withdrawn, but a half hour later a bugle announced their return and the crump of grenades punctuated the din of exploding shells and machine gun fire. The Chinese were plainly visible.
The Chinese managed to get a footing on the hook under the pressure of repeated attack on a very narrow front. Despite heroic counter-attacks by the Scots the Black Watch was forced back by sheer weight of numbers. A counter-attack was called and using the Centurion tanks of the B Squadron, The Royal Inniskilling Dragoons and the Black Watch started to clear the Hook of the Chinese. Dawn broke about 4.30 am and the fighting was still going on. The push forward continued, and having failed to consolidate their positions the Chinese were not prepared to carry on the fight in daylight and they retreated. A few of the Scots had been captured when the forward platoons were overrun, but most had stayed safe in their tunnels and dugouts when their positions were known to be lost and occupied or overrun by the Chinese.
Daylight brought the battle to an end, this was just another day in the life of the ‘Skins’.

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Website for the 5th Royal inniskilling dragoon guards www.inniskillingdragoonguards.co.uk