Filipino Soldiers stood still against Chinese battalion.. History may repeat it again

Lieutenant Fidel V. Ramos (right) and his colleagues in the Philippine 20th Battalion Combat Team, Korean War

The

Philippines sent a total of 7,420 soldiers to South Korea, 112 of whom were killed in action. Five battalion combat teams?each combat team had a one-year tour of duty?were deployed from 1950 to 1955.
The first team left Manila on 16 September 1950 on board the ship Antolak after a massive send-off rally at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila. Carrying 1,367 men, the ship landed on Busan on 19 September.
It was this team that figured prominently in the Battle of Yuldong, where besieged UN forces were forced to retreat following the Chinese Spring Offensive of 1951.

One of the first United Nations members to answer the call to deploy troops and would go on to make meaningful battlefield contributions to the war effort in Korea was the Philippines. The Philippine government deployed one regimental combat team to fight in the Korean War that became known as the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK). The PEFTOK soldiers arrived in Korea on September 19, 1950 at the port city of Pusan shortly after MacArthur’s successful Incheon Landing Operation that turned the tide of the Korean War.

During the nearly five years PEFTOK was deployed to Korea they participated in a number of heavy combat operations and established themselves a solid reputation as tough, tenacious fighters in the hills of Korea. Much of the tactical skills the Filipino soldiers used in Korea to great effect was honed during their own struggle against tyranny when the Japanese invaded the Philippines and Filipino guerrillas took to the hills to launch attacks against the Japanese. The Filipino military’s guerrilla warfare skills only improved when the military was called on to fight its own communist insurrection occurring in the highlands of the Philippines against the Hukbalahap which were guerrilla fighters aligned with the Philippine Communist Party


Continued Chinese pressure on the UN forces along the Imjin prevented a planned attack by the 1st and 3rd Battalions, 65th Infantry to relieve the Glosters. When two further attempts by a tank platoon to link up with the Glosters failed, Brigadier Brodie left the decision whether to attempt a break out or to surrender to Lieutenant-Colonel Carne. No further attempts to relieve the Glosters were undertaken because at 8 a.m. on 25 April, I Corps issued the order to execute Plan Golden A which called for a withdrawal of all forces to a new defensive position further south.

The Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) stood still on their ground to defend the ground.

The Philippine 10th Battalion Combat Team counter-attacking at Yultong on 23 April 1951

Had the Chinese achieved a breakthrough in the initial stages of their assault, they would have been able to outflank the 1st ROK Division to the west and the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division to the east of 29th Brigade. Such a development would have threatened the stability of the UN line and increased the likelihood of success for a Chinese advance on Seoul. Although the Chinese benefited from 29th Brigade's scattered deployment and a lack of defensive preparations, they were nevertheless unable to overcome the positions before UN forces could check further advances. In three days of fighting, the determined resistance of 29th Brigade severely disrupted the Chinese offensive, causing it to lose momentum and allowed UN forces in the area to withdraw to the No-Name Line, a defensible position north of Seoul, where the Chinese were halted.

Lieutenant Fidel V. Ramos (right) and his colleagues in the Philippine 20th Battalion Combat Team, Korean War