bodies, we searched the opposite ridge with binoculars and saw to our surprise and delight that ROK troops were flitting through the scrub timber far below, moving upon the target. The attack was starting to roll. No sound came from either the weaving shadows below or the pillbox above. Just before noon, with the South Koreans creeping through the last bit of dense timber before reaching the rocky, very steep, nearly barren knob which the Communists had cleared for their fire lanes, the silence suddenly erupted and the top of that mountain was hit with everything but lightning. The artillery and mortars down in the valley dropped shells and bombs right along the crest of the enemy ridge. A few seemed to explode directly upon the tumbled but massive stones of the pillbox itself. Machine-gunners all along our ridge sent out piercing fire which was easy to follow as their tracers whipped across the ravine and glowed against the mountainside. No answering fire came back down. Then, without warning, enemy mortars opened up from some concealed point over the crest of the Mountain, and their bombs began bursting among the trees through which the ROKs were creeping. At first the ROKs tried to continue crawling upward toward the pillbox but the Red gunners shortened their range and brought mortar bombs raining right down upon the South Koreans' heads. Colonel Paris and I, watching through the glasses, then saw the Communists stand straight up in their positions to toss grenade after grenade down the slope, where they burst among the attackers. Neither Paris nor I saw one ROK soldier turn and run down the slope. Each seemed just to bow his shoulders while trying to find cover near the large boulders which cropped out among the trees. Their own friendly artillery and automatic fire had to stop, for they were so close to the crest of 626 that it would have been almost impossible for gunners to continue hitting the target without also shelling their own men. The Reds stopped as soon as the ROKs withdrew slightly and dug-in. The echoing explosions died away in the canyons and the Mountain was quiet. I 40 l Ⅲ. Korea 1950 This is War!
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