Battle of the Twin Tunnels

Battle of the Twin Tunnels
Part of the Korean War
Date February 1, 1951 Location Near Jipyeong-ri, Jije-myeon, Yangpyeong County, South Korea Result UN victory
Belligerents
United Nations 23rd Infantry Regiment French Batailion de Coree and 347th Field Artillery Battalion[1]	China
Commanders and leaders
Paul Freeman Ralph Monclar	Peng Dehuai
Strength
~3000?	?
Casualties and losses
?	5,000 killed, wounded, or missing

The Battle of the Twin Tunnels (French: Bataille de Twin-Tunnels) took place during the Korean War. In which the 1st Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment 3rd Brigade Combat Team 2nd Infantry Division and elements of the 21st Infantry Regiment 24th Infantry Division inflicted heavy casualties on the People's Volunteer Army.

The "Twin Tunnels" refer to a series of railroad tunnels at 37°26′35″N 127°40′21″E / 37.44306°N 127.67250°E / 37.44306; 127.67250 along the Central Line in eastern Jije-myeon, Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea.

A series of battles, including Twin Tunnels, the Battle of Chipyong-ni, and the Battle of Wonju between January and February 1951 marked a turning point in many ways for the entire Korea War. Importantly, these battles (especially Chipyong-ni on February 13–14, 1951) shaped the tactics that would replay throughout both Korea and Vietnam whereby well equipped isolated firebases, in communication by air and radio with regional divisional forces, held out against numerically superior light infantry formations. Eventually such tactics turned around the UN's disastrous retreat from the north into a stalemate that led to an Armistice two years later relatively close to the site of these important battles.

Notes

Sources

• David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter, 2007 ed., pages p. 505–588

External links

• The 2nd Infantry Division in Korea: Wonju and Twin Tunnels
• Combat Actions in Korea, Chapter 7: Twin Tunnels Patrol Ambush
• Map: Chipyong-ni, 13–14 February 1951 from Billy C. Mossman, Ebb and Flow: November 1950 – July 1951 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1990)
• (in Korean) In Korean language online encyclopedias:
  • Korean language Britannica (Empas) (Map)
• Commanders