The sanitary corporal and the practicalities of coalition warfare

Pusan perimeter, South Korea, late July 1950.

In the annals of the Middlesex Regiment can be found the marvellous story of how the battalion sanitary corporal rose and met an unexpected challenge when the battalion arrived on the Naktong river Line in early September 1950. I thought you’d enjoy this.

The two battalions of the British 27^th Infantry Brigade (1st Middlesex and 1st Argylls) landed in Pusan port from Hong Kong on 29^th August 1950. Under the command of Brigadier Basil Coad the Brigade had left the colony four days before; five days before that the Argylls and Middlesex had been issued orders to proceed to war, an eventually not considered likely only a week before. The time at sea was spent in rifle training, firing practise and physical training. The brigade, like its American compatriots, had spent no time in combat training. It would have to learn on the job, depending on the professionalism of its officers and NCOs and the sturdiness of its men, many of them National Service conscripts.

Men of the 1st Middlesex take over positions from the 8th Cavalry on the Naktong River, early September 1950.

On arrival the brigade was moved to reserve positions behind Yongsang. Attached to the 1^st Cavalry Division on 3^rd September the battalions went into the line, taking over from the 8^th Cavalry Brigade to the southwest of Taegu. The frontages were huge: the two British battalions for example covered a front of about 14-miles. But the weather was dry and the men, eminently adaptable and pragmatic in the tradition of British infantry regiments, settled down to make the best of their new circumstances. One of these was learning to live with one’s neighbours. In the area of responsibility for D Company, 1^st Middlesex, were two parties of South Korean police of about 140 men each. They were shockingly ill-equipped for the task required of them. On the first night the commander of the larger unit presented the British company commander with an ultimatum: he and his men wouldn’t stay in the line unless they were equipped with machine guns and received other tactical help from the newly arrived British. They felt abandoned by their own side , knew nothing of the tactics for defence and wanted to come under the comforting umbrella of the British unit. The police were spread along about two and a half miles of river bank at intervals of about ten yards. Most of them were armed with old Japanese rifles with two or three rounds each. Unsurprised that they were concerned about their predicament the D Company commander promptly gave them a Bren gun and a box of ammunition, all he could afford at the time, given that the British brigade had arrived in Korea with light weapons only and he had little else to spare.

The next day, on hearing the story, the Commanding Officer (Lieutenant Colonel Man) seconded to the Koreans the Middlesex’s sanitary corporal, Corporal Fields and two others from the pioneer platoon, with instructions to help the Koreans in any way they could. The boost these two actions (the Bren gun and the secondment of three professional soldiers) gave to the Koreans was immeasurable and the results immediate. The Koreans now felt loved. Fields, who had been captured in Hong Kong by the Japanese in 1941, spoke a little of the language having had Korean guards during the nearly four years of his captivity. Although not tasked with doing so he was a natural leader and soon took charge of the Korean dispositions and all other military and administrative functions of his new charges. One presumed this included sanitary arrangements. In short, he became their commander. Both the Korean police officers (a captain and a sergeant) were only too glad to take orders from Corporal Fields; they became his willing and trusty Lieutenants in the fighting that followed. The company commander, in a moment of levity, named Fields’ two units Army Groups ‘A’ and ‘B’. The titles stuck. Corporal Fields had, under command, 280 loyal Koreans, all suddenly energized by their new leadership and eager for the first time to confront the enemy, believing that with their new Company commander and single Bren gun they had the means to do so. Corporal Fields now boasted many more troops than the other company commanders in the battalion and Lieutenant Colonel Mans treated him as one of his company commanders.

I have always had the utmost respect for the professionalism of the long service British infantry NCO. I served with many. This story explains why.