Handout 6
 Phase Five: Attrition and Negotiation
July 27 1951 – July 27, 1953


1st Narrator: By the summer of 1951, it was becoming obvious that neither side could force the other out of Korea without widening the war. Cease-fire talks began on July 10, 1951. But these talks were suspended or came to nothing as battle lines shifted and prisoner of war issues were raised. Meanwhile, the fighting went on. One of the fiercest battles was at Heartbreak Ridge. It got its name, as French officer Louis-Christian Michelet remembered, when an American Colonel Adams was ordered to send his men one more time up a Korean hill, despite heavy casualties. As Adams later said,

 

Quotation 28: "To send battalion after battalion up this ridge only to have them slaughtered, with no reinforcements to back them up, is such a heartbreak for me.

(Source: Arned L. Hinshaw. Heartbreak Ridge. New York: Praeger, 1989: 36)

Question for Quotation 28: Why might officers have to order troops into battles like the one at Heartbreak Ridge? Some historians have compared this phase of the Korean War to trench warfare stalemate during World War I. Do research to find out how the two wars were similar and how they were different.

2nd Narrator: This phase of the war was largely confined to the hills and mountains near the 38th Parallel with no huge offenses or retreats. Instead, troops were locked into hill fighting. Howard Matthias remembered what it looked like as a new marine officer coming to lead a platoon:
 

Quotation 29: "The command bunker was impressive. Several adjoining rooms were connected by an underground passageway and completely protected by the top of the ridge only a few feet away. Late in the afternoon I was briefly orientated to the area, first with a map and then a visual inspection of the area from an observation post. The first look was bewildering. It was impossible to discern one hill from the other. I could not imagine being able to patrol and fight in that amazing amount of sameness."

(Source: Howard Matthias. The Korean War: Reflections of a Young Combat Platoon Officer. Tallahassee: Father and Sons Publishing, 1995: 32)

Question for Quotation 29: What was hill fighting like? Battling to take hills, losing them, and then retaking them was hard on morale. Find out how this phase of the Korean War compared to the fighting troops had heard about or taken part in during World War II?

1st Narrator: Maintaining morale while negotiations dragged on was difficult. Soldiers began to resent the possibility that there would be no clear victory and that instead they would "die for a tie." One American officer, however, was impressed with the morale of French troops and their commander Monclar:









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