View source for Battle of the Twin Tunnels

{{Short description|1951 Korean War conflict}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Battle of the Twin Tunnels
| partof = the [[Korean War]]
| date = 1 February 1951
| place = Near [[Jipyeong-ri]], Jije-myeon, [[Yangpyeong County]], [[South Korea]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|37.443|N|127.672|E|type:event|display=title}}
| result = UN victory
| combatant1 = {{flag|United Nations}}
*{{flag|United States|1912}}
*{{flagcountry|French Fourth Republic}}
| combatant2 = {{flagicon|People's Republic of China}} [[People's Republic of China|China]]
| commander1 = {{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[Paul L. Freeman Jr.|Paul Freeman]]<br> {{flagicon|French Fourth Republic}} [[Ralph Monclar]]
| commander2 = {{flagicon|People's Republic of China}} [[Peng Dehuai]]
| units1={{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[X Corps (United States)|X Corps]]
*{{flagicon|United States|1912}} [[23rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|23rd Infantry Regiment]]<br>[[37th Field Artillery Regiment|347th Field Artillery Battalion]] 
*{{flagicon|French Fourth Republic}} [[French Battalion]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.korean-war.com/TimeLine/1951/timeline1951.html |title=Korean War timeline 1951 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005135346/http://www.korean-war.com/TimeLine/1951/timeline1951.html |archive-date=2007-10-05 }}</ref>
| units2={{flagicon|China}} [[75th Group Army|42nd Army]]
*[[129th Division (2nd Formation)(People's Republic of China)|125th Division]] 
| strength1 =3,000
| strength2 =10,000<ref name=yt>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p97eFNwv_Mg |title=Korea: Twin Tunnels |author=Army University Press |website=[[YouTube]] |date=2019 |language=en |accessdate=2022-07-22 |quote=34:54 |archive-date=2022-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722033103/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p97eFNwv_Mg }}</ref>
| casualties1 =
{{flagicon|France}}：32 killed<br>100 wounded<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/article.php?laref=40&titre=batailles-de-twin-tunnels-et-de-chipyong-ni |title=Batailles de Twin-tunnels et de Chipyong-Ni |date=2013 |language=fr |access-date=2022-02-18 |archive-date=2021-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117102518/https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/article.php?laref=40&titre=batailles-de-twin-tunnels-et-de-chipyong-ni  }}</ref><br>
{{flagicon|United States|1912}}：13  killed
| casualties2 =1,300 killed (counted)<br>3,600 killed (estimated)
}}
{{Campaignbox Korean War}}

The '''Battle of the Twin Tunnels''' ({{langx|fr|Bataille de Twin-Tunnels}}) took place during the [[Korean War]]. In which the UN forces inflicted heavy casualties on the [[People's Volunteer Army]] (PVA). The "Twin Tunnels" refer to a series of railroad tunnels along the Central Line in eastern Jije-myeon, [[Yangpyeong County]], [[Gyeonggi Province]], [[South Korea]].

A series of battles, including Twin Tunnels, the [[Battle of Chipyong-ni]] and the [[Third Battle of Wonju]] between January and February 1951 marked a turning point in many ways for the entire Korean War.

==Background==
When U.S. [[X Corps (United States)|X Corps]] commander General [[Edward Almond]] received a request from [[Eighth United States Army|Eighth Army]] commander General [[Matthew Ridgway]] on 30 January for a X Corps - [[Republic of Korea Army]] (ROK) [[III Corps (South Korea)|III Corps]] operation similar to [[Operation Thunderbolt (1951)|Operation Thunderbolt]], he was in the process of extending X Corps’ diversionary effort ordered earlier by Ridgway. Having achieved the [[Yeoju|Yoju]]-[[Wonju]]-[[Yeongwol County|Yongwol]] line against little opposition, Almond was planning a strong combat reconnaissance {{convert|15|mi}} above this line. Searching that deep at Corps' center and right could apply pressure on the [[Korean People's Army]] (KPA) [[V Corps (North Korea)|V]] and [[II Corps (North Korea)|II Corps]] concentrated above [[Hoengseong County|Hoengsong]] and [[Pyongchang]]. At the same time, the U.S. [[2nd Infantry Division (United States)|2nd Infantry Division]], due to move north along the Corps' left boundary as far as [[Jipyeong-ri|Chip’yong-ni]], {{convert|8|mi}} east of Yangp’yong, could protect the right flank of [[IX Corps (United States)|IX Corps]] as Operation Thunderbolt continued.<ref name=Mossman>{{cite book|last=Mossman|first=Billy|title=United States Army in the Korean War: Ebb and Flow November 1950-July 1951|publisher=United States Army Center of Military History|year=1988|url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/020/20-4/index.html|page=248}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

In the recent course of protecting IX Corps' right, a joint motorized patrol from the 2nd and [[24th Infantry Division (United States)|24th Infantry Divisions]] on 29 January had moved north out of the Yoju area on the east side of the [[Han River (Korea)|Han River]] to a pair of railroad tunnels and a connecting bridge standing east and west athwart a narrow valley {{convert|4|mi}} south of Chip’yong-ni. PVA in the high ground overlooking the tunnels quickly cut the patrol's route of withdrawal, forced the group into hasty defenses on the nearest rises of ground, and opened a series of assaults. The PVA finally backed away after air strikes were called in by the pilot of an observation plane who spotted the ambush and after a motorized company of infantry reinforced the group about 03:30 on the 30th. The waylaid patrol had suffered five dead, 29 wounded, and five missing out of a total strength of forty-five. At the discovery of PVA at the twin tunnels, Almond ordered the 2nd Division to identify and destroy all enemy units in that area. The [[23rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|23rd Infantry Regiment]] received the assignment. On 31 January Regimental Colonel [[Paul L. Freeman Jr.]] sent his 3rd Battalion and the attached [[French Battalion in the Korean War|French Battalion]] to the tunnels after placing the [[37th Field Artillery Regiment|37th Field Artillery Battalion]] within {{convert|1,000|yd}} of the tunnel area in direct support. The infantry battalions reached and established a perimeter around the tunnel-bridge complex without sighting enemy forces. But from farther north Freeman's forces themselves were observed by the PVA [[129th Division (2nd Formation)(People's Republic of China)|125th Division]], [[75th Group Army|42nd Army]].<ref name=Mossman/>{{rp|248–9}}

==Battle==
[[File:Korea Twin Tunnels LgDVMriXDW4.webm|thumb|Army University Press presents Korea: Twin Tunnels. This documentary addresses how the U.S. Army fought in the Korean peninsula, while accentuating doctrine pertinent to today’s U.S. Army.]]
Near dawn on 1 February the 375th and 374th Regiments attacked from the north and northeast, respectively, and after daylight the 373rd Regiment assaulted the perimeter from the northwest and southwest. In hard, close-in fighting lasting all day, the defending battalions, relying heavily on artillery fire and on more than 80 air strikes finally forced the PVA to withdraw. Freeman's forces counted 1,300 enemy bodies outside their perimeter and estimated total PVA casualties at 3,600. Their own losses were 45 killed, 207 wounded and four missing.<ref name=Mossman/>{{rp|249}}

==Aftermath==
Judging from the two sharp actions at the twin tunnels, the PVA appeared determined to retain control of Chip’yong-ni. They had good reason. The town was so situated that the force occupying it could control movements over Route 2 to the west, over Route 24 to the northeast, over Routes 24 and 24A below town, and thus through the [[Yangpyeong County|Yangp’yong]]-[[Ch'ungju]] segment of the Han River valley stretching to the southeast behind it. Eighth Army possession of Chip’yong-ni, furthermore, would pose a threat of envelopment to enemy forces opposing [[I Corps (United States)|I]] and IX Corps below the Han River. For these same reasons Almond planned to seize Chip’yong-ni and incorporated this plan in his overall recommendations for an operation styled on Operation Thunderbolt. Also behind Almond's proposals were late January intelligence reports of a strong enemy force assembling around [[Hongcheon]], at the intersection of Routes 24 and 29 {{convert|20|mi}} northeast of Chip’yong-ni and {{convert|15|mi}} north of Hoengsong. This force, apparently part of the KPA V Corps, could be preparing to advance southwest on Route 24 through Chip’yongni, then down the Han valley toward Yoju and Ch’ungju. Or the V Corps might again push forces south on Route 29 through Hoengsong toward [[Wonju]]. To spoil either move, Almond considered Hongcheon the proper main objective of a X Corps attack. To disrupt both the KPA V Corps and II Corps, he outlined a coordinated X Corps-ROK III Corps advance, [[Operation Roundup (1951)|Operation Roundup]].<ref name=Mossman/>{{rp|249}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* [[David Halberstam]]'s The Coldest Winter, 2007 ed., pages p.&nbsp;505–588

==External links==
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061206051012/http://www.2id.org/wonju1-tt.htm The 2nd Infantry Division in Korea: Wonju and Twin Tunnels]}}
* [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/korea/30-2/30-2_7.htm Combat Actions in Korea, Chapter 7]: Twin Tunnels Patrol Ambush
* [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/korea/maps/map23_full.jpg 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)
* {{baekgwa|empas_b=169016|}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twin Tunnels, Battle Of The}}
[[Category:Battles of the Korean War|Twin Tunnels]]
[[Category:Battles of the Korean War involving China|Twin Tunnels]]
[[Category:Battles of the Korean War involving France|Twin Tunnels]]
[[Category:Battles of the Korean War involving the United States|Twin Tunnels]]
[[Category:February 1951 events in Asia]]
[[Category:Battles and operations of the Korean War in 1951]]