French Battalion
The French Battalion in the Korean War was a battalion of volunteers made up of active and reserve French military personnel sent to the Korean Peninsula as part of the UN force fighting in the Korean War.
Lieutenant General Monclar, Inspector of the Foreign Legion and a hero of World War II, supported Chief of Staff of the French Army General Blanc's decision to form a volunteer force and agreed to command the new unit. The French Battalion arrived in Pusan (modern day South Korea) on November 29, 1950 and was placed under the operational control of the 23rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, U.S. 2nd Infantry Division. The battalion carried out several successful early actions and earned the respect of General Ridgway, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army.
From January 7 to 12 January 1951, the French Battalion participated in the Battle of Wonju where, thanks to a decisive bayonet attack, it stopped the Chinese advance. That episode was echoed around the world by American war correspondents reporting from the theater. It was followed by the battles of Twin Tunnels (1 - 2 February 1951) and of Chipyong-Ni (3 - 16 February 1951). These combats, during which the battalion resisted the attacks of four Chinese divisions for three days, allowed the 8th Army to score a victorious counter-offensive. Three weeks later, the battalion was engaged in combat for Hill #1037 (about 50 miles east of Seoul) and lost 40 dead and 200 wounded while attacking and capturing the hill.
In the spring of 1951, the battalion crossed the 38th parallel into the Hwachon region. The sacrifice of the engineering platoon allowed them to stop a new Chinese offensive. In the fall of 1951, the French volunteers took part in the battle of Heartbreak Ridge where they won fame again during a night attack. In the course of these combats which lasted a month, 60 French soldiers were killed and 200 were wounded. In the fall of 1952, after a lethal war of positions, similar to Verdun during WW I, the battalion put a halt in Chongwon, North Korea, to a Chinese offensive toward Seoul. This resistance resulted in 47 dead and 144 wounded. The total Chinese losses against the French battalion were estimated at 2000 men. In the winter and the spring of 1953, the battalion took part in combats which kept the North Korean and Chinese forces from reaching Seoul.
After the signing of the armistice in July 1953, the French Battalion left Korea with five French Citations to the Order of the Army; the French Fourragère in the colors of the Military Medal; two Korean Presidential Citations; and three American Distinguished Unit Citations. It was one of the most famous units of the United Nations forces in Korea. In an address to a joint session of the United States Congress in May 1952, General Ridgway said the following:
I shall speak briefly of the 23rd US Infantry Regiment, Colonel Paul L. Freeman commanding, [and] with the French Battalion…. Isolated far in advance of the general battle line, completely surrounded in near-zero weather, they repelled repeated assaults by day and night by vastly superior numbers of Chinese. They were finally relieved…. I want to say that these American fighting men, with their French comrades-in-arms, measured up in every way to the battle conduct of the finest troops America and France have produced throughout their national existence.