In the Korean War, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army and the Korean People's Army attacked Outpost Harry, held by the 3rd Infantry Division of the US Army, on June 12, 1953. The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, defending the base, made a defensive attack on the charging Chinese soldiers. The bodies of many Communist soldiers killed by the U.S. troops were scattered around the base for postmortem treatment.
The Battle of Harry, an outpost, broke out in the Korean War from June 10 to 18, 1953. The Battle of Harry broke out on a hill about 387 meters above sea level in the Iron Triangle, about 96.6 kilometers north of the capital, Seoul. It intercepted Chinese military surveillance of UNC troops and defended the attack from direct Chinese artillery fire.
The Chinese attack began at 6 p.m. on June 10 with intense artillery fire, followed by an assault of about 3,600 troops that outnumbered the American defenders 30 to 1. The Chinese forces charged through their own artillery, which pinned down the American troops, but were met with a massive UN bombardment. Some Chinese infantry penetrated the U.S. trench line, but were unable to overrun the American dugouts and were counter-attacked and retreated. Similar assaults were repeated over the next eight days. The Chinese forces assaulted at night, exposing daytime UN reinforcements and supply operations to Communist artillery fire and sniping. The Chinese forces struck again during the night of June 11-12, when, in a massive artillery barrage, Chinese infantry penetrated and attacked the American garrison holed up in dugouts. With heavy artillery and armor support, the Americans once again held their ground.
The most devastating Chinese attack occurred on the night of June 12-13. After the initial attack failed, the Chinese regrouped and launched a three-pronged attack from the north, northeast, and northwest. American reinforcement companies held out with diversionary attacks by American tank battalions on the eastern flank; attacks on June 14-15 and June 18 were both unsuccessful, and the Chinese subsequently halted their seizure of Outpost Harry.
During the eight days of fighting beginning June 10, Chinese forces suffered about 4,200 casualties. Chinese forces fired approximately 88,000 shells into the American outpost. American casualties were 183 dead and 606 wounded. As in the other hill battles, the battle for Outpost Harry was well entrenched militarily by both sides.
