Battle of White Horse Hill | |||||||
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Part of the Korean War | |||||||
![]() White Horse Hill memorial | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
![]() | Jiang Yonghui[2] | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
South Korean sources: 3,500[4] Chinese estimation: 9,300[3] |
Chinese sources: 1,768 killed 3,062 wounded 562 missing[3] South Korean estimation: 10,000[4] |
The Battle of White Horse Hill (Korean: 백마고지 전투, Chinese: 白马山战斗; pinyin: Bái Mǎ Shān Zhàn Dòu)took place during the Korean War. White Horse Hill (Hill 395) in the Iron Triangle, formed by Pyonggang at its peak and Gimhwa-eup and Cheorwon-eup at its base, a strategic transportation route in the central region of the Korean peninsula.
White Horse Hill was the crest of a 395-metre (1,296 ft) forested hill mass that extended in a northwest-to-southeast direction for about 2 miles (3.2 km), part of the area controlled by the U.S. IX Corps, and considered an important outpost hill with a good command over the Yokkok-chon Valley, dominating the western approaches to Cheorwon. Loss of the hill would force IX Corps to withdraw to the high ground south of the Yokkok-chon in the Cheorwon area, denying the IX Corps use of the Cheorwon road net and would open up the entire Cheorwon area to enemy attack and penetration.