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Diggers Die in Fierce
Fight lor Peak Top
TOKIO, February 1 (A.A.P.). — In a savage counter attack
recently on the Korean western front Chinese troops killed
seven and' wounded five of a small band of Australians who had
captured a vital peak top. /
Four other Australians
- were slightly wounded..
Censorship has delayed
reports of the action.
Private Bruce Harkncss, 23,
of Camperdown, N.S.W., a
stretcher bearer, gave his life
in a vain attempt to recover
the body of one of his mates.
At 7 p.m. a platoon of the
third battalion Royal Austra
lian Regiment, led by 'Lieuten
ant Robin Hone, of Adelaide,
began to . advance up a ; 350
yards' stretch . of steep rldge-
line, from the most for.":.:v
Australian positions.
.' The platoon had iirf L- op
position, but a lot of .o M
On the way up it skirmished
with a handful of Chine;-;:
Then, as the leading A':--
HMitii.t i'LIIICU - VilC iUJf, ;
lone Chinese burp-gunne. -
came, out of a hole behind ;
tlicm .and killed three.- "
Lieutenant Hone's platoon
was ln possession of the peak-
top by 7.30 p.m.
Within an hour the Chinese
began .reacting, but a concen
tration of more than 100 Allied
guns broke up their first coun
ter-attack
At 11 p.m. the Chinese
stepped up their artillery and
mortarJbarrage.
One shell killed outright
two Australians and wounded
another' as the platoon
scraped' for shelter on slopes
already scoured by friendly
guns.
Ran Gauntlet-
"The Chinese artillery looked
like a- half-moon of fire ring
ing the hill," said one officer.
"Every Chinese gun which
could reach the hill hit it."
Then Australians on the
peak top were ordered back.
They had to return along a
narrow corridor and the
Chinese, anticipating this,
plastered the corridor with
mortars.
The Australians extricated
themselves, but suffered more
casualties. ;
When the platoon was safely
back in its own lines, stretcher
bearer Harkness went out to
bring in the body of a New
South Wales man who had
fallen in front of the Austra
lian wire and was shot.
The following night an Aus
tralian patrol went to within 15
yards of the deadly peak top to
recover their dead.
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