Outpost Harry
| Outpost Harry | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Korean War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| China | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Eugene W. Ridings Russell F. Akers Jr. Georgios Koumanakos | Xiao Xuanjin | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| 74th Division | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 5,000 | 13,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
102 killed 553 wounded 44 missing |
1,450 killed 3,800 wounded (estimated) | ||||||
Outpost Harry was a remote Korean War outpost located on a tiny hilltop in what was commonly referred to as the "Iron Triangle" on the Korean Peninsula. This was an area approximately 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Seoul and was the most direct route to the South Korean capital.
Most of the fighting occurred at night, under heavy mortar fire, while the daylight hours were usually spent by the UN forces evacuating the dead and wounded, replacing the defending company, sending up resupplies and repairing the fortified positions. The daylight hours were punctuated with artillery, mortar and sniper fire, making repairs and reinforcement a more dangerous task. During the 4 to 5 days prior to the initial attack on the outpost, PVA artillery and mortar fire increased from an average of 275 to 670 per day during daylight hours.
The soldiers of the Greek Expeditionary Force, Sparta Battalion adapted its name and called it Outpost "Haros", the modern Greek equivalent to Charon, Greek mythology's ferryman to the underworld of Hades.