Tide-turning ‘Gettysburg of Korea’ battle commemorated 75 years later

CHIPYONG-NI, South Korea — Chipyong-ni is today a modest, rural village, but 75 years ago it briefly commanded the attention of the free world. For millennial Koreans, the village — now spelled “Jipyeong-ri” — is famed for the excellence of its makgeolli, a white rice brew.

For military historians, Chipyong-ni is famed for the three-day “Gettysburg of the Korean War” that began Feb. 13, 1951.

Forty miles southeast of Seoul, U.S. forces, fighting alongside French allies, reversed a monthslong tide of defeats, proving Chinese forces could be beaten.

The battle’s 75th anniversary was commemorated Wednesday by local VIPs and troop contingents from France, South Korea and the U.S.

But as the war generation fades, this year’s commemorations were the first in living memory without veterans.

And while trans-Atlantic tensions strain NATO’s sinews, inter-Allied frictions became obvious during the commemorations.

Looking back

In 1951, the battle was fought under snow. In 2026, the rice fields were frozen and the weather chill, but snow had stayed off the gray-brown landscape.

Gunfire no longer clatters; artillery no longer thunders. Today’s standout sound is the hiss of KTX bullet trains passing along through the little station.

Commemorations took place at a raised memorial overlooking Chipyong-ri’s museum — complete with a tank outside. The makegolli brewery that was the American command post still stands, beautifully restored.

Uniforms included Korean Army dark greens, U.S. Army browns and tans and the jaunty scarlet and blue of the most distinctive contingent — cadets from the French military academy, St. Cyr.

“This battle was a linchpin,” Brig. Gen. Scott Woodward, deputy commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, or “2ID,” the key U.S. ground force in Korea today. “It turned the tide of the war.”

In 1951, 2ID’s 23rd Infantry Regiment, fighting under the U.N. Command banner with the French U.N. Battalion attached, defended Chipyong-ri.

From the memorial, the most striking thing about the battlefield is its size. Four battalions of infantry, plus artillery and over 100 vehicles were compressed by the surrounding Chinese forces into a perimeter a mile deep and a mile-and-a-half wide.

“It’s humbling to see the challenges the soldiers faced,” said U.S. Command Sgt. Maj. Larry Milner. “The terrain forced them to get in close.”

“It must have been intimidating to fight here: You could see the enemy’s eyes,” said 2nd Lt. Nicolas, a St. Cyr cadet who, citing academy policy, declined to offer his surname. “The enemy had the high ground, and much more manpower.”

Holding the ‘Human Wave’

U.S. Col. Paul Freeman, commanding the 23rd, deployed his units shoulder-to-shoulder to prevent infiltration in an all-around defense. Inside the perimeter, his engineers built a crude runway, cutting reliance on road transport.

These preparations were designed to confront a Chinese tactic that had, so far, been triumphant in the Korean War.

In “human wave” attacks, Chinese units massed in front of U.N. positions and assaulted frontally. At the same time, other units infiltrated around the flanks, establishing roadblocks and ambush sites deep in the rear.

Like water, the Chinese forces aimed to roll over, around and behind U.N. units. The tactic had driven all before it.

In December 1950, U.N. forces had retreated from North Korea. A month later, Seoul fell. By February 1951, the war hung in the balance. 

Chipyong-ri commanded a key road-rail transport junction. Freeman was ordered to hold firm.

Overlooking him, Chinese officers massed three regiments against the 23rd. What happened next passed into legend.

Chinese troops crawled through mines, under wire, up to fighting positions, initiating combat of the most traumatic kind: Extreme close range.

Massive 8-inch howitzers were depressed, shooting directly into the assault waves. U.S. aircraft dropped lines of flares for illumination, napalm incendiaries for effect.

French troops used a hand-cranked siren to overwhelm the bugles the Chinese used as signaling devices, then unleashed bayonet counterattacks.

The perimeter held the first night. On the second, Chinese penetrated the south. The battle raged all day as more Chinese troops were fed into the breach, swarming inside the perimeter. Just as darkness fell on Feb. 16, U.S. tanks appeared through a pass in the southern ridge: A relief force from 1st Cavalry Division. Caught on flat ground without cover, Chinese soldiers were mowed down by tank fire. They fled.

Freeman and his men had held. 

Chipyong-ni was likened to Gettysburg, though smaller in scale than the Civil War epic. 

Chinese after-action reports indicated shock. Per precedent, they had expected the Americans to retreat, and had been stunned by the armored intervention.

All units — French included — earned U.S. Army Distinguished Unit Citations.

Passing generation, new animosity

Absent from the 2026 commemorations were the veterans. With the Korean War ending in 1953 living memories are evaporating — making commemorations doubly important.

“Telling stories, getting the soldiers to learn their history, builds cohesion,” Gen. Woodward said.

Though drones, long-range fires and satellite communications have changed combat, the core lessons of Chipyong-ri endure.

“The character of war has changed, the nature of war has not,” he continued. “Whether it’s with axes or drones, soldiers have got to have guts and determination, and leaders have got to inspire.”

Unlike World War II and the Vietnam War, the Korean War, dubbed “The Forgotten War” hasn’t resonated in popular culture. A bare handful of Korean actions caught Hollywood’s attention, notably the Incheon amphibious landing, and the breakout from Chosin Reservoir.

Chipyong-ri does not make the list.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Coil. Steve Tharp, who conducts Korean War tours and calls himself passionate about the battle, bemoaned that. The Marine Corps, which fought at Incheon and Chosin, outsmarts the Army in public relations, he sniffed.

Chipyong-ri, he said, is custom-built for film, with the dramatic armored intervention being “like the cavalry arriving in a Western.”

In 2026, it was America’s allies who felt overlooked.

French diplomats, officers and cadets attended the U.S. ceremony. In a subsequent commemoration, at the nearby French memorial, no U.S. troops or officials appeared.

“I am a little perplexed about what they were thinking,” said retired Col. Alain Nass, a former defense attache at Seoul’s French Embassy. “They were not here with us today. Why?”

He noted that 2ID was originally activated in France, during World War I. Every year, it is commemorated by French officialdom there.

“We have the U.S. flag here,” he said, pointing to the Stars and Stripes engraved alongside the Tricolor on the French battle memorial. “It’s important we keep this relationship alive: It’s about comradeship.”