Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry Korea: “Strongly Recommended. A First Class Display.”


When the Korean War broke out, Bomber was still in the Army Reserve. He re-joined the colours on 12 August 1950 and was posted to 8th Kings Royal Irish Hussars, the armoured unit intended for service in Korea. The 8th Hussars were re-equipping with the brand-new Centurion Mk III battle tank, but still operated some ‘D-Day era’ Cromwell tanks. The Centurion incorporated lessons learned from highly effective German weapons, including Tiger and Panther heavy tanks and the famous 88mm gun. The crown jewel of the Centurion Mk III was a fully automatic stabilisation system for its main gun, combined with a new gunsight, which enabled it to consistently fire accurately while moving at speed. Experts consider the Centurion to be among the best tank designs of the early/mid- Cold War era. It was ‘On the Secret List’ in 1950/51; Royal Armoured Corps orders stressed that a Centurion must never be allowed to be captured intact.


The 8th Hussars trained intensively for eight weeks before embarking on 11 October 1950. It is noteworthy that Bomber, who had not sat in a tank for over four years, was assigned to drive a state-of-the-art Centurion rather than an older Cromwell. The regiment arrived in Pusan harbour on 14 November 1950, made its way to the front line north of Pyongyang, but was soon swept up in the retreat of the UN forces in the face of vast numbers of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (P.L.A.) soldiers pushing down from the north.


Bomber was injured in the fighting at Suwon, just south of Seoul, on 25 January 1951, in an incident classified as ‘Battle Accident phosphorous burns – not to blame’. White phosphorous munitions were used as incendiaries or to create instant smokescreens, and each Centurion carried WP grenades and WP smoke discharger cannisters. Accidents can easily happen, as white phosphorous ignites spontaneously on contact with air, cannot be extinguished easily, and burns through flesh and bone unless prompt action is taken with a bayonet to remove all burning fragments and the wound is then smothered with mud. In February 1951 the UN forces went onto the offensive, recapturing Seoul and pushing up towards the old border between the North and the South. The Centurions helped the Glosters to capture Hill 327. The terrain in this part of Korea was too rugged for tanks to operate effectively, and the Army felt that the 8th Hussars, having gained combat experience, could be better used in Europe. By the end of April 1951, Regimental Headquarters and two Squadrons had been pulled out of the Korea order of battle and were on their way home. Only ‘C’ Squadron was still deployed on the front line along the Imjin River when the Chinese Spring Offensive opened on the evening of 22 April 1951. The entire Chinese 63rd Army was tasked to wipe out one puny British Infantry Brigade and its handful of tanks. Swarms of Chinese troops crossed the Imjin and began to infiltrate along the gaps between the British units.


The 29th Independent British Brigade was allocated 12 miles of front, comprising steep hills intersected by deep valleys. It was impossible to form a continuous defensive line, so Brigadier Brodie decided to deploy each infantry battalions on a separate key area of high ground, relying on his artillery and tanks to cover the wide gaps between them, including the dominating 675m high feature called Kamak San. In particular, there was a wide gap between the Glosters to the west of the Brigade area and the other three battalions who were safeguarding the main north-south highway (Route 11) to the east.


Bomber was the driver of Captain G.S. Murray’s Centurion. Murray was one of the 8th Hussars’ most senior commanders, and he spent most of the Battle leading, from the front, a Half-Squadron (three Troops). He was awarded an M.C. for his actions during the first and the last days of the battle, and Bomber was present with him throughout. On the first full day (23 April) Murray was ordered to push up Route 11 towards the Imjin river and extricate ‘Y’ Company, Northumberland Fusiliers, who had been surrounded. A perilous mission which Murray and Bomber pulled off successfully, returning with the Fusiliers riding on the backs of the tanks. The other 8th Hussars Half Squadron headed west to try to reach the Glosters, who were also surrounded, but these tanks did not succeed in breaking through the enemy hordes that were well-established on each side of Kamak San.


On 24 April, crowds of enemy soldiers poured off the flanks of Kamak San. ‘Throughout that day and the next, tanks were in perpetual demand, invoked like guardian angels, at every point of threat and crisis.’ (History of the VIII King’s Royal Irish Hussars refers). It was not a good day for the 8th Hussars: two Centurions came under heavy, accurate mortar fire and drove off Route 11 into the paddy fields, where one stopped and the other, tilted at an angle as the driver attempted frantically to turn, built up mud around its drive wheels and threw off both of its tracks.


On the third day (25 April), thousands of Chinese infantrymen were still ferociously attacking. The exhausted men of 29th Brigade were ordered to withdraw, with the bulk moving south along Route 11, covered by the Centurions. The Glosters, who could still not be reached and helped in any way, were told to pull out across country in small groups. Once the order to retreat was received, Captain Murray resolved to recover the two immobilised Centurions, despite intense enemy activity in the vicinity. He deployed a small infantry force to provide local protection for the Armoured Recovery Vehicle. One Centurion was saved, but the enemy was pushing hard, time was passing and Murray was ordered to destroy the gun stabilisation system and gunsight of the second tank before the Chinese could overrun his position. Murray reluctantly complied, planting the demolition charges himself. He was wounded in the head and shoulder before climbing back into the turret of his Centurion and resuming command of the vehicle. It was time to leave in a hurry, as the Chinese infantry and anti-tank teams were capturing stretches of Route 11 right down the valley and ‘there was a very real danger of all the tanks being cut off irrecoverably.’ (ibid)


The Centurions covering the British withdrawal down Route 11 were forced off the road in many places. As a veteran 8th Hussar recalled years later, ‘It was more or less a death or glory sort of stunt,’ running a gauntlet of treacherous paddy fields and PLA soldiers with sticky anti-tank mines. British infantrymen, jam-packed on the backs of the tanks, were raked by small arms fire at close range; only a few survived the death ride. Two Centurions were knocked out by the sticky anti-tank mines, which Chinese soldiers had to attach to the moving tanks by hand, a close to suicidal task, as each vehicle tried to protect itself and its neighbours. One of the rear- guard Centurions was lost when it drove into a deep dyke and stuck its gun into the ground like a spike.


As Bomber and Murray made their way through the paddy fields, an explosion (probably a sticky anti-tank mine) threw off a track and Bomber’s controls went dead. Captain Murray ordered the crew to bale out and abandon the tank. According to the Regimental History, the Centurion belonging to the overall commander of the 8th Hussars on Route 11 (Captain Ormrod) was close by: ‘Ormrod went round the wet paddy-field where Murray was stuck, paused to pick up Murray and his turret crew, and hurried on through a small village…’


His M.M. citation states that Bomber did not hear Captain Murray’s order to abandon the tank. By careful manipulation of the gears and controls, Bomber succeeded in jumping the steel track back onto its driving wheel and bogies. ‘Jumping’ (American tankers call it ‘walking’) a track back into place is an amazingly difficult operation, which only an incredibly skilful and lucky tank driver can manage successfully on flat ground under peacetime conditions. To do so in a paddy field while under the stress of constant hostile attack is little short of a miracle.


Normally the thrown track would have to be dismantled and refitted, an operation which can take hours, so Captain Murray was fully justified in ordering his tank to be abandoned. He did not issue the order lightly - when he himself had been ordered, earlier in the day, to blow up the trackless Centurion that he was trying to save, Murray’s reply had been ‘Much against the grain, I obey your order’. Bomber either deliberately ignored the order to bale out, or he switched off the intercom to better listen to the sounds of the gearbox and engine as he began the delicate ‘jumping’ process. All the official sources are silent regarding why Murray did not ensure that every member of his crew was accounted for before he climbed into Captain Ormrod’s tank and it drove off.


Having checked that the Centurion now answered to his controls, Bomber opened the front driver’s hatch to look for Captain Murray. What he saw caused him to close it rapidly, drive off at full speed and charge into enemy-occupied houses in the village just ahead. He had to drive fully ‘closed down’, relying on his periscope alone to see where he was going. Normally the tank commander, whose elevated turret gives him much wider visibility, helps the driver by giving directions, so Bomber was lucky not to drive into one of the ubiquitous dykes and get trapped.


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