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Having returned to the line of the River Imjin, from 5 June 1951 onwards, the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles began sending company sized patrols into enemy territory. United Nations battalions took turns at providing the cross-river patrols, and when not so engaged, they continued working and improving the defences of the Kansas Line. Gradually the enemy pulled back from the river and by 15 June were 8,000 yards away.
At the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles was engaged in operational duties at Razani on the North West Frontier of India. During October, the Battalion spent its time carrying out such duties as keeping roads open to convoys, guarding convoys, and occasionally participating in punitive raids against the hostile tribesmen. In October, the Battalion returned to Rawalpindi.
The 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles marched through Belfast and past the City Hall where the Lord Mayor and the Belfast City Corporation held a civic reception. The event marked the Battalion's return from their operational deployment during the 'Confrontation' with Indonesia in Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
After the 65th Chinese Army had exhausted itself attempting to smash through the defensive positions on the River Imjin held by the British 29 Brigade, the Brigade withdrew to a new line south of the River Han where, on 26 and 27 April, it rested and refitted for future operations.
On 9 May 1951, the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles moved from its reserve location in the chemical factory at Sosa-Ri on the Kimpo Peninsula to a forward position on the bank of the River Han and remained there for two weeks. One company occupied Hill 131, which afforded a good view of the surrounding area, while the remainder of the Battalion concentrated on the plain below.
The Waziristan campaign from 1936–39 was in fact a number of operations conducted by the British and Indian Army against the dissident tribesmen that inhabited the region. These operations were conducted in particular against the followers of Mirza Ali Khan, a Pashtun leader from the village of Ipi. His popular reference throughout India was the 'Faqir of Ipi', but to his Pathan followers he was known as 'Hajii Sahib'. He waged a guerrilla campaign against the British administration until the independence and partition of India in 1947.
The 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles was in a defensive position on high ground some 2,000 metres south of the River Imjin. Since occupying the position on 1 April 1951, the companies had been patrolling frequently and reconnoitring the river for crossing places. C Company's main Observation Post was particularly popular because it commanded a good view to the north; whenever anyone spotted anything that appeared to be enemy activity, the American Army's Forward Observation Officer attached to C Company called for artillery fire.
The Chinese Third Phase Offensive aimed to cross the 38th parallel and force the UN and the US to abandon Korea and concede the first global victory in what was being called the 'Cold War' The first major action for the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles was on 3 January 1951, when the Battalion, as part of 29 Brigade, covered the withdrawal of UN forces to the south of the Han River and at the Battle of Chaegunghyon (better known as 'Happy Valley') checked the enemy advance.
(Below, The Royal Ulster Rifles marching through a Korean village, with vehicles of 45 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery in the background (© IWM (BF 392))
In February 1816, the uneasy truce between the British and the Gurkhas, during what was the Anglo-Nepalese War 1814-16, gave way to a resumption of hostilities. The 1st Battalion 87th Regiment, having left Mauritius on 16 June 1815, joined Major General Ochterlony's East India Company army near the Nepalese frontier.
