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B R I T I S H     I M P E R I A L    D E C O R A T I O N S

During this action Major Gerke led his men with great skill and courage through the final stage of the assault, personally grenading the position and directing Bren fire regardless of his own personal safety. It was Major Gerke's own example which inspired his weary men to press home the final attack. The capture of this feature played an important part in the capture of the major feature Point 355.

On 5 October, Major Gerke led his company through D Company against the Point 317 feature. With remarkable skill and drive he secured the sheer-sided feature taking ten enemy soldiers prisoner. The speed of this attack contributed significantly to the success of the operation as a slower moving company would have permitted the enemy to reinforce Point 317. An enemy position on this feature would have caused a significant delay to the entire operation and many casualties to friendly troops in recapturing it.



HASSETT, Francis George, Lieutenant Colonel (2/27),
3rd Battalion, RoyalAustralian Regiment, 1951

Lieutenant Colonel Hassett led his unit during Operation Commando (the first major Commonwealth Division attack from 3 to 8 October) with great skill, determination and courage. On 2 October, during daylight hours, he surreptitiously moved his battalion to an assembly position under the very nose of the enemy on Kowang San (1718) and, under cover of darkness and mist, he established infantry elements and moved half a squadron of tanks unobserved by the enemy on to Hill 199 (1920) in an encircling movement to the north, thereby ensuring that he retained the element of surprise. With his forces so disposed behind Hill 355, he was able to exert great pressure on the rear of the enemy which proved invaluable to the KOSB soldiers as they stormed Hill 355.

On the night of 4 October, Lieutenant Colonel Hassett positioned one rifle company on the Koyandai feature (2022) which runs north-east from Hill 317 (Maryang San). Once the company was established he launched a further company attack in a concentric movement against the strongly entrenched enemy. Under his cool and inspired leadership 3 RAR attacked with great vigour, supported by the accurate flanking fire of the tanks of 8 Hussars which he cleverly combined with artillery fire. In a series of stubborn actions which lasted over four hours, the Australians advanced along the spur for 3,000 yards, moving up towards the heights of Maryang San, completely destroying two enemy companies. The 3 RAR diggers finally surged forward to capture the brigade objective, Hill 317.

Having led this epic action from his command post well forward, Lieutenant Colonel Hassett moved at once to Hill 317 and organised the consolidation. The captured feature was subjected to an ever-increasing amount of enemy mortar and artillery fire. The next day, in an effort to reduce the pressure on the RNF soldiers who were fighting hard for Hill 217 to the south-west, the battalion advanced a further 600 yards along the ridge to the west in the face of considerable opposition.

Finally, on 7 October, the battalion captured 'The Hinge' (173223) in a splendid action and beat off an immediate counter-attack. The battalion maintained its position during that night under probably the heaviest hostile shelling of the Korean

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