Page "Battle of Kapyong" Paragraph 33

The Chinese attacks had been launched quickly and aggressively, placing their light machine-guns on the flank in support and attempting to close to attack the Australian perimeter with grenades.

Contrary to some contemporary western accounts, the Chinese did not use human wave tactics, rather, using a tactic known as ' one-point-two sides ', they used massed forces and infiltration to achieve local numerical superiority and to penetrate the gaps between the forward companies, before attempting to envelop the Australians while drawing their fire to the front, away from their threatened flanks.

They would normally attempt to close with UN defensive positions using darkness or poor visibility to cover their movement and to counter American air superiority, before attacking using massed force, co-ordinated with close fire support.

However, although normally well-planned and closely supported by machine-gun, mortar and artillery fire, Chinese attacks in Korea were often inflexible in execution once launched.

This was mostly due to the lack of radio communications below battalion-level, with the Chinese instead relying on with whistle blasts, bugle calls and runners for command and control, and although their and mortars had provided particularly effective indirect fire support, these problems were again evident during the fighting at Kapyong.

Later, it was estimated that more than 500 Chinese were killed by the Australians and the American tanks that supported them.