CANADA HISTORY - War

PPCLI

The 2nd PPCLI arrived in Korea in December of 1950 believing that the war might very be over. After the initial surprise attack by the North Koreans on June 27th 1950 and their drive to the south east coast, the Americans rush troops and suppliers to the Pusan perimeter but launched a daring counter attack under the command of General Douglas MacArthur at Inchon.

Macarthur's surprise landing near Seoul on the central west coast of the peninsula enabled UN forces to cut off the North Koreans in the south and drive the enemy back to the Chinese boarder. Canada concluded that the action would be short and that additional Canadian troops would probably not be needed.

The situation changed quickly when a North Korean and Chinese counter attack was launched on November 26th which convinced the Canadian government to send the rest of the brigade.

The 2 PPCLI was initially deployed in the Pusan area and then moved up to the Seoul area. The Canadian commander of 2 PPCLI, Lieutenant Colonel Stone argued with the American commander of the 8th army that his troops needed at least 8 weeks of proper training which he was eventually given.

On February 17, 1951 the 2nd PPCLI were given their assignment as a part of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade which was preparing to attack the North Koreans. They attacked towards the 38th parallel and would participate in the battles of Kap'yong and Chail-li.