Battle of Mushroom Hill
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| Battle of Mushroom Hill | |||||||
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| Part of the Third Joyonghean-Quenminese War of the Second Europan War | |||||||
 Zanarkian troops assaulting Quenminese positions near Mushroom Hill, 17 October 1943 | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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Relief Force: (19 October)  United Kingdom |
 Archadia-Archedes | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Namgung Wook-yun †
Yeoncheon Garrison: Relief Force: (19 October) | |||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
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4,789 wounded or killed 59 tanks 55 guns 35 aircraft |
3,959 wounded or killed 79 tanks 49 guns 49 aircraft | ||||||
The Battle of Mushroom Hill (29 September - 21 October 1943) was an engagement around the nearby town of Yeoncheon and nearby it was a 300m tall hill that was the location of a bloody engagement between ZANAC and Joyonghean forces against a combined Quenminese-Archadian force led by Marshal Hồ Danh Sĩ Quốc. After General Douglas Tecumseh Stilwell's failure to contain Quenminese forces during the Second Battle of Taeju, Ho took the opportunity of pushing his forces against the ZANACs around the Yeoncheon County, seeing an opportunity to destroy the ZANACs and rob the Allied forces of one of their most competent formations.
Following the removal of Concordian and Joyonghean forces near at Taeju, and with Marshal Ho splitting a portion of Joyonghean forces from the main force, General Namgung Wook-yun chose to rendezvous with General Edward Samegawa's forces at the Yeoncheon County. Samegawa had been tasked with guarding the flanks for General Albert Crocker's Operation Sequoia by taking a 300m tall hill beside Yeoncheon. When the news of Crocker's push being delayed due to the autumn rains, the two generals dug their forces around the country, with their armoured force garrisoned at the town of Yeoncheon. Archadian reconnaissance reported this to Marshal Ho, who didn't want to squander the opportunity of destroying the ZANACs once and for all. On the night of 27 September, Marshal Quoc ordered General Pin to occupy the hill while he positions his men near the base of the hill in order to deter and pin the ZANACs down. Their occupation of the hill came by the following day, encountering no resistance. When the occupation of the hill completed, the Quenminese threw a massive offensive at the Yeoncheon County. General Ong Thao-Pin's Steel Tiger Divisions were able to force Samegawa's armour into the town of Yeoncheon and its surrounding areas while Samegawa and Namgung were left to deal with the Quenminese forces at all sides on the western summit of the hill. Ho forced the Allies to fighting a war of attrition, capitalising on the heavy rains. As a result, Samegawa had limited movements around the county. For the next few days, casualties on the Allies were mounting as both Samegawa and Wook-yun continued to find ways to link up with their armoured formation. While General Simmon Denzel Crocker and the trapped armoured force in the town capitalised on the ruined structures and dug mines and traps for Quenminese and Archadian infantry and tanks. This enabled the Allies to inflict as much damage as possible.
By 9 October, Allied casualties continued to rise, and with the heavy rains, supplies were running low as Allied supply lines were bogged down by the heavy rains. To hasten the Allied defeat, Marshal Quoc ordered the 39th Mactongese Infantry Regiment to aid 3 brigades of Steel Tigers to cut Samegawa and Wook-yun off from the chance of supply. But miraculously, the 51st Maoru Battalion succeeded in preventing an encirclement by Mactongese. In the afternoon of the same day, the reversal of fortunes came when Crocker launched a counteroffensive across across the Cheorwon County in order to get 2 of his best divisions into the Yeoncheon region. By 15 October, the two Lucian divisions arrived in the area and began engaging with Quenminese and Archadian forces around the town. It was finally relieved by 17 October and Crocker ordered Allied forces to relieve the remainder of the Allies around the summit of the hill., which prompted Samegawa and Wook-yun to launch their assault despite running out of ammunition. The Allies successfully took the hill when dusk came, which forced Marshal Quoc's forces off the hill. Although the Allies took heavy casualties, the control of the hill secured the Allies of a road to Chuncheon.
In the same battle, Samegawa's group was ambushed by a retreating Quenminese platoon of the 178th Infantry Regiment, who thought of the opportunity to capture key Allied commanders. Here, Joyonghean General Namgung Wook-yun was killed as he used his body to shield Samegawa from oncoming bullets, not wanting his lose their key to victory, making Wook-yun as the highest ranking casualty within the Joyonghean Army. His sacrifice proved not to be in vain, as Samegawa continued to lend a hand on battles that Joyonghean forces were involved in until the end of the war.