SIXTY years ago British soldiers faced an enemy that astounded them. In the bitterly cold hills of Korea they faced communist troops who seemed unstoppable.

The Chinese had endless manpower and the harsh discipline that was needed to launch terrifying human wave assaults.

British troops lost 1,100 men fighting for the UN against the invading communists between 1950 and 1953.

This summer marks the anniversary of the start of the war.

Margaret Fowler’s late husband Harry was from Bourne-mouth and fought with the “Glorious Glosters”, a battalion overrun in 1951.

“He went through the Second World War but he had never seen anything like it,” said Margaret, 54, from Charminster.

“The Chinese kept coming and coming and climbing over the bodies of their comrades. The river was running red with blood.”

Les Allen, 81, originally from Charminster, but now living in Totton, was a private with the Glorious Glosters.

He joked to a comrade that ants were streaming down a hill towards them. He knew the “ants” were Chinese soldiers.

“You think about survival,” he said. “It was 500 of us against 10,000 of them.

“It wasn’t so bad the first couple of days because we had food, water and ammunition.

“But when we moved to the last hill and the colonel said ‘Every man for himself’, we knew we were going to get captured.

“The worst thing was they never stopped blowing all these bloody bugles. They would blow them all night long to keep you on edge.”

He carried a wounded friend off one hill but the man died soon afterwards.

John Underwood, from Charminster, Bournemouth, was a Royal Marine commando who raided the North Korean coast.

He was in a convoy of 160 vehicles attacked near the Hoisin reservoir in 1950.

During the day the allied tanks and planes kept the Chinese at bay, but at night it was a different story.

“They killed the drivers of the soft-topped vehicles and blocked the road,” he said.

“We fought all night but we had too many wounded and we were running out of ammunition.

“I was scared then, because we were in a big land battle. The Chinese were blowing bugles and whistles all the time.”

Conditions were harsh for captured British soldiers. Fleas and lice were common, and there was little food.

Harry Fowler was marched 500 miles to a prisoner of war camp.

He went into captivity weighing 11 stone and came out weighing just over seven. He was once put in a hole in the ground without food as a punishment .

He suffered dysentery, malaria and stomach ulcers but the only medicine the guards could offer him was boiled water.

Les Allen said: “Quite a few of my friends never made it because they died on the march or they died in the prison camps. I think of myself as one of the lucky ones.”

Tony Underwood remembers the endless propaganda lectures. The men were told they were stooges of the capitalist Americans.

The veterans have mixed feelings about whether it was right to fight.

Today, Korea is divided along the same line where the war started in June 1950.

Les Allen said: “When we came home there was no band or anything. They said it was a forgotten war.

“My honest opinion is that it was a waste of time – lives lost unnecessarily. The majority of my friends are of the same opinion.”

Harry Fowler didn’t think it was a “good” war. Although amazed by South Korea’s development from the barren place it was in 1950, he felt nothing was resolved.

His widow Margaret said: “The war really affected him. He used to have nightmares – he’d lash out and shout: ‘Look, there they are, the Chinese are coming’.”

Tony Underwood knows there’s one place where the war hasn’t been forgotten.

He visited South Korea in 2003 and the Korean government paid for flights and accommodation. He said: “It was absolutely fantastic. South Korea was almost completely destroyed when we left and it had developed into a democratic country.

“We had veterans badges on and people would come over the road and shake hands. It felt great.”