From Namch'onjom westward, the 19th Infantry, behind the 5th Cavalry Regiment, was powerless to accelerate its pace although 24th Division commander General John H. Church had ordered it to do so.

The 27th British Commonwealth Brigade passed through the lines of the 7th Cavalry that morning at Sohung and took up the advance along the main highway toward Sariwon.

At Sariwon, the highway and railroad debouched from the mountains, turned north and ran through the coastal plain to Pyongyang, 35 miles (56 km) away.

It was generally expected that the KPA would make their stand for the defense of Pyongyang, short of the city itself, on the heights before Sariwon.

4 miles (6.4 km) short of Sariwon, on the hills guarding the approach to the town, it looked for a while as if the anticipated big battle had started.

Behind the lead tanks, General Allen jumped from his jeep, stamped along the road, waved a map and shouted, "They're in that orchard, rake 'em, blast them out of there!"

The general's aide, 1st Lt. John T. Hodes, climbed on one of the tanks and trained his glasses on the orchard to give fire direction.

Suddenly, a mass of North Koreans broke from the orchard, rushed for the ridge line, and vanished over the top.

There the Australians went into a perimeter blocking position in front of a range of hills strongly held by the KPA, and prepared to attack in the morning.

The North Koreans shot their way through and continued into the town, but, finding the northern exit closed, they turned back and met the reconnaissance group again.

A little later, Lt. Col. Leslie Nielson, commanding officer of the Argyll 1st Battalion, driving in the gloom near the southern end of Sariwon, was suddenly amazed to see coming toward him on either side of the road a double file of KPA soldiers.

This KPA force, fleeing in front of the 19th Infantry, 24th Division, and approaching Sariwon from the south, did not know the town had already fallen to UN units.

and, rushing forward in the dim light, slapped the Scots on the back, offered cigarettes, and gave them the red stars from their caps as souvenirs.

[2]: 644–5 During the day, while the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade advanced on Sariwon along the main highway, the 7th Cavalry Regiment, with Colonel Clainos' 1st Battalion in the lead, hurried along the poor secondary roads through the hills north of it.

This column was about 3 miles (4.8 km) from Hwangju and the main highway above Sariwon when at 16:00 it received a message General Gay dropped from a light plane.

The message said that the roads out of Sariwon were crowded with hundreds of KPA soldiers, and it directed Colonel Clainos to have one battalion of the 7th Cavalry turn south at Hwangju on the main highway to meet the British and help trap the large numbers of KPA in the Sariwon area, while another battalion turned right and held the town of Hwangju.

Soon after turning south on the Sariwon-Pyongyang highway, the leading elements of the 1st Battalion captured a KPA cavalry detachment and thirty-seven horses.