Combat History of the United States Marine Corps, The Korean War
by
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On the night of September 15, a Division Operation order was delivered to both the 1st Marine Regiment and the 5th Marine Regiment. The next day, the 1st and the 5th Regiments, commanded by Colonel Puller and Lt Colonel Murray respectively, joined forces and advanced toward Seoul along the Incheon-Seoul road and the railroad track with the objective of retaking the city of Seoul. The 1st ROK Marine Regiment, after cleaning up the remnants of the North Korean forces in Incheon, was to join the Marine Regiments.
The next day, September 16, was a very clear day without a cloud in the sky, a typical autumn day in Korea. It was almost like the weather in the American East at this time of the year, very pleasant but fairly cool at night. On this day, the entire city of Incheon was unusually quiet. It seemed that the dispirited enemy soldiers, after the defeat, retreated toward the North. Suddenly, the 2nd Bn, 5th Marines headquarters received an urgent message from a forward position that 6 Russian-made T-34 tanks accompanied by 200 infantry were approaching their position along the Incheon-Seoul road, making loud noises. 2nd Lt Lee Howard was dispatched by the Company Commander of Company D with machine guns and rocket launchers to stop them. Lt Howard waited until the column came abreast of his knoll top position and then opened up. The Red infantry went down under the hail of lead like wheat under the sickle. Corporal Douglas, still armed with the 2.36-inch rocket launcher and not the new 3.5; slid down the hill to get a better shot. At a range of 75 yards he killed the first T-34 and damaged the second. The remaining four tanks continued to plow forward to be met by a swarm of 90mm fire from M-26 tanks at 600 yards range. In addition, fire was received from 75mm recoilless rifles. On the other side of the road, Private First Class Walter Monegan, from Fox Company, 1st Marines, fired his 3.5 inch Rocket launcher at point blank range. Just which weapons killed the tank would be argued, but the essentials were that all six tanks were knocked out and their crews killed.
On September 17, General MacArthur accompanied by his staff visited the headquarters of the 1st Marine Regiment After listening to the report of the fire fight they had with the North Korean forces the previous night from Colonel Puller, the General praised the Marines for their successes under the difficult situation. After watching all the T-34 tanks still burning in the battle field from the previous night's battle, Lt General Shepherd, CG, FMF Pac, who was accompanying the General, emphasized to General MacArthur, the superiority of Bazookas. Hearing this comment, Major General Almond, the Commander of the 10th Corps of the 8th Army, joked "Your Marines seem to have a very good fortune .... Your men really use the place and the time very effectively... The General is able to actually witness the burning of enemy tanks destroyed by your Marines last night". At the time, General Almond was one of those Army generals who did not favor Marine forces.
On this very spot, where a ferocious fight had taken place only a few hours ago, where smoke from the burning enemy tanks filled the sky and where the field was littered with corpses of dead enemy soldiers, the General posed with the Marines who fought this battle, for a memorable picture taking.
The 2nd Bn, 5th Marine Regiment arrived at the Kimpo Airport before darkness set in. In order to prepare for the potential enemy counter-attack at night, they were busy building defense lines, digging fox-holes and erecting double barbwire. Sometime after midnight, North Korean forces counter-attacked, as expected. But they were repelled easily and by early next morning, the Kimpo Airport was completely secured, after expelling all the enemy stragglers hidden around the area. The first visitors to land on the airport were General Smith, the Division Commander, and Colonel Victor H. Krulak, G3, FMFPac.
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About the Book
This book is a description of the actions of the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War, as seen by a senior Korean Marine Corps Officer. The book is an English version of a book originally published in Korean. The book covers the start of the 1950 Korean War through the signing of the armistice on July 27 1953. The book describes the conditions that this war was fought under and how trained troops can be combat effective under the most adverse conditions. When first published in
About the Author
Colonel Lee is a retired member of the