U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 1 (of 5): The Pusan PerimeterMontross, Lynn
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 1 (of 5): The Pusan Perimeter
Montross, Lynn
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
At 1045 Company G ran into machinegun fire coming from the 3/5 area of
the Brigade objective, the hill north of Kang-ni. Taplett blasted the
hill with Marine air and artillery, and the North Koreans were in full
retreat within an hour. MAG-33 and 1/11 rained death on the retreating
Reds and continued to pound the hill preparatory to an assault by
Company G. Bohn led his troops forward and secured the objective at
1515.
Looking across the stream bed to the north of their new positions, the
Marines of George Company spotted enemy infantry escorting a T-34 tank
and withdrawing into the 9th Infantry zone. The Communist column was
quickly dispersed by machinegun fire.
_Collapse of NKPA 9th Division_
Marines following up the 3,000-yard advance along the MSR saw, a
picture of devastation unequalled even by the earlier defeat of the
NKPA 4th Division. Hundreds of enemy dead were strewn along the road,
hillsides and ridgelines. On the MSR between Hill 117 and Kang-ni lay
a long column of North Koreans who had been caught by Marine air and
artillery while attempting to reinforce Red lines. The dead leader was
a lieutenant colonel whose briefcase contained a lengthy artillery
treatise among other less scholarly documents.[343]
[343] _Ibid._
In addition to knocked-out and abandoned Communist tanks, vehicles,
mortars, and antitank guns, the countryside was littered with enough
small arms, ammunition, and gear to equip several hundred men. Even the
North Korean paymaster had been caught in the sweeping tide of Brigade
arms, and Marines distributed a huge quantity of worthless currency
among themselves.
Not only did the Marines reap a harvest of enemy materiel; they also
recaptured a great quantity of United States Army equipment lost
during the Communist drive. American tanks, artillery pieces, mortars,
vehicles, small arms, and ammunition and supply dumps were turned over
to the 2d Division by the Brigade.
The destruction of the enemy camp left Army and Marine intelligence
officers inundated by captured enemy documents. Muster rolls, ledgers,
maps, orders, textbooks, and propaganda material were heaped into
separate piles.
Late in the afternoon of 4 September, the 9th Infantry moved into
positions on the high ground northeast of 3/5. This completed the
advance to Phase Line One of the 2d Division’s counterattack plan.
The second phase line on G-3 maps was drawn through Hill 125 and
Observation Hill, 3,000 yards west of Kang-ni.
When informed that the Brigade had completed the first part of its
mission, General Keiser authorized General Craig to advance toward
Phase Line Two.
Beyond Kang-ni, the Brigade’s right boundary became the MSR, so that
3/5 could not advance westward from its half of Objective One. Major
Charles H. Brush, Murray’s S-3, radioed Newton and passed on orders
for the battalion commander to take the next piece of high ground,
Cloverleaf Hill, just south of the MSR at Hwayong-ni, about a thousand
yards away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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