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
The enemy had different plans. At the crack of dawn a small force of
North Koreans emerged from the fog and charged recklessly into Company
G’s front. There was a furious hand-to-hand clash as the attackers
converged on Bohn’s OP in the center of the line. The company commander
directed the defense amid grenade explosions, one of which drove a
fragment into his shoulder. At his side Staff Sergeant Charles F.
Kurtz, Jr., called down effective 60-mm. mortar fire on the Reds while
throwing grenades and ducking submachinegun bursts.
The melee ended after a half hour with Company G driving the battered
remnants of the NKPA platoon back down the hill Despite his wound, Bohn
stayed with his company and reorganized it for the attack on Kosong.
He also had the satisfaction of overseeing the evacuation of the two
wounded survivors of McNeely’s ill-fated patrol.
At 0800, the Brigade moved out in a route column, with 3/5 as the
advance guard and Company G in the role of advance party. Bohn’s point
consisted of Second Lieutenant John D. Counselman’s 3d Platoon, whose
leading element, under Corporal Raymond Giaquinto, was on the MSR with
flank guards slightly withheld on each side.
The Brigade column moved swiftly. About a mile beyond the line of
departure, Giaquinto braked his roadbound unit in the face of doubtful
ground ahead. Simultaneously, the flank guards surged forward and
wrapped around the suspected area. Then Giaquinto’s force raced
down the road, and the 3 prongs of the point converged on an enemy
machinegun emplacement, killing the 5 occupants before they could fire
a shot.
With Bohn calling the shots and Giaquinto setting the pace, the point
swept aside three more enemy positions along the route. The effective
combination of limited frontal attacks and envelopments brought the
head of the column to the bridge north of Kosong at 1000. Here Company
H passed through on the road and pushed into the town.
Using 1 rifle platoon and 2 tanks, Fegan easily cleared northern Kosong
of light resistance. Then he gradually wheeled his force to the right,
tracing the road to Sachon. His other two platoons continued southward
with the mission of seizing a high hill below Sunam-dong.
General Craig reached Kosong by jeep just as Taplett was setting up his
CP in a schoolyard north of the town. A small group of enemy snipers
suddenly opened up from positions in and around the schoolhouse, and
the Brigade commander observed sniper teams of 3/5’s headquarters
spring into action and destroy the North Koreans.
Shortly after Fegan entered Kosong, Bohn swung his company to the
southwest from above the town, drove through the western suburbs and
launched an attack against Hill 88 below the Sachon road. Approaching
the hill, Company G sustained a few casualties while eliminating a
stubborn Communist pocket in the low ground on its right flank.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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