Bibliography 341 Index 347 Illustrations _Photographs_ Sixteen-page sections of photographs follow pages 68 and 180. _Maps and Sketches_ _Page_ NKPA Gains, 30 June-1 August 1950 29 Plan for Inchon Assault 68 Movements to the Objective Area 82 Seizure of Wolmi-do 89 Plan for Inchon Assault 99 Seizure of Red Beach 109 Seizure of Blue Beach 119 Marine Attacks D + 1 137 NK Counterattack Ascom City, 17 September 149 The Drive to Kimpo 154 NK Counterattack Kimpo Air Field, 18 September 162 Advance by 1st Marines, 17 September 174 Capture of Sosa by 1st Marines, 18 September 179 General Situation, 18 September 182 Han River Crossing and Seizure of Hill 125 189 Action on 19 September 207 Action on 20 September 218 Assault on Yongdungpo 224 Dike Defense--Company A, 1st Marines 230 Approaching the Enemy MLR, 5th Marines, 21 September 237 Smashing the MLR, 5th Marines, 22–24 September 242 Seoul Assault Plan 265 The Battle of Seoul 266 Action North of Seoul, 7th Marines 269 Pursuit of the NKPA and Capture of Uijongbu 288 CHAPTER I The Communist Challenge _Authorization of Marine Brigade--First Conference on Inchon Landing--General Shepherd in Tokyo--Request for a Marine Division--America’s Force-in-Readiness--Planning for the Pohang Landing_ No spot on earth could have seemed farther removed from war’s alarms than Yellowstone Park on the tranquil Sunday afternoon of 25 June 1950. Yet it was here that Lieutenant General Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., Commanding General of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific (FMFPac), had his first news of Communist armed aggression in Korea and the resulting threat to world peace.