U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 3 (of 5): The Chosin Reservoir CampaignMontross, Lynn
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 3 (of 5): The Chosin Reservoir Campaign
Montross, Lynn
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
Seven embarkation sites were employed (see Map 30). From left to right
they were designated as PINK Beach, BLUE Beach, GREEN One and Two
Beaches, and YELLOW One, Two, and Three Beaches. The 7th RCT, holding
the left sector, was to embark from PINK Beach. BLUE and GREEN One
Beaches were assigned to the 65th RCT in the center, while the 15th RCT
had GREEN Two and the three YELLOW Beaches.
H-hour had been set at 1100 on the 24th, and seven LSTs were beached at
0800 to receive 3d Infantry Division troops. Soon the three regiments
were reduced to as many battalions which acted as covering forces while
the other troops fell back to assigned beaches. All withdrawals were
conducted methodically along specified routes by units using marking
panels. Then the battalions themselves pulled out, leaving only seven
reinforced platoons manning strong points. The Hungnam redeployment
came to an end when these platoons boarded an LST after a search for
stragglers. Air and naval gunfire support had made it an uneventful
finish except for the accidental explosion of an ammunition dump on
PINK Beach, resulting in two men killed and 21 wounded.
All beaches were clear by 1436 on Sunday afternoon, the 24th, with Able
and Baker Companies of the Amtrac Battalion sticking it out to the end.
Marines of these units provided fires to cover the flanks of the last
withdrawals and manned 37 LVTs evacuating Army troops from PINK Beach.
With the exception of three LVTs lost in the ammunition dump explosion
on that beach, all LVTs and LVT(A)s were safely reembarked on LSDs at
the finish of the operation.[638]
[638] 1stAmphTracBn _HD, Dec 50_, 5.
Remarkably few supplies had to be left behind for lack of shipping
space. Among them were 400 tons of frozen dynamite and 500
thousand-pound bombs. They added to the tumult of an awe-inspiring
demolitions scene. The entire Hungnam waterfront seemed to be blown
sky-high in one volcanic eruption of flame, smoke, and rubble which
left a huge black mushroom cloud hovering over the ruins.
The chill, misty dawn of Christmas Day found the _Mount McKinley_ about
to sail for Ulsan with CTF-90 and Generals Almond and Shepherd after
an eminently successful operation. It had been pretty much the Navy’s
show, in the absence of enemy interference, and the final statistics
were staggering--105,000 military personnel, 91,000 Korean refugees,
17,500 vehicles, and 350,000 measurement tons of cargo loaded out in
193 shiploads by 109 ships.
[Illustration: HUNGNAM DOCKS AND BEACHES
MAP-30
]
“With naval, air and surface units effectively isolating the beachhead,
we were able to take our time and get everything out,” commented
Admiral Joy on 26 December. “Admiral Doyle has turned in another
brilliant performance. We never, never contemplated a Dunkirk--not even
faintly.”[639]
[639] CinCFE Special Communique, 26 Dec 50, with attached
report from Gen Almond and a Navy announcement in _New
York Times_, 27 Dec 50.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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