U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 5 (of 5): Operations in West KoreaUnited States. Marine Corps
History
U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950-1953, Volume 5 (of 5): Operations in West Korea
United States. Marine Corps
Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Campaigns; United States. Marine Corps -- History -- Korean War, 1950-1953
A 1st Marine Division daily intelligence report covering the 24-hour
period beginning at 1800 on 24 October noted that there was “a
marked increase in enemy artillery and mortar fire with an estimated
twelve hundred rounds falling in the CT 1010 area of the 7th Marines
sector.”[268] According to the division PIR there was also an increased
number of enemy troops observed that same day in locations west and
northwest of the Hook. Most of the fire was directed against the Hook
area of the MLR and on the two sentinels, Ronson and Warsaw. Efforts by
Marines and some 250 KSCs to repair the damaged or destroyed bunkers,
trenches, communications lines, and tactical wire, during brief
periods of relief from the artillery deluges, were wiped out again by
subsequent shellings.
[268] 1stMarDiv PIR 729, dtd 24 Oct 52, p. 2. Ronson, the Hook,
and Warsaw are within the 1,000-meter square, CT 1010.
It would not be correct to say that 1/7 remained entirely passive at
this time. Battalion weapons replied, though in faint voices barely
audible in the din created by Chinese firing. Regimental mortars chimed
in and so did 2/11, which fired 416 rounds in the 24 hours ending at
1800 on the 24th. For that same period, tanks expended 137 rounds at
active weapon positions firing on the Hook. One air strike was directed
against the enemy opposing the Hook battalion. This attack by a quartet
of Marine F9Fs from VMF-311 (Lieutenant Colonel Arthur H. Adams) bombed
and napalmed a troublesome group of Chinese entrenched on the enemy MLR
750 yards east of the Hook.
During the next 48 hours, the enemy continued his preparations for an
attack, concentrating his artillery fire on the Hook area. Colonel
Moore’s battalions received approximately 2,850 artillery and mortar
rounds, most of which rained down on 1/7 to the right. There, the heavy
and continuous fire slowed Marine efforts to restore their wrecked
bunkers and trenches. Late on the 25th there was some relief from the
artillery bombardment, but by that time many of the prophets on the
line and in the rear area were uncertain only as to the precise time of
the unexpected Chinese attack.
Colonel Clarence A. Barninger, the division intelligence officer,
had himself alerted General Pollock to the implications of “the
intensification and character of enemy fires”[269] being received in
the 1/7 sector. The intelligence evaluation was not based only on
recent events. A detailed study of Chinese capabilities and possible
courses of action had just been completed by the G-2 and his staff. In
its discussion of the early October outpost attacks in the division
right, the report concluded that Chinese interests lay in gaining the
“terrain dominating the Samichon Valley....”[270]
[269] Heinl, _memo_.
[270] 1stMarDiv Intell. Est., dtd 19 Oct 52, p. 8, filed with
the divisions PIRs for that month.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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