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
As part of its normal defense mission, personnel of the regiment
spent a large part of their time controlling civilians and regulating
traffic, especially water travel. Certain counterintelligence
problems confronted the Kimpo Provisional Regiment. A large civilian
population, numbering nearly 80,000 natives, lived within the
regimental sector. Local restrictions set by the National Police on
Kimpo (who cooperated with the KPR in security matters) included the
STAYBACK LINE to the north of the peninsula. As a rule, no civilians
other than those with daytime farming permits, were allowed beyond this
line. Numerous regulations were also issued to control boat traffic.
Surrounded by rivers on three sides, there was ample opportunity for
enemy agents or line crossers to infiltrate the defense line, despite
continuous screening by friendly outposts and waterborne patrols.
Two months after the “heavy” June shelling came the August floods,
which were more destructive than the artillery had been. The rest of
the summer and fall followed a fairly regular, uneventful pattern with
customary defense duties, rotation of frontline units, and training
exercises. Among the latter were four helicopter demonstrations in
October and a five-hour communication CPX (Command Post Exercise) the
following month.
One episode toward the end of the year created a temporary stir in
the daily routine. In late November, two Communist espionage agents
and their North Korean guides were apprehended on the west bank of
the Han, almost directly east of the Kimpo Airfield. They had crossed
the Imjin-Han Rivers by boat, using this normal infiltration route to
penetrate the Marine defense net. The agents were seized by National
Police on 22 November and their North Korean guides two days later. It
was unusual for agents and guides to be captured so closely together.
Normal defense measures of the peninsula had assigned separate
northern, western, and southern sector units for protection against
possible amphibious or overland attacks or--far more likely--enemy
infiltration.
The following month four more “roving” two-man outposts were
established in the western coastal area of the southern sector.
Manned from sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise daily by either KPR
military personnel or National Police, the outposts occupied different
positions each night. They were responsible for checking for proper
identification and enforcing the rigid 2100–0500 curfew hours. Another
unusual occurrence took place the last four nights of December when a
single-engine light aircraft dropped propaganda leaflets in Colonel
Harvey C. Tschirgi’s[334] sector.
[334] Colonel Tschirgi had taken command of the KPR on 1
December from Colonel Richard H. Crockett, who previously
relieved Colonel Staab (the original KPR commander) on 31
August.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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