United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Yearbook

Page 91 text:

CHAPTER 5 CHINESE COMMUNIST SPRING OFFENSIVE 22 April-8 July 1951 Two reservoirs figure prominently in the history of Marine operations in Korea, the Chosin and the Hwachon. In the latter area the Division was now to have some of its hardest fighting, in little-known actions which Lynn Montross has called worthy of comparison with the battles of Inchon-Seoul and the Chosin Reservoir? It was apparent that the enemy, with an army estimated at 700,000 Chinese and North Korean troops, was prepared to fight for a decision. His goal was nothing less than the expulsion of United Nations forces from the peninsula and the extension of Communist rule over the whole of Korea. The long-expected strike began at 2215 on 22 April. By midnight the ROK 6th Division, in the center of IX Corps, with the 24-th Army Division on the left and the lst Marine Division on the right, had given way. To protect its exposed left flank the Division ordered the lst Marines from reserve. On the right flank the lst Korean Marine Regiment, attached to the Division, repelled a succession of attacks designed to isolate the Division from X Corps on its right. The Division wardedi off threatened envelopmentg but the enemy was attacking in such overwhelming num- bers and with such utter disregard for human life 2 that, commencing on 25 April, Gen. Van Fleet ordered 8th Army to begin moving back to prepared de- fensive positions. The attack against IX Corps proved to be a sec- ondary, though the initial, thrust. Some 36 enemy divisions were committed in the sector between Hwachon and the west coast. It was now clear that his real objective was Seoul, perhaps not so much for its strategic value as for its symbolic significance. To 1 Marine Corps Gazette fjuly 1953j, p. 17, Lynn Montross, Red China on the Offensivef, For summary information on this period see also Miller et al., op. eit., ch. IV, The Enemy Strikes Backfl Also helpful are the sections in vol. IV of the ofiicial Marine Corps history of operations in Korea dealing with this period, at the time of this writing not yet published. 2 Montross says that the enemy suffered an estimated loss of 70,000 during the first week of their spring offensive f'gRed China on the Offensive, p. 23 D. be able to celebrate May Day in the Korean capital would be to announce to the world, and more par- ticularly to the uncommitted smaller nations, the futility of resistance to Communist imperialism. Gen. Van Fleet, by falling back deliberately through a series of planned defensive positions, while at the same time inflicting overwhelmingly heavy losses upon the aggressor, was able to implement a policy which has been described as trading real estate for destruction of the enemy. By the end of April a line had been stabilized in front of Seoul and the Han River, and there was a momentary lull. Van Fleet now reorganized his forces and planned a counter attack. Second Punch The agile Chinese command beat him to the draw, a second major attack was launched on 16 May? The lst Marine Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Gerald C. Thomas, who had relieved Maj. Gen. Oli- ver P. Smith on 25 April, was now again part of X Corps, commanded by Cnowj Lt. Gen. E. M. Almond. Making its main bid this time in the eastern sector, the Communist force pierced the UN line and poured through the gap left by the fall-back of two ROK divisions for a gain of some 30 miles, thus exposing the Marines' right fiank. Tactical shifts made in Marine positions enabled them to contain and finally repulse the enemy's pene- tration. By 19 May it became evident that the second Chinese attack would fail of its objective. All along the front UN troops had brought the enemyls offen- sive to a standstill, and by the end of May a counter- attack was under way. So suicidal had been the massed Red assaults that his casualties for the month of May were estimated at 105,000, including 17,000 dead and 10,000 prisoners? 3 Ibid., p. 24. 4Marine Corps Gazette CAugust 19535, p. 17. Lynn Montross, Advance to the Punchbowlf' -73-

Page 90 text:

Dohrmann, Leonard B. Hester, James D ..,..., Jenkins, Robert E ..,... Karnasiewicz, Charles F ..... . Kuolt, Milton G .....,. . . Marley, Cecil V ......, Martineau, Edward R. . McCarthy, Eugene W. . EVAN St REF... BAP qAy ....,.. BAP QAJ .,..,.. RC .............. LUTH qM0Syp. . . PRESBY CUSAJ . . RC ...,.....,.. RC ...,, Meier, Kermit I ..,..., METH .... Morton, Frank R ..,. LUTH ...... Porter, Harry A .... BAP CAD .... Potter, Paul K ..,..,. METH Reardon, John J ..,. RC ....,. White, Henry P. . . METH. . .. Eve of Fury By 1 April 1951 ominous reports had reached the United Nations command of the influx of some 700,000 fresh Chinese Communist troops via Man- churia. Division Chaplain Kelly had written to Chap- lain Salisbury on 31 March: There is no spectacular fighting going on at present. There is always the ominous feeling that the Reds might unleash some- thingf, And on 21 April, he wrote: Nobody knows what to expect from the enemy. We know they have a terrific concentration of manpower somewhere above us. They have concentrated supplies. Prisoners have given all kinds of dates for their big push. So we are just moving along wondering where and when they are going to hit. Everybody expects that when it comes, it will be all .. .. GEN. J. C. BRECKENRIDGE .. THOMAS JEFFERSON ., GEN. WM. MITCHELL .. REPOSE .. .. GEN. w. A. MANN .. .. SITKOH BAY ,. GEN. H. w. BUTNER .. WINDHAM BAY A GEN. G. M. RANDALL .. CAPE ESPERANCE ., PRESIDENT JACKSON .. HAVEN .. HAVEN .. REPCSE out. However, the general feeling is, Why don't they star it? Then we will End out how tough they are. During the months of the First United Nations Counteroffensive flate January through the middle of Aprilj , UN forces were constantly striking at the enemy and gradually forcing him farther and farther northward, until they were well forward of approx- imately the eastern two-thirds of the 38th Parallel. Even as elements of the lst Marine Division Captured the Hwachon Reservoir on 22 April, thus securing the southeastern approaches of the Iron Triangle, enemy activity erupted all along the front. Chinese and North Koreans poured forth and boldly counter- attacked 5 the long-awaited spring offensive had begun. -72- 1

Page 92 text:

' . Y, .-..,-W,-1,g 1 f, V ,- - X . 2 Qs - '14 U 1.qf'Q,'f ,f e w ' ' ...f E J 4 ' e A M 1 A-mf.. 1 ' -up 1 'Weis-gs! , ' A 1-mg!! yin: f-fwfr X l ft ff , I Q A guise j,pg s ,W . HN f W s . 'f4:2wi?fi?f:?f-as W' s s, -We 1 S ff sf' vifgsf1re' ss 1 '-f' fdffizf ,,'..,'f Aw , - W in fw M s b nf ' ?'rfuf1,'s f y ' I 41,5 Tig sgjqgvk. ,- 1,11 51 J X' ' , wx yvi fl ' ,ixg-.3113 X if '-M , A , A ff 'V . ff if gg' Fw A It i mm din S N-... - ' s e l 191' H 4 Qfnif , e .55 ' f, v ' M W ' tiff va fifwgf 4 X 1'- ' ' V1 W wr 'A Q We 1--K' , f H ' ' s fe sf 62,3 Iii.. JM I-K. a M,..L A j ,'0'1'-flu p. 5' if fi 1 r ,' ij s Md? E , ,V 43 Aj' ski? I if X N V' 'gvszk ici l ifn' f 3' 2 if-2qx'.'3 ' xi ,gf '- K' M 4572.2 www' .-,'Id,,.?-Nfuogp.,-A ?t.,jpu-4-fi ifirffq ,Bd 1 4? ' 'N Q, Y .A ii I K , fly, Q I 1 ,tl 1 V., I N' B.. , lx- ' - I ?- uv A KX' ., x C 1., A 1. gg an ' - . 4 s,. 'gzm ,A 3s.ff,fF fs ,QEQMZX-8, f3. k-ff ' e H' 'e Q- z xx , H - fg?LT1if.1,x,f'1i . X. Ng jgwf 3 , vi, .4 A V, s X iff- sf: ,wa-.1 , v, f NNY' '- -5' mfs Q ' 4' , mi J'5:H'- '!'1.i. I - M gxbimfg-4' ff, 14. 4 ' f'Sf'g ,. g Q Q -ws ff' sf- gf 'VZ-ffiri riffs .' -H-ES - EA ,. FQ-ah. e Tiff' 7' E J v'x.77 Qwfi E 4 . 1 FRONT ewes 22 Aran. ' 3 H , -':5 ,,n: s f, is Rf -.3 1 QR ! ' .3 , W ,ai , A' . gp. ,,- .V I 'lxxv if 5 Y Y s -we s -f . , ,, - A mv ff .ff Win 43 -' s FRONT unss 29 APRIL ' at , eiggiwsia' QQg'Zim,- - lie. Q X 5 ,ff aff- Q . , N .1 X' I - tpgjai Y' 2 e A , wr swf MXf4, 'i '. :.sf5'5.:ww,,v.e ' fgv' x s' me Lhvx f .V ' I -fx' X ' A aj? nf Y 1 ,bl 3 'K e-M538 -ffliif' ,gh'.3E 55Qi?QVgm' 1 ' imgw sf 135, ' 311, ,+arLA655i'?'n4rp4,M-Ma gii'llQ5i--. 54 -' V 114 4 f l s 3, 1:-A ,f-'fm 1, s34fzeisi??,4+se Wife 'QM WW' ' 243415112915 - hf?EitfQMi3F5'E1'S2s124:L-ifQ?mW..wf .?fr?1.H.Qsif1f...eE?52is MAP 1.--Red China on Offensive. Reproduced by permission from the Marine Corps Gazette. ...74.-