The Korean War: The Untold Truth

Chapter 68
At the same time, in the area of ​​​​the 10th Army, the 1st Marine Division continued to climb cautiously in the ice and snow near the west bank of the Changjin Reservoir in late November.Despite Chinese intervention, General Edward Almond still counted on the Marines to strike laterally to link up with Eighth Army to the west.When the march began, the division's troops lined up more than 11 miles long on nearly impassable roads.The column was led at Liutanli, about five miles west of the middle of the reservoir, and consisted of two reinforced regiments—Colonel Homer Lizenberg's 8th and Lieutenant Colonel Ray Murray's 40th.Fourteen miles to the south (5 miles by road), a reinforced battalion held Hagaru-ri at the southern end of the reservoir.The bulk of the 7st Regiment, commanded by Colonel Chesty Pooler, was still 5 miles to the south at Gutuli.Jinheung-ri, 14 miles south of Koto-ri, was guarded by a battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Donald Schmak, where the approach into the mountain steepened abruptly.

On the afternoon of November 11, when the marines entered Liutanli, they found that there was no value there.The shells destroyed most of the houses, leaving only a few hungry and cold North Korean civilians huddled in the rubble, unwilling or unable to escape to avoid the fighting.At night, the temperature dropped to minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Marines were having fun and talking about the "ice bowl" joke.Howling north winds blew across the frozen reservoir and fell on soldiers huddled in tents and shallow caves in the valley and nearby hills.

Liutanli is actually located in the middle of a wide valley surrounded by five mountains.According to the relationship between the village and their directions, these mountains are named Beishan, Northwest, Southwest, Nanshan and Dongnanshan respectively.Each of the mountains rose from the edge of the village and stretched out thousands of yards, with peaks and ravines all the way.A corner of Changjin Reservoir extends to Liutanli between Beishan Mountain and Dongnanshan Mountain, and the other four passages starting from the village are all roads.

The task of the Marines was to cross these mountains and attack Wupingli, about 55 miles to the west. At 11 o'clock in the evening on November 27, Lizenberg, as the highest-ranking officer present, presided over a staff combat meeting in a drafty tent.The tent was useless to the officers huddled inside.He began with disturbing news.The day before, three soldiers from the 10th Division of the Chinese Communist Army were captured.They said during the interrogation that the 60th Division, 58th Division, and 59th Division of the Chinese Communist Army had arrived in the Liutanli area on November 60.These captives were ordinary soldiers. They said that the Chinese strategy was to wait for the two US marine regiments to pass through, then move to the south and southwest of Yudam-ri and cut off the main supply line of the US military.Neither the Marine Division nor X Corps intelligence believed these reports because the sources were so low-ranking, although past intelligence from Chinese POWs proved to be extremely accurate.The intelligence office believes that the Chinese army will continue to retreat westward, and the main battle will be fought in the mountains around Liudamli.The combat plan of the Marine Division is based on this.

According to documents seized later, the information provided by the Chinese soldiers was correct.The Ninth Field Army of the Chinese Communist Army has secretly sent 12 divisions from "Manchuria" to the Changjin Lake area.The commander, General Song Shilun, had been leading troops in combat since he graduated from the Whampoa Military Academy at the age of 17, and served as regiment commander during the Long March from 1934 to 1935.His troops took on the task of attacking the East Road in the general offensive of the Chinese Communist Army. He wanted to advance southward from the gap between the Eighth Army and the Tenth Army, and then marched to the east coast. The Han army separated and surrounded.He wants to wipe out the troops of the 8th Infantry Division on the east bank of the Changjin Reservoir, and then come to clean up the divided 10st Marine Division.The Chinese apparently consider the Marine Corps their formidable enemy.Before the battle broke out, thousands of copies of the booklet "The Bloody Course", written by a Soviet navy captain named Doyzashvili, were distributed among the Chinese troops. Presence in North Korea does everything it can to slander and slander:
In the summer of 1950, when the American imperialist plunderers provoked a bloodbath in North Korea, General MacArthur, the watchdog of Wall Street, demanded that the so-called "Marines" of the United States be placed under his command immediately.The professional butcher and unrepentant war criminal intended to throw them into battle as quickly as possible, aiming to deal what he then believed to be the final blow to the Korean people.

MacArthur's request was based on the fact that units of the United States "Marines" were trained more than any other type of United States force to inflict unprecedented brutality, brutality, and predatoryness on the freedom-loving heroic people of Korea war.

Bandit chief MacArthur said these words to the marines: "Before you lies a city of abundance, where there is plenty of food and wine. Take Seoul and all the girls there will be yours. The property of the inhabitants belongs to the conqueror , and you can send them home.”

The slanderous pamphlet accused the Marine Corps of "reprehensible and inhumane behavior" and a gang of "robbers" for decades.

In this propaganda offensive, the Chinese have been careful not to show their presence.Aerial reconnaissance of the area north of the Changjin Reservoir failed to reveal any sign of a massing of large forces, another masterpiece of Chinese camouflage and night movement.However, Lizenberg knew that the Chinese were in the area, so he did not act rashly.He was going to send tough patrols to Nanshan and Xixishan and the valley between the two mountains, where there was a life-and-death road to Hagaru-ri.If the main supply line was cut, both regiments would be in danger.The Marines managed to drive only one heavy Pershing tank to Ryudam, so their heavy armament was limited.

Lizenberg's battle plan called for Lieutenant Colonel Harold Royce's 5nd Battalion of the 2th Marines to attack westward first. The battalion's direct attack targets were the peaks of the Northwest and Southwest Mountains and the area between the two mountains The road to the west had an attack distance of about 1.5 miles.At the same time, the 7th Marine Regiment was conducting a circular defense in Liutan, and was preparing to launch an attack following the 5th Marine Regiment.Lizenberg believed that with the flank secured, Royce could concentrate his forces and advance in the valley.

Litzenberg knew the plan had a flaw beyond his control.Ordering the Marines westward was actually an attempt to encircle, and it relied on the premise that the 8th Army, as a "deterrent force," would be able to prevent the enemy from escaping.However, when the attack began on the morning of November 11, the Eighth Army was already retreating; within 27 hours, the Eighth Army began to retreat across the board.However, the Marines still had orders from General Almond and had no choice but to obey them.

On the morning of Nov. 11, the frozen Marines crawled out of their sleeping bags and bunkers, stomping their feet and clapping their hands in gloves to restore circulation.They roasted field food over oil fires, and now they know that eating frozen food can cause severe stomach problems.They also heated the weapons to make the parts move freely (one ingenious soldier discovered that Nogen hair cream made a good improvised gun oil). Just after 27 o'clock, the marine company began to move.One company headed west, first descending to the dirt road between the northwest and southwest mountains, and then ascending the hillside around the road; the other company moved to the mountains north and south of the village to protect the flank.

The H Company of the 3rd Battalion located in the far north made rapid progress. By 10:1403 am, the company occupied the 500 highland far from the main peak of the Northwest Mountain, its target, without resistance.To the south, G Company under Capt. Thomas Cooney (Almond's Paper Silver Star was still in his rucksack) captured the main summit of the Southwest Mountains without resistance in a few minutes.At this point the company came under heavy enemy small arms fire from another peak about [-] yards away, although posing no real threat due to the distance, it was annoying.

The 5nd Battalion of the 2th Regiment, sent to attack the valley between the two mountains, encountered considerable trouble.Company F, led by Captain Yul Peters, was the lead company of the battalion. Almost no sooner had the company left its camp in Yudam-ri than it came under heavy fire from small arms, and then encountered a series of solid but unguarded roadblocks. Company F left the road under cover of mortar fire to attack the northern flank of the Chinese Communist position.Meanwhile, Company D of the 5th Battalion continued along the road.At 3 p.m., heavy frontal fire finally halted the advance of both companies.Night fell quickly, and Lieutenant Colonel Royce ordered the troops to stop and dig in.The Marines advanced only 1500 yards on the first day, when the mission of the attack was 55 miles.

Royce's executive officer, Major John Hopkins, produced a small bottle of brandy at the battalion command post and carefully poured it into two marching glasses. "It's my birthday, Hal," he said to Royce, "I begged it from the army doctor."

"I wish you well," Royce replied.

"To the longest 55 miles we'll ever go, if we ever get there," Hopkins toasted.

To the south, Company E of the 2nd Battalion under the command of Captain Samuel Jaskilka established a position on the southern slope of Southwest Hill. This company was tasked with guarding the battalion's rear.The terrain there was dire: a narrow north-south passage strewn with small huts, some low trees and bushes, and a frozen stream in the middle of a ravine.Jaskilka directed his troops to quickly establish a defensive perimeter.In front of his position is an open area for firepower, and any Chinese who may appear have nowhere to hide.

Neither the Marine Corps nor the Chinese Communist Army knew that the Chinese had made a tactical error, which probably cost them the chance to wipe out the two Marine Corps regiments in Liutanli.If the CCP defenders retreated along the road, say 2 to 3 miles, the Marines would be lured away from their camp in Yudam-ri, making the encirclement impossible.The Chinese resisted on the first day of the Marines' advance, but with mediocre results—perhaps one of the few instances in military history where a lost cause is a blessing in disguise.

At around 6 o'clock, dusk came, and most of the marines had left the valley and entered the mountains. 10 understrength rifle companies were deployed on the high ground; two battalions of the 5th Regiment were in the valley near the village; companies C and F of the 7th Regiment were in isolated positions by the road leading to Hagaru-ri, F Company was particularly isolated: 7 miles from Hagaru-ri on one side, and 2 miles from Company C on the other.On North Hill, two companies of the 7th Marine Regiment—D Company and E Company—take positions on two hills separated by a 500-yard saddle-shaped ridge.Their flanks were, in Marine Corps parlance, "empty," with no communication save for the occasional patrol.The combined fronts of the two companies' positions stretched for about 2 miles.The entire defensive ring was also compromised by many small gaps.

陆战队所具有的一个优势是令人生畏的支援火器。40多门榴弹炮——30门105毫米榴弹炮和18门155毫米榴弹炮——部署在柳潭里平原的南端；还有75毫米无后坐力炮和4.2英寸迫击炮。但是弹药只有三天的储备，而且利曾伯格没有把握让更多的卡车沿公路进山。无论如何，陆战队已经为夜晚战斗做好了准备。

When they later tried to describe the bitter cold—whether it was a conversation with war correspondents a week later, a letter home a month later, or an interview 30 years later—the Marines had to struggle. Look for words thoughtfully, without exception.A former sergeant said: "No amount of clothing can keep you warm, let alone comfortable. You're bound up with gloves, parkas, long men's underwear, head pockets and all. Sweat. Turns out, sweat freezes in your damn clothes as soon as you stand still. Ever touched cold metal outside on a winter morning? Oh, imagine what it takes to take care of an M-1 Rifle or carbine. That steel thing is ice, you touch it with your bare hands and it sticks, and the only way to get rid of it is to take off a layer of skin. My mouth was actually frozen shut once, My saliva froze with my beard.” The Marine Corps spent millions of dollars developing a special winter strap waterproof shoe, but in the freezing cold of minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, as long as a soldier does not move for a few hours Activities, these boots are very uncomfortable to wear.As Marine Corps historian Lynn Montrose wrote: "The sweat-soaked feet slowly swelled and ached like hell."

The same is true of weapons, especially the complex carbines and Browning automatic rifles.Soldiers need them to survive, yet the parts of many guns freeze too hard to be used. "I learned at the start of the campaign that you could piss on a gun and get it to work when it was completely frozen," said a private named Brenton Keyes, "but hell, could you How much pee? You can only pee once a night, but even then, it doesn’t take long for you to freeze again.”

The U.S. Marine Corps is compelled to defend itself to such an extent that in the snowy Asian mountains, frozen soldiers huddle in foxholes, their weapons and equipment relying on the amount of urine in their bladders.

The Chinese started to move in the night.The attack battalions of the 79th and 89th Divisions of the Chinese Communist Army were tasked with attacking the two understrength Marine regiments in and around Yudam-ri; The gap between the armies had advanced several miles southward and into position to attack the main supply line between Namsan and Deokdongling Pass, preparing to cut off the road from Hajieyu-ri to Yutan-ri.With three Chinese divisions against two U.S. regiments, the Chinese also have a more important advantage than their three-to-one numerical advantage: MacArthur clearly told the Chinese the intention of the Marine Corps in his public speech a few days ago.In this way, they can attack when and where they want.

In the first hours of nightfall, small Chinese patrols made brief raids on American positions, as if looking for weak links and gaps.The silence is broken by occasional Chinese voices or feet sliding across the snow—the Chinese must be suffering, too, in their thin espadrilles.

Shortly after 10:[-] p.m., the entire Liutanli Valley suddenly burst into loud gunfire.Bugles sounded to signal an attack, and mortar shells slammed into American positions.Chinese soldiers jumped up and threw grenades at close range, while others fired with light machine guns.

After a few minutes, the fight turns into a series of small-unit fights, each heroic, terrifying, and brutal.

On E Company's sector, Sam Jaskilka ordered the soldiers to fire at the last moment, because he had asked the battalion to fire illuminating mortar shells to illuminate the approaching Chinese.However, the flares were not fired.Fortunately, a burst of machine gun fire ignited a hut about 200 yards in front of E Company's position.The Chinese were scattered all over the valley, and they kept charging in the half-light of the fire, making them ideal targets for machine-gun fire.The next morning, Jaskilka counted more than 300 dead Chinese, some of them within 15 feet of the positions.When he counted, he only walked 100 yards, and he dared not go any further, but he could see the corpses of the enemy in the distance.Some have called his chosen defensive position the "Easy Trail," but nothing was "easy" in Willow Pond that night.

(End of this chapter)