The Korean War: The Untold Truth

Chapter 69
On the left side of Jaskilka's position, the Chinese found a gap between E Company and F Company, and rushed in, heading straight for Battalion Commander Royce's command post, and the road was in danger of being cut off.Private First Class John Meade took the lead in organizing a group of men to plug the gap.He placed six or seven soldiers in positions where they could shoot hard at the swarming Chinese.After running out of ammunition, he stumbled across the snow to get ammunition from the company's ammunition depot.He went back and forth three times and returned with a full load each time. Even on the dry flat ground in spring, these loads would make it difficult for people to move.Meade ran around the position, handing out magazines and grenades to the other Marines, then stopped to fire.On the fourth pass a bullet hit him in the leg, and the wound was so painful that his companions had to pin him to the ground while an orderly bandaged him.The next day, after the attack was repelled, there were 75 Chinese corpses piled up in front of the company's position, 15 of whom were killed by Meade.

On the north side of the valley, the Chinese first attacked H Company of the 3rd Battalion, which was arranged in an arc along the mountain ridge overlooking the road leading to the outside of the valley. H Company was completely isolated and the Chinese quickly discovered and took advantage of this.The company commander, Captain Leroy Cook, was killed at the outset of the attack and all but one of his officers were wounded.The company's position was gained and then lost, and lost and regained.The Chinese called in reinforcements, and they took turns attacking H Company over the bullet-scarred corpses of the earlier killed. Company H defended the trenches, but around 4:1403 AM, the battalion commander decided that continued resistance was futile. Company H was ordered to retreat to the valley, leaving hundreds of corpses behind.The Chinese now occupied Hill [-], which gave them a position overlooking the valley to the north of the Yudam-ri valley.The Marine Corps is clearly in a position of ever-tightening jaws.

Another bloody battle.E Company, 7th Marines (not the same as E Company of 5th Marines at Jaskilka) arrived late, exhausted and frostbitten, exhausted from the long trek through the long mountain roads.They only slept for a few hours on November 11 before entering a defensive ring at Height 27 in Beishan.The company commander, Captain Walter Phillips, deployed two platoons on the main peak and a third platoon on a spur in the direction of Yudam-ri.The Marines set up tripwire flares on the hillside below and moved into position.

The Chinese's first attack was nothing more than a harassment operation, and the defenders easily repulsed the attacking detachments of light machine gunners and bombardiers.There was a silence as Phillips said to another officer: "They thought they were going to attack a platoon, but they got a whole company. They'll be back, and there will be more. "He was right.At midnight, an unearthly sound of screeching whistles and bugle whistles broke the silence.Amid the din, the crunching of thousands of feet on the snow could be heard.The platoon leader, Lieutenant John Yancey, requested the firing of illuminating mortar shells and artillery support, but was unsuccessful.Yancey, a irascible and swearing man, had won a Navy Cross on Guadalcanal.The reservist left his liquor store in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the start of the war.On the day of the Incheon landing—he heard about it many days later—his wife gave birth to a baby.Like the rest of the reservists in the 1st Marine Division (about half of the force), he does not consider himself a professional soldier.So Yancey and the rest of the Marines waited and listened until the first Chinese on the charge loomed in the darkness before they pulled on the ropes that triggered the tripwire flares.What unfolded before them was a continuous stream of Chinese, at least four ranks visible within the range of the flares.The Chinese let out an incomprehensible howl and shouted in English: "Son of son of a bitch, kill you! Son of a son of a bitch, die!" They pounded for two hours, Dash through a barrage of machine guns and grenades.Some Chinese fell within ten feet of the machine gun emplacements.Marines suffered heavy casualties.Rifle bullets hit Captain Phillips in the shoulder and leg, but he refused to evacuate.Shrapnel sliced ​​off John Yancey's nose, suffocating him with blood.It was difficult for him to breathe, but he also stayed on the ground.

The Chinese gave up their attack at 2:200 a.m., leaving behind more than 1282 corpses, as many as two companies.The Marines held Hill [-].

But two hours later, the Chinese regrouped and made a comeback.They took turns attacking the exhausted and dying Marines' two platoons in squads.Reinforcement troops rushed in from Liutanli, and braved the freezing temperature of minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit to climb ice and snow on the hillside in the dark.At this time, the Chinese rushed into the US positions, fighting each other with rifle butts and bayonets.John Yancey, still bleeding from his nose, tried to form a defensive line around the company command post.A grenade exploded inches from his eyes, and a piece of shrapnel opened a horrific gash in the roof of his jaw, but he fought on.So did the twice-injured Walter Phillips.According to Andrew Gill, Phillips rushed at the Chinese desperately, throwing grenades and yelling, "Hold on, soldiers, this is E Company!" He drew a rifle from the snow and stuck his bayonet in the ground . "We'll stay here." Seconds later, a burst of small arms fire killed him.

E Company is now down to a few men.Lieutenant Raymond Ball, the executive officer, took command, although he was paralyzed with two wounds.Not long after, he was shot in multiple places and died after slowly losing consciousness.

The admirable Yancey platoon is now down to nine men, and Yancey spurts blood with every breath.He was coughing up blood, but still trying to organize a counterattack, he yelled, "Hit it hard, Marines, hit it hard!"

One of the soldiers who heard the shouts was a rifleman named Stanley Robinson, who was sent to the dressing station that night because his feet were badly frostbitten.When Robinson heard that his troops were in danger, he limped back to his position, his feet bloodstained in the snow.He heard and answered Yancey's call. "Hit hard!" he yelled angrily, and this small group of people armed with bayonets and rifles spewing flames rushed to the top of the mountain to face the oncoming Chinese.A bullet hit Yancey in the face, blinding him and knocking him to his knees.But with astonishing perseverance he continued to crawl to the front, with his rifle stuck in front of him.However, E Company could no longer fight, and the Chinese swept the 1282 Heights.They now control another gateway to Liutanli, and the encirclement of the two marine regiments is getting tighter and tighter.

On the 1240 Heights to the east, the tragic scene of E Company was reproduced. This time it was D Company commanded by Captain Milton Hull.The company's position was gained and lost, lost and recovered, and finally captured by the Chinese who had an absolute superiority in numbers.At dawn, Hull had been injured several times, and there were only 16 combatants left.In front of him were the condescending Chinese, surrounded on both wings, and the back road leading down the mountain was also cut off.

The dawn of November 11 was silent and unnerving.The Chinese still hold the high ground they took during the night, but they are hiding from American air strikes.Their camouflage makes them difficult to spot in the snow-covered mountains.

General Oliver Smith, spending the night in Hagaru, listened to Colonel Litzenberger's report on a squeaky radio.Sources from western North Korea say that the Eighth Army is suffering steadily.He reported the plight of the 8st Marine Division to Almond, but did not receive a substantive reply until 1:10 am.To Smith's astonishment, "no word was received from the 10th Corps regarding the revised plan," which meant that the 1st Marine Division would continue to advance westward from Yudam-ri.Smith recognized that any attempt at such a push would be folly. "Under the circumstances, I don't think it is wise to continue to take offensive action. We are now fighting for survival, and until the situation is figured out, it is necessary to take the defensive everywhere." Smith went his own way, ordering the 5th Marine Regiment He and the 7th Regiment consolidated their current positions, that is, dug trenches in Liutanli and waited for further instructions.

"I feel so sorry for those Chinamen"

News of the Marines' troubles quickly reached that side of the world.An officer stormed the office of Commander Brigadier General Merrill Twining at the Marine Corps training center at Camp Del Mar, California.

"General," he shouted, "the radio has received a message that the Chinese have surrounded the 1st Marine Division."

Twining looked up casually from his desk and said, "Young man, all I can say is that I feel sorry for those Chinamen."

Late on November 11, Smith finally received orders from Almond's headquarters to return one of his regiments to Hagaru-ri "to relieve the Army units east of the reservoir," which was of great importance to him. It's unbelievable. "My God," he exclaimed, "we ourselves were under attack by three divisions of the Chinese Communist Army... We obviously encountered a strong army. But in two days, we did not get immediate The order to retreat, so we have no choice but to defend, because I cannot retreat without the permission of my superiors."

In Smith's view, Almond, MacArthur, and their staff were helpless. "Every four hours, we reported (to the 10th Army) what was going on, but they were obviously stunned. They couldn't judge the massive Chinese attack. ... They had to adjust their thinking."

It was not until late on November 11 that Smith received orders to withdraw his entire army to Hagaru-ri and "advance" toward the coast. "It took them two days to figure it out," Smith said indignantly.

The order to draw up the retreat plan for the two Marine regiments finally landed on the field desk of Colonel Alpha Bowser of Division Operations, who then passed it on to his executive officer, Colonel Joseph Wynkoff. "My God," Varnkoff said, "I've got to find a staff manual. I've never had a case where Marines would be involved in a retreat or retreat."

Nor did General Smith.When the plan was complete, Bowser and Wankoff brought it to Smith, whose command post was in an abandoned Korean hut.When discussing plans, the word "retreat" was used.

"Retreat" was not a word talked about in Marine command post, and Smith didn't want to hear it.What happened, he told the officers, was "we're going to take back our main supply lines. It's not a retreat at all, because in any case we're going to attack".

The next day, a British reporter asked Smith for his opinion on an article he had written: Should he call the Marines' action a "retreat" or a "retreat"? "I pointed out to him that, since we were completely surrounded, we could neither retreat nor retreat, but fight out." The last quote that appeared in the papers—Smith did not question it—was: "Retreat , to hell with it, we're just attacking in the other direction."

Ordeal at Fox Heights
Whether retreating or advancing, during the night of November 11th to the morning of the 27th, and for many days and nights of misery thereafter, there was one Marine force that General Smith or anyone else could not help, and that was the Land War Company F of the 28nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment.Reinforced with heavy machine guns and 2mm mortars, the company has a total strength of 81 men, about 240 more than a regular land company.The F connection commanded by Captain William Barber received a difficult task-to defend the position at Deokdong Lingguan on the main supply line from Liutan-ri to Hajieyu-ri to ensure that the retreat route is unimpeded.Senior military officers now know this is imperative.The Chinese had already cut off the main supply lines at two points between the two villages, but Lizenberg thought the Chinese could be driven from both places.However, it is crucial to hold Dedongling Pass.Had the Chinese captured this crucial high ground, both Marine regiments could have been wiped out.Company C, another unit of the battalion, had been driven out of the Dukdong Lingguan area by an overwhelming Chinese attack.At one point Chinese soldiers carried grenades in their socks and threw two grenades at a time at Marines.The few survivors of the company withdrew.

Company F had no room to retreat, and Barbour's order was to hold the high ground to the last man.

Fox Heights—as it was later called in honor of its defenders—was extremely treacherous, even by the high standards of eastern Korea.The steep hill slopes down to the road before terminating abruptly at the edge of a 10-foot vertical cliff.There are several dilapidated thatched houses between the cliff and the road.The lower slopes are covered with small trees, which gradually turn into patches of bushes near the top of the mountain.Forks Heights slopes down in a saddle shape from its highest point, some 900+ yards long, and one Marine likened it to a "roof concave in the middle and steep on both sides."The other end of the saddle was connected to a boulder-strewn ridge, which lay outside F Company's perimeter.Barber didn't like the look of the saddle-top because it was a natural approach for the Chinese, who might sneak up on that unguarded ridge.Due to the large defensive area and the small number of troops, Barber had no choice but to shrink the defense line as much as possible.

Barber placed 3rd Platoon, commanded by Lieutenant Robert McCarthy, on the north-facing main peak; 1st Platoon, commanded by Lieutenant John Dunn, on the adjacent right flank; Lieutenant Elmer Peterson's 2nd Platoon on the left; and a bazooka squad on the back slope; Barber deployed his command post and mortar platoon at the foot of the hill along the road.This configuration is like an inverted horseshoe, with Barber's squad guarding the space at the bottom.Barbour also ordered patrols to be sent out during the day to prevent attempts by Chinese troops to sabotage major supply lines.

As with other units of the 1st Marine Division elsewhere, the coldness of the night is more penetrating to the skin than the day.The officers were not entirely satisfied with the position, but it would take a whole battalion to hold Fox Heights.The soil on the high ground is hard, and the marines can only dig some shallow pits for fortifications.As the Marines dug for the night and everyone expected the Chinese to attack before dawn, Lieutenant McCarthy remembered a phrase from an old military training class: "Moonlight is good for the defender." Maybe, he thought.But no matter what benefits the moonlight brought him, it couldn't compensate for the impact of the severe cold tens of degrees below zero on his hearing.Cover your ears or you'll freeze.Sentinels are deaf, he thought.A half-sentry with no ears and only eyes is of no use to a defender!

In the dark night, the soldiers could hear the fierce fighting around Liutanli, but there was no movement around Company F.In fact, the night was so uncharacteristically quiet that McCarthy woke the squad leaders at midnight to be more alert, even though they were frozen.

At 2:30 a.m., the ridge at the end of the saddle was ablaze with gunfire.The sound of gunfire, the howl of bugles, and the shouts of troops sent the Marines scrambling out of their sleeping bags. "Here they are!" exclaimed a young corporal involuntarily.

(End of this chapter)