Latest / Marine Operations in Korea The Chosin Reservoir Campaign / 017 - Chapter 8 Part 2 - Crisis at Yudam-ni
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- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Part two of US Marine Operations in Korea
- 0:04Speaker 1: nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty three, Volume three, The Chosen
- 0:09Speaker 1: Reservoir Campaign by Lynn Montrosse and Nicholas Canzona. This LibriVox
- 0:15Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Crisis at Udam Knee,
- 0:22Speaker 1: Chinese sees Hill fourteen oh three at twenty one thirty five,
- 0:28Speaker 1: Just as the first assault waves were pounding two fives front,
- 0:32Speaker 1: the vanguard of another enemy force began to feel out
- 0:35Speaker 1: the lines of Company Age three seven on Hill fourteen
- 0:38Speaker 1: oh three to the north. Captain Cook's three platoons were
- 0:42Speaker 1: deployed in an arc from the road to the peak
- 0:44Speaker 1: of the hill to protect the line of communication to
- 0:47Speaker 1: the valley of Utam Knee. Out of physical contact with
- 0:51Speaker 1: all friendly elements, how company was assailable from every direction,
- 0:55Speaker 1: as the Chinese quickly discovered. Following a half hour of
- 0:59Speaker 1: lightning per the enemy launched a strong attack against First
- 1:03Speaker 1: Lieutenant Elmer A. Krieg's platoon on the right front. Communications
- 1:08Speaker 1: with Cook's CP went out almost immediately, and in the
- 1:11Speaker 1: space of a few minutes, the Marine right flank collapsed
- 1:14Speaker 1: under the weight of CCF numbers. Creek shifted his remaining
- 1:18Speaker 1: men to the left and joined Second Lieutenant Paul E.
- 1:21Speaker 1: Denny's platoon at the company's CP on the reverse slope.
- 1:25Speaker 1: Captain Cook and his forward observers radioed for all available
- 1:29Speaker 1: supporting arms. The prompt barrages by artillery and mortars in
- 1:33Speaker 1: the valley stopped the Communists on the right half of
- 1:36Speaker 1: the summit and enabled Cook to reorganize his forward platoons.
- 1:41Speaker 1: As the supporting fires lifted, he personally led an assault
- 1:45Speaker 1: to restore the right flank, but the CCF machine guns
- 1:49Speaker 1: and grenade smashed the counter attack, and Cook was cut
- 1:52Speaker 1: down at the head of his men. Second Lieutenant James M. Mitchell,
- 1:57Speaker 1: executive officer, temporarily took man of Company H. When word
- 2:02Speaker 1: of Cook's death reached three seven CP, Lieutenant Colonel William F.
- 2:07Speaker 1: Harris dispatched Lieutenant Harris, no relation, recently returned to duty
- 2:11Speaker 1: after illness, to take over the beleaguered unit. The younger Harris,
- 2:16Speaker 1: who had been out of action since shortly after the
- 2:19Speaker 1: Howe Hill battle in early November, safely ascended the enemy
- 2:23Speaker 1: infested slopes of Hill fourteen oh three in the darkness
- 2:27Speaker 1: about midnight. He reached how Company's positions and found all
- 2:30Speaker 1: of Cook's officers wounded but one, Lieutenant Newton. The platoons
- 2:35Speaker 1: of Kreeg and Denny were badly depleted, but Harris moved
- 2:39Speaker 1: Newton's platoon from the left flank to the right. Newton's
- 2:43Speaker 1: men regained enough ground in a counter attack to cement
- 2:46Speaker 1: the company's position. After these first attacks against two five
- 2:50Speaker 1: and eight seven over the two mile breadth of Northwest Ridge,
- 2:54Speaker 1: the Chinese remained generally inactive for a period of about
- 2:57Speaker 1: two hours. They had paid heavily for minor gains, so
- 3:02Speaker 1: heavily that fresh battalions were called from reserve to stamp
- 3:05Speaker 1: out the marine resistance. On the tip of the ridge.
- 3:08Speaker 1: At zero three hundred, several hundred CCF riflemen, grenadiers and
- 3:13Speaker 1: submachine gunners commenced the second general assault, striking at two
- 3:17Speaker 1: five and company h simultaneously in the low ground at
- 3:21Speaker 1: the center of the two mile front. Jeskilka's Easy Company
- 3:24Speaker 1: threw a curtain of machine gun fire across the draw
- 3:27Speaker 1: in the path of three hundred Chinese advancing frontally. The
- 3:31Speaker 1: first enemy ranks marched into the fire lanes and were
- 3:34Speaker 1: mowed down like rows of grain. The CCF soldiers in
- 3:38Speaker 1: subsequent formations apparently viewed the grizzly corpse strewing corridor with misgivings,
- 3:44Speaker 1: for they stopped several hundred yards up the narrow valley
- 3:47Speaker 1: and took cover thereafter. The main fighting and Company E
- 3:51Speaker 1: zone involved long range exchanges of machine gun and mortar fire,
- 3:56Speaker 1: although clashes at close quarters occasionally flared up on the flanks.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Approximately two hundred Communist troops had concentrated meanwhile, against Fox
- 4:05Speaker 1: Company on the spur to the left, where the ground
- 4:07Speaker 1: afforded more cover and space for maneuver. Stumbling over a
- 4:12Speaker 1: carpet of their own dead, the Reds thrust repeatedly at
- 4:15Speaker 1: the center of the marine line. They inflicted many casualties
- 4:19Speaker 1: on the defenders and ultimately overran two machine gun positions,
- 4:24Speaker 1: but this was the sum total of their success, and
- 4:26Speaker 1: fighting on the north half of the spur at the
- 4:29Speaker 1: edge of the gap between Companies E and F continued
- 4:32Speaker 1: sporadically for the rest of the night, with neither side
- 4:35Speaker 1: gaining any appreciable advantage. On the right of the second battalion,
- 4:40Speaker 1: the second CCF onslought had struck the front and both
- 4:43Speaker 1: flanks of Company H on Hill fourteen oh three, human
- 4:47Speaker 1: cannon fodder of Red China was hurled against the marine
- 4:50Speaker 1: positions for a full hour, but Lieutenant Harris's command held
- 4:55Speaker 1: H Company's roadblock, commanded by Sergeant Vick, decisively beat off
- 5:00Speaker 1: off a Chinese attack in the valley, and at zero
- 5:02Speaker 1: four hundred, Lieutenant Colonel Harris ordered the hard pressed company
- 5:06Speaker 1: to pull back towards the rear of Easy Company two five.
- 5:10Speaker 1: Two hours later, how Company completed its fighting withdraw The
- 5:15Speaker 1: loss of Hill fourteen oh three posed a grave threat
- 5:18Speaker 1: to the whole defensive network around the village. Not only
- 5:21Speaker 1: were the Chinese now ideally situated to strike at the
- 5:24Speaker 1: rear of two five and sever it from the two regiments,
- 5:28Speaker 1: but in sufficient strength they could attack the rear and
- 5:31Speaker 1: flanks of the marine units on North and Southwest Ridges. Moreover,
- 5:36Speaker 1: at dawn they would be looking down the throats of
- 5:39Speaker 1: some two thousand marines on the valley floor fighting at
- 5:44Speaker 1: three five CP. The partially successful assault on Northwest Ridge
- 5:50Speaker 1: involved two regiments, the two hundred sixty sixth and the
- 5:54Speaker 1: two hundred sixty seventh of the eighty nine CCF Division
- 5:58Speaker 1: operating abreast of this U The seventy ninth Division had
- 6:02Speaker 1: meanwhile advanced over the rugged spine of north Ridge toward
- 6:06Speaker 1: the two isolated companies of the second Battalion, seventh Marines
- 6:10Speaker 1: occupying terminal Hills twelve eighty two and twelve forty on
- 6:14Speaker 1: that huge land mass. Elements of the seventy ninth Division's
- 6:18Speaker 1: three regiments were in the four and each regiment was
- 6:21Speaker 1: apparently disposed in a column of battalions facing south toward
- 6:26Speaker 1: the marine positions on north Ridge. The CCF order of
- 6:30Speaker 1: battle with probable objectives assigned was as follows. Two hundred
- 6:35Speaker 1: thirty seventh Regiment, Hill thirteen eighty four unoccupied, two hundred
- 6:40Speaker 1: thirty fifth Regiment, Hill twelve forty d seven, two hundred
- 6:46Speaker 1: thirty sixth Regiment, Hill eleven sixty seven unoccupied. For reasons unknown,
- 6:53Speaker 1: the commander of the two hundred thirty fifth Regiment did
- 6:55Speaker 1: not include Hill twelve eighty two in his plan for
- 6:58Speaker 1: seizing the high ground above until he ordered his first
- 7:02Speaker 1: battalion to take only Hill twelve forty, and the commanding
- 7:06Speaker 1: officer of that unit, in turn assigned the mission to
- 7:08Speaker 1: his first and Special Duty companies. After these two outfits
- 7:13Speaker 1: had seized the objective, the second and third companies would
- 7:16Speaker 1: pass through and, in conjunction with other CCF forces in
- 7:20Speaker 1: the locale, annihilate the enemy. At Udam Knee, approaching the
- 7:25Speaker 1: terminal high ground in darkness, the first Battalion, two hundred
- 7:28Speaker 1: and thirty fifth Regiment veered off its course and mistakenly
- 7:32Speaker 1: ascended a spur toward Hill twelve eighty two. The third
- 7:36Speaker 1: Battalion two hundred thirty six Regiment, keeping contact as it
- 7:39Speaker 1: had advanced on the left, participated in the air and
- 7:42Speaker 1: wound up at the foot of Hill twelve forty. Thus
- 7:46Speaker 1: confronted with this precipitive mass instead of a low, gently
- 7:49Speaker 1: sloping Hill eleven sixty seven, the third Battalion floundered for
- 7:53Speaker 1: several hours and did not take part in the first
- 7:56Speaker 1: attack against the marine perimeter. It did, however, send out
- 8:00Speaker 1: the usual screen of infiltrators at twenty two hundred submachine
- 8:06Speaker 1: gunners and grenadiers of the first and Special Duty Companies
- 8:10Speaker 1: one two hundred thirty five commenced the preliminaries against Company
- 8:14Speaker 1: E seventh Marines on Hill twelve eighty two, believing they
- 8:18Speaker 1: were engaging a marine platoon on Hill twelve forty. The
- 8:22Speaker 1: harassing force was driven off after failing to disrupt the
- 8:25Speaker 1: marine defenses. Almost two hours later, at twenty three forty five,
- 8:30Speaker 1: Company D of two seven reported enemy infiltration on Hill
- 8:34Speaker 1: twelve forty one thousand yards to the east. Both marine
- 8:38Speaker 1: companies canceled the patrol scheduled for the long Saddle connecting
- 8:41Speaker 1: their positions and went on a one hundred percent alert.
- 8:44Speaker 1: Captain Phillips, commanding Easy Company, had arranged two platoons in
- 8:49Speaker 1: perimeter around the summit of Hill twelve eighty two, and
- 8:52Speaker 1: the third he had deployed to the rear right on
- 8:55Speaker 1: a spur that dipped toward Udom Knee. At midnight, after
- 8:59Speaker 1: a period of silence across the company front, the initial
- 9:02Speaker 1: CCF assault wave slammed into the northeastern arc of the perimeter,
- 9:07Speaker 1: manned by First Lieutenant Yances Platoon. Marine firepower blunted this
- 9:12Speaker 1: frontal attack and the Reds tried to slip around the
- 9:14Speaker 1: east side of the hilltop. They ran head on into
- 9:18Speaker 1: first Lieutenant Bays Platoon, entrenched on the spur, and were
- 9:21Speaker 1: thrown back. Resorting to grinding tactics, The Chinese repeatedly assaulted
- 9:27Speaker 1: Company east position from midnight to zero two hundred whistles
- 9:31Speaker 1: and bugles blared over the reaches of north Ridge, and
- 9:35Speaker 1: the charging squads of infantry met death stoically to the
- 9:38Speaker 1: tune of weird Oriental chants. When one formation was cut
- 9:43Speaker 1: to pieces by machine gun fire and grenades, another rose
- 9:47Speaker 1: out of the night to take its place. By zero
- 9:50Speaker 1: two hundred, as the first attack began to tap her off,
- 9:53Speaker 1: the northeastern slopes of Hill twelve eighty two lay buried
- 9:56Speaker 1: under a mat of human wreckage moo or later, the
- 10:01Speaker 1: first and Special Duty companies of the first Battalion, two
- 10:04Speaker 1: hundred thirty fifth CCF Regiment had ceased to exist, having
- 10:08Speaker 1: lost nearly every man of their combined total of over
- 10:11Speaker 1: two hundred Company East casualties had been heavy, but the
- 10:15Speaker 1: Marines still held Hill twelve eighty two. On Hill twelve
- 10:19Speaker 1: forty one thousand yards to the east, infiltrators of the
- 10:22Speaker 1: third Battalion, two hundred thirty sixth CCF Regiment probe Dog
- 10:27Speaker 1: Company's perimeter while Easy was under attack. By zero zero thirty,
- 10:32Speaker 1: some of the harassing parties had side slipped through the
- 10:34Speaker 1: saddle separating Hill twelve eighty two and opened fire on
- 10:38Speaker 1: the fifth and seventh Regimental headquarters in Yudam knee. The
- 10:42Speaker 1: sniping from the slopes of Northridge did not surprise the
- 10:45Speaker 1: Marines in the valley, for they had long been preparing
- 10:48Speaker 1: for a possible threat from that direction. Early in the evening,
- 10:53Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Taplet had redeployed three five from an assembly
- 10:57Speaker 1: area just north of the village to a broad tactical
- 11:00Speaker 1: perimeter in the same locale Companies H and I, the
- 11:04Speaker 1: latter on the right he positioned facing Northwest Ridge, specifically
- 11:09Speaker 1: Hill fourteen oh three. Two platoons of Company G held
- 11:13Speaker 1: blocking positions near the base of Southwest Ridge, and the
- 11:16Speaker 1: third manned an outpost on the slopes of that high ground.
- 11:20Speaker 1: At the bottom of north Ridge and the draw between
- 11:23Speaker 1: Hill twelve eighty two and the spur of thirteen eighty four,
- 11:26Speaker 1: Taplet established his CP with H and S and Weapons
- 11:29Speaker 1: companies providing local security. When three five's commander learned that
- 11:34Speaker 1: the spur of Hill thirteen eighty four was unoccupied, he
- 11:38Speaker 1: dispatched a platoon of Company I to an outpost position
- 11:41Speaker 1: five hundred yards up the slope, about three hundred yards
- 11:45Speaker 1: behind the item company unit, on a portion of the
- 11:47Speaker 1: spur directly above the battalion. CP a platoon of South
- 11:51Speaker 1: Korean Police deployed with two heavy machine guns at twenty
- 11:56Speaker 1: forty five, fifteen minutes before any other unit on the
- 11:59Speaker 1: utem k he reported a contact. The outpost platoon of
- 12:03Speaker 1: ITEM Company began receiving fire from above. This harassment, probably
- 12:08Speaker 1: involving advanced elements of the two hundred thirty seven CCF regiment,
- 12:13Speaker 1: continued sporadically for several hours throughout the period of the
- 12:16Speaker 1: first Communist attacks against other fronts in the valley. At
- 12:21Speaker 1: twenty one twenty a few men of how Company, seventh
- 12:24Speaker 1: Marines entered three five's positions barefooted and partially clothed. Taplet,
- 12:30Speaker 1: personally noting the time of their arrival, questioned them in
- 12:34Speaker 1: the battalion aid station, and they told how their sixty
- 12:37Speaker 1: millimeter mortar position on Hill fourteen oh three had been
- 12:40Speaker 1: seized by the Chinese. The battalion commander returned to his
- 12:44Speaker 1: CP and, after listening to the far off din of
- 12:48Speaker 1: the initial Communist attacks, placed his perimeter on a one
- 12:51Speaker 1: hundred percent alert at zero one point fifteen. Half an
- 12:55Speaker 1: hour later, the ITEM Company platoon on the spur of
- 12:58Speaker 1: Hill thirteen eighty four reported an increase in enemy fire
- 13:01Speaker 1: coming from above. A message from Age seven next warned
- 13:05Speaker 1: that CCF troops were moving around Hill fourteen oh three
- 13:08Speaker 1: to cut the MSR company. I observed activity in that
- 13:13Speaker 1: quarter shortly afterwards, and at zero two eighteen opened fire
- 13:17Speaker 1: on an enemy platoon, which promptly retracted. A few minutes later,
- 13:22Speaker 1: a company, possibly two companies of Chinese swept down the
- 13:26Speaker 1: spur of Hill thirteen eighty four, overran the ITEM company
- 13:29Speaker 1: platoon outpost, and continued on towards the police platoon. The
- 13:34Speaker 1: South Koreans, after inflicting heavy casualties on the Reds with
- 13:38Speaker 1: their two machine guns, vacated the high ground. Enemy troops
- 13:43Speaker 1: then spread out along the crest and poured plunging fire
- 13:45Speaker 1: into H and S and weapons companies defending the draw.
- 13:49Speaker 1: Weapons company on the far side of the depression held
- 13:53Speaker 1: its ground, but H and S, directly under the gun,
- 13:56Speaker 1: shortly fell back across the MSR taplet. CP was left
- 14:01Speaker 1: in no man's land, with enemy bullets raining down out
- 14:04Speaker 1: of the night and marine fire whistling back from across
- 14:07Speaker 1: the draw and rowed. Upon learning of the withdrawal, the
- 14:11Speaker 1: battalion commander elected to remain in the tent in order
- 14:14Speaker 1: to keep telephone contact with his rifle companies, which were
- 14:17Speaker 1: as yet uninvolved. He did not consider the situation too serious,
- 14:22Speaker 1: and it seemed as though the police platoon's machine guns
- 14:25Speaker 1: had taken the sting out of the enemy assault. Except
- 14:28Speaker 1: for a few individuals, the Chinese did not descend from
- 14:31Speaker 1: the spur, nor did they direct much fire at Taplin's
- 14:35Speaker 1: Blackout ten, which they probably took to be unoccupied. Inside,
- 14:41Speaker 1: the battalion commander studied his maps, received reports, and issued
- 14:45Speaker 1: instructions over the field phone, while his S three, Major
- 14:48Speaker 1: Thomas A. Durham, sat nearby with pistol drawn. Major John J. Canney,
- 14:54Speaker 1: the executive officer, left the CP to retrieve h and
- 14:58Speaker 1: s Company, and was killed as he approached the MS.
- 15:01Speaker 1: Private first Class Lewis W. Swinson, radio operator, whose instrument
- 15:06Speaker 1: had proved unreliable in the severe cold, took position outside
- 15:10Speaker 1: the tent and covered the approaches with his rifle. This
- 15:14Speaker 1: unique situation of battalion commander under fire in an exposed
- 15:18Speaker 1: position while his rifle companies lay peacefully entrenched several hundred
- 15:22Speaker 1: yards away, lasted for over an hour. The Battle of
- 15:27Speaker 1: north Ridge at approximately zero three hundred, when taplet Durham
- 15:33Speaker 1: and Swinson began their lonely vigil. The seventy nine CCF
- 15:37Speaker 1: Division launched another assault on North Ridge as a result
- 15:42Speaker 1: of the enemy's first attack and in anticipation of the
- 15:45Speaker 1: second Colonel Murray earlier had moved elements of the first Battalion,
- 15:49Speaker 1: fifth Marines into position behind three five. Second Lieutenant Nicholas M.
- 15:55Speaker 1: Trapnell's first platoon of Company A left the battalion assembly
- 15:58Speaker 1: area in the valley at zero one hundred and started
- 16:02Speaker 1: up the steep incline of Hill twelve eighty two. Climbing
- 16:05Speaker 1: the icy slopes by day was difficult enough, but darkness
- 16:09Speaker 1: and a minus twenty degree temperature made it a grueling
- 16:12Speaker 1: and perilous ordeal. Trapnel's outfit did not reach the crest
- 16:17Speaker 1: until after zero three hundred, when the CCF assault was
- 16:20Speaker 1: at the height of its fury and Company E was
- 16:22Speaker 1: facing imminent annihilation. The able company unit moved into position
- 16:27Speaker 1: with Lieutenant Bays Platoon on the spur jutting back from
- 16:30Speaker 1: the peak. As yet, the full force of the Chinese
- 16:34Speaker 1: drive had not spread to this area. The Red commander
- 16:38Speaker 1: of the first Battalion, two hundred thirty fifth Regiment used
- 16:41Speaker 1: his third company for the second attack against the cap
- 16:44Speaker 1: of Hill twelve eighty two. With the few survivors of
- 16:48Speaker 1: the first and Special Duty companies attached. The fresh unit
- 16:51Speaker 1: probably numbered about one hundred twenty five troops in squads
- 16:56Speaker 1: of eight to ten. The Chinese struck again and again
- 16:59Speaker 1: at the perimeter on the summit, and the two depleted
- 17:02Speaker 1: platoons of Easy Company dwindled to a mere handful of tired,
- 17:06Speaker 1: desperate Marines. First Lieutenant Robert E. Snyder's third platoon of
- 17:11Speaker 1: A five having been sent up from the valley shortly
- 17:14Speaker 1: after Trapnel's outfit arrived as reinforcements. Snyder did not have
- 17:20Speaker 1: contact with Bay and Trapnel, whose platoons were still intact,
- 17:24Speaker 1: so he integrated his men with the remnants of the
- 17:26Speaker 1: two platoons on the peak. Both sides suffered crippling losses
- 17:31Speaker 1: during the close fighting on Hill twelve eighty two. The
- 17:34Speaker 1: Reds finally drove a wedge between the marine defenders on
- 17:37Speaker 1: the summit and the platoons of Bay and Trapnel on
- 17:40Speaker 1: the spur. According to Bay, it soon became obvious that
- 17:44Speaker 1: a penetration had been made to our left the positions
- 17:48Speaker 1: atop the hill and the command post area were brightly
- 17:51Speaker 1: illuminated by flares and other explosions. By this time, approximately
- 17:57Speaker 1: zero four hundred, nothing but Chinese could be heard on
- 18:00Speaker 1: the telephone in the command post, and my platoon sergeant
- 18:03Speaker 1: Staff Sergeant Daniel M. Murphy requested permission to take what
- 18:07Speaker 1: men we could spare in an attempt to close the
- 18:10Speaker 1: gap between the left flank of the platoon and the
- 18:12Speaker 1: rest of the company. I told him to go ahead
- 18:16Speaker 1: and do what he could. Meanwhile, the center and rear
- 18:20Speaker 1: of Easy Company's perimeter was reduced to the chaos of
- 18:23Speaker 1: a last stand Yancey, already wounded, was hit again as
- 18:28Speaker 1: he tried to reorganize the few marine survivors on the peak.
- 18:32Speaker 1: First Lieutenant Leonard M. Clements, the other platoon leader, fell wounded,
- 18:37Speaker 1: as did First Lieutenant William J. Schreyer of the mortar section,
- 18:41Speaker 1: and Lieutenant Snyder. Captain Phillips, hurling grenades in the midst
- 18:45Speaker 1: of the melee, was killed. His executive officer, First Lieutenant
- 18:51Speaker 1: Raymond O. Ball, took command of Company E, shouting out
- 18:55Speaker 1: encouragement as he lay immobilized by two wounds. He was
- 18:59Speaker 1: hit several more times before he lapsed into unconsciousness and
- 19:02Speaker 1: died after reaching the aid station. Lieutenant Snyder took command.
- 19:08Speaker 1: By zero five hundred CCF infantrymen of the third Company,
- 19:12Speaker 1: one two thirty five occupied the summit of Hill twelve
- 19:15Speaker 1: eighty two, still believing it to be Hill twelve forty.
- 19:19Speaker 1: The remnants of the platoons of Yancey, Clemens, and Snyder
- 19:23Speaker 1: had been driven to the reverse slope in the west,
- 19:26Speaker 1: while the units of Trapnel and Bay clung to the
- 19:29Speaker 1: crest of the southeastern spur overlooking Udam Knee. Up to
- 19:34Speaker 1: this point, Chinese casualties on Hill twelve eighty two probably
- 19:37Speaker 1: numbered about two hundred fifty, with marine losses approximately one
- 19:41Speaker 1: hundred fifty. Easy Company had been reduced to the effective
- 19:46Speaker 1: strength of a rifle platoon split in two and the
- 19:49Speaker 1: pair of a five platoons paid with upwards of forty
- 19:52Speaker 1: killed and wounded. During the brief time on the battle line,
- 19:56Speaker 1: only six effectives remained of Snyder's platoon. The d danger
- 20:00Speaker 1: from enemy held the Hill twelve eighty two was compounded
- 20:03Speaker 1: by the success of the third Battalion, two hundred thirty
- 20:06Speaker 1: six Regiment on Hill twelve forty to the east. At
- 20:10Speaker 1: about zero one o five. The Chinese, who had previously
- 20:12Speaker 1: been content only to make probing attacks on Captain Hull's
- 20:16Speaker 1: dog company, shifted to a full scale assault. Sergeant Othmer J.
- 20:21Speaker 1: Rellers platoon, holding the northwest portion of the company perimeter,
- 20:25Speaker 1: beat off three attacks before being overrun at about zero
- 20:29Speaker 1: two thirty. First Lieutenant Richard C. Weber, the machine gun
- 20:33Speaker 1: platoon leader, attempted to plug the gap with the available reinforcements,
- 20:38Speaker 1: but was prevented by a firefight outside the company CP.
- 20:42Speaker 1: First Lieutenant Edward M. Seberger's platoon, holding the perimeter on
- 20:46Speaker 1: the right east, was under too heavy an attack to
- 20:49Speaker 1: extend to the left and tie in with Weber. The
- 20:53Speaker 1: Chinese overran Hull CP at about zero three hundred, and
- 20:56Speaker 1: he ordered Seeburger and First Lieutenant Anthony J. Soda, commanding
- 21:01Speaker 1: the rear platoon, to reorganize. At the foot of Hill
- 21:04Speaker 1: twelve forty, Captain Hull wounded, his command cut to the
- 21:08Speaker 1: size of a few squads, rallied his troops on the
- 21:11Speaker 1: hillside and led a counterattack against the crest. The surprise
- 21:16Speaker 1: Chinese recoiled and the Marines won a small foothold. Then
- 21:20Speaker 1: the enemy smashed back from the front right flank and
- 21:23Speaker 1: right rear. Hull was wounded again, but continued in action
- 21:27Speaker 1: as his hasty perimeter diminished to the proportions of a
- 21:31Speaker 1: squad position. With the approach of dawn. He had only
- 21:35Speaker 1: sixteen men left who could fight. The enemy was on
- 21:38Speaker 1: the higher ground to his front, on both flanks, and
- 21:41Speaker 1: on the slopes to his rear. End of Chapter eight,
- 21:46Speaker 1: Part two read by Aaron Bennett,