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019 - Chapter 9 Part 2 - Fox Hill · Marine Operations in Korea The Chosin Reservoir Campaign

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Part two of US Marine Operations in Korea
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  Speaker 1: nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty three, Volume three, The Chosen
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  Speaker 1: Reservoir Campaign by Lynn Montross and Nicholas Canzona. This LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Fox Hill The Fight
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  Speaker 1: for Northwest Ridge to the left of north Ridge dawn
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  Speaker 1: of twenty eight November revealed the tactical paradox on the
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  Speaker 1: looming massif of Northwest Ridge. Both Marines and Red Chinese
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  Speaker 1: occupied the terminal high ground, and it was difficult to
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  Speaker 1: determine which had emerged victorious from the all night battle.
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  Speaker 1: Howe Company, seventh Marines had withdrawn from Hill fourteen o three,
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  Speaker 1: and from this commanding peak soldiers of the eighty nine
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  Speaker 1: CCF Division could observe and enfilade the whole of Yudamnee Valley.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to the eighty officers and men of how
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  Speaker 1: Company who had back to the lines of three to
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  Speaker 1: five during the early morning, another group found its way
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  Speaker 1: to the rear of Easy Company two five. As mentioned earlier,
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  Speaker 1: the appearance of the latter contention at zero four point
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  Speaker 1: thirty was a cause of consternation to Lieutenant Colonel Royce.
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  Speaker 1: His rifle Companies had thrown back repeated CCF attacks along
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  Speaker 1: the draw and Spur on the left of the seventh
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  Speaker 1: Marin's outfit, but the loss of fourteen oh three now
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  Speaker 1: offset his victory and gravely imperiled his line of communications
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  Speaker 1: to the rest of the fifth Marines at Udam Knee,
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  Speaker 1: a mile to the rear. Nevertheless, two five continued to
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  Speaker 1: hold at zero six hundred, Company E counterattacked and drove
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  Speaker 1: the Chinese from the northern tip of the Spur, which
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  Speaker 1: they had occupied during the night. Fox Company, its right flank,
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  Speaker 1: now restored and in contact with Easy, lashed out at
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  Speaker 1: zero eight hundred and recaptured the two machine guns overrun
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  Speaker 1: by the enemy four hours earlier. Fifteen CCF soldiers who
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  Speaker 1: had found their way into the rear of Company F
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  Speaker 1: sometime in the night were destroyed. Easy Company, after its
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  Speaker 1: successful counter attack on the Spur, drove off a large
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  Speaker 1: Communist force attempting to move against its right flank. Incredibly,
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  Speaker 1: Two five's losses for the night long fight were seven KA,
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  Speaker 1: twenty five WIA, and sixty weather casualties. Chinese dead piled
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  Speaker 1: up across the front of Easy and Fox Companies numbered
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  Speaker 1: five hundred. According to a rough count. There was no
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  Speaker 1: estimate made by how Company seventh Marines of enemy losses
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  Speaker 1: on Hill fourteen oh three. At zero one forty five
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  Speaker 1: on the twenty eighth, Royce had received Murray's order to
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  Speaker 1: continue the attack to the west after daybreak so that
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  Speaker 1: three to five could move forward, deploy and add its
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  Speaker 1: weight to the ten Corps offensive. Events during the night
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  Speaker 1: altered Murray's plans, of course, and at zero five forty five,
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  Speaker 1: the regimental commander alerted Royce to the probability of withdrawing
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  Speaker 1: two five to southwest Ridge. Later in the morning, the
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  Speaker 1: battalion commander, not realizing the extent of the crisis at
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  Speaker 1: Yudam Knee, thought a mistake had been made when he
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  Speaker 1: checked the map coordinates mentioned in the message. Despite the
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  Speaker 1: fact that his whole front was engaged at the time,
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  Speaker 1: he was prepared to continue the westward drive, and he
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  Speaker 1: questioned regimental headquarters about the error, which would take his
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  Speaker 1: battalion rearward. Needless to say, the correction of the map
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  Speaker 1: coordinates was quickly confirmed. Lieutenant Colonel Murray visited Colonel Litzenburg
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  Speaker 1: at dawn on the twenty eighth, while elements of the
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  Speaker 1: fifth Marines were counterattacking the Chinese forces on north and
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  Speaker 1: northwest ridges. They agreed that the enemy had appeared in
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  Speaker 1: sufficient strength to warrant a switch to the defensive by
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  Speaker 1: both regiments, and Murray canceled the scheduled westward attack by
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  Speaker 1: his second and third battalions. At eleven hundred, he ordered
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  Speaker 1: two five to pull back to southwest Ridge, tying in
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  Speaker 1: on the left with three seven on the same hill mass,
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  Speaker 1: and on the right with three five, whose line extended
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  Speaker 1: from the valley northwest of Yudham Knee to the crest
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  Speaker 1: of north Ridge. Orders officially halting the northwestward advance and
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  Speaker 1: directing the fifth Marines to coordinate positions with the seventh
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  Speaker 1: Marines were sent by General Smith at sixteen fifty twenty
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  Speaker 1: three minutes earlier, he had ordered the seventh Marines to
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  Speaker 1: attack to the south and reopen the MSR to Hagarou
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  Speaker 1: to coordinate better the defense of the new perimeter. Murray
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  Speaker 1: moved his CP from the northwestern edge of Yudham Knee
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  Speaker 1: to the center of the village, where the seventh Marin's
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  Speaker 1: headquarters was located. He spent most of his time thereafter
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  Speaker 1: with Litzenburg while Lieutenant Colonel Joseph L. Stewart, his executive officer,
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  Speaker 1: ran the fifth Regiment command post. Through constant contact and
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  Speaker 1: a policy of close cooperation in all matters, the two
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  Speaker 1: regimental commanders and their staffs came up with joint plans
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  Speaker 1: for the defense of udem Knee and the ultimate breakout
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  Speaker 1: to Hagarou. The first of these plans had to do
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  Speaker 1: with the realignment of forces at Udemnee and the rescue
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  Speaker 1: of Charlie and Fox Company's seventh Marines. Early in the
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  Speaker 1: afternoon of the twenty eighth, two five began withdrawing from
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  Speaker 1: Northwest Ridge a company at a time, with Company E
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  Speaker 1: providing covering fire as rear guard. The battalion's displacement to
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  Speaker 1: Southwest Ridge was completed by twenty hundred against CCF resistance
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  Speaker 1: consisting only of harassing fires directly across the valley of Udmnee.
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  Speaker 1: Company I of three five relieved the elements of one
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  Speaker 1: five on Hill twelve eighty two of Northridge. In late afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: George and Howe companies of three five deployed in the
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  Speaker 1: low ground to protect the corridor approaches to Udemnee from
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  Speaker 1: the northwest. Lieutenant Colonel Stevens, keeping the bulk of one
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  Speaker 1: five in reserve, dispatched Company B at fourteen hundred to
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  Speaker 1: relieve the battered handful of marines on Hill twelve forty.
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  Speaker 1: While this reshuffling took place on the twenty eighth, Colonel
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  Speaker 1: Litzenburg listened anxiously to the grim reports from his first Battalion,
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  Speaker 1: which had set out in the morning to retrieve both
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  Speaker 1: Charlie and Fox companies from their encircled positions on the
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  Speaker 1: MSR leading to hagarou Able. Company led off for the
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  Speaker 1: relief force at ten point fifteen, entering the gorge between
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  Speaker 1: South and Southeast ridges. Five hours of fighting, marching and
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  Speaker 1: climbing took it to a point about three miles from
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  Speaker 1: the udem Knee perimeter and one mile short of Company
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  Speaker 1: ceased position here. While moving through the high ground east
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  Speaker 1: of the MSR, the vanguard met heavy resistance and was
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  Speaker 1: stopped cold. Lieutenant Colonel Davis, who was following with the
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  Speaker 1: remainder of the first battalion, committed Company B to a
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  Speaker 1: flanking movement west of the road. Air In eighty one
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  Speaker 1: millimeter mortars supported the auxiliary attack and routed the Chinese.
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  Speaker 1: Both companies advanced to high ground positions abreast to Charlie
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  Speaker 1: Company's perimeter, then bent toward the MSR to provide a
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  Speaker 1: protective cresset between the beleaguered outfit and the enemy infested
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  Speaker 1: ground to the south. By now it was dark. Fox Company,
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  Speaker 1: according to plan, was supposed to have fought its way
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  Speaker 1: from Tactung Pass, owing to the burden of casualties and
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  Speaker 1: the ring of Chinese around its distant hilltop, it was
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  Speaker 1: not able to do so. Litzenburg, concerned less than one
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  Speaker 1: seven be similarly trapped in the gorge, recalled Davis to
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  Speaker 1: Yudam Knee. The relief force returned at twenty one to
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  Speaker 1: ten with Charlie Company and its forty six wounded. Second
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  Speaker 1: night's attacks on Fox Hill, Fox Company, with fifty four
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  Speaker 1: wounded on its hands, spent an active day at the
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  Speaker 1: top of Tactung Pass. After the Chinese attacks subsided in
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  Speaker 1: the morning. Barber's men collected ammunition and weapons from marine
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  Speaker 1: casualties and communists dead. Including among enemy arms were several
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  Speaker 1: of the familiar U. S. Thompson submachine guns and modeled
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  Speaker 1: nineteen o three Springfield rifles. At ten thirty, a flight
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  Speaker 1: of Australian f fifty one's mustangs blasted CCF positions around
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  Speaker 1: Tactong Pass, particularly a rocky promontory several hundred yards to
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  Speaker 1: the north of Hill sixteen fifty three, which the enemy
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  Speaker 1: already had transformed into a redoubt within the marine perimeter.
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  Speaker 1: The wounded were placed in two tents on a sheltered hillside,
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  Speaker 1: where Navy cormen attended them constantly. According to Lieutenant McCarthy's account,
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  Speaker 1: the medics by candlelight, changed the bandages, slip men in
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  Speaker 1: and out of sleeping bags, warmed sea rations for the men,
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  Speaker 1: and melted the morphine serettes in their mouths before the injections.
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  Speaker 1: Because the plasma was frozen, the cormen had to watch
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  Speaker 1: men die for the lack of it. During late morning
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  Speaker 1: and the afternoon, Barber sent out patrols to screen the
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  Speaker 1: areas immediately beyond his lines. The scouting parties met only
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  Speaker 1: sniper fire, but other evidence of enemy activity indicated that
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  Speaker 1: Fox Hill was completely surrounded. An appeal for resupply by
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  Speaker 1: air was answered later in the day when Marine R
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  Speaker 1: five d's dropped medical kits and ammunition at the base
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  Speaker 1: of the hill at a cost of two wounded. The
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  Speaker 1: precious supplies were recovered before sundown. Fox Company's perimeter for
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  Speaker 1: the night of twenty eight to twenty nine November was
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  Speaker 1: the same as before, except that the ranks were noticeably thinner. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: a feeling of confidence pervaded the men on the hilltop.
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  Speaker 1: They believed implicitly that they could hold. They believed it
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  Speaker 1: despite the fact that strong relief columns from both eudem
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  Speaker 1: Knee and Hagaroo had been unable to break through to them.
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  Speaker 1: All was quiet on Fox Hill until zero two fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: when CCF mortar rounds killed one and wounded two others
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  Speaker 1: in the third platoon, now reduced to some twenty able
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  Speaker 1: bodied men, About forty Chinese, made a penetration in this area.
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  Speaker 1: After a series of probing attacks all along the line,
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  Speaker 1: one marine crew turned its light machine gun about and
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  Speaker 1: brought it to bear on the bunched up attackers with
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  Speaker 1: deadly effect. A gap in the lines on both flanks
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  Speaker 1: caused the platoon to pull back about twenty yards. At sunrise, however,
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  Speaker 1: Staff Sergeant John d Outis led a counterattack which regained
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  Speaker 1: the lost ground at a cost of only two wounded.
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  Speaker 1: The second night's fighting costs Fox Company a total of
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  Speaker 1: five killed and twenty nine wounded. Both Captain Barber and
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant McCarthy suffered leg wounds but continued in action after
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  Speaker 1: receiving first aid. The company commander directed that the open
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  Speaker 1: ground on Fox Hill be marked with colored parachutes from
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  Speaker 1: the previous day's air drops. This provision resulted in accurate
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  Speaker 1: drops and easy recoveries when marine transport planes arrived at
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  Speaker 1: ten thirty on the twenty ninth with ammunition and supplies.
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  Speaker 1: Shortly afterwards, First Lieutenant Floyd J. Ingelhardt of VMO six
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  Speaker 1: landed with batteries for the SCR three hundred and six
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  Speaker 1: nineteen radios. Although his helicopter was damaged by hits from
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  Speaker 1: long distance Chinese fire, he managed to take off safely.
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  Speaker 1: Air drops that afternoon by C one nineteens of the
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  Speaker 1: Combat Cargo Command missed the marked zone at times, and
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  Speaker 1: much of the mortar ammunition landed about five hundred yards
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  Speaker 1: to the west of the perimeter. Lieutenant Peterson, already twice wounded,
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  Speaker 1: led marines who recovered some of the rounds but were
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  Speaker 1: pinned down by CCF fire and got back one at
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  Speaker 1: a time with difficulty. At dusk under cover of fire
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  Speaker 1: from Howe battery. Another detail recovered the ammunition without enemy interference.
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  Speaker 1: Not enough tents for catchies. The night of twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: to twenty nine November passed with only minor activity in
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  Speaker 1: the Udam Knee area for the infantry of RCT five,
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  Speaker 1: but the Regimental surgeon, Lieutenant Commander Chester M. Lessendon, Medical Corps,
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  Speaker 1: U S. Navy, had his hands full. During the fighting
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  Speaker 1: of the previous night, the joint aid station had been
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  Speaker 1: west of Udam Knee. Tents sheltering the wounded were riddled
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  Speaker 1: by enemy small arms fire from the north Ridge Battle,
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  Speaker 1: and on the morning of the twenty eighth the aid
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  Speaker 1: station displaced to a safer location southwest of Udam Nie.
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  Speaker 1: The seriously wounded filled the few tents initially available, and
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  Speaker 1: the others were protected from freezing by being placed outdoors,
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  Speaker 1: side by side and covered by tarpaulins while laying on straw.
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  Speaker 1: Primitive as this hospitalization was, dow cases were no more
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  Speaker 1: than might have been expected under better conditions. The crowding
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  Speaker 1: in the aid stations was much relieved on thirty November
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  Speaker 1: by the erection of sufficient tentage by four to eleven
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  Speaker 1: to provide shelter for approximately five hundred casualties. Everything was frozen,
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  Speaker 1: said Lessenedon later in an interview with Keys Beach, a
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  Speaker 1: press correspondent. Plasma froze and the bottles broke. We couldn't
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  Speaker 1: use plasma because it wouldn't go into solution and the
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  Speaker 1: tubes would clog up with particles. We couldn't change dressings
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  Speaker 1: because we had to work with gloves on to keep
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  Speaker 1: our hands from freezing. We couldn't cut a man's clothes
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  Speaker 1: off to get out a wound because he would freeze
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  Speaker 1: to death. Actually, a man was often better off if
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  Speaker 1: we left him alone. Did you ever try to stuff
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  Speaker 1: a wounded man into a sleeping bag? The Joint defense
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  Speaker 1: plan for the night of twenty eight to twenty nine
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  Speaker 1: November provided for our CT five to take the responsibility
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  Speaker 1: for the west and north sectors, while our CT seven
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  Speaker 1: was to defend to the east, south and southwest. Enemy
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  Speaker 1: mortar fire was rest during the night in both regimental zones,
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  Speaker 1: but there were few infantry contacts. This lack of activity
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  Speaker 1: could only be interpreted as a temporary lull while the
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  Speaker 1: enemy regrouped for further efforts. As for the next attempt
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  Speaker 1: to relieve Fox Company and open the MSR to Hagaru.
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  Speaker 1: The Joint Planners at Umn decided on the night of
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  Speaker 1: the twenty eighth that all troops of the two regiments
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  Speaker 1: now in line were needed for defense. There were actually
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  Speaker 1: no men to spare for a relief column, and yet
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  Speaker 1: Division had ordered the effort to be made. The solution
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  Speaker 1: seemed to be a composite battalion consisting of perimeter reserve units.
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  Speaker 1: In order to replace these troops, Personnel were to be
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  Speaker 1: assigned from headquarters units and artillery batteries. This was the
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  Speaker 1: genesis of the composite battalion, consisting of elements from Able
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  Speaker 1: Company of one to five, Baker Company of one seven,
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  Speaker 1: and George Company of three seven, reinforced by a seventy
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  Speaker 1: five millimeters recoilist section and two eighty one millimeter mortar
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  Speaker 1: sections from RCT seven battalions. These troops were directed to
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  Speaker 1: assemble at the one seven CP on the morning of
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  Speaker 1: the twenty ninth, with Major Warren Morris, executive officer of
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  Speaker 1: three seven, in command. At zero eight hundred. The striking
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  Speaker 1: force moved out southward with the dual mission of relieving
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  Speaker 1: Captain Barber and opening up the MSR. All the way
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  Speaker 1: to Hagarou. After an advance of three hundred yards, heavy
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  Speaker 1: machine gun fire hit the column from both sides of
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  Speaker 1: the road. Groups of Chinese could be plainly seen on
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  Speaker 1: the ridges, affording remunerative targets for the eighty one millimeter
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  Speaker 1: mortars and the seventy five recoilist guns. Forward air controllers
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  Speaker 1: soon had the corsairs overhead to lead the way. At
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  Speaker 1: a point about forty five hundred yards south of Udem Knee, however,
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  Speaker 1: marine planes dropped two messages warning that the enemy was
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  Speaker 1: entrenched in formidable force along the high ground on both
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  Speaker 1: sides of the MSR. Similar messages were delivered by aircraft
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  Speaker 1: to the Regimental CP at Utem Knee. They caused Colonel
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  Speaker 1: Litzenburg to modify the orders of the Composite Battalion and
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  Speaker 1: direct that it relieved Fox Company and returned to Udem
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  Speaker 1: Knee before dark. By this time, Morris's troops had become
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  Speaker 1: engaged with large numbers of Chinese, who were being constantly
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  Speaker 1: reinforced by groups moving into the area along draws masks.
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  Speaker 1: From friendly ground observation. Litzenberg was informed on a basis
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  Speaker 1: of air observation that Morris was in danger of being surrounded,
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  Speaker 1: and at thirteen fifteen he sent an urgent message directing
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  Speaker 1: the force to return to udem Knee. Contact was broken
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  Speaker 1: off immediately with the aid of air and artillery cover,
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  Speaker 1: and the composite battalion withdrew without further incident the turning
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  Speaker 1: point of thirty November. The Udamnee area had a relatively
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  Speaker 1: quiet night on twenty nine to thirty November, but even
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  Speaker 1: though there was little fighting, the continued sub zero cold
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  Speaker 1: imposed a strain on the men, when at least a
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  Speaker 1: fifty percent alert must be maintained at all times. This
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  Speaker 1: was the third virtually sleepless night for troops who had
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  Speaker 1: not had a warm meal since the Thanksgiving feast. Seldom
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  Speaker 1: has the human frame been so savagely punished and continued
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  Speaker 1: to function, wrote Keys Beach. Many men discovered reserves of
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  Speaker 1: strength they never knew they possessed. Some survived and fought
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  Speaker 1: on willpower alone. Certainly, there was no lack of willpower
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  Speaker 1: on Fox Hill. As Captain Barbera called his platoon leaders
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  Speaker 1: together at about seventeen hundred on twenty nine November and
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  Speaker 1: told them not to expect any immediate relief Chinese attacks.
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  Speaker 1: He warned might be heavier than ever this third night,
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  Speaker 1: but they would be beaten off as usual. The area
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  Speaker 1: was quiet until about zero two hundred on the thirtieth,
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  Speaker 1: when an Oriental voice called out of the darkness in English,
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  Speaker 1: Fox company, you are surrounded. I am a lieutenant from
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  Speaker 1: the eleventh Marines. The Chinese will give you warm clothes
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  Speaker 1: and good treatment. Surrender now. The Marines replied with eighty
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  Speaker 1: one millimeters illumination shells, which revealed targets for the machine
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  Speaker 1: guns as the Chinese advanced across the valley from the south.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks to the afternoon's air drops, Fox Hill had enough
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  Speaker 1: mortar ammunition and hand grenades for the first time, and
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  Speaker 1: good use was made of both, and estimated three CCF
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  Speaker 1: companies were cut to pieces at a cost of a
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  Speaker 1: single marine wounded at sunrise. As the corsairs roared, over
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  Speaker 1: all tension vanished on Fox Hill, for it was generally
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  Speaker 1: agreed that if the Chinese couldn't take the position in
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  Speaker 1: three nights, they would never make the grade. The troops
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  Speaker 1: in the UDMN area also felt that the enemy had
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  Speaker 1: shot his bolt without achieving anything more than a few
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  Speaker 1: local gains at a terrible cost, and killed and wounded.
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  Speaker 1: It was recognized that some hard fighting lay ahead, but
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  Speaker 1: the morning of the thirtieth was a moral turning point,
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  Speaker 1: both in the Foxhole and the CP. It was evident
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  Speaker 1: even on the platoon level at Udam Knee that big
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  Speaker 1: events were in the wind. Marine enlisted men are traditionally
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  Speaker 1: shrewd at sizing up a tactical situation, and they sensed
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  Speaker 1: that a change was at hand. For three days and
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  Speaker 1: nights they had been on the defensive, fighting for their lives,
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  Speaker 1: and now the word passed from one man to another
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  Speaker 1: that the Marines were about to snatch the initiative. The
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  Speaker 1: regimental commanders and staff officers had a worry lifted from
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  Speaker 1: their minds when a helicopter brought the news that Hagaroo
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  Speaker 1: had passed a quiet night after repulsing large enemy forces
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  Speaker 1: in a dust to dome battle the night before. It
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  Speaker 1: would have added enormously to the task of the Udem
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  Speaker 1: Knee troops, of course, if the Chinese had seized that
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  Speaker 1: forward base with its air strip and stockpiles of supplies. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: it was heartening to learn that a single reinforced Marine
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  Speaker 1: infantry battalion and an assortment of service troops had beaten
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  Speaker 1: off the attacks of large elements of a Chinese division
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  Speaker 1: at Hagarou. The following two chapters will be devoted to
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  Speaker 1: an account of that critical battle and its aftermath, before
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  Speaker 1: returning to Judom Knee. End of Chapter nine, Part two
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  Speaker 1: read by Aaron Bennett,