Battle for the Punchbowl: The U. S. 1st Marine Division 1951 Fall Offensive of the Korean War Page: 161
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1710 (delayed because of the very late arrival of CAS) under "extremely heavy artillery
preparation," it only made one hour of progress before heavy enemy fire stopped it. In
addition, the Marines were under crossfire from enemy machine gun emplacements.
The resistance was so "fanatical and tenacious that the battalion was ordered back to
its previous positions." Clearly, any further advance would be useless because of the
late hour; there would not be enough time to consolidate new positions before dark.
Thus the assaulting elements of 2/1 withdrew back to their former positions while
artillery suppressed the enemy fire and tied in with Able Company 1/1 in the positions
from the night before. Hill 749 was still partly NKPA and covered with mines. The day
had cost 2/1 70 WIA.32 (See Map # 27)
The 5th Marines was ordered to help the 1st Marines, and accordingly moved to
assembly areas on September 15. For 2/5, the situation was SNAFU (situation normal
all _ _ _ _ed up) because rain commenced falling during the unit's movement. One
Marine said "Now everything's normal: a typical 2nd Battalion moving day!" The new CP
(command post) set up in terrain typical of that in the valleys along the Soyang River:
low, terraced rice-paddies, overgrown with tall grass near the rain-swollen, muddy river.
Also typical of the area, the road was a rutted, muddy trail that was hardly passable,
with mud holes deep enough in places to entrap even bulldozers from forward
movement. Supply would be almost entirely by Korean cargadores of the KSC (Korean
Service Corps), newly formed from the former CTC (Civilian Transport Corps) to be
under ROK government and military authority in order to improve efficiency. These
32 Second Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 8-9; 1st Marine Regiment,
"Historical Diary," September 1951, 16; Lynn Montross, et al., The East-Central Front, 191-92; 1s Mar
Div, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 18; 1st Marine Regiment, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 3;
Second Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 9.161
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Montandon, Joshua W. Battle for the Punchbowl: The U. S. 1st Marine Division 1951 Fall Offensive of the Korean War, thesis, August 2007; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3938/m1/176/?rotate=270: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .