Includes over 30 maps, photos and illustrations The Second Battle of Seoul was the battle to recapture Seoul from the North Koreans in late September 1950. The advance on Seoul was slow and bloody, after the landings at Inchon. The reason was the appearance in the Seoul area of two first-class fighting units of the North Korean People’s Army, the 78th Independent Infantry Regiment and 25th Infantry Brigade, about 7,000 troops in all. The NKPA launched a T-34 attack, which was trapped and destroyed, and a Yak bombing run in Incheon harbor, which did little damage. The NKPA attempted to stall the UN offensive to allow time to reinforce Seoul and withdraw troops from the south. Though warned that the process of taking Seoul would allow remaining NKPA forces in the south to escape, MacArthur felt that he was bound to honor promises given to the South Korean government to retake the capital as soon as possible. On September 22, the Marines entered Seoul to find it heavily fortified. Casualties mounted as the forces engaged in desperate house-to-house fighting. Anxious to pronounce the conquest of Seoul, Almond declared the city liberated on September 25 despite the fact that Marines were still engaged in house-to-house combat. Despite furious resistance by the North Korean forces, the Marines triumphed; pushing the communists soldiers out of Seoul. This U.S. Marine Corps history provides unique information about this important battle of the Korean War.
The Boston Marine Barracks is one of the oldest in the United States: it stands within eyeshot of the USS Constitution. Lt. Col. John R. Yates, Jr., the last commanding officer of the Barracks when it closed in 1974, researched the hundreds of letters left behind by previous Barracks commanders, their superiors and many others. They reveal the life and times of the Marines billeted at the Barracks from the early 19th century until World War II. Often, of course, the Marines were deployed to far-off events and places. This book also tells the story of the Barracks Marines' participation in the Seminole Wars, the action in Samoa, the Boer Wars, the Philippine Insurrection, Panama, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War and World War I. This book reveals a naval prison's existence on the shipyard for which the Marines were responsible for many years.
In August 1943, to meet in secret with Major General Julian C. Smith and his principal staff officers of the 2d Marine Division, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Central Pacific Force, flew to New Zealand from Pearl Harbor. Spruance told the Marines to prepare for an amphibious assault against Japanese positions in the Gilbert Islands in November. The Marines knew about the Gilberts. The 2d Raider Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson had attacked Makin Atoll a year earlier. Subsequent intelligence reports warned that the Japanese had fortified Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll, where elite forces guarded a new bomber strip. Spruance said Betio would be the prime target for the 2d Marine Division. General Smith's operations officer, Lieutenant Colonel David M. Shoup, studied the primitive chart of Betio and saw that the tiny island was surrounded by a barrier reef. Shoup asked Spruance if any of the Navy's experimental, shallow-draft, plastic boats could be provided. “Not available,” replied the admiral, “expect only the usual wooden landing craft.” Shoup frowned. General Smith could sense that Shoup's gifted mind was already formulating a plan. The results of that plan were momentous. The Tarawa operation became a tactical watershed: the first, large-scale test of American amphibious doctrine against a strongly fortified beachhead.
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