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Hub AI
First Battle of the Hook AI simulator
(@First Battle of the Hook_simulator)
Hub AI
First Battle of the Hook AI simulator
(@First Battle of the Hook_simulator)
First Battle of the Hook
The First Battle of the Hook was fought between 2 and 28 October 1952 during the Korean War between United Nations Command (UN) and Chinese forces over several frontline outposts.
In March 1952 the US 1st Marine Division was transferred to US I Corps and moved onto the Jamestown Line, the UN's Main line of resistance (MLR) across Korea. The segment of the Jamestown Line assigned to the 1st Marine Division extended southwest from the Samichon River and the left flank of the British 1st Commonwealth Division, crossed the 38th Parallel (the original demarcation between North and South Korea) shifted to the south bank of the Imjin River in the vicinity of Munsan-ni, continued to the conflux of the Imjin and Han River, and then followed the south bank of the Han past the Kimpo Peninsula.
Opposing the Marines on the Jamestown Line, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) had the 65th and 63rd Armies, totaling 49,800 troops.
The 7th Marine Regiment took over seven outposts when it relieved the 5th Marine Regiment on the Jamestown Line in early October, renaming them, from left to right, Carson, Reno, Vegas, Berlin, Detroit, Frisco, and Seattle. At the point, later known as the Hook, where the frontline veered southward toward the boundary with the 1st Commonwealth Division, the 7th Marines set up Outpost Warsaw. A second new outpost, Verdun, guarded the boundary between the Marine and Commonwealth divisions. An average of 450 yards (410 m) separated four of these outposts, Detroit, Frisco, Seattle and Warsaw, which occupied hills lower than those on the left of the regimental line and therefore were more easily isolated and attacked.
As they did so often, the PVA began with a diversionary thrust at Detroit before artillery and mortar fire preceded the infantry attack on Seattle and Warsaw. A PVA company overwhelmed the reinforced platoon on Warsaw on 2 October, but the Marines fought stubbornly before falling back. Private Jack W. Kelso picked up a grenade thrown into a bunker that he and four other Marines from Company I, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, were manning. Kelso threw the live grenade at the advancing PVA, but it exploded immediately after leaving his hand. Although badly wounded, Kelso tried to cover the withdrawal of the other four, firing at the attackers until he suffered fatal wounds. Kelso would earn a posthumous Medal of Honor, but the numerically superior PVA forces captured both Warsaw and Seattle. The Marines counterattacked immediately. Captain John H. Thomas, in command of Company I, sent one platoon against Warsaw, but the PVA had temporarily withdrawn. The lull continued until 01:45 on the morning of 4 October, when a PVA platoon attacked only to be beaten back by the Marines holding Warsaw. Meanwhile, Thomas mounted a counterattack against Seattle early on the morning of 3 October, sending out two squads from the company's position on the main line of resistance. Despite PVA artillery fire, the Marines reached the objective, but Seattle proved too strongly held and Thomas broke off the counterattack. As dusk settled over the battleground, Marine aircraft and artillery put down a smoke screen behind which the counterattack resumed, but the PVA succeeded in containing the two squads short of the crest. To regain momentum, another squad, this one from Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, which had come under the operational control of the 3rd Battalion, reinforced the other two, but the PVA clinging to Seattle inflicted casualties that sapped the strength of the counterattack. While the Marines regrouped for another assault, the 11th Marine Regiment pounded the outpost with artillery fire. At 22:25 on 3 October, the Marines again stormed the objective, but PVA artillery prevailed, and Seattle remained in PVA hands.
The loss of Outpost Seattle, the recapture of Warsaw, and a successful defense of Frisco against a PVA probe on the night of 5 October did not mark the end of the effort to seize the outposts manned by the 7th Marines, but only a pause. The regiment's casualties, 13 killed and 88 wounded by 3 October when the Marines suspended the attempt to retake Seattle, caused the 7th Marines to shuffle units. The 3rd Battalion had suffered most of the casualties. As a result, while 3rd battalion reduced its frontage, the 1/7 Marines, under Lieutenant colonel Leo J. Dulacki, moved from the regimental reserve to take over the right-hand portion of the Jamestown Line. Dulacki's Marines manned the main line of resistance from roughly 500 yards (460 m) southwest of the Hook to the boundary shared with the Commonwealth Division, including Outposts Warsaw and Verdun. 7Th Marines' commander Colonel Moore thus placed all three battalions on line, 2nd Battalion on the left, 3rd Battalion in the center, and now Dulacki's 1st Battalion on the right. The 7th Marines completed its realignment just in time to meet a series of carefully planned and aggressively executed PVA attacks delivered on 6 and 7 October against five combat outposts and two points on the main line of resistance. The Marines struck first, however, when a reinforced platoon from Company C, 1st Battalion, attacked toward Outpost Seattle at 06:00 on 6 October. Mortar and artillery fire forced the platoon to take cover and regroup, even as the PVA were reinforcing the outpost. The attack resumed at 09:00. Despite infantry reinforcements, air strikes, and artillery, the Marines could not crack Seattle's defenses and broke off the attack at about 11:00 after losing 12 killed and 44 wounded.
On the evening of the 6th, the PVA took the initiative, by midnight firing some 4,400 artillery and mortar rounds against the outpost line and two points on the main line of resistance. On the left of Moore's line, the PVA probed Outposts Carson and Reno, and on the right they stormed Warsaw, forcing the defenders to call for box-me-in fire that severed the telephone wire linking the outpost with the Jamestown Line. The first message from Warsaw when contact was restored requested more artillery fire, which by 20:55 helped break the back of the PVA assault, forcing them to fall back. The most determined attacks on the night of 6 October and early hours of the 7th hit Outposts Detroit and Frisco in the center of the regimental front. To divert attention from these objectives, each one manned by two squads, the PVA probed two points on the main line of resistance that had already been subjected to artillery and mortar bombardment. At 19:40 on the night of the 6th, an attacking company that had gained a foothold in the main trench on Detroit fell back after deadly fire stopped the PVA short of the bunkers. Two hours later, the PVA again seized a segment of trench on Detroit and tried to exploit the lodgment. The Marines reacted by calling on the 11th Marines to box in the outpost. Communications failed for a time, but at about 21:15 the defenders of Detroit requested variable-time fire for airbursts over the bunkers, which would protect the Marines while the PVA outside remained exposed to a hail of shell fragments. The artillerymen fired as the Marines on Detroit asked, but the outpost again lost contact with headquarters of the 3rd Battalion. Two squads set out from the Jamestown Line to reinforce the Marines from Company G, 3/7 Marines, manning Outpost Detroit. The PVA frustrated this attempt with artillery fire but in the meantime again abandoned their foothold on Detroit, probably because of the shower of fragments from Marine shells bursting above them. The respite proved short-lived, however, for the PVA renewed the attack shortly after midnight and extended their control of the hill despite further losses to Marine artillery. A six-man Marine patrol reached the outpost, returning at 03:55 to report that the PVA now held the trenchline and bunkers; only two of the Marines who had manned Detroit escaped death or capture. The attempt to break through to the outpost ended and by 06:30, the Marines engaged in the effort had returned to the main line of resistance. Meanwhile, at about 20:00, a PVA company hit the two squads from Company H that held Outpost Frisco, north of Detroit. The assault troops worked their way into the trenches, but airbursts from Marine artillery reinforced the small arms fire of the defenders in driving the PVA back. The PVA renewed the attack just after midnight, and two Marine squads advanced from the main line of resistance to reinforce Frisco, only to be stopped short of their goal by fire from artillery and mortars. Companies H and I of the 3rd Battalion made further attempts to reach Frisco during the early morning, but not until 05:10 did a reinforced platoon from Company I arrive and take control. During the final attack, Staff Sergeant Lewis G. Watkins, despite earlier wounds, took an automatic rifle from a more badly injured Marine and opened fire to keep the platoon moving forward. When a Chinese grenade landed near him, he seized it, but it exploded before he could throw it away, fatally wounding Watkins, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. A second platoon from Company I joined the other unit atop the hill and at 07:15 Frisco was declared secure.
To keep Frisco firmly in Marine hands, however, would have invited attrition and ultimately required more men than Division commander General Edwin A. Pollock and Moore could spare from the main line of resistance. Consequently, the 7th Marines abandoned the outpost. The regiment had yielded three outposts, Detroit, Frisco and Seattle, with their losses tallying at 10 killed, 22 missing, and 128 wounded, 105 of them seriously enough to require evacuation.
First Battle of the Hook
The First Battle of the Hook was fought between 2 and 28 October 1952 during the Korean War between United Nations Command (UN) and Chinese forces over several frontline outposts.
In March 1952 the US 1st Marine Division was transferred to US I Corps and moved onto the Jamestown Line, the UN's Main line of resistance (MLR) across Korea. The segment of the Jamestown Line assigned to the 1st Marine Division extended southwest from the Samichon River and the left flank of the British 1st Commonwealth Division, crossed the 38th Parallel (the original demarcation between North and South Korea) shifted to the south bank of the Imjin River in the vicinity of Munsan-ni, continued to the conflux of the Imjin and Han River, and then followed the south bank of the Han past the Kimpo Peninsula.
Opposing the Marines on the Jamestown Line, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) had the 65th and 63rd Armies, totaling 49,800 troops.
The 7th Marine Regiment took over seven outposts when it relieved the 5th Marine Regiment on the Jamestown Line in early October, renaming them, from left to right, Carson, Reno, Vegas, Berlin, Detroit, Frisco, and Seattle. At the point, later known as the Hook, where the frontline veered southward toward the boundary with the 1st Commonwealth Division, the 7th Marines set up Outpost Warsaw. A second new outpost, Verdun, guarded the boundary between the Marine and Commonwealth divisions. An average of 450 yards (410 m) separated four of these outposts, Detroit, Frisco, Seattle and Warsaw, which occupied hills lower than those on the left of the regimental line and therefore were more easily isolated and attacked.
As they did so often, the PVA began with a diversionary thrust at Detroit before artillery and mortar fire preceded the infantry attack on Seattle and Warsaw. A PVA company overwhelmed the reinforced platoon on Warsaw on 2 October, but the Marines fought stubbornly before falling back. Private Jack W. Kelso picked up a grenade thrown into a bunker that he and four other Marines from Company I, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, were manning. Kelso threw the live grenade at the advancing PVA, but it exploded immediately after leaving his hand. Although badly wounded, Kelso tried to cover the withdrawal of the other four, firing at the attackers until he suffered fatal wounds. Kelso would earn a posthumous Medal of Honor, but the numerically superior PVA forces captured both Warsaw and Seattle. The Marines counterattacked immediately. Captain John H. Thomas, in command of Company I, sent one platoon against Warsaw, but the PVA had temporarily withdrawn. The lull continued until 01:45 on the morning of 4 October, when a PVA platoon attacked only to be beaten back by the Marines holding Warsaw. Meanwhile, Thomas mounted a counterattack against Seattle early on the morning of 3 October, sending out two squads from the company's position on the main line of resistance. Despite PVA artillery fire, the Marines reached the objective, but Seattle proved too strongly held and Thomas broke off the counterattack. As dusk settled over the battleground, Marine aircraft and artillery put down a smoke screen behind which the counterattack resumed, but the PVA succeeded in containing the two squads short of the crest. To regain momentum, another squad, this one from Company A, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, which had come under the operational control of the 3rd Battalion, reinforced the other two, but the PVA clinging to Seattle inflicted casualties that sapped the strength of the counterattack. While the Marines regrouped for another assault, the 11th Marine Regiment pounded the outpost with artillery fire. At 22:25 on 3 October, the Marines again stormed the objective, but PVA artillery prevailed, and Seattle remained in PVA hands.
The loss of Outpost Seattle, the recapture of Warsaw, and a successful defense of Frisco against a PVA probe on the night of 5 October did not mark the end of the effort to seize the outposts manned by the 7th Marines, but only a pause. The regiment's casualties, 13 killed and 88 wounded by 3 October when the Marines suspended the attempt to retake Seattle, caused the 7th Marines to shuffle units. The 3rd Battalion had suffered most of the casualties. As a result, while 3rd battalion reduced its frontage, the 1/7 Marines, under Lieutenant colonel Leo J. Dulacki, moved from the regimental reserve to take over the right-hand portion of the Jamestown Line. Dulacki's Marines manned the main line of resistance from roughly 500 yards (460 m) southwest of the Hook to the boundary shared with the Commonwealth Division, including Outposts Warsaw and Verdun. 7Th Marines' commander Colonel Moore thus placed all three battalions on line, 2nd Battalion on the left, 3rd Battalion in the center, and now Dulacki's 1st Battalion on the right. The 7th Marines completed its realignment just in time to meet a series of carefully planned and aggressively executed PVA attacks delivered on 6 and 7 October against five combat outposts and two points on the main line of resistance. The Marines struck first, however, when a reinforced platoon from Company C, 1st Battalion, attacked toward Outpost Seattle at 06:00 on 6 October. Mortar and artillery fire forced the platoon to take cover and regroup, even as the PVA were reinforcing the outpost. The attack resumed at 09:00. Despite infantry reinforcements, air strikes, and artillery, the Marines could not crack Seattle's defenses and broke off the attack at about 11:00 after losing 12 killed and 44 wounded.
On the evening of the 6th, the PVA took the initiative, by midnight firing some 4,400 artillery and mortar rounds against the outpost line and two points on the main line of resistance. On the left of Moore's line, the PVA probed Outposts Carson and Reno, and on the right they stormed Warsaw, forcing the defenders to call for box-me-in fire that severed the telephone wire linking the outpost with the Jamestown Line. The first message from Warsaw when contact was restored requested more artillery fire, which by 20:55 helped break the back of the PVA assault, forcing them to fall back. The most determined attacks on the night of 6 October and early hours of the 7th hit Outposts Detroit and Frisco in the center of the regimental front. To divert attention from these objectives, each one manned by two squads, the PVA probed two points on the main line of resistance that had already been subjected to artillery and mortar bombardment. At 19:40 on the night of the 6th, an attacking company that had gained a foothold in the main trench on Detroit fell back after deadly fire stopped the PVA short of the bunkers. Two hours later, the PVA again seized a segment of trench on Detroit and tried to exploit the lodgment. The Marines reacted by calling on the 11th Marines to box in the outpost. Communications failed for a time, but at about 21:15 the defenders of Detroit requested variable-time fire for airbursts over the bunkers, which would protect the Marines while the PVA outside remained exposed to a hail of shell fragments. The artillerymen fired as the Marines on Detroit asked, but the outpost again lost contact with headquarters of the 3rd Battalion. Two squads set out from the Jamestown Line to reinforce the Marines from Company G, 3/7 Marines, manning Outpost Detroit. The PVA frustrated this attempt with artillery fire but in the meantime again abandoned their foothold on Detroit, probably because of the shower of fragments from Marine shells bursting above them. The respite proved short-lived, however, for the PVA renewed the attack shortly after midnight and extended their control of the hill despite further losses to Marine artillery. A six-man Marine patrol reached the outpost, returning at 03:55 to report that the PVA now held the trenchline and bunkers; only two of the Marines who had manned Detroit escaped death or capture. The attempt to break through to the outpost ended and by 06:30, the Marines engaged in the effort had returned to the main line of resistance. Meanwhile, at about 20:00, a PVA company hit the two squads from Company H that held Outpost Frisco, north of Detroit. The assault troops worked their way into the trenches, but airbursts from Marine artillery reinforced the small arms fire of the defenders in driving the PVA back. The PVA renewed the attack just after midnight, and two Marine squads advanced from the main line of resistance to reinforce Frisco, only to be stopped short of their goal by fire from artillery and mortars. Companies H and I of the 3rd Battalion made further attempts to reach Frisco during the early morning, but not until 05:10 did a reinforced platoon from Company I arrive and take control. During the final attack, Staff Sergeant Lewis G. Watkins, despite earlier wounds, took an automatic rifle from a more badly injured Marine and opened fire to keep the platoon moving forward. When a Chinese grenade landed near him, he seized it, but it exploded before he could throw it away, fatally wounding Watkins, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. A second platoon from Company I joined the other unit atop the hill and at 07:15 Frisco was declared secure.
To keep Frisco firmly in Marine hands, however, would have invited attrition and ultimately required more men than Division commander General Edwin A. Pollock and Moore could spare from the main line of resistance. Consequently, the 7th Marines abandoned the outpost. The regiment had yielded three outposts, Detroit, Frisco and Seattle, with their losses tallying at 10 killed, 22 missing, and 128 wounded, 105 of them seriously enough to require evacuation.