Hwachon Reservoir

The 1st Marine Division was at Hwachon Reservoir when the Chinese spring counteroffensive materialized on 21 April. In one night's fighting the 6th ROK Division on the Marines' right flank was swept away and a gap opened in the line ten miles wide by ten miles deep. McAlister's 1st Marines, in reserve, was flung into action on the twenty-second, battalion by battalion, to seal off the penetration. The 7th Regiment was with drawn and echeloned to the left. The Division was joined by the British Commonwealth 27 Brigade and by 26 April the situation was once again stabilized. On that day 0. P. Smith turned over command of the Division to "Jerry" Thomas, now a major general. By 30 April, the 1st Marine Division was once again part of Almond's X Corps, and in a defensive position at Hongchon.

The second phase of the Chinese spring offensive came in mid-May. This time they hit heavily on the Marines' right, rolling back the 2d U. S. Infantry Division. The 1st Marines, now under Colonel Wilburt S. ("Big Foot") Brown, went to the aid of the 2d Division which in turn was able to echelon to the right to retake ground lost by another collapsed ROK division. The Chinese attack ran out of steam and it was the turn of the United Nations (another fighting general, James Van Fleet, had replaced Ridgway, who had moved up to take MacArthur's place as CINCFE) to take the offensive.

The 1st Marine Division found itself back in the Hwachon Reservoir sector, moving up to Yanggu through rugged mountain country. There were North Koreans in front of them and they fought more tenaciously than the Chinese. By the first week in June all three Marine regiments were abreast on line and by 20 June the Division had taken its portion of the Corps' objective, a ridgeline overlooking a deep circular valley which was promptly nicknamed the "Punchbowl." Truce negotiations now began and the UN forces settled down into a defensive line.