Wonsan

The next objective was Wonsan on the east coast north of the 38th Parallel. The harbor had been sown extensively with Russian-made mines and by the time these had been cleared, there was no need for an amphibious assault; the port had been taken from the land side by resurgent Republic of Korea forces. The 1st Marine Division landed administratively across the beach on 26 October and found the checkerboard- nosed Corsairs of VMF-3 12 already operating from Wonsan airfield.

These operations on the eastern coast were being conducted by X Corps independently of the Eighth Army. The 1st Marine Division was given a zone of action three hundred miles from north to south, fifty miles deep. The 5th and 7th Marines were to go north to Hamhung to prepare for a further advance to the Yalu. The 1st Marines were to stay behind in the vicinity of Wonsan and scoop up the supposedly shattered remnants of an NKPA division. In Tokyo they were saying the war would be over by Christmas. 0. P. Smith was not so hopeful. He thought his Division badly overextended.

Immediately after landing at Wonsan on 26 October, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, had been sent south by rail to the picture book little seaport of Kojo, almost undisturbed by the war, thirty-nine miles down the coast. The night of 27 October the 1st Battalion was hit by a still-in tact NKPA regiment and took heavy casualties in a fight that went on until mid-morning on the twenty-eighth. Having weathered that storm, the 1st Battalion stayed at Kojo until 1 November when it was relieved by the 5th Battalion, Korean Marines.

A sister unit, the 3d Battalion, 1st Marines, had been sent twenty-six road miles west of Wonsan on 28 October to secure the mountain town of Majon-ni, important because it was where the cross-peninsula roads from Seoul, Pyongyang, and Wonsan came together. Once in position the battalion found itself surrounded by the 15th NKPA Division, many members of which were more than ready to surrender (the 3d Battalion took more prisoners than its own total strength while at Majon-ni), but there was still considerable fight left in the rest. Convoys could get through to Majon-ni only with major effort and the 3d Battalion was kept supplied by free-fall airdrop with casualties going out by helicopter. On 10 November (the Marine Corps Birthday, celebrated with a make shift cake) the 3d Battalion was joined by the 3d Battalion, Korean Marine Corps, and on the afternoon of the thirteenth, the 1st Battalion, 15th U. S. Infantry, fresh from Fort Benning, arrived. The 3d Battalion, 1st Marines, turned the Majon-ni perimeter over to the Army and left next morning by truck for Wonsan.