Combat· Korean War
Berlin / East Berlin Outposts
Berlin and East Berlin were forward combat outposts in the western part of the Marine line, among the exposed positions the division fought over in the final stretch of the war.
Like the other named outposts strung across no-man's-land, they were held by small garrisons and contested in the close, artillery-dominated style that defined the outpost war, the enemy probing and assaulting the forward hills behind heavy preparatory fire, the Marines defending and counterattacking to keep them. Their location on commanding ground toward the western flank made them worth holding and worth attacking, and they figured in the last phase of fighting as both sides jockeyed for position while the truce negotiations moved toward conclusion. The struggle for Berlin and East Berlin belonged to the war's grim final chapter, a contest for forward outcrops whose value lay in observation, warning, and denial rather than in any ground that would matter once the guns fell silent.
Record no. 888