Combat· Korean War
East-Central Counteroffensive
After the ordeal of Chosin, the rebuilt 1st Marine Division returned to the line as a different kind of war took shape, a grinding series of United Nations counteroffensives to drive the Chinese and North Koreans back across the center of the peninsula.
The division first hunted guerrillas in the southern mountains, then joined the great northward push under a succession of operational code names, advancing through rugged terrain against an enemy who gave ground stubbornly and counterattacked at night. The Marines recrossed the 38th Parallel and clawed their way toward a chain of phase lines anchoring the new front, absorbing and then breaking the Chinese spring offensive that tried to reverse the gains. This was the transition from the mobile, headline-grabbing battles of 1950 to the methodical positional warfare that would define the rest of the conflict, and the division proved it could fight either kind.
Engagements in this conflict (5)
Record no. 623