Combat· U.S. Occupation of North China
Kuyeh Incident
The Kuyeh Incident brought the senior Marine commander in Hopeh into direct, personal contact with Communist forces and underscored the precariousness of the Marines' position between the warring Chinese factions.
A train carrying Major General DeWitt Peck, commanding the 1st Marine Division, encountered Communist troops in the contested countryside near Tangshan while the Marines were working to keep the vital rail lines open. The episode was one of the early frictions that revealed how thoroughly the Marines, officially present only to disarm the Japanese and guard the railways, had become entangled in the resuming Chinese Civil War. Confrontations of this kind, over control of the rail network the Communists sought to disrupt and the Marines were bound to protect, set the pattern of escalating clashes that would mark the remainder of the occupation.
Record no. 602