Combat· Korean War
Operation MIXMASTER
Operation MIXMASTER was the great lateral shift that moved the 1st Marine Division clear across the peninsula, from its hard-won positions around the Punchbowl in eastern Korea to the Jamestown Line in the west, northwest of Seoul and astride the historic invasion corridor toward the capital. The move was an enormous logistical undertaking, thousands of truckloads grinding over steep and twisting roads, tens of thousands of tons of equipment carried by rail and landing ship, completed as the division relieved a South Korean division and took over its broad new sector. The shift confirmed the war's transformation into static, positional fighting. No longer making amphibious landings or sweeping advances, the Marines settled into defending a fortified main line of resistance and its screen of combat outposts, holding a front far wider than a division would normally cover, patrolling no-man's-land, and standing ready to shield the truce negotiators at nearby Panmunjom. This period of trench warfare, raids, and outpost skirmishing set the pattern for the rest of the division's war.
Record no. 635