Combat· Korean War
Second Naktong Counteroffensive
The Second Naktong was the Marine brigade's third and final Pusan crisis, fought when the North Koreans again forced the Naktong River into the same dangerous bulge the Marines had cleared two weeks earlier.
Pulled back into the line at the decisive moment, the brigade attacked across familiar ground against an enemy who had reoccupied the ridges and dug in hard. Marine rifle battalions ground forward astride the main supply road, supported by tanks and the close air support that had become the brigade's signature, breaking up counterattacks and pushing the North Koreans back toward and across the river. It was the brigade's last action before it was withdrawn to stage for the Inchon landing, and it left the enemy's renewed offensive in ruins. The fight underscored how thoroughly the "Fire Brigade" had become Eighth Army's indispensable mobile reserve.
Record no. 882