The Pusan Perimeter: The Fire Brigade Stands Down

On August 18th, 1950, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade drove the North Korean 4th Division off Obong-ni Ridge and back across the Naktong River, then pulled into a bean field outside Masan to rest. It had been in Korea for sixteen days. Five of its six rifle company commanders had been wounded, its packs had never arrived from the docks, and the replacements who came in by truck looked like a different army. In Tokyo, the commander of the 1st Marine Division wanted the brigade back for the landing at Inchon, and the Eighth Army refused to let it go.

This episode covers the brigade's last twenty-six days in the Pusan Perimeter. On September 1st the North Korean army launched its final offensive, the Army line in the Naktong Bulge collapsed, and the brigade was sent back to the ground it had just won. Over three days it attacked through a retreating Army regiment, was shelled by its own tanks, and broke the North Korean 9th Division. On the last day, with rain grounding the Corsairs and every radio dead, Baker Company held Hill 125 against a North Korean attack while a runner found the nearest Army unit and called in its artillery by hand.

The brigade was pulled out at midnight on September 5th and sent to Pusan, where 3,000 Korean Marines who had never fired a rifle joined it for a secret operation. The episode ends at one minute past midnight on September 13th, at sea, when the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade ceased to exist.

Explore the History

Search this episode's locations on the map at bloodline.historyofthemarinecorps.com

Sources for this episode are listed at historyofthemarinecorps.com