Smith's Ridge KW (id:#64091)

(Fight For Seoul ID: FT SmR8)   [next]   [previous]

Hill 56, on the SW outskirts of Seoul, South Korea 1950-09-24 (4 others)

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Overview:

Dog Company was a battle-scarred outfit. Since arriving in theater it had gone through two sets of officers and a full roster of enlisted personnel, but it had done so whilst always on the attack, in so doing it had accounted for over an enemy battalion. As 1st Platoon lead the way up Hill 56 from the area around the railroad tracks, it came under only light resistance and succeeded in claiming its summit. As the Marines turned to work their way northward to traverse a saddle leading to a knoll, just before a long ridge-line, they came under heavy automatic weapons fire, that claimed 1st Platoon's leader and severely wounded its senior NCO. A dozen other Marines also lay wounded and under fire. From Hill 56 Lt H.J."Hog-Jaw" Smith, Dog Company's CO, arrived to assume command of his stricken platoon. Ordering 2nd and 3rd Platoon's to provide covering fire from Hill 56, he saw to extricating 1st Platoon, and their wounded and dead, and reformed his command on Hill 56. In the morning he would initiate a renewed attack on the ridge-line, meanwhile his company was protected all night long by sustained artillery fire from the 1st Marines firing from across the Han River to his south.

Defender: North Korean (Seoul City Regiment, the 78th Independent Infantry Regiment and 25th Infantry Brigade)  

Errata (source)