“We Will Hold” KW (id:#65466)

(From The Cellar Pack#10 ID: FT302)   [next]   [previous]

Toktong Pass, North Korea 1950-11-29 (11 others)

Overview:

Dawn on the 29th brought with it the reappearance of Corsairs to strafe and napalm the enemy positions around Fox Hill. In addition fresh airdrops resupplied the Marines. Fox Company, which had entered the line two days earlier with 246 Marines, after two nights of battalion-sized attacks against it was down to under 150 combat effective men all of whom were cold, hungry and most of all exhausted. Col. Litzenberg in communication with Barber by radio informed him that Fox must hold. Barber answered, “We will hold, sir.” The losses to his command in dead, wounded and frostbite cases forced Barber to shrink his perimeter, but even with a reduced area to cover there were still serious gaps in his line here and there. If the enemy could find and exploit these, Barber would not be able to fulfill his words, worse he would consign the some 7,000 men of the 5th and 7th Marines to a bitter fate. The captain bore his burden stoically, just like the hip wound he had received in the previous night’s fighting.

Defender: American (USMC) (No more details)  

Errata (source)