1st U.S. Marine Division

The 1st U.S. Marine Division was a leading assault force at Inchon in September 1950 and, later that year, one of the United Nations forces caught in the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir. Its course through these two episodes marked a sharp reversal: an amphibious assault that helped turn the war was followed by a difficult withdrawal toward evacuation at Hungnam.

Role at Inchon

The division led the assault at Inchon as part of an invasion force of 262 ships and 70,000 men of the U.S. Tenth Corps. Inchon fell in little more than a day. The operation was followed by the recapture of Seoul within eleven days, while General Walker’s Eighth Army broke out of the Pusan Perimeter and advanced north. By September 27, more than half of the North Korean Army had been trapped in a large pincer movement; by October 1, United Nations forces had reached the 38th parallel and South Korea was under United Nations control. The division’s leading role at Inchon placed it at the center of this dramatic turn in the campaign.

Retreat from the Chosin Reservoir

The military situation changed dramatically with the Chinese counteroffensive. In the northeast, the U.S. Tenth Corps faced a particularly severe retreat, and the 1st U.S. Marine Division withdrew from the Chosin Reservoir toward the port of Hungnam. The route covered forty miles and ended in evacuation. The account compares the withdrawal with Xenophon’s retreat of the Ten Thousand and Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, emphasizing its scale and place among the war’s most difficult episodes.

Significance

The division’s two documented roles stand in stark contrast. At Inchon, it spearheaded an assault within an operation that helped reverse the course of the war; at Chosin, it took part in a retreat from a position imperiled by the Chinese counteroffensive. Together, these episodes show how quickly the military fortunes of the campaign shifted, from advance and recapture to withdrawal and evacuation.