U.S. Marine Corps

The U.S. Marine Corps is represented in the account of the Korean War chiefly through the 1st Marine Division. Its actions at Inchon and during the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir show two sharply contrasting phases of the campaign: a sudden offensive success and a difficult withdrawal under Chinese attack and severe winter conditions.

Role in the Korean War

The narrative gives the Corps no broad institutional portrait; instead, it locates its significance in the operations of the 1st Marine Division. That division was part of the Tenth Corps and led the assault at Inchon, then later endured the retreat from the Chosin Reservoir toward Hungnam. These episodes place Marines at both a major turning point in the campaign and one of its most arduous retreats.

Leading the Inchon Landing

The amphibious landing at Inchon began in the early hours of September 15, with the 1st Marine Division leading an invasion force of 262 ships and 70,000 troops. Inchon fell in little more than a day, and Seoul was retaken within eleven days. At the same time, the Eighth Army broke out of the Pusan Perimeter and advanced north. The combined advance trapped more than half the North Korean Army by September 27; by October 1, United Nations forces had reached the 38th parallel and South Korea was under their control. The landing helped turn a campaign that had been centered on survival into a contest over whether to advance farther north.

The Chosin Retreat

After Chinese forces entered the war, the 1st Marine Division faced a very different operation in the northeast. As the Tenth Corps withdrew toward Hungnam, the division retreated from the Chosin Reservoir over a distance of forty miles to the port for evacuation. The account presents this movement as part of an epic, dangerous retreat amid snow, high winds, and temperatures as low as 25 degrees below zero. In contrast to the swift success at Inchon, the Chosin episode emphasizes the pressure on United Nations forces to withdraw rather than risk annihilation.