On
12 August 1950, the 92d AFA Battalion left San Francisco for Korea on
the U.S.N.S. Marine Adder. The Battalion was under strength upon arrival
in Japan, so 200 ROK soldiers joined the Red Devils. January 1954 found
ten of the original 200 soldiers still with the Battalion; they could
be considered the true veterans of the Korean War.
The men of the Battalion soon learned that they would take part in the
Inchon Invasion. The Marines would go ashore first and they would be
followed by the 7th U.S. Infantry Division (to which the 92d was then
attached) and miscellaneous units. The Red Devils landed at Inchon on
20 September 1950. Five days later, at Suwon airfield, B Battery fired
the Battalion's first round in Korea. That first round was only one
of more than 300,000 rounds of blistering steel that the Red Devils
artillerymen poured at the enemy while in Korea. The 92d, which was
never in reserve while in Korea, was to see over 1,000 days of combat
in the months ahead.
The combination of the Inchon "end-run" and the push north by Eighth
Army proved to be a success and the two forces linked. On 10 October,
after the Battalion's mission of aiding in the success of the Inchon
landing was over, the Red Devils marched 310 miles to Pusan for necessary
repairs. Then, on 5 November 1950, the Battalion took part in a second
invasion, this time at Iwon on the east coast of Korea north of Hungham
beachhead. The purpose of this landing was to close the vise on the
enemy.
On 10 November 1950, the 92d Armored Field Artillery Battalion was detached
from the 2d Armored Division. Three weeks later, Communist Chinese Forces
made their entrance into the fighting and made a major breakthrough
on the right flank of Eighth Army. They drove the allies back on all
fronts of Eighth Army and X Corps and drove a serious wedge between
the two. This unexpected Chinese Offensive was a psychological setback
to men of the Battalion. They had to change their attitude of "Home
by Christmas" to that of facing a numerically superior enemy in the
cold, mountainous regions of North Korea.
Soon the Red Devils were given an important mission to perform. U.S.
Marines and Army units were trapped by the enemy at Chosin Reservoir.
The 92d AFA Bn was to help hold the area open until the surrounded forces
were completely pulled out. The Red Devils offered continuous artillery
support and had its fires supported by two other artillery battalions.
The artillerymen got no sleep for 72 hours, from the time they first
started their support until they had reached Hungnam beachhead. Their
mission completed they headed for Pusan for maintenance and repairs.
In January 1951, the 92d and other U.N. units had ceased to be a withdrawing
force and had started a push northward. By March, the Red Devils were
well-seasoned in combat and confident and better prepared for further
action. That the Battalion was well prepared was proven on the morning
of 24 April 1951. Baker and Service Batteries were attacked by a company
of Chinese. The enemy charged the battery positions,loaded down with
grenades to thrust into ammo trucks, gas tanks and key installations.
They also poured in mortar and automatic weapons fire.
A plan, based upon faith in one another's capabilities and in their
weapons, had become habit to the Red Devils as reported in Combat
Actions in Korea, Sound of The Guns, This Kind of War
and newspaper accounts:
It was April 1951 in Korea and the UN forces were in trouble.
The Chinese Communist forces had numerical superiority and had
pushed the UN Forces hundreds of miles from the Yalu River to
the 38th Parallel.
The CCF had burst through the weaker firepower of the ROK's, scattering
a ROK regiment and then turned to strike the US Marines in the
flank. Two ROK artillery units were in their way and were overrun,
losing all equipment.
On 24 April the CCF found one last artillery unit in their way,
the 92d Field Artillery.
Before the drive Lieutenant Colonel Leon F. Lavoie's 92d Battalion,
self-propelled 155mm howitzers, fell back battery by battery to
new positions. They prepared for action, registering the pieces.
Although no one had slept much for thirty-six hours, in that tense
situation the Colonel permitted no rest until the Battalion's
perimeter was fortified. Gunners dug in, established telephone
and radio networks, put out patrols, rigged trip flares in front
of the outposts just beyond grenade range. Quads and machine gunners
took their posts. By dark they were as ready as they could be,
as time allowed.
Colonel Lavoie tall, and gentle almost to the point of shyness
insisted upon always having a well-fortified perimeter. Even when
smiling, as he usually was, he had a way of being obdurately firm
about the condition of the Battalion perimeter. He was adamantly
firm about standards of performance as well. Convinced that his
responsibility as an artillery commander was to insure continuous
artillery support to the infantry, he also reasoned that the very
time when the infantry men would most urgently need supporting
artillery might well coincide with an enemy attack on his own
perimeter. Colonel Lavoie had, therefore, developed a standard
defensive perimeter that, from the outside toward the gun batteries
in the center, consisted of patrols covering neighboring terrain
outposts, usually centered around a halftrack, for warning and
delaying a dug-in and fully manned main battle line just beyond
grenade range of the Battalion's critical installations, and a
highly mobile reserve in the center. This reserve force usually
was made up of two or three halftracks with 8 or 10 men for each
vehicle.
Members of the outpost detachments ate chow early and went to,
their halftracks or ground-mounted machine-gun positions before
dusk to be familiar with their sectors of responsibility, fields
of fire, and to check their communications.
That night as the Battalion reinforced the fires of the 1st Marine
Division, Colonel Lavoie received orders. He was to keep his howitzers
in firing position until the last moment, but be prepared to move
at dawn.
At 0230 Colonel Lavoie returned to his command post. He reviewed
the displacement plan. Battery commanders were called and he gave
them the complete plan. He instructed his commanders to serve
a hot breakfast.
Guards went through the Battalion area waking all personnel. Within
a few minutes there was the sound of trucks moving about and the
usual commotion that goes with the job of getting up, packing
equipment striking tents, and loading trucks all in the dark.
Gun sections still manned the howitzers, firing harassing and
interdiction missions. The range had decreased during the night
and the cannoneers were aware of increased machine-gun activity
on the hill mass in front of the Battalion.
Breakfast was ready at 0445. Chow lines formed in all batteries.
First sign of daylight appeared ten or fifteen minutes after 0500.
Most. of the men had finished breakfast. Most of the pyramidal
tents, used because of cool weather, were down. In Headquarters
Battery only the command post and kitchen tents were standing.
In Battery A the kitchen tent was still up. The communications
system was still intact but commanders had pulled in most of their
outlying security installations. Equipment and personnel were
just about ready for march order.
Colonel Lavoie, having eaten an early breakfast, had just returned
to the mess tent where an attendant was pouring him a cup of coffee.
An unidentified cannoneer from Battery C, with a roll of toilet
paper in this hand, walked toward the cemetery in front of the
howitzers. As he approached the mounds in the graveyard, he spotted
three Chinese crawling on their bellies toward his battery. Startled,
he yelled, threw the toilet paper at an enemy soldier, turned,
and ran. The Chinese soldier ducked involuntarily. At that moment,
someone tripped a flare outside the perimeter. Machine guns rattled.
The chow line scattered. Colonel Lavoie saw a bullet hole suddenly
appear in the side of the mess tent. He ran outside. "Man battle
stations!" he yelled, "Man battle stations!" and headed for his
command post tent to get into communication with his battery commanders.
SFC George T. Powell (Battery C Chief of Detail), anxious about
some new men who had never seen combat, took off toward their
section of the main battle line. When he arrived at the nearest
halftracks, he found his men already manning the machine guns.
Several others were setting up a machine gun on a round mount.
The initial freezing panic of being attacked lasted only minutes.
The artillerymen, superbly trained, disciplined, and led, suddenly
realized that they could persevere. They fought almost cockily,
as Lavoie walked about the perimeter, dodging bullets. Lavoie
opened the rear doors on the halftracks and crawled up to talk
with the machine gunners. He asked them to cooperate in firing
only at specific targets, and told them how successfully the Battalion
was holding off the Chinese.
One man told him he'd better get down. "It's dangerous up here,"
he explained. Others, reassured, only grinned.
Twice Lavoie found groups of two or three men huddled in the bed
of a halftrack. He told them to get out and help: "I'm scared
too. There's nothing wrong with being scared as long as you do
your part." Ashamed, they promptly returned to their proper positions.
All around the perimeter machine guns sputtered. Enemy tracer
bullets from Hill 200 flung a red arch over them. Telephone wires
were shot out, and the radios took over. The fusillade rose in
intensity as Chinese riflemen and grenadiers bored in on the howitzers.
They flooded into two emplacements, driving out crews who ran,
qrenades bursting a few feet behind them. Machine guns succored
them, wiping out pursuers and riddling half a dozen Reds attempting
to blow up a howitzer. Sergeant Theral J. Harley (Chief of Section)
manned a Quad and backed it out of immediate reach of the grenadiers,
crushing one who lay hidden beneath it.
Colonel Lavoie covered the battle line, checking the defense.
Captain Bernard G. Raftery reported to him:
"Sir, Battery C has Chinks all through its area."
"Are they dead or alive?" Lavoie asked.
"Both!"
"To hell with the dead ones take care of the live ones and make
every bullet count."
Within a few hours, the Battalion, intact, pulled back to safer
positions beyond sniper range, as Marine tanks came up to relieve
them. They hadn't asked for help; they hadn't needed any.
The 92d, all told, had lost four killed and 11 wounded, and no
equipment The only damage to the Red Devils' equipment was a burned-out
tire and a blasted spark plug.
"They didn't expect to run into anything like what we put up,"
Major Raymond F. Hotopp, Battalion S-3 from Killeen, Texas said.
"The whole Battalion acted fast when the attack came, and the
Chinese caught hell."
"Artillery," Colonel Lavoie reflected, "if it makes up its mind,
will set itself up so that it can defend itself from enemy infantry
actions." Plainly he and the 92d had so determined. When the Battalion
marched in accordance with original orders, it left 179 dead Chinese
in and around the Red Devil perimeter which they had defended
with such stanch valor.
Because Colonel Lavoie had insisted in training that the 92d habitually
fire from a defensive perimeter, its occupation and organization
of position on 23 April went smoothly. It was not a new maneuver
it was SOP.
The Chinese offensive was failing. By the dark of 30 April, the
CCF, exhausted, turned and crept north again. This time, the CCF
had met the tiger.
There
was little action once the truce talks started in mid- 1951. Occasionally
rounds were received in various batteries sometimes with a few casualties.
Most of the casualties occurred during June and July 1953, shortly
before the truce was signed. In mid-June, while the 92d was giving
artillery support for troops fighting for Outpost Harry, an especially
heavy counter battery barrage was received in the batteries, especially
in Able. The action resulted in two men killed in action and 17
wounded.
In mid-July, the Communist Chinese Forces launched their last big
offensive before the truce. The attack, which consisted of ten enemy
divisions, was the largest offensive in two years. The firing batteries
of the Battalion, after withstanding terrific artillery, rocket
and mortar fire on the evening of 13 July, were taken under fire
by swarms of advancing Chinese. When ordered to withdraw, Baker
and Charlie Batteries had to fight their way out to save their equipment
and personnel. The batteries were soon in a new position pouring
shells back on Chinese forces. The advance was stopped 36 hours
after it began. During this action, an officer and two enlisted
men were killed, 27 were wounded, and eight men were missing in
action. Most of the men missing in action were later returned in
Operation Big Switch after the truce. Also, four howitzers were
lost, two half-tracks and two jeeps. That losses of men and equipment
were not heavier is a tribute to the fighting spirit of the Red
Devils.
27 July 1953 the truce was signed and the guns were silenced.
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