BRIGADE ACTION ON SOUTHWESTERN FRONT
7–13 AUGUST 1950
CHAPTER VI
Action on Hill 342
First Platoon Fight—The Perimeter on Hill 342—Call for Artillery Fires—Task Force Kean Stalled—General Craig Assumes Control—Enemy Attack at Dawn
On 6 August 1950 the Brigade was attached to the 25th Infantry Division and ordered forward to Chindong-ni. The area from that village westward toward the Tosan junction was occupied by thinly spread elements of the 5th RCT and the 27th Infantry. While the former took over front line positions preparatory to launching the main attack on the next day, the latter was gradually displacing rearward to go into Eighth Army reserve.[170]
[170] Annexes 1 and 2 to 25th InfDiv War Diary, Sep 50, Book VIII; and Brig SAR, basic rpt.
To facilitate the early relief of the 27th Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Robert D. Taplett’s 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, departed from Changwon at 1040, 6 August, and arrived at Chindong-ni less than 2 hours later. The infantry unit was accompanied by the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines; the 2d Platoon, 75-mm. Recoilless Guns; and the 3d Platoon, Company A Engineers. After assembling in a schoolyard north of the village, 3/5 relieved the 2d Battalion, 27th Infantry, on and around Hill 255.[171]
[171] All hill numbers given in this text refer to the highest peak of the specific high ground being considered. Numbers indicate height in meters above sea level, and Hill 255 is therefore more than 800 feet high. Chindong-ni, being almost at the water’s edge, may be taken as sea level.
One and a half miles out of Chindong-ni, the road from Masan takes a sharp turn so that it is running generally north and south before it enters the village. Hill 255 borders the west side of the road, rising from the valley floor just above Chindong-ni and climbing northward to its summit in a series of prominent steps. Its ridgeline is narrow, with the eastern slopes falling steeply to the Masan route while its western wall plunges sharply to the valley and road connecting Chindong-ni and Haman.