The Yudam-ni perimeter was quiet throughout the long, frigid night of 26–27 November. At dawn the basin and hillsides came alive with parka-clad figures stamping and clapping life back into leaden limbs. Gradually they began to cluster around small fires to thaw out the morning rations and their weapons.
Companies G and H of 3/7 jumped off in the attack at 0815, the former to extend the foothold on Southwest Ridge, the latter to seize Hill 1403, terminal height of Northwest Ridge. Led by Captain Leroy M. Cooke, How Company advanced unopposed and secured its objective by midmorning.[377] Captain Cooney’s Company G moved rapidly 1200 yards along the crest of Southwest Ridge and occupied a commanding peak, Hill 1426, at 0845 without meeting opposition. But when Cooney resumed the advance, his troops almost immediately came under fire from enemy positions on another peak 500 yards away.[378]
[377] Cooke had taken over the company on 12 November, and Lieutenant H. H. Harris reverted to ExecO.
[378] Unless otherwise stated this section is derived from: 7thMar SAR, 20–21; RCT 7 URpt 5; 3/7 SAR, n. p.; 2/5 SAR, 15–18; 2/5 HD, Nov 50, 9; 1stMarDiv SAR, annex SS, appendix A (hereafter 1/11 SAR), 8–9; VMF-312 SAR, 15; CO 7thMar msg to CG 1stMarDiv, 1945 27 Nov 50; LtCol M. A. Hull Comments, n. d.
During 3/7’s operations on the high ground the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, had marched out of Yudam-ni and launched the main attack along the road. Company F, under Captain Uel D. Peters, led 2/5 as it passed beneath the steep walls of Southwest and Northwest Ridges. The first objective was a long spur of the latter height, 500 yards across a draw from the 7th Marines on Hill 1403. Approaching the mouth of the draw on the right of the road, Fox Company was hit by long-range small-arms fire from enemy emplacements on the objective. About the same time, 0935, a message from the VMO-6 spotter plane told of CCF positions all across the front. Captain Peters held up momentarily to appraise the situation, and engineers moving behind his outfit began to clear the first of nine unmanned enemy roadblocks that obstructed the MSR.
MARINE ATTACKS - 27 NOV
MAP-13
According to plan, Company F ascended part way up the slopes of Hill 1403 and then advanced across the front of the 7th Marines to the head of the long draw that set off the Communist-held spur. Simultaneously, 4.2-inch and 81mm mortar crews positioned their weapons along the road to support this envelopment. The flatlands south of Yudam-ni trembled as the 105mm howitzers of Lieutenant Colonel Harvey A. Feehan’s 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, opened up at 1015 with a 15-minute preparation.[379]
[379] Feehan, on 15 Nov 50, had relieved LtCol Ransom M. Wood who had commanded 1/11 since its arrival in Korea with the 1st ProvMarBrig on 2 Aug 50.