[653] 7thMar Hist, dtd 28 Jan 54, p. 5, Folder #5.
Periodically, messages would be received stressing certain items of salvage as critical. This required revision of working schedules and shifting of men to other jobs ... if all salvageable material had been designated as critical at the commencement of salvage operations, the work could have been completed more expeditiously....[654]
[654] 1/7 Hist, in 7thMar Hist, p. 4, Folder #5.
A 5th Marines observer commented on the confusion in these words:
It is evident, however, that in dissemination to some of the lower echelons, pertinent information was either ignored or improperly passed ... some Company Commanders were under the impression that the entire job of dismantling and salvaging was to be completed in 72 hours. The result of this misconception was that in some areas bunkers were filled in with earth and then later had to be evacuated [excavated] in order to salvage the materials.[655]
[655] 5thMar Hist, p. 1, Folder #4.
Initial salvage operations were conducted from 28–30 July. Trenchlines were filled in; tank slots dozed under; bunkers torn down and usable timbers carried to salvage collecting points.
Beginning on 28 July, 1st Marines line units on the division right flank came under operational control of the 5th Marines, with their new mission being to “man an outpost line on the most formidable ground south of the southern boundary of the newly planned Demilitarized Zone in the MLR regimental sector.”[656] Movement to the new outpost positions was under way by 29 July.
[656] 1/1 Hist, in 1stMar Hist, p. 1, Folder #3.
As the Marine units moved south to establish their new outpost positions in previously undeveloped areas, the limited engineering equipment available for simultaneously dismantling bunkers and constructing new camps tended to slow the latter job. Personnel of 1/1, which had utilized 124 vehicles for the transfer, were among those housed in widely scattered areas for several days during the moving and setting up of new camps. Torrential rains, of several days’ duration, which had engulfed the division’s transport operations on so many occasions in the past, caused the new campsites to turn into a muddy quagmire. Men of 2/5, during part of the relocation period, lived in shelter tents until regular tentage became available.