The Battle of the Berlin Outposts and Bunker City was a battle fought between 7 and 27 July 1953 during the Korean War between United Nations Command (UN) and Chinese forces over several frontline outposts.
Background
In late June 1953 the US 1st Marine Division completed its training and prepared to return to the Jamestown Line, the UN's Main line of resistance (MLR) across Korea relieving the US 25th Infantry Division. By dawn on 7 July, the 7th Marine Regiment took over on the right of the 1st Marine Division's line and the 5th Marine Regiment on the left, while the 1st Marine Regiment formed the division reserve, protecting the bridges across the Imjin River and the AN/MPQ-2 radar used to direct air strikes. The tactical situation had changed for the worse since the Marines last occupied this sector. Since the Battle of the Nevada Complex ended on 29 May, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) troops now controlled the three outposts, Carson, Vegas, and Elko, that blocked the best approach to Outposts Berlin and East Berlin, now being taken over by the 7th Marines. As General Randolph M. Pate, the division's commander, immediately realized: "The loss of Outpost Vegas... placed Berlin and East Berlin in very precarious positions and negated their being supported by ground fire except from the MLR." The PVA tried to take advantage of any confusion resulting from the relief of the 25th Infantry Division by the Marines.
Battle
Berlin Outposts (7-20 July) On the evening of 7 July, PVA mortars opened fire upon Outposts Berlin and East Berlin and the nearby portion of the MLR, the area that Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Cereghino's 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, was taking over from Turkish Brigade attached to the 25th Infantry Division. By midnight, assault troops from the PVA 407th Regiment, 136th Division, advanced from the vicinity of Hill 190, a frequently used staging area, then moved along the ridgeline broken by Carson, Reno and Vegas, all of them now in PVA hands and attacked Berlin and East Berlin. At Berlin, Turkish soldiers stayed in place for a time after the Marines arrived, and a patrol dispatched from Lt. Col. Cereghino's battalion to set up an ambush got no farther than the outpost when the PVA struck. The remaining Turks and the newly arrived patrol reinforced the Marines manning Berlin. Higher headquarters soon lost contact with both Berlin and East Berlin. Because both outposts lay no more than from the MLR, their capture could provide the PVA with a springboard for an attack designed to shatter the main defenses. As a result, Cereghino organized a provisional platoon from members of his battalion headquarters and sent the unit to reinforce the MLR. Elements of Companies H and I, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, came under Cereghino's operational control and prepared to counterattack if the PVA should break through. Meanwhile, the mixed force of Marines and Turkish soldiers succeeded in clinging to Outpost Berlin. However, the Marines at East Berlin succumbed to an overwhelming force that surged up a steep slope and seized the main trench despite stubborn resistance from the outpost itself and accurate fire from the MLR and beyond. Supporting machine guns, mortars and artillery could not save East Berlin.