_Task Force Hill Organized--Planning the Next Operation--Reconnaissance of Terrain--Air and Artillery Preparation--Company D on Objective--Attack of Company E_
The movement of the Brigade to Miryang was completed by rail, LST and shuttling trucks on 15 August. For the infantry, it meant the first hot meal in Korea, and the bivouac area seemed a cool, green paradise as compared to the sun-scorched hills the men had been climbing under fire this past week. A grove of stately trees provided shade; and thanks to the frugality of peasants who picked up every twig, the grass and moss were like a well-swept carpet. There the troops of the Brigade slept under the stars that night and swam in the nearby Miryang river. It was a veritable reunion for Leathernecks who swapped tales of experiences in the recent combats.
Being Marines, they realized of course that this was merely an interlude between operations. The Brigade had passed under operational control of the 24th Infantry Division upon arrival in the Miryang area. And on the 15th General Craig reported to General Church’s CP to be briefed on the situation in the Naktong Bulge, where the next assault would be launched.
The ability of the Russians to cross the widest rivers in World War II, using only determination and field expedients, constantly amazed _Wehrmacht_ generals with much better equipment.[273] This know-how seemed to have been passed on to the NKPA, judging by the crossings of the Han and Kum Rivers early in the Korean conflict. On 6 August 1950, the Red Koreans gave a repeat performance when they forced a 1,000-man bridgehead across the Naktong river, thus breaching the last natural barrier protecting the lifeline from Pusan to Taegu.
[273] U. S. Dept of the Army, _Russian Combat Methods in World War II_, DA Pamphlet No. 20-230.
The 24th Infantry Division was unsuccessful in its immediate attempts to dislodge the enemy.[274] Wading through chest-deep water by night, pulling crude rafts loaded with vehicles, heavy weapons and supplies, the North Koreans placed an entire reinforced regiment on the east bank by 8 August. Termite tactics during the next 2 days broadened their foothold until the Naktong Bulge was overrun by most of the NKPA 4th Division.