The Fight For Kimpo Airfield - Korea (A Warhorse Campaign Series Modification)

[Ascom City, South Korea]:[HIS]:[H2H]:[BB] On the evening of D+1, General Smith issued Operations Order 5-50, which directed the 1st and 5th Marines to drive along the Inchon-Seoul Highway toward Kimpo Airfield. Guarding the left flank of the 5th Marines was Major Kim Yun Kun's 3d KMC Battalion, which would attack north with the ultimate goal of gaining the high ground west of the airfield. The USS Missouri, USS Toledo, and USS Rochester would provide naval gunfire support. Early morning of 17 September, the 2d and 3d battalions of the 5th Marines attacked Ascom City from the southwest. A tank battle with six T-34s got the action started. The urban area was a thorn in the side for the regiment. For the next 24 hours they fought the motley troops of the 107th Security Regiment through the maze of small buildings. After the T-34 tank encounter, Company A, 1st Tank Battalion, moved through Ascom City. The M-26 tanks, with a platoon riding on, continued toward Kimpo Airfield, 10 kilometers away. Along the way they encountered another NKPA regiment, the 877th Air Force Unit, led by Major Kung Chan So who fought almost to the last man. Marines from 2d Battalion arrived at the outer perimeter of the airfield at 1600 that afternoon. Afterward, they faced counterattacks from the NKPA 1st Air Force Division, commanded by Brigadier General Wan Yong. The division was composed mostly of support personnel, combat engineers, clerks, logisticians, and infantrymen, but put up a stiff fight. Finally Kimpo Airfield was secured by the morning of September 18 and later that afternoon, a Marine Corsair landed there.