Korea: Between a Hammer and an Anvil

On June 25th, 1950, eight divisions of the North Korean People’s Army, crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded the Republic of Korea. Two days later, the United Nations Security Council proclaimed the North Korean attack a breach of world peace and requested member nations to assist the ROK. This was the beginning of a new, glorious chapter in the Corps’ long history.

The Marines would be among the first US forces to arrive in Korea. They would be the last to leave. For five long years war raged the length of the Korean Peninsula. Throughout it all, the Marine Corp fought with its legendary courage and determination. From the desperate battle to hold the Pusan Perimeter to the fighting retreat from the Chosin Reservoir, US Marines were on the front line, in the thick of the fighting and underscoring the meaning of the words Semper Fi.

BETWEEN A HAMMER AND AN ANVIL traces the early history of conflict in the Korean Peninsula from the mid 19th through the mid 20th century. The arrival of the Marines on August 2nd, 1950, found ROK forces desperately trying to hold a narrow perimeter around the city of Pusan in Southeast Korea. Doggedly hanging on, the Marines bought MacArthur the time to stage the brilliant landings at Inchon, trapping North Korean forces between UN forces advancing from the northwest and the southwest and placing them, in MacArthur’s words, “between a hammer and an anvil.”