Nov. 1945: U.S. Marines Forced To Fire On Chinese As Reds Cut Rail Line

U.S. Marines Forced To Fire On Chinese As Reds Cut Rail Line
New York Times: Sunday Morning, November 18, 1945
By Richard W. Johnston

CHINWANGTAO, North China, Nov. 17 (UP) –Maj. Gen. DeWitt Peck, commander of the American 1st Marine Division, arrived here today in a reconnaissance plane after a reinforced company of his U.S. Marines had quieted harassing fire against a Leatherneck troop train stalled 25 miles southwest of here by Chinese Communists.

Gen. Peck said that the Communists and Marines exchanged scattered shots for 15 hours during the trip from Tientsin.

Twice the railroad, which is still guarded by Japanese troops, was blown up in front of the Marines train.

Peck said he had to give up the trip and accept a lift from the air sea rescue reconnaissance craft to keep a conference date in Chinwangtao.

Peck said the train got as far as Tangshan, halfway point between Tientsin and Chinwangtao, without difficulty or interruption. Six miles east of Kuyeh the train was halted by the blowing up of the roadbed.

The general said the train had hardly stopped when rifle bullets and some automatic fire began to spatter around the area.

The firing, he said, continued from shortly after daylight through “all the rest of the day.”

Marine guards returned the fire every time they saw a target.

The Communists did not score a hit, possibly because of poor marksmanship or, as peck suspected, they did not wish to wound the marines. He said he believed they only wanted to harass repair crews.

The roadbed was fixed the following day and the train got 20 miles farther before it was stalled at Lwanhsien by a blown up bridge.

The rest of the marines are still there and it looks as if the roadbed will be out one or two days more, Peck said.