Helicopter in Unconventional Warfare - grit, initiative, and innovation

A combat experience of Marine Capt. Robert Warren, World War II veteran and early Marine helicopter aviator in the Korean War.

By U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Timothy Lawn, USSOCOM Office of Communication

     September 1951, three United States Marine Corps Sikorsky HRS/H-19 from Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 161 carrying Marine rocket teams and their launcher, ammo and equipment from the 1st Marine Division fly low and nap-of-the-earth. The helicopters quickly rise over a jagged outcrop and settle on a small isolated windswept plateau. North Korean lines are just a couple hundred yards in front of the birds.

     Piloting one of the helicopters is U.S. Marine Capt. Robert Warren. Warren is already a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient from World War II, earning his medal piloting a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter during the battle of Okinawa and Saipan.  Warren and the other two helicopters loaded with Marines race into action. Each of the three helicopters has five to six combat-ready Marines.  The lead helicopter closely hovers over the grassy plateau; underneath its belly is a sling-loaded 4.5 inch multi-barreled T-66 rocket launcher. With a quick snap, the rocket launcher gently bounces in the field grass. Another team of Marines race to unload its rockets slung in a cargo net as they unpack and stack ammo, a third crew race to the launch site eager to load, aim and fire the launcher. In the blink of an eye, 24-4.5 inch rockets scream from the launch tubes, arc into the air, and blast unsuspecting and surprised North Korean targets. As quickly as they fire, they reload the launcher and ammo and leave.

     “We got the hell out of there,” Warren says with a grin as he describes the Marines reactions after blasting the North Koreans. “We grabbed the rocket launcher and our teams and ran; It was fun as hell.”  

     They had to be fast; in a couple of minutes, the North Korean counter-battery fire would quickly rain down, blasting the landing zone, but the Marines were already setting the launcher in a new pre-plotted location to deliver another blistering blow.

     Remarkably, Warren and his fellow Marines had successfully conducted a vertical airmobile assault, set-up, fired a 24-barreled volley of rockets at enemy positions. Additionally, they retrieved all ammo, equipment and re-mounted to move to the next of three pre-plotted firing points, all before counterbattery fire could locate and destroy them.

     “It was innovative; previously, the Marines couldn’t get the rockets close enough to fire and get away safely,” Warren said.

     The launcher, though lightweight by artillery standards, is vehicle towed. Besides, the mission required enough rockets to conduct three fire missions. Previously, the Marines hired Korean supply laborers called Cheegay Bearers. ”They just could not handle it,” Warren said.

     Before the helicopters arrived, the Chugie Bearers literally had to manhandle and mule transport the ammo, food, and equipment to the Marines through the steep and dangerous mountain passes of Korea.

     Going from manually ported weapons and equipment to rapid vertical assault in Korea would become a game-changer for the conflict.

     Warren’s air assault artillery strike on North Korean positions was unheard of the year before. Warren and his fellow Marines had successfully used the helicopter in a vertical envelopment assault, and in this example, employ an additional form of unconventional warfare by rapidly air deploying vehicle-towed rocket artillery to assault enemy-held positions. Historically, the helicopter had proven its worth in WWII executing daring rescue and resupply operations, but as often happens during post-war military drawdowns, funding becomes restricted, and many in the military viewed the helicopter as a novelty.

     The Marines did not view the helicopter as a novelty, in fact, they regarded the new rotorcraft as essential to future combat survival.

     Lieutenant Gen. Roy S. Geiger, an early Marine aviator, and aviation pioneer witnessed the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests in the Marshall Islands in 1946. After observing the blast Geiger surmised that traditional methods of amphibious assaults made by forced beach landings could become obsolete.

     Geiger recalled the mixed uses of the helicopter during World War II. And it's potential for speed, range, and employment in amphibious warfare. He urged the Marine Corps to conduct a study proving the need to adopt the helicopter for naval amphibious operations.

     In 1947, the Marines established Marine Helicopter Squadron 1 (HMX-1) at Quantico, Virginia. HMX-1 was the first established military rotary aviation school to study the capabilities and the practical applications of the helicopter in vertical envelopment.

     In 1950, Warren would become one of the Marines earliest designated helicopter pilots.  After helicopter flight training, Warren shipped to Korea with the HMR-161. He conducted his first combat mission with the 1st Marine Division during Operation Windmill One.

     “Windmill One was planned to see if we could completely resupply a Marine battalion right on the front lines by helicopter,” said Warren.

     According to official Marine Corps history, Operation Windmill One employed all 15 of the Squadron’s H-19 Helicopters, conducting more than 28 flights, delivering more than 19,000 pounds of critical combat supplies, evacuating more than 74 seriously wounded men. The operation conducted the first helicopter-borne wartime mass resupply feat in two hours and 40 minutes logging more than 14 flight hours.

     Warren’s combat helicopter experiences in the Korean War would earn him his second Distinguished Flying Cross and two additional Air Medals. He would later teach helicopter operations and vertical envelopment with the helicopter bible, Marine Corps Publication, PHIB – 31, Amphibious Operations, Employment of Helicopters, first published in 1948, at the Marine Corps Educational Center at Quantico from 1960 through 1964. It was the first published doctrine on the use of the helicopter for airmobile operations.

     Warren retired a full-bird Colonel in 1969, after serving as a Marine aviator in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He commanded both a helicopter and a swept-wing jet attack squadron and a Marine Air Group consisting of five flying squadrons.

USSOCOM / Tip of the Spear / AUG 2018 - Pg. 36 & 37 https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/43526