dry runs. The additional firepower would be extremely valuable against KPA bunkers and strongpoints. In the late afternoon of 5 October, the artillery preparation opened up as the division's artillery battalions began to pummel the defending KPA units facing the 9th and 38th Regiments in the Mundung-ni Valley area. Deployed from west to east the KPA 3rd Regiment, 12th Division, occupied Hill 867; the 1st Regiment, 6th Division, was spread from Hill 636 northwest to Hill 974; and the 15th Regiment, 6th Division, was dug in on Hill 931. As a result of the constant pressure exerted by the 2nd Division on these units during September and early October, none of them had a strength that reached a thousand men. The KPA 12th and 6th Divisions were both far understrength by the eve of Touchdown. Air strikes by United States Marine Corps F4U Corsairs sent Napalm, rockets, and machine gun bullets into the KPA lines before the attack jumped off that evening. On the west the 3rd Battalion, 9th Infantry, pressed on toward Hill 867 and by 7 October had won the crest, meeting only light resistance. The battalion then swung northwest toward Hill 960 while the 1st Battalion mounted an attack north against Hill 666. Both hills fell on 8 October. Then the 9th pushed on to Hill 1005 northwest of Hill 666 and after a bayonet assault took possession on 10 October. On the following day the ROK 8th Division gained Hill 1050 and the Kim Il Sung range to the west of the 9th Regiment. The 38th Regiment, in the meantime, had also made excellent progress, on 4 October they discovered that the KPA had abandoned Hill 485, south of Hill 728. By noon on 6 October the 1st Battalion had advanced from Hill 485 and seized Hill 728 against only light opposition. The 2nd Battalion deployed up the Mundung-ni Valley and attacked Hill 636 which fell on 8 October. Possession of these two hills furnished cover for Colonel Love's engineers, who could now complete the tank trail for the 72nd Tank Battalion's advance. The 72nd, commanded by Lt. Col. John O. Woods, was attached to the 38th on 7 October and the regiment was given three new objectives: Hill 605, north of Hill 636; the Hill 905-Hill 974 ridge which extended northwest from Hill 636 toward Hill 1220 on the Kim Il Sung range; and Hill