Although it was now approved, MacArthur’s prospects for a smooth execution of the operation remained dim all through the run-up to D-day, set for September 15. A major hurdle was the extraction of the 1st Marine Provisional Brigade from combat in the front lines outside Pusan. The brigade had been diverted directly into Pusan on July 29 after initially setting sail to Japan to prepare for Inchon. Five weeks later the Marines remained in combat, and General Walker adamantly refused to release them for fear of creating a gap in his already weak defenses. Major General Oliver P. Smith, the 1st Marine Division’s commander, had been in Tokyo since August 22, pleading with whomever would listen, including MacArthur and Almond, for the release of his best combat formation. Finally, in a complex arrangement that put a regiment from the 7th Infantry Division aboard ships in Pusan Harbor as a floating reserve, Walker agreed to its release on September 6. On the 12th the troops finally sailed from Pusan to join their division off Inchon. The 1st Marine Regiment and the rest of 1st Marine Division sailed from Kobe on the 12th, while the 7th Division, minus the regiment floating off Pusan, sailed from Yokohama the same day.

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While the invasion fleet muddled its way through the remains of two tropical storms, naval air and gunfire support ships prepared the Inchon landing site on September 13. As a deceptive tactic, the battleship USS Missouri bombarded likely invasion sites along the east coast before joining the main force off Inchon.

The actual landing on September 15 seemed almost anticlimactic. As predicted by intelligence, Inchon proved only lightly defended. According to plan, at 0625 hours the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, accompanied by nine M-46 Pershing tanks, assaulted the island of Wolmi-do, a preliminary objective in Inchon Harbor. By 0750, the island had been secured. At that point, in a surreal intermission, the primary assault forces waited in their ships for the necessary high tides.

Finally, at 1645 the landing craft carrying the 1st Marines and the rest of the 5th Marines crossed their lines of departure. At 1733 the 5th Marines assaulted the sea wall by charging up bamboo ladders hastily constructed by Japanese workers prior to their embarkation. By midnight, the key high terrain of Cemetery Hill and Observation Hill were in Marine hands. By 0130, all D-day objectives had been met. As dawn broke at 0548 on the 16th, prowling Marine Vought F4U-4 Corsairs jumped six North Korean T-34 tanks on the Seoul highway and destroyed three, for the loss of one Corsair. The remaining T-34s were destroyed later that day by advancing Marine Pershings.By noon, the 1st Marine Division controlled all high ground east of the city, thus preventing North Korean artillery fire from reaching the beachhead area, and the first 7th Division elements arrived in the harbor. By 1800, the 1st Marine Division tactical headquarters was established ashore and General Smith assumed command of operations from Rear Adm. James H. Doyle, the amphibious group commander. By nightfall, the 5th Marines controlled the Seoul highway.

At first light on the 17th, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, engaged and destroyed a further six T-34s. By that evening the 5th Marines had seized the southern portion of Kimpo airfield, a major objective on the outskirts of Seoul. The next day, the third since landing, the 5th Marines secured Kimpo and advanced to the Han River, seizing Hill 99 on the way. That afternoon the first Marine Corsair landed at Kimpo to begin close support operations. By nightfall on the 19th, the 5th Marines had joined with ROK marines for an assault crossing of the Han to begin the attack on Seoul itself.

Back in Inchon, the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Infantry, 7th Division, was ashore and relieved the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, along the Seoul highway. The landing and breakout phase was effectively over. Next came the liberation of Seoul and the linkup with the Eighth Army, which had broken out of Pusan and driven pell-mell north up the peninsula. Operation Chromite was over: Mission accomplished.

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