Marines chosin reservoir – By November 1950, the Korean War looked to be almost over. General MacArthur’s landings at Inchon smashed the North Korean army, forcing it into a shattered retreat. Within two months, the pursuing U.N. forces had driven them back towards the border with China at the Yalu river. But behind the scenes, the situation was changing.
Troops unloading at Inchon/ Wikimedia Commons.
North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung, watching as his army crumbled, sent frantic messages to his Soviet backers. Stalin had secretly supported the war. But even now, he wasn’t willing to intervene directly. Instead, he sent a message to Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Would the Chinese, Stalin wondered, be willing to step into the war? With U.S. troops close to the border, Zedong was also getting nervous. Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had already made it clear to the U.N. that China wouldn’t tolerate a unified capitalist Korea on its border.
“Korea is China’s neighbor … The Chinese people cannot but be concerned about a solution of the Korean question,” he told the U.N.
Chinese troops cross the Yalu into North Korea/ Wikimedia Commons
Chinese “volunteer” units began quietly infiltrating North Korea.
On the morning of October 25, the Republic of Korea 2nd Infantry Regiment advanced toward the northern city of Pukchin. Suddenly, they came under fire from their flank. Expecting light resistance, they dismounted from their vehicles and began to return fire.
But what they though was a small force of North Koreans turned out to be two entire regiments of Chinese troops surrounding their position on three sides. They had wandered into an ambush and the first major engagement of the Chinese First Phase Offensive.
The heavy casualties quickly forced the Koreans to retreat, abandoning much of their equipment.
Within a month, hundreds of thousands of Chinese Troops were in Korea and preparing for an offensive against the UN.
On November 25, the Chinese commanders identified a Republic of Korea infantry unit holding the front at Ch’ongch’on,as a weak point on the line and launched a major assault.
The ROK soldiers held out for as long as possible, but they were quickly overwhelmed. The Chinese streamed through the gap in the line and began moving to encircle the U.N. troops on the border. The U.N. forces had no choice but to retreat.
The course of the war reversed itself in a month. Now it was the U.N. being forced back.
Marines engage the Chinese/ Wikimedia Commons
Meanwhile, the U.S. First Marine division was nearing the Chosin Reservoir. The reservoir served as part of a corridor connecting the U.N. lines to the port of Hungnam, giving the beleaguered troops a route to safety.
The Chinese ordered a massive force of more than 100,000 troops to attack the reservoir and cut off the road to safety, trapping their enemy in North Korea.
Now, it was up to a U.N. force of 30,000 men, composed of US Marines, Republic of Korea troops, US Army units, and soldiers from a number of allied countries, to defend it.
On November 27, elite units of the People’s Volunteer Army army launched an all-out assault on the UN forces dug in on the hills surrounding the reservoir.
At the nearby town of Yudam-ni, tens of thousands of Chinese troops attempted to destroy a Marine garrison. The fighting took place at close range as the Chinese infiltrated the Marine lines during the night. Marines armed with bayonets, rifle butts, and even their entrenching tools beat back the attack. But they were still hopelessly outnumbered.
Attempts to relieve the garrison at Yudam-ni broke down into a stalemate as American air power dropped napalm and bombs at close range onto the attacking Chinese.
The Chinese found more success on the nearby road to Hungnam, driving off a contingent of the 5th and 7th Marines and cutting the forces at Chosin off from the rest of the army.
The troops were now completely encircled by a force three times their size. For the next three days, they were forced to hold out against constant assaults all along the line.
A U.S. patrol at Chosin/ Wikimedia Commons
Meanwhile, 3,000 U.S. Army soldiers from Regimental Combat Team 31, or Task Force Faith as it would come be known after Lt. Colonel Donald Faith took command, were holding the line against determined attacks.
With the help of Marine Corps air support, Task force faith fought off the Chinese for days, inflicting heavy casualties.
And the Chinese weren’t the only enemy. Korea sits on a peninsula just below Siberia. In November, a cold front had blown in, dropping temperatures to more than -30 degrees.
The lubrication in guns froze and turned into jelly that made misfires a constant problem. Batteries in radios and vehicles ran down in hours. Frostbite began to set in among many soldiers. And medics responding to casualties often had to thaw doses of morphine in their mouths before they could be used.
General MacArthur, supreme commander of U.N. forces, realized that there was no hope of holding the line. He ordered the troops at Chosin to withdraw from the reservoir. But with his forces on the retreat everywhere else, there was no way to relieve the them.
If they were going to survive, they would have to fight their way out.
U.S. Marines break out from Chosin Reservoir/ Wikimedia Commons
Marine Commander Oliver P. Smith ordered his troops to assemble and prepare to fight.
When asked if they were about to retreat, Smith replied, “We’re not retreating. We’re just advancing in another direction.”
Led by a single working Sherman tank, the troops organized into a convoy with two divisions in front and three more covering the rear.
As Marine aviators pounded Chinese positions with napalm, Marine divisions stormed the hills overlooking the road.
Marines watch as Corsairs drop napalm on an enemy position/ Wikimedia Commons
The fighting was fierce, as the dug-in Chinese defenders held out against the attack. The battle dragged on into the night, with Marines calling in airstrikes in darkness as they fought hand-to-hand with the Chinese.
But by December 4nd, the Marines at Yudam-ni were able to withdraw and join the rest of the troops for a break out.
After four days of fierce fighting, the road to nearby Haguru-ri was clear.
Led by legendary Marine Colonel Chesty Puller, the Marines prepared for another fierce fight to take the heights surrounding the road out of the town. Determined attacks and heavy air cover inflicted devastating casualties on the Chinese. The plan to encircle and destroy U.N. forces backfired as several PVA divisions were annihilated by the attacks.
The final break out to Hungnam began on December 6, as U.N. and PVA troops fought constantly for control over the hills overlooking the roads. It would take another five days of hard, desperate fighting before the UN force reached the port.
As the troops prepared to evacuate to waiting Navy vessels, they were met with a large group of Korean refugees fleeing the fighting. Deciding that they couldn’t abandon the civilians, the U.N. troops dug in around the port and prepared to defend it against Chinese attacks as the civilians were evacuated.
By now, the fighting had taken a heavy toll on the Chinese. Most units in the area were no longer able to mount a concentrated attack.
Navy ships observe the destruction of the port facilities at Hungnam/ Wikimedia Commons
The UN troops were able to fight off the attacks they could make for another 13 days, supported by naval guns from the waiting ships, giving the troops and civilians in port time to evacuate.
On December 24th, Christmas Eve, the final U.N. troops blew the port facilities at Hungnam and withdrew.
Over the course of the battle, the Marines took around 10,000 casualties, largely to non-combat injuries like frost bite, along with around 1,000 men killed in action. The Chinese also suffered heavily from the cold and the fighting, taking around 50,000 casualties.
Meanwhile, more than 100,000 U.N. troops from across the peninsula were able to evacuate through the port and were shipped south to take position along the new defensive line. An additional 98,000 Korean civilians were evacuated through the port as well, along with most of the Army’s heavy equipment.
The Marines effort to fight through the Chinese line played a critical role in preserving enough strength to drive the Chinese attack back to the 38th parallel, the final armistice line between North and South Korea, and preventing a total loss in the War.
Ryan is a freelance writer and history buff. He loves classical and military history and has read more historical fiction and monographs than is probably healthy for anyone.
