With UN troops getting dangerously near the Yalu River, Mao Zedong’s orders had been easy: destroy the 1st Marine Division. In late November 1950, he despatched 12 divisions—greater than 120,000 troops from the elite ninth Army Group—into the frozen mountains round North Korea’s Chosin Reservoir to lure and annihilate 30,000 American, British and South Korean forces.
The Chinese language had numerical superiority, tactical shock and home-field benefit in terrain so brutal that males froze to dying of their preventing positions. By each measure, the UN forces ought to have been worn out.
However they survived. And the story of how a rag-tag group of survivors—Marines, Army troopers, British Royal Marine Commandos and South Korean troops—fought collectively to show sure destruction into survival stays one of many Korean Struggle’s most compelling tales.
The Chinese language Enter the Battle
As UN troops pushed deep into North Korea, rumors and whispers of Chinese language troops within the space started to unfold via the ranks. Reconnaissance items and nighttime patrols reported partaking Chinese language troops. Douglas MacArthur and different commanders dismissed the experiences and stored pushing north.
The temperature plunged to 36 levels beneath zero on Nov. 27, 1950, when Chinese language bugles sounded all through the battlefield. Throughout a number of positions across the 78-mile highway community close to Chosin Reservoir, tens of hundreds of Chinese language troops launched coordinated assaults.
The first Marine Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Oliver P. Smith, had been advancing north below orders from X Corps commander Maj. Gen. Edward Almond. Smith did not belief the intelligence experiences dismissing Chinese language intervention. Towards Almond’s orders, he intentionally slowed his advance and established provide depots at Hagaru-ri and Koto-ri—a call that may show essential in his division’s survival.
At Yudam-ni, Chinese language forces hit the fifth and seventh Marine regiments. At Hagaru-ri, the division headquarters got here below direct assault. Between these positions, a single Marine rifle firm held a frozen hilltop that managed the one escape route.
And on the reservoir’s jap shore, an undermanned Army process pressure confronted the complete weight of two Chinese language divisions.
Fox Hill: 220 Marines Towards the Chinese language Army
Capt. William Barber’s Fox Firm—simply 220 Marines—occupied a rocky hilltop overlooking Toktong Cross, the slender gorge connecting Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri. That they had no concept the Chinese language 59th Division, roughly 10,000 troops, surrounded them below the duvet of darkness.
At 2 a.m. on Nov. 28, the Chinese language hit their place arduous.
Pfc. Hector Cafferata jolted awake to gunfire and explosions. The remainder of his hearth staff was killed or wounded inside minutes. Nonetheless in his sleeping bag, Cafferata could not discover his boots or coat within the darkness. Regardless of the winter situations, he fought in his socks.
Fellow Marine Kenneth Benson was quickly blinded when a grenade exploded close to his face, shattering his glasses. Benson started reloading rifles whereas Cafferata fired.
“For the remainder of the night time I used to be batting hand grenades away with my entrenching instrument whereas firing my rifle at them,” Cafferata later recalled. “I should have whacked a dozen grenades that night time with my instrument. And you already know what? I used to be the world’s worst baseball participant.”
Cafferata shot his M1 rifle a lot it overheated and he needed to cool it with snow. When a grenade landed close to wounded Marines, he grabbed it and threw it again. The grenade detonated in his hand, severing a part of a finger and embedding shrapnel in his arm. He stored preventing till a sniper’s bullet severely wounded him.
Barber, hit by a ricochet bullet that fractured his pelvis on the second night time, refused evacuation. He directed the protection from a stretcher, shifting up and down the traces encouraging his males via 5 days and nights of steady assaults.
By the point Fox Firm was relieved, solely 82 of the unique 220 Marines may stroll off the hill. Greater than 1,000 Chinese language troopers lay useless in entrance of their positions. The 59th Division—tasked with blocking the highway and destroying Fox Firm—had been successfully worn out.
Each Cafferata and Barber obtained the Medal of Honor.
The Army’s Forgotten Sacrifice
East of the reservoir, Regimental Fight Group 31 confronted terrifying odds. The two,500-man pressure included parts from the thirty first and thirty second Infantry regiments, two artillery batteries and 750 Korean troopers. In contrast to the Marines, they had been understrength, poorly coordinated and nonetheless carrying summer season uniforms.
That they had no concept the Chinese language had them fully surrounded.
On Nov. 27, Chinese language forces from the eightieth and 81st divisions—a part of the elite twenty seventh Corps—swarmed their positions. Most senior officers and NCOs had been killed or wounded on the primary night time.
Col. Allan MacLean tried to consolidate his scattered items. His males fought ferociously whereas awaiting Marine reinforcements.
Mistaking Chinese language troops for his aid, he ran onto the frozen reservoir to fulfill them. Chinese language riflemen shot him repeatedly. 4 occasions he struggled to his toes earlier than Chinese language troopers dragged him to their traces. He died 4 days later.
Command fell to Lt. Col. Don Carlos Religion Jr., a World Struggle II airborne officer with two Bronze Stars. Religion reorganized survivors right into a single perimeter. For 3 days, RCT-31 held off relentless assaults in temperatures that froze weapons and froze males to dying of their foxholes.
Marine Corsairs and Navy fighters offered shut air help coordinated by Marine Capt. Edward Stamford, who fought alongside the Army troops.
By Dec. 1, with practically 600 wounded, Religion realized assist wasn’t coming. He determined to load everybody into vans and struggle south to Marine traces at Hagaru-ri, 14 miles away.
Chinese language roadblocks had been at each flip. Religion led assault after assault, firing his pistol and throwing grenades. Round 30 yards from one roadblock, grenade fragments tore into his chest. Troopers loaded him right into a truck cab, however Chinese language hearth raked the automobile. Religion was hit once more and killed.
With out efficient management and below steady assault, the convoy disintegrated. Chinese language troops threw grenades into vans stuffed with wounded. Troopers scattered throughout the frozen reservoir towards Marine traces.
Of two,500 troopers who started the withdrawal, solely 385 reached Hagaru-ri combat-ready. Greater than 1,000 died or perished in Chinese language captivity. Marines holding on to their positions had no concept what the troopers had simply gone via. They noticed bedraggled Army troops, many lacking their weapons and ammunition, fleeing within the face of Chinese language forces. Marines dismissed the Army as cowards whereas the press again residence even blamed them for your complete catastrophe.
However Job Drive Religion had completed one thing wonderful. In response to historian Roy Appleman, they primarily destroyed two Chinese language divisions. The eightieth and 81st divisions weren’t noticed on the battlefield once more till April 1951. Extra importantly, they prevented Chinese language forces from chopping off the Marine withdrawal path to the south.
Hell Hearth Valley: The British Enter the Struggle
At Hagaru-ri, Smith confronted a crucial scarcity of defenders. He ordered Lt. Col. Lewis “Chesty” Puller to assemble a aid pressure.
On Nov. 29, Job Drive Drysdale pushed north from Koto-ri—921 troops from 41 (Impartial) Commando Royal Marines, G Firm of the first Marines and B Firm of the thirty first Infantry.
The Royal Marines, commanded by Lt. Col. Douglas Drysdale, wore their inexperienced berets and carried American weapons. That they had arrived in Korea simply weeks earlier after volunteering for amphibious raiding obligation. Job Drive Drysdale pushed ahead, hoping to open a significant provide and withdrawal route for the first Marine Division.
The Chinese language sixtieth Division hit the column arduous. What adopted grew to become often called Hell Hearth Valley. British Marines and supporting troops from different nations repelled wave after wave of Chinese language troops. Below fixed assault, the duty pressure grew to become disorganized. A destroyed truck cut up the column into two segments.
Roughly 100 Royal Marines made it to Hagaru-ri. Sixty British Marines fell as casualties. However those that reached the city instantly went into motion, launching a counterattack to retake East Hill, an important location for Hagaru-ri’s defenses.
When a U.S. Marine requested one Royal Marine, Gordon Payne, why he was going again into fight, he replied, “I am not completed with them but!”
Drysdale’s column not solely gave a small enhance to the Marine Corps’ defenses, but additionally helped pave open the withdrawal route that may guarantee they might escape North Korea.
The Breakout from Chosin Reservoir
On Dec. 1, Smith started the motion that may get the first Marine Division and the opposite survivors to security. Smith famously mentioned “Retreat, hell! We’re simply attacking in a unique path.”
The fifth and seventh Marines fought south from Yudam-ni to Hagaru-ri, singing “The Marines’ Hymn” as they marched in with their wounded and useless. The 385 surviving troopers from Job Drive Religion fashioned a provisional battalion and fought alongside the Marines for the remainder of the breakout.
Marine and Navy fighter-bombers flew steady sorties, placing Chinese language positions within the column’s path. Transport planes evacuated the wounded utilizing an airfield scraped from frozen floor by Marine engineers.
The breakout continued via Koto-ri and Funchilin Cross, the place Chinese language forces had destroyed a bridge. Engineers parachuted metal sections into the move and assembled them below hearth.
On Dec. 11, the first Marine Division reached Hungnam. Job Drive 90 ships evacuated over 105,000 army personnel, 98,000 Korean civilians, 17,500 autos and 350,000 tons of provides out of the area. The Marines managed to outlive to struggle one other day.
The Strategic Price
The Chinese language achieved a victory—they compelled X Corps out of North Korea. However they paid a rare value that Marines to this present day view as a badge of honor.
The Chinese language ninth Army Group suffered between 40,000 and 80,000 casualties from fight and the chilly. Two total divisions had been compelled to disband. Your complete military group was pulled from the entrance traces and did not return to full power till the spring of 1951. Mao Zedong’s eldest son Mao Anying was killed in the course of the battle.
These losses—40 p.c of Chinese language forces in Korea on the time—prevented follow-on assaults towards UN traces in early 1951. The failure of the Chinese language advance allowed UN forces to take care of their foothold in South Korea. Although the Chinese language would advance into South Kora, and even seize Seoul, they might once more be pushed again to the border.
The first Marine Division reported 604 killed, 114 useless of wounds, 192 lacking, 3,485 wounded and seven,338 non-battle casualties from frostbite. However the division emerged combat-ready.
Fourteen Marines, two troopers and one Navy pilot obtained the Medal of Honor for actions at Chosin. The first Marine Division and 41 Commando obtained the Presidential Unit Quotation for his or her heroic actions in the course of the battle.
RCT-31 and its sacrifice had been dismissed and forgotten by most veterans of the battle and historians. It wasn’t till 1999 that they too had been awarded the Presidential Unit Quotation.
Mao had ordered the destruction of the first Marine Division. As a substitute, his 12 divisions met Army troopers who held the road till annihilated, Marines who refused to yield frozen hilltops, British Commandos who charged into Hell Hearth Valley, and Korean troops who fought alongside all of them.
The Chinese language numerical superiority meant nothing towards that type of braveness.
