A Day at the Chosin Reservoir 1950
Marines fight epic battle in North Korea
November 1950 found the First Marine Division high in the mountains of North Korea. The division had orders from Tenth Army Corps to proceed west and would eventually link up with the Army and cut off the retreating North Koreans. The route they had taken to reach this jumping off place had been up a steep, narrow, primitive dirt road which wound its way upward some 3,400 feet. This was the only way in and the only way out and it was fifty-two miles down to the sea. General Oliver Smith, division commander, did not like the orders he had been given. There were Marines at Yudam-ni (the farthest point west) and more Marines back along the road at Hagaru-ri. Further back down the road were more Marines at Koto-ri. General Smith did not enjoy being out on the so-called “limb.” Japanese generals told the top brass of the Tenth Corps that it was dangerous to get trapped high in those mountains in the winter. They had ruled Korea for many years and they believed that any force caught in this area in the dead of winter would suffer terribly.
Joe Marine
To depict what it felt like to be there let’s follow a hypothetical Marine named Joe in a typical day at the Chosin.
Joe is cold. The temperature is 54 below zero and modern historians have computed the wind-chill factors at 76 below zero.The severe cold numbed the minds and froze fingers and toes. Ideal conditions would have been to be out in the cold for an hour or two, return to a warm barracks or tent and remove the shoepacks, change socks and get your body warm, but Joe did not have that luxury. He would be outdoors for eleven days and nights.
The Communist Chinese Troops Attack
The blowing snow bites into Joe’s face. He wiggles his toes to keep circulation moving. Off to his front he hears a bugle, then, off to his right he hears another bugle and then off to his left he hears yet another bugle. Out of the darkness he can make out hundreds of shadowy figures charging toward the line of Marines lying in a ditch. Joe and his Marine buddies empty their rifles, reload and fire again. The Chinese keep on coming. There are so many of them. The Marine machine guns open fire, the enemy attack slows, but behind the initial assault force comes another wave of Chinese. Bullets fill the air as the Chinese yell and keep coming. Grenades from both the Marines and the Chinese explode and shrapnel permeates the frigid air. Joe is engaged in hand-to-hand combat as his bayonet ends one Chinese life.
The Fight to the Sea
The Chinese Army had orders to annihilate the Marine division. They repeatedly attacked and attacked, day and night, but couldn’t overwhelm the Marines. Slowly the determined Leathernecks fought their way back down the road to the sea. The Marines brought out their wounded, most of their dead and much of their equipment. Three Chinese divisions never fought in Korea again.
Sources:
Rendezvous With Hell, Lee K. Bergee, Marine Enterprises, 1963
Military History Interview of Lee Bergee, December 2000
Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign 1950, Russ Martin, Penguin Books, NY 1999
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