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UNDER   THE   C OL ORS




                              NOTES FROM U.S. MILITARY HISTORY



                 BLOOD BATH AT THE BATTLE OF
                    “FROZEN” CHOSIN KOREA

           When dawn broke         frozen American, Chinese,
        on December 1, 1950, on    and Korean frozen corpses
        the barren hillsides on the   lay strewn about the terrain,
        eastern shore of the fro-  the results of sustained,
        zen Chosin Reservoir in    vicious, close-in fighting.
        northeastern North Korea,   Frozen hands and feet were
        the ragged, tenuously held   common. Some wounded
        perimeter of the U.S. Army’s   men, who were unable to
        Task Force Faith was a scene   move, had frozen to death.
        of utter desolation. The task   The blood bath was exhibited
        force’s surviving members   on all sides of the fight.
        were on the verge of anni-     The American dead were
        hilation. The perimeter was   from the previous night’s at-
        little more than groups of   tack. The Chinese command-
        starving, exhausted, and   er had exhorted his troops to   icans and South Koreans   so close to the ground that
        frostbitten American and   wipe out the task force before   awaited evacuation at the   Marines said they could see
        South Korean soldiers, in   dawn. The dead bodies were   overwhelmed aid station.   their faces.
        varying numbers, huddled   gathered in central collecting   The men of the beleaguered   This map shows the po-
        around campfires near the   points. Survivors searched   regimental combat team had   sitions of the principal units
        remaining artillery pieces   the bodies for ammunition,   been under attack against   involved in the Battle of the
        and heavy weapons, trying to  weapons, and clothing.   overwhelming odds for 80   Chosin Reservoir. The Chi-
        find warmth. Thousands of   Nearly 600 wounded Amer-   hours in the harshest, sub-ze-  nese attacking forces in red
                                                               ro weather conditions ever   and the retreat routes of U.S.
                                                               faced by American troops.  forces in blue. Easy to see the
                                                                  Space will not allow for   U.S. forces were surrounded
                                                               the full recounting of this   making the breakout the
                                                               battle, considered the worst   extraordinary event it was.
                                                               in modern history. What we    Caught by surprise on
                                                               will do here is give you some   the night of November 27,
                                                               of the facts documented in   the understrength Army task
                                                               history. The main thrust is to   force had suffered through
                                                               acknowledge the remarkable   four consecutive nights of
                                                               break out of the Marines,   repeated ground attacks. The
                                                               the heroic efforts of the U.S   Chinese had massed their
                                                               Army holding off the Chinese  troops in human waves and
                                                               Communist Forces (CCF)     swarmed over American
                                                               for days. And the unflinching   foxholes into the perimeter,
                                                               bravery of the pilots who flew  fighting hand to hand, firing

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