National Affairs 1950: U.S. Army In Retreat in Korea

Defeat

THE NATION Defeat The U.S. and its allies stood at the abyss of disaster. The Chinese Communists, pouring across the Manchurian border, had smashed the U.N. army, this week were clawing forward to pursue and destroy its still-organized fragments. Caught in the desperate retreat were 140,000 American troops, the flower of the U.S. Army—almost the whole effective Army the U.S. had.

It was defeat—the worst defeat the U.S. had ever suffered. Even though the U.N. forces might still have the luck, skill and power to slow the Communist drive and withdraw in good order from the devastated peninsula, it was a defeat that could not be redressed in Korea. If this defeat were allowed to stand, it would mean the loss of Asia to Communism.

The only way the statesmen could save the U.N. forces would be through a plea for an armistice, or acceptance of a deal with the Communists. By any such deal, Communism would emerge triumphant. The alternative was war—that is, a recognition of the terrible fact that the U.S. and Communist China were already in a state of war. That would mean, inescapably, a campaign against the mainland of China by sea and air.

That war would have to be pursued in the full knowledge that it might go on for years. The war would have to be begun in the knowledge that Russia might come in too, which would lead to the atomic horrors of World War III.

There was no sign of where or how the enemy onrush could be stopped.

As Chinese hordes poured around the Eighth Army's open right flank, the 24th, 2nd and 25th Divisions fell back to the Chongchon and began crossing at Sinanju where a valuable airfield was lost, Anju and Kunu farther upriver. It was obvious that General Walker would have to keep his whole Eighth Army moving south if it was not to be trapped.

The Communist drive down the center of Korea's waist broke all contact between the Eighth Army and General Almond's X Corps, sprawled out over northeastern Korea. At the Changjin reservoir, Major General Oliver Prince Smith's 1st Marine Division had made a vain try to cut in behind the Chinese attacking the Eighth. Now Smith's men were attacked by ten Communist divisions, which threw an iron ring around the reservoir.

The three marine regiments, which had been in separated positions around the reservoir, finally fought their way through to junction in Hagaru, to the south, after running into bloody ambushes along the roads. The Communists fired on them comfortably at steep grades and hairpin turns, where the marines' vehicles slowed to a crawl. A dreadful indication of the casualties in this sector was that 1,200 wounded were flown out in the first two days.

Retreat of the 20,000

"Retreat, hell!" snapped Major General Oliver Prince Smith of the 1st Marine Division. "We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction."

Said Colonel Lewis ("Chesty") Puller, battle-scarred commander of the 1st Marine Regiment: "We'll suffer heavy losses. The enemy greatly outnumbers us. They've blown the bridges and blocked the roads but we'll make it somehow."