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On November 25, the Chinese reemerged in great force and with great fury. They rapidly destroyed the ROK II Corps, driving them back with such speed as to leave the U.S. Second Infantry Division without a right ®ank, while the ROK First Division was being hit on the Second’s west. Efforts to reinforce the retreating troops from around Kunu-ri failed. Indeed, Kunu-ri, just east of the Chongchon River, was bypassed by the Chinese, who not only continued southward behind U.N. forces, but also ambushed some seven thousand retreating soldiers of the Second Infantry Division, south of the city. Only four thousand emerged from the trap, the survivors being indebted to¤erce intervention by the American Air Force and by the British Commonwealth troops, who fought northward to open the road. The entire line withdrew southward, and by December 5, General Walker’s Eighth Army was positioned below the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Within a few weeks, the Eighth Army would be back at the 38th parallel and would not be able to stop there. Meanwhile, General Almond’s X Corps was beginning to react to the reality of their situation, after an apparent reluctance to recognize that they were now on the defensive. Even as late as November 27, the First Marines were being urged to advance northwest in an aggressive fashion, as if the momentum had not been altered. On the 28th, however, the Marines to the west of the Chosen Reservoir and the units of the Seventh Infantry Division to the east were being vigorously attacked by up to six Chinese divisions . From Yudam-ni to Koto-ri, on the way toward Hamhung, the Americans were surrounded and pummeled. Heroic efforts were made to assemble 5 Disaster and Retreat the remnants of the Marines from Yudam-ni and the soldiers from the eastern portion of the Reservoir at Hagaru. Only a portion of the troops made it to Hagaru, from which Marine General Oliver Smith led all who had made it to that point on an extraordinary ¤fteen-mile journey in bitter cold, ¤ghting all the way, until, after nearly two weeks, they were able to gain access to Hamhung , and thence, to Hungnam and evacuation. Meanwhile, the ROK and other Seventh Division elements, which had been extended up toward the Yalu, had been withdrawn to the port area around the time General Smith’s ordeal was beginning. Evacuation of U.N. forces took place almost simultaneously on the west and east coasts of North Korea during December and early January, in a masterful performance by the Allied navies. On the west, at Chinampo, in North Korea, and at Inchon, in South Korea, enormous amounts of equipment were salvaged, in addition to the successful removal of some seventy thousand individuals. This was accomplished under dif¤cult circumstances relative to the port conditions, but under somewhat less immediate pressure from the enemy. On the east coast, the pressure against Hamhung continued throughout the month of December. While the Marines were evacuated by the middle of the month, followed by ROK troops, the Army units remained a bit longer, while tens of thousands of Koreans were taken aboard as refugees. The last Army units did not leave Hungnam until Christmas Eve. It seems Chaplain Rosen was among the latter. He appears to have spent close to a month in the Hamhung-Hungnam sector, until the end of the American presence in North Korea, writing extensively of his experiences during that time. 40 / Disaster and Retreat ...

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