While I was watching an interview with a U.S. Marine general who participated in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in Voice of America, I suddenly wondered what Americans thought of the battle.
Disclaimer: Are there any of your parents, grandparents, or acquaintances in this subreddit who are Korean War veterans? If there is, I would like to thank them indirectly.
33 comments
Most, including myself, are completely unaware of it.
I have a close family member who recently passed away who was in combat in Korea. Had PTSD and it bothered him all his life. He never spoke of his service until his last year or two.
I only know that it was a difficult battle during the Korean War, and I think most Americans have never heard of it.
I know about it in a historical context only, from books and such.
I know a couple Korean War vets but only that they were in Korea not specifics.
The absolutely stunning part of it was how in denial US/UN commanders were that China had actually entered the war. There was all this You evidence that was ignored or written off as “these are just isolated Chinese volunteers not regular Chinese army.”
Never
Very few Americans will have heard of it.
I read a lot of military history. The first marine division was spread too thin, and the brass had discounted both the possibility of Chinese entry into the war, and reports of troops slipping across the border. So they were caught completely by surprise.
A fighting retreat is probably the second hardest feat in warfare (second only to an amphibious invasion against a prepared enemy). That the marines were able to pull it off is a testament to their capabilities.
The Chinese celebrate it today using propaganda films (e.g, Battle at Llake Changjin 1 and 2) but the fact remains they did not encircle and destroy the marines despite overwhelming superiority in manpower.
Brutal battle. So cold the oil on firearms froze. Our marines were not properly supplied. Absolute worst possible situation.
I tend to be pretty critical of Douglas MacArthur for getting the Marines in that situation to begin with. He ignored a lot of intel that he should have paid attention to during that whole advance to the Yalu River, but he was so up his ass with his own legend that he just knew the Chinese wouldn’t intervene and turned out to be very wrong.
That said, we did get an all time line from Chesty Puller, “We’re surrounded? Great! Now we can attack in any direction.”
It improved my view of tootsie rolls
I’ve never heard of it.
That the US Marines are the toughest SOBs on the planet and the Chosin Reservoir proved it once again.
I thought the Chinese movie about it from last year was pretty cool
I’m aware of it, but don’t really know much about it. None of my family member fought in Korea, though I had some in pretty much every other war we’ve been in going back to the French and Indian War and up through Desert Storm.
As a Marine, it’s one of a handful of battles we initially learn about in boot camp. We’re taught about several ranging from our early days in the 18th century to the World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. We’ll delve a little further into it and other battles in infantry school and once you hit the fleet, although most PME is focused on our more modern engagements, such as 73 Easting, Fallujah, or Khasham.
Chosin would have been a nightmare to fight in, it was absolutely freezing and the Marines were poorly supplied, as well as being taken pretty much by total surprise by the entrance of Chinese forces, and by surprise I also mean poor leadership that seemed to not accept what was happening.
However, the battle itself is still a massive source of pride for us, as a SINGLE Marine division managed to hold off TEN Chinese divisions. We were outnumbered by a ridiculous amount and still managed to fight through the enemy and conduct our egress. Don’t let some retard simping for the CCP tell you it happened otherwise.
Korea is called “the forgotten war” in America sometimes. It was crammed between two world famous wars, WW2 and Vietnam war.
My grandfather was in Korea, but didn’t fight that particular battle.
I’ve heard a little bit about it , but in school we did not get into details of most of the battles. Mostly only covered the war at a high level.
I’ve never heard of that battle
Decades ago I read Douglas Knoxs’ 2-volume oral histories on the Korean War (*Pusan to Chosin* and *Forgotten War*, two fantastic and moving reads that I highly recommend if you can find a copy). It was a tragedy that could have been avoided had MacArthur and his staff had not been so dismissive of Chinese reaction to the UN advancement on the Yalu, and equally dismissive of the Chinese pouring across the border. There was ample warning they made every effort to ignore.
I think most Americans, myself included, have never heard of it.
Both of my grandfathers were in the military (air force and navy) and may or may not have done something in Korea, but it’s something I would never ask them (and one of them died in 2020).
From the title, I had no idea what part of the world that was, what war the battle occurred, or even which countries were involved.
The Armistice in Korea was signed in 1953, so even my grandparents were too young to have served there.
It, like most of the Korean War, is largely forgotten. I will say though the battle itself sounds downright terrifying. Also the fact that 30000 UN troops were able to hold off and break out against an estimated 120,000 Chinese troops speaks wonders on how well and hard those men fought.
This war wasn’t a majestic win that brought democracy to korea, nor was it a resounding defeat that let the dread commies run loose upon the world so it wasn’t taught as in depth as world war II war Vietnam was but I did learn the overarching events. The failure of this battle and most of the war in general was blamed squarely on Douglas macarthur, who from what I read seemed to be quite a bit up his own ass.
I have never heard of this
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir is the American Dunkirk. We didn’t officially “win” the battle, but the 1st Marine Division was able to fight its way out of an encirclement and conduct a successful fighting retreat. Not only that, they rendered seven Chinese divisions combat ineffective in the process while also evacuating thousands of civilians who might otherwise still be oppressed by the communist government. While the Chinese held the battlefield at the end of the day, they failed in their primary purpose of destroying the American forces, who would promptly be reorganized, refitted, and put back into the frontlines.
Another thing about the battle is that Chinese propaganda depicts their side of the battle as ardent communists fighting against American imperialist. In reality, most of the Chinese units at Chosin were former nationalists who joined the Chinese army after their Civil War ended. Originally, they were preparing for an amphibious assault on Taiwan but were sent to the Korean border when the war broke out. Mao purposefully sent them into the most remote region of Korea with the hopes that many potential disloyal soldiers would be killed in the process. Many Americans were surprised that many of their prisoners captured around Chosin were former nationalists.
I just know the basics, that it was freezing cold and an absolute clusterfuck.
I don’t know much about it. I’ve heard of it, along with a few Korean War battles but couldn’t tell you a damn thing
My history education in high school basically went straight from WW2 to Vietnam. We didn’t cover Korea *at all*. It’s sometimes referred to as “The Forgotten War”, because it is.
My wife’s uncle’s remains are still there.
My grandpa was a Korean war vet, but he died in ’96. He was Navy though, engineer’s mate or something on USS *Rendova* (CVE-114).
Born in early 90s. US History mostly stopped after World War II. In high school, I think we got to the Cold War and Cuban Missile crisis but it was from a geopolitical perspective so it didn’t go into battle and the details around them.
Completely unaware, though reading the comments I’ll have to look into it.
I don’t remember much about it but it was one of the bloodiest and/or important battles of the Korean war.
My grandmother’s step-dad fought there. He was one of the “Chosin few” who survived the Chinese assault. He never talked about it. Korea in general is kind of a forgotten war.