CHONGCHON
25th November - 1st December, 1950

A new UN offensive began on November 24th as the 8th Army once again pushed toward the Yalu. On the west flank, I Corps was deployed. The ROK II Corps stood to the east while IX Corps advanced in the centre.
Initially, the advance was steady along the entire front. Little did the UN troops know that the PRoC 38th Army had crossed the Yalu on November 10th. Moving only at night, they had eluded UN air reconnaissance and deployed along the Chongchon river by the 22nd. With time to rest and draw battle plans, an ambush of giant proportions was set. Always thinking on a large scale, General Lin Piao plotted the envelopment of the entire IX Corps.
Heavy blows fell first upon the ROK 8th Division on the night of November 25th. As ROK units melted away, the entire right flank of IX Corps was suddenly exposed. Standard PRoC tactics of infiltration, road-blocks and envelopment destroyed ROK resistance.
The US 2nd and 25th Divisions were assailed on and across the Chongchon, forcing the 25th Division to withdraw with heavy losses. The 2nd Division found extraction more difficult and was soon in an untenable salient. Its artillery positions, supposedly a safe distance behind the "front", were directly attacked by infantry from the PRoC 113th Division.
As the 2nd Division had been centred on Kujang-dong, this became a crucial point of defence for the UN troops. With the fall of Tokchon, a southerly escape route had to be held open. Kujang-dong was one of two routes upon which the PRoC advance could be blocked.
By November 27th, 2nd Division's right flank was in danger of collapse and withdrawal to Kunuri was necessary. To bolster the left flank and block the advance of the PRoC 114th Division, the newly arrived crack Turkish Army Command Force (TACF) was sent towards Wawon. Just east of there PRoC road-blocks stopped the Turks. Heavy fighting induced fearsome losses on both sides as the Chinese finally met an opponent who would not yield.
In time, even the Turks had to withdraw, having held off the PRoC advance long enough for the 2nd Division remnants to filter south. Within the closing trap only two routes of escape remained open. To the south-west, through a long road adjacent to the Chongchon, the cities of Anju and Sinanju remained in UN hands. The 1st Cavalry Division had been called from reserve and its 5th RCT held open the gate at Anju.

A more direct route to the south passed through steep hills, towards Sunchon, where the remainder of the 1st Cavalry Division waited. Though a seemingly quicker route, PRoC troops had conducted yet another envelopment and had infested the pass. Thus, exhausted and beaten, UN troops had to run a veritable gauntlet of fire.
By December 1st, the survivors of 2nd Division had reached Sunchon and another UN offensive had been smashed by a heretofore unseen enemy. Chinese troops were credited with superhuman abilities due to their lack of fear in the face of horrendous losses. In the waning days of December, the 8th army fled more than 120 miles despite the lack of pursuit. The longest retreat in the history of the US military had ended and UN morale had been utterly shattered in the woeful trek up the Chongchon, and down the "Gauntlet".