Chapter 19 5. Nightmare Comes

On the night of November 30, 1950, on the Gaima Plateau in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, there was heavy snow and a howling cold wind. A U.S. military company huddled alone on the top of a hill in the vast wilderness.The soldiers lay in sleeping bags, revealing faces blackened by severe frostbite and pairs of frightened eyes. In the direction of Liutanli in the north, the sound of guns and artillery came continuously.In the direction of Xiajieyu-ri in the south, the sound of gunfire seemed to be clearer and more intense.But here it was dead silent. In the silence, the weird-sounding Chinese of the American soldiers came from different directions around the top of the mountain.They think that the pronunciation of Han Wu is the most incredible of all languages ​​in the world, a series of "clack" sounds.Now, the sound sounds even more erratic due to the low temperature of minus 40 degrees Celsius.Although it is true and illusory, American soldiers have already understood the meaning of these Chinese characters:

"American soldiers! You are surrounded! You have no hope! Put down your weapons! The volunteers give preferential treatment to prisoners! Give you warm clothes and hot food!" The shouts in Chinese echoed on the desolate and dark mountaintop, making the American soldiers shudder. The shouting lasted until midnight, and the anxiety of the American soldiers had reached its peak.They suddenly got out of their sleeping bags and nervously walked back and forth on the ground, cursing and shouting. Some soldiers squatted on the frozen snow and cried. Company F was sent here on the 27th when the First Marine Commander began his northward attack.

On the side of the road from Xiajieyuli to Liutanli, there is a highland that is stuck on the road, called Dedongling.The saddle-shaped ridge of Dedongling extends all the way to the side of the road, and forms a cliff several meters high when it approaches the road.This high ground is an important place that must be occupied and guarded if the road is to be passed.At this time, no matter from the perspective that the Chinese army wanted to completely cut off the connection between the two circular positions of the U.S. First Marine Division, or from the perspective that the U.S. military wanted to ensure the retreat of the Liudam-ri troops and reinforce Xiajieyu-ri, the Germans Dongling is destined to become a military point where the two sides will fight to the death.

Smith, the commander of the US Marine Division 1, had already thought about the issue of retreat when his troops were attacking north.He once said: "If this high ground is lost, the two marine regiments are finished." Captain William E. Barber of the 1st Marine Division had been named commander of Company F 20 days earlier.He was a 10-year Marine Corps veteran who had been an Airborne for two years, had shown bravery in World War II against the Japanese, and was promoted to second lieutenant in his third year in the army.On the island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean, the Marine Corps fought the Japanese army in a brutal and shocking battle, in which Barber won a silver medal.

Commander Smith attaches great importance to this important place stuck on the retreat road of the 1st Marine Division, which is reflected in his selection of Barber, a veteran of the Marine Corps, as the company commander, and Barber's F Company has received a heavy machine gun squad and a mortar squad The strengthening of the F Company resulted in a full 50 more men than any other Marine Corps company, for a total strength of 240.At the same time, a US 105 howitzer battery in Xiajieyu was also ordered to provide fire support to F company. On November 27, when Company F arrived at the Dedongling position, a long line of transport convoys from the 1st Marine Division were passing on the road under the high ground. The soldiers of Company F were extremely tired and no one wanted to dig fortifications on the frozen ground as hard as a rock immediately, so they all opened their sleeping bags and went to sleep.The three-platoon leader McCarthy kicked the soldiers' butts with his leather boots and yelled at them to get up and dig quickly.At this time, the sound of guns and artillery shells came from the directions of Yutan-ri and Xiajieyu-ri at the same time, and the Chinese army's attack on Deokdongling began.

It didn't take long for Barber to learn that C Company, another marine company that was sent by division commander Smith to the Dedongling area to guard the road at the same time as Company F, had suffered huge casualties under the attack of the Chinese army and had lost its position and was defeated. At this time, Captain Barber understood that Company F had no room to retreat. Just after midnight on the 27th, and at 2:00 am on the 28th, the Chinese army attacked Company F of the 1st Marine Division of the US Army, which was guarding Dedong Ridge. The force was one company.The attack started with the sound of bugles. Chinese soldiers attacked F Company's position from three sides, and once broke into F Company's defense line from the north. The two squads of F Company defending in the north suffered heavy losses, with 27 casualties out of 35 people.After the positions in the north were shaken, the positions in the west and northwest were also in crisis.Chinese soldiers rushed into the position and started a brutal hand-to-hand combat with American soldiers.Both sides used all the fighting tools that could be used, including digging shovels, picks, butts, bayonets and fists.Soldiers twisted together and rolled in the dark, choking each other, gouging eyes, and punching each other in the face.The top of the mountain was once occupied by Chinese soldiers, but was soon counterattacked by American soldiers.At this time, the artillery support of the U.S. artillery in Xiajieyu began. However, since the two sides had entered hand-to-hand combat, the U.S. artillery could only block the possible support routes of the Chinese army with intensive artillery fire. Supplementary forces are limited.

The fight lasted more than three hours.Near 6 o'clock in the morning, with a sharp whistle, the Chinese soldiers quickly withdrew from the battle.This was Company F's first night at Dukdong Ridge.This night, Company F suffered more than 70 casualties, of whom more than 20 died.In order to prevent the liquid from freezing, the health soldiers of the company ran back and forth with the injection container containing morphine in their mouths, but the spare plasma inevitably froze, and the wounded died due to untimely blood transfusion.Because the kerosene heaters were lit, the relatively warmer tents could not accommodate so many wounded, so the wounded from Company F lined up to enter the tents in turn.A ray of dawn gradually appeared in the sky. Soldiers of Company F collected the corpses of soldiers who had quickly stiffened in the cold after death, and a guard named Morrissey was in charge of registering the ID cards of the deceased.Barber counted the ammunition of the whole company and found that there was not much left.The materials dropped by the transport planes that came to drop ammunition and first-aid equipment basically fell on the outer periphery of the circular position where American soldiers dared not go.The transport plane came once and disappeared without a trace. Through wireless telephone contact, it was discovered that the transport plane was prohibited from landing because the runway length of the airstrip in Xiajieyu was not up to standard.

At that time, no one in the 1st US Marine Division knew that this was just the beginning of the tragic fate of Company F. On the night of the 28th, the 58th Division of the Chinese 20th Army started its attack on Company F again.The situation this night was almost the same as the previous night. After shocks and counterattacks, the positions changed hands several times.The difference is that this night's battle was even more brutal.Captain Barber's knee was pierced by a bullet that night.The duck down sleeping bags of American soldiers were picked up and waved by Chinese soldiers with bayonets.Although the loss of Company F this night was smaller than that of the previous night, the number of casualties reached more than 30, and the strength of Company F was already less than half.

After dawn, Company F, which was out of ammunition and food, hoped for precious supplies in despair.Another type of transport plane of the Marine Corps accurately dropped a large amount of supplies on the position of Company F, including ammunition, regular C-type dry food, coffee, blankets, stretchers and medicines. Colorful parachutes covered the top of the highland .The helicopter also delivered much-needed batteries to F Company's radio. Barber, who was lying on a stretcher, truthfully conveyed the current battle situation to the soldiers of the whole company. He told the soldiers that it was impossible to expect reinforcements from the troops. middle. Company F must stand firm here, otherwise, no one in the company will survive.

On the night of the 29th, the Chinese army did not attack. During the daytime on the 30th, Company F received supplies from planes again. The amount of supplies was already too much for a company. It was later proved that the road guarded by the Dedongling position played a key role in the retreat of the US Marine Division 1.There are many reasons why the Chinese army failed to completely eliminate F Company’s occupation of the Dedongling position. One of them is that continuous fighting in the severe cold requires sufficient supplies, the most important being ammunition, rations, and clothing to ensure that soldiers will not be frostbitten. It is precisely that supplies are the weakest link of the Chinese army.

The Chinese army, which has just ended its civil war, is far from meeting the needs of modern warfare in terms of logistical supplies.Fighting in a foreign country, without the support of the "big rear" of the people on which the army depends for survival, each army of the Chinese army can only rely on their own independent logistics service units with poor means of transportation for supplies.Although there are varying numbers of migrant workers following the Chinese army, the supply route on the Korean peninsula is so long and treacherous that the supplies that can be supplied by pushing them over their shoulders are like a drop in the bucket.From the northeastern border of China to the frontier of the Eastern Front battlefield, there is only one simple road winding among the mountains, and the US military has strictly blocked this only road.Due to the weakness of the Chinese army's air defense force, U.S. military pilots can attack any target that appears on the road without any scruples during the day, but at night, along this road, clusters of flares illuminate the sky brightly.Chinese truck drivers only take advantage of the short gap when the flares go out, and drive cars on unfamiliar and steep mountain roads without daring to turn on the lights, so they can drive slowly because the cars lead the way.Even so, shortly after the battle on the Eastern Front began, most of the small number of vehicles in the Chinese army had been lost.The Chinese army mobilized almost all non-combatants to participate in the transportation of materials. Officials at the military level, service personnel, and even actors from the cultural troupe all joined in the work of delivering materials to the front.They carried ammunition and food in the ice and snow, and marched hard in the snowstorm. Every grain and every bullet sent to the front line was bought at the cost of their lives. In a state of extreme hunger and lack of clothing to keep out the cold. A small team transporting materials was pleasantly surprised to find a railway in the barren mountains, which was an abandoned narrow-gauge railway for transporting ore. They immediately felt that the future was bright.After searching, they finally found a dilapidated carriage with only four wheels and two crossbars. They nailed the planks, loaded the ammunition, and began to push the carriage.The snow-covered narrow-gauge railway is not only winding, but also has huge steep slopes from time to time. There are only five people in this team, three of them are pulling with ropes in front of the carriage, and the remaining two are pushing behind.A cultural teacher named Nie Zhengfu later recalled: I don't know how many ravines and steep slopes I have passed, and I don't know how many miles I have walked. The night is getting deeper, and the cold wind in the valley is blowing snow powder and hitting my face.Ice beads formed on our beards and eyebrows, and it was difficult to breathe. Hunger, cold and exhaustion all attacked us at the same time.I gritted my teeth, pushed the carriage vigorously with both hands, stepped over the sleepers mechanically with my feet, and climbed up step by step.I haven't eaten for two days. I bent down and grabbed a handful of snow and stuffed it into my mouth. It was cool for a while, but slowly it didn't help.His body was limp and he had no strength, his heart felt uncomfortable like a bug bite, and his head was even more dizzy.At the same time, both hands also felt abnormal pain, from the back of the hand to the arm.I thought I was injured by a shell that exploded on the side of the road. After a closer look, I found that the back of my hand was swollen like a steamed bun. It turned out that the blood was frozen... In view of the situation on the Eastern Front, Peng Dehuai sent a telegram to the Volunteer Army's ninth Corps: Concentrate forces to encircle and annihilate the U.S. forces in Xinxingli, and "encircle but not annihilate" Liutanli and Xiajieyuli. On the evening of the 30th, Song Shilun, commander of the Ninth Corps, adjusted his deployment and concentrated the 80th and 81st divisions in Xinxingli. Almost at the same time, at 19:20 on the evening of the 30th, Smith, the commander of the 1st US Marine Division, officially issued an order to retreat to Xiajieyu-ri to the 5th and 7th regiments located in Liutan-ri. Lieutenant Colonel Murray, head of the Fifth Regiment of the First Division of the US Marine Corps in Liutanli, and Colonel Lizberger, head of the Seventh Regiment, met when they received the order to retreat.These two World War II veterans knew it was a matter of life and death for them.The two even said "God bless" to each other. There was a meaning in the words that both parties understood. Murray will be promoted to colonel, while Lizberger will be promoted to brigadier general. As long as you can survive the Great Escape, everything will still be fine. The two regiment leaders made a plan for a joint retreat: The fifth and seventh regiments quickly advanced to Xiajieyuli along the road from Liutanli to Xiajieyuli.First, the infantry captured the main points on both sides of the road one by one, and the vehicle column advanced along the road under its cover.The first unit used the darkness to break through the gap between the enemy, implemented cross-country maneuvers, and secretly moved to the Dedongling Pass to rescue F Company while strengthening the key points of the pass and covering the main force to pass through the pass.The vanguard battalion is the third battalion of the fifth regiment, and the one responsible for cross-country mobility is the first battalion of the seventh regiment.Before starting the attack to the south, use the third battalion of the seventh regiment to capture the 1542 highland, and another company to capture the 1419 highland to gain a foothold for the main force to retreat. That night, the two regiment leaders kept receiving battlefield notifications from the division headquarters: At Xinxingli, an important stronghold on their long way of fleeing, the Chinese army launched a fierce attack, and the U.S. troops besieged there had already died. into a state of confusion.However, I can no longer think about more things, anyway, I must break through after dawn. On December 1, the early morning in Liutanli was very noisy. As soon as the sky dawned, the 155 howitzers began group firing.No one knew exactly where the artillerymen were going to shoot their shells.Because the 155 howitzer is too bulky, in order to facilitate the retreat with the infantry, the shells must be fired before retreating.The helicopter brought the driver of the tank that had been paralyzed in the position because there was no driver here. The driver was thrown into the battlefield at this moment. One can imagine the mood. He launched the tank and frantically chaotically change.According to Commander Smith's order, most of the supplies had to be loaded into vehicles and taken away, so the soldiers began to load the vehicles in a tense and dazed mood. Since there was no attack from the Chinese army, the soldiers seemed to feel that this was not fleeing, but like moving.The melody of the American national anthem played by trumpets suddenly wafted from the two corners of the circular position. The melody trembled in the cold wind, reminding the American soldiers of those things that could not be taken away—the bodies of countless American soldiers were buried on the spot. here.The bodies of these American soldiers did not return to the other side of the Pacific Ocean with the permission of the North Korean government until 40 years after the end of the Korean War, the hometown of these American soldiers. At 8 o'clock, with the fifth regiment and the third battalion as the vanguard, the US military began to break through.Almost at the same time that the U.S. Army began to break through, the 79th Division of the Chinese 27th Army, which surrounded Liutanli, responded immediately and launched a fierce attack on various high grounds.In the 1249 highland, 1419 highland, and the 1282 highland, which the two sides have been fighting for repeatedly, desperate battles took place.American soldiers with good logistics supplies also showed desperate ferocity at this critical moment, because they knew that once the position was lost, the retreating troops, together with themselves, would be wiped out.The Chinese soldiers who held on to the encirclement in the cold and hunger also showed extraordinary bravery, because the reason why they endured hunger and cold until now is to deal a devastating blow to the First Division of the US Army. escaped like this. On the 1282 Heights, it was a platoon of the 235th Regiment of the 79th Division that fought with the US military.The platoon leader is called Hu Jinsheng.When Hu Jinsheng's battalion commander explained the combat mission to him, he especially emphasized the importance of the 1282 highland: "Below the highland is the road leading to Xiajieyu-ri. If the enemy runs away from here, our blood will be shed in vain! Even if there is only one person left, we must guard it!" The battle for the 1282 Heights was therefore unprecedentedly brutal.Soldiers from both sides saw each other on the high ground as many as seven times.Competing with the Chinese soldiers for the high ground was Company C of the U.S. Marine Corps. This company prepared a large number of hand grenades from the beginning based on what they knew about the tactics of the Chinese soldiers, so the two sides fought a chaotic "grenade battle."U.S. planes flew in groups on the high ground, because the soldiers on the ground fought together, and the support planes did not dare to drop bombs, so they carried out the task of "intimidating Chinese soldiers".After the seventh battle, the platoon leader Hu Jinsheng died, and there were only two Chinese soldiers left on the high ground, one was the squad leader Chen Zhongxian, and the other was the ammunition hand Xiao Huang.The final charge of the U.S. military began, and Xiao Huang fell down. Chen Zhongxian stood up holding a machine gun in the sky-high flames, and swept angrily at the densely packed U.S. soldiers, who retreated again.With this retreat, the U.S. military was no longer able to organize an attack on this high ground, because at this time the U.S. troops of Company G discovered that all U.S. troops in Liutanli had been withdrawn, and it would be too late if they did not run away.When Company C dropped the bodies of the dead and wounded American soldiers and fled in the direction of Xiagaru-ri, the U.S. planes and artillery bombarded the highland violently. The U.S. engineers even detonated the remaining explosives on the highland. into a sea of ​​fire. Due to the pressure of the Chinese soldiers on the high ground around Liutanli, the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment of the 1st Division of the U.S. Marine Corps, as the retreating vanguard battalion, did not really take on the responsibility of opening the way for the breakout until nearly 16:00 in the afternoon. On the road from Liutanli to Xiajieyuli, a long convoy of US troops walked slowly.This is the weakest moment of the US military.On almost every high ground on both sides of the road, there were bullets and chasing artillery shells fired by Chinese soldiers towards the road. Moreover, it didn't take long for it to get dark and the U.S. planes could not come to support them. The U.S. soldiers knew that it was their bad luck.Chinese soldiers rushed down from the high ground on both sides of the road, and approached the retreating US troops in squads. They first used grenades to test, and then they rushed straight in.The American soldiers resisted desperately in the darkness that made them frightened, and the retreating team was forced to stop again and again.American officers organized resistance again and again, doing their best not to break up the retreating ranks.The main artillery firepower of the U.S. military, the 105 howitzer, has become scrap iron because of the lack of shells. The only use of this steel guy is to tie the bodies of dead U.S. soldiers to the barrel and bring them back.A truck full of wounded crashed into the guardrail of a small bridge in a panic, the bridge collapsed, and the truck and the wounded fell into the glacier.The slightly wounded struggled to climb ashore, while the seriously wounded who were bandaged to the truck bed disappeared immediately.Under the strong request of the US military on the ground, after dropping a large number of flares, the US military pilots made an exception and began to provide fire support at night.The bombs dropped by the planes inevitably caused heavy casualties to soldiers on both sides.The pilots may feel that such low-altitude bombing is too exciting. When the ground asked them to provide fire support to a high ground beside the road, they actually used napalm bombs and 500-pound bombs on a small ridge where Chinese soldiers appeared. For twenty-five minutes of bombing, they said they were going to make that little ridge "one of the most useless pieces of land in the world." The first night of the retreat from Liutanli was the night when the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Army suffered a large number of casualties.After dawn, the U.S. military's support aircraft almost stuck to the top of the Marines' heads to cover their retreat inch by inch. According to the battle routine, this night should be the night when the two regiments of the 1st Division of the US Marine Corps were wiped out. However, the Chinese army, which is best at night battles, failed to seize the opportunity to wipe them out. In addition, for Chinese soldiers, the biggest threat is the air support of the US military. This is something that Chinese soldiers without any air support and anti-aircraft firepower cannot overcome. As soon as the sun breaks, Chinese soldiers can hardly show up on the battlefield .If the Chinese army has even a small amount of air power, the US Marine Corps will shed blood in rivers that night.Take the words of the Director of Operations of the First Marine Division of the U.S. Army: "If the Chinese army has a certain amount of air power and sufficient logistical support, none of the Marine Corps will be able to escape alive." When Commander Smith was arranging the retreat, one of the most important decisions was to send a unit off the road, use the field and cross-country marching method to quickly rush to Dedong Ridge, join up with F Company standing there, and consolidate the card. The most critical point on the retreat route. The first battalion of the Seventh Marine Regiment was in charge of the field breakthrough mission, and its battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Davis, was personally selected by Lizberger, the head of the seventh regiment.Lieutenant Colonel Davy, a graduate of Georgia Tech, had served with distinction as a battalion commander on Pelelius during World War II.Lizberg expressed his thoughts to Davis in this way: We must rescue F Company and strengthen the strength of Dedong Ridge Highlands.The Chinese army believes that American soldiers will only fight on roads, and in fact it is true. Previous battles have shown that once American soldiers leave the road, they will die.This time it is to surprise the Chinese people. Lieutenant Colonel Davis made careful preparations.In addition to picking out the wounded and ill-health soldiers in this battalion, the firepower equipment of the whole battalion has been specially strengthened, including the double preparation of various weapons, and the number of ammunition for mortars has also increased by one. times.In addition to carrying four rations per person, soldiers must also carry a round of artillery shells, a pair of duck down sleeping bags to prevent frostbite, double the amount of machine gun and rifle bullets, and other necessary field items.In this way, the weight of each soldier in the first battalion reached more than 50 kilograms.In order to keep in touch, Davis replaced the commonly used SCR-300 portable radio station with the AN/GRC-9 backpack radio station for long-distance communication, and the artillery liaison personnel also carried the SCR-610 with a longer communication distance radio station. The route of Camp Davis first passed through the 1419 Heights held by Chinese soldiers.I thought it would be no problem to take this high ground in broad daylight, because according to the report, the Chinese soldiers who stood on this high ground had persisted for three days without any supplies. The US military believed that the Chinese soldiers on the high ground would freeze to death if they were not starved Even if he survived, he would no longer have any fighting power.However, the U.S. soldiers soon discovered that the Chinese soldiers holding on to this highland still showed extraordinary tenacity. There may be some living things alive, but American soldiers just can't climb up.The battle to attack this high ground continued from morning to dusk. Lizberger increased the attack force twice, and finally participated in the attack, including a company from Davis Camp, with four connections and nearly 800 people, and also strengthened the aircraft , howitzers and pursuit artillery support, the 1419 highland was last broken by the US military at 19:30 in the evening. The Davis battalion suffered heavy losses before it actually set off, and Lizberg had to add another company to Davis. At 21:00 in the evening, Davis ordered his battalion to advance to Dedong Ridge.The soldiers who had fought a day of battle during the day were all in tatters, and their heavy military uniforms were soaked with sweat. At this time, Davis looked at the thermometer, and it was minus 24°C.He told the soldiers: "If you spend the night in wet underwear in this temperature, you are looking for death. We must leave overnight." It should be said that the actions of the Davis Camp were indeed beyond the expectations of the Chinese army.There is no precedent for American soldiers to march in the barren hills without roads at night.Walking step by step in knee-deep snow, American soldiers have never suffered such hardship.Soldiers kept falling behind, and there were sporadic battles with Chinese soldiers. Cold guns and cold guns flew from nowhere in the dark.Davis didn't dare to turn on the radio to make any noise. He only kicked and screamed a few times when the soldiers couldn't move anymore. If they couldn't move anymore, he ordered the soldiers to lie down in sleeping bags. Sleep for a while.The danger was always there, and just as Davis got into his sleeping bag, a cold bullet penetrated his sleeping bag. He said: "Almost scalped me." The American soldiers who were a little dazed by the fear of death and the harsh environment often deviated from the planned route and almost walked to the Chinese army's position several times.Davis, promoted to major general after the Korean War, recalled: There are some fortifications dug by the Chinese along the way. I often go down to these fortifications and use the compass to determine the direction.Twice I put my military raincoat over my head, then lay on my stomach, and by the light of my flashlight, I calibrated my map to check the direction of the march.I pointed my head at a directional object, then turned off the flashlight, took off the raincoat, and walked out of the fortification to determine the direction, but I often couldn't remember what I did under the raincoat, and stood there in a daze.I had to go down the fort again and start over.All the people keep coming to you over and over again to figure out what to do, the cold actually completely numbs us. At dawn on December 2, Davis Camp near Dade Hole Ridge.When approaching F company, they were stubbornly blocked by the Chinese army.After a morning of fighting, at 11:00, the Davis Battalion rendezvoused with Company F. Davis Battalion exchanged huge casualties for the hope that the entire US Marine Division could escape from the doom of destruction. On the 3rd, the main force of the two regiments of the First Marine Division retreated to Dedong Ridge.After reorganizing the team, continue to retreat to Xiajieyu.The vehicle was full of wounded, and some of the less injured had to be driven out on foot.The jeeps of the two regimental commanders were also packed with wounded, and Murray and Lizberger had to walk with the soldiers.Long vehicles and infantry were mixed together, moving forward in a chaotic sequence. On both sides of the road, companies responsible for covering were dispatched, and the planes overhead continuously reported the current blocking position and strength of the Chinese army.On this day, the pilots of the Marine Corps carried out 145 sorties. In addition to bombing all ridges that might be blocked by the Chinese army, they also continuously dropped any supplies required by the ground, including gasoline for vehicles. On the 4th, the fifth and seventh regiments of the US Marine Division 1 retreated to Xiajieyuli. The distance from Liutanli to Xiajieyuli is 22 kilometers. The leading troops of the Marine Division spent 59 hours within the 22 kilometers, while the rear troops spent 77 hours, walking an average of 300 meters per hour. Kilometer takes 3 hours.There were 1,500 casualties during the retreat, 500 of whom were frostbitten. Margaret Higgins, a female military reporter of the New York Herald Tribune, wrote after witnessing the retreat of American soldiers to the position of Hagaru-ri: I saw these beaten officers and soldiers in Xiajieyu, and I couldn't help wondering whether they would have the strength to escape again if they were hit again.The clothes of the officers and soldiers were in tatters, their faces were swollen by the cold wind, bleeding, their gloves were torn, their threads were torn, and their hats were gone. Some ears were frozen purple, and some feet were frozen. Without shoes, he walked into the doctor's tent with bare feet... Lieutenant Colonel Murray of the Fifth Regiment, like a desolate undead, was completely different from when he commanded the Fifth Regiment to successfully land in Incheon... …and Lieutenant Colonel Murray, “like a downcast ghost,” himself said: The five days and nights that opened the blood were like a nightmare, the worst the Marine Corps has ever had.In the vicinity of Liutanli, every night I think that I will never see the dawn again. The news of the withdrawal of the US Marines from the Eastern Front immediately produced two different reactions in the United States.One sees this as a great disgrace and failure for the American military; the other sees the retreat as "a feat". In any case, the withdrawal of the U.S. military from the Eastern Front was the result of the great victory that the Chinese army had won throughout the Korean battlefield.It proves that at least as of this moment, the initiative of the war has been firmly in the hands of the Chinese army.As for why the U.S. military was able to withdraw from the tight encirclement, some people think that it is the result of the over-dispersion of Chinese troops on the eastern front, while others think that it is caused by the huge disparity in weapons and equipment, logistics supplies and communication facilities. The outcome of a war has always been the result of a combination of various factors. For the United States, a retreat that has no strategic meaning and is completely life-saving is a forced behavior anyway, and it is a ruthless mockery of the myth of the US military's "invincibility". Moreover, retreating to Xiajieyu-ri does not mean the end of the nightmare.For the soldiers of the US Marine Division 1, their journey to hell has just begun.