Stalled

On Thanksgiving Day, U.S. troops in the front lines ate turkey with trimmings, some of it delivered by airdrop. Next day, at 8 a.m., the big push got rolling. At first, enemy resistance was so negligible that some soldiers who had had no chance for a feast the day before because they were on the move sat down and gorged themselves on the fine holiday meal sent up by the quartermasters.

The attack sector extended some 70 miles across Korea's waist eastward from a point on the Yellow Sea below Chongju. The U.S. 2nd, 24th and 25th Divisions jumped off, alongside the R.O.K. 1st, 6th, 7th and 8th and the British 27th Brigade. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division was held in reserve. The offensive involved about 100,000 Allied troops against about 125,000 of the enemy, mostly Chinese.

Bugles, Whistles, Cymbals. There was no artillery preparation, because at most points the enemy had pulled back out of contact. But the air preparation was heavy--it had been going on for three weeks and it continued full-blast as the offensive started.

On the first day the 24th reached a high river dike south of Chongju, and the next day went on to take the ruined town without a fight. Other divisions gained several miles. The South Koreans pushed eleven miles north of Tokchon.

On the second day, the Reds' resistance stiffened. They counterattacked in darkness. The R.O.K. 8th Division fell back six miles, and other South Koreans were stalled south of Taechon.

The next night the Reds staged a furious counterattack, heralded by bugling, whistling, and the brazen clang of cymbals which dismally reminded the G.I.s of the surprise Chinese attack in early November. The South Koreans lost all of their ground north of Tokchon, and the town as well. Said a U.S. officer: "We can only assume that the R.O.K. II Corps [6th, 7th and 8th Divisions] disintegrated." The 1st Cavalry Division had to be rushed up to prevent a breakthrough. One company of the 25th Division was overrun ("There's damned little of that company left," the assistant division commander said). An artillery battery of the 2nd Division was overrun. For the moment, at least, MacArthur's big push was stopped in its tracks.

Crucial Arena. On the X Corps' front, which covered all the rest of the looping Allied line to the east coast, the enemy showed no such fight. The marines, probing carefully north along both sides of the Changjin reservoir, took the town of Udam on a western arm of the lake. On the Yalu, the 7th Division, moving west, extended its river frontage to ten miles. On the east coast, South Koreans seized the important but ruined port of Chongjin, pushed on north.

These gains were encouraging, but the western sector seemed to be the crucial arena. It was there, in front of the Yalu power sites, that the enemy had the bulk of his men and his strongest preparations for defense. General MacArthur would have to get his western offensive rolling again quickly to make good on the bold words of his opening-day communique. MacArthur ordered the marines at Changjin reservoir to strike west toward the flank of the rampaging Chinese. The marines moved three miles west, then stalled against stubborn resistance.

U.S. troops had not been involved in a surprise enemy action of such magnitude since the Battle of the Bulge.

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