BATTLE OF THE CHOSIN RESERVOIR BEGINS

Battle of the Chosin Reservoir begins

As the wider front buckled, the crisis in Korea intensified around the frozen Chosin Reservoir, where United States Marines and attached Army units held positions along mountain roads and ridges. On the night of November 27th, large Chinese forces struck in coordinated attacks, seeking to encircle and destroy these scattered garrisons in temperatures that plunged far below freezing. Over the next days, Marines, soldiers, and support troops fought a defensive battle marked by close-quarters engagements, improvised perimeter defenses, and heroic efforts by engineers, aviators, and logisticians to keep roads open. Rather than collapsing, the surrounded forces formed a column and fought their way south toward the coast, bringing out their wounded and much of their equipment. The withdrawal from Chosin, costly as it was, became a defining story of discipline, small-unit leadership, and the ability to maintain cohesion under extreme pressure.