From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Retreat, Hell! is a 1952 American war film about the 1st Marine Division in the Korean War, directed by Joseph H. Lewis. It stars Frank Lovejoy as a career Marine battalion commander who is recalled from work at an American embassy, Richard Carlson as a veteran captain and communications specialist of World War II called up from the Marine Corps Reserves, Russ Tamblyn as a seventeen-year-old private who hides his true age to serve with the unit overseas and outdo his older brother, also a Marine, and Nedrick Young (credited as Ned Young). Also appearing in the film is Peter Julien Ortiz, a highly decorated Marine who served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and appeared in various films after retiring from the military.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retreat,_Hell!
Battle of Chosin Reservoir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as the Chosin Reservoir Campaign or the Changjin Lake Campaign (Korean: 장진호 ì „íˆ¬(長津湖戰鬪); Chinese: 长津湖战役; pinyin: Cháng JÄ«n Hú Zhà nyì),[c] was a decisive battle in the Korean War. "Chosin" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Korean name, "Changjin". The UN forces relied on Japanese language maps dating from their occupation of Korea which had only ended five years earlier at the conclusion of World War II. Shortly after the People's Republic of China entered the conflict, the People's Volunteer Army 9th Army[d] infiltrated the northeastern part of North Korea.
On 27 November, the Chinese 9th Army surprised the US X Corps commanded by Major General Edward Almond at the Chosin Reservoir area. A brutal 17 day battle in freezing weather soon followed. In the period between 27 November and 13 December 1950, 30,000[4] United Nations troops (later nicknamed "The Chosin Few") under the field command of Major General Oliver P. Smith were encircled and attacked by approximately 67,000[6] Chinese troops under the command of Song Shi-Lun, who had been ordered by Mao Zedong to destroy the UN forces. The UN forces were nonetheless able to make a fighting withdrawal and broke out of the encirclement while inflicting crippling losses on the Chinese. While the battle resulted in the Chinese pushing the UN out of North Korea, it was a Pyrrhic victory. The evacuation of the X Corps from the port of Hungnam marked the complete withdrawal of UN troops from North Korea.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chosin_Reservoir
I have never studied the battle of the Chosin Reservoir but did read Chesty Puller’s biography.
Sometimes it is hard to believe America produced such great men.
Retreat Hell” is just part of a quotation. Two classic Marine quotes came out of the Chosin Reservoir battles:
“We’re surrounded.
That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them.
Now we can fire in any direction,
those bastards won’t get away this time!”
[Brigadier General Chesty Puller]
“Retreat, hell!
We’re attacking in a different direction!”
[Major General Oliver Smith]
Some absolutely heroic actions were commonplace in the Chosin Reservoir fighting. Some of them are shown from time to time on the Military Channel or American Heroes Channel.
If anyone hasn’t seen Frank Lovejoy, this is a good introduction.
NOTE: This year is the sixty-fifth anniversary of this momentus battle, little remembered by most Americans today.
Thanks for posting this...watching now, never seen it. I like it so far.
My brother was in the 3rd division at Hungnam and helped set the charges that destroyed the harbor after they got the Marines out.