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To: sphinx

Didn’t the ChiComs outnumber the Americans four to one at the Chosin Reservoir?

Hardly a “great victory”


10 posted on 11/11/2021 1:45:58 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin
Didn’t the ChiComs outnumber the Americans four to one at the Chosin Reservoir? Hardly a “great victory”

That becomes a somewhat tricky question. To the extent that it was a Chinese "victory," it was a Pyrrhic one. Operationally, the Chinese intervention did catch the allies by surprise, which was a massive failure of intelligence on our part. We were caught off balance and the Chinese counterattack reclaimed North Korea. That reset the strategic equation and the U.S., utterly preoccupied at the time by Europe, settled for the armistice and the continued division of Korea.

My question for the movie folks, however, is how a U.S. film would handle these calculations. Apparently the Chinese film presents it simply as a Chinese victory against a technologically superior adversary. I would guess that a U.S. film would be much more complex and explain the backstory in some detail. Consider how the most recent Midway (2019) handled an equally complex dynamic. We see an intelligent, honest depiction of the calculations on both sides. We also see courageous actions by sailors and airmen on both sides, while also acknowledging Japanese atrocities.

34 posted on 11/11/2021 2:04:01 PM PST by sphinx
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To: BenLurkin
"Didn’t the ChiComs outnumber the Americans four to one at the Chosin Reservoir?"

There were so many dead chinese the Americans were stacking the frozen bodies as barricades.

47 posted on 11/11/2021 2:29:07 PM PST by chief lee runamok (Anti Socialist Derelict at Large)
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