National Affairs: Warrior

The 1st Marine Division's 70-mile march south from Changjin reservoir to the sea in the winter of 1950 has gone down in military annals as one of the great classic retreats in the history of war. Bringing their dead and wounded with them in sub-zero weather, pursued by eight fiercely attacking divisions of Chinese Communists, the marines of the 1st beat their way to Hungnam and rescue in 13 days. But proper marines never refer to the march as a retreat; in the parlance of the corps, it is always "an amphibious operation in reverse," or, simply, "the breakthrough to the...

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