Hobby Master Archive

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir took place in North Korea from November 27 - December 6, 1950. UN troops had been defeating the North Korean Army and had driven well into North Korea. With such success the UN Commanders under US General Douglas MacArthur started to become complacent and gave little thought to the thousands of soldiers of the People’s Republic of China that were gathering on the border with North Korea. As the UN Forces continued further north to the Chosin Reservoir it was perceived as a threat to their country so thousands of Chinese troops flooded over the Yalu River and into North Korea and entered the conflict. The UN troops quickly became encircled and fierce fighting broke and continued for 10 days. The temperature was brutally cold and several thousand soldiers from both sides suffered severe frostbite. It was because of this battle and the weather conditions that the UN troops were nicknamed the “Frozen Chosin” or the “Chosin Few”. Even though the UN troops inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese one UN group was virtually eliminate. The UN forces were forced to give up the Chosin Reservoir and eventually North Korea itself. After years of fighting from June 1950 - July 1953 and seesaw battles both sides agreed upon a cease-fire and a dividing line between North and South Korea was chosen. The almost ironic thing is the dividing line is almost where the previous division was in 1950. Thousands of people were killed on both sides, great loss of property and suffering for the civilian populations just to end up at the same place and no winner. Even after more than 50 years there never has been an official end to the Korean War.