Armed with their Type 50 version of the Soviet model Model PPSh41 7.62mm submachine gun. Note the light tent color and imagine trying to spot this position from 20,000 feet in the air while checking to make sure China was not moving into North Korea ... Exposed to total dominance in the air by the UN, where underground or deep cave positions were not available, troops must nonetheless live day by day, so continuous, effective camouflage was essential and part of their discipline.
Though a propaganda photo, the Chinese did move hundreds of thousands of troops into North Korea without detection. Also, their experience helped them adapt well to the severe Korean winters as compared to UN forces, at least early in the war.
That was not enough, however, to save them tens of thousands of deaths during their assaults on the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir. Speed kills in more ways than one. In Eighth Army's mad dash North, they exposed themselves to ambush and humiliating defeat. In China's mad dash to entrap the First Marine Division at Chosin, they did not pause to give their troops proper winter clothing, and may have failed in their objective as much by losses inflicted by the weather as by those inflicted by our Marines
