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
