Given authority on 6 October to
pursue the NK across the 38th parallel, UN forces
drove north. ROK I Corps advanced up the east
coast. X Corps embarked at Inchon and Pusan for
another amphibious assault. EUSAK's I Corps
entered Pyongyang on 19 October. The 187th
Airborne RCT dropped 30 miles beyond.
ROK's reached the Yalu at
Chosan on 26 October. X Corps landed on the east
coast and pushed towards the Yalu. By the end of
October the surviving NK army was fighting mainly
guerilla actions. 135,000 prisoners had been
taken. But veteran Chinese (CCF) troops had
crossed the Yalu and had already struck overextended
UN units. While EUSAK consolidated along the
Chongchon, X Corps reached the Yalu at Hyesanjin,
ROK I Corps pushed into the north east corner of
Korea 60 miles from Siberia. The British 29th
Commonwealth Brigade, a battalion from Thailand,
and South African air units arrived in Korea.
Seemingly thinking that victory
was at hand, MacArthur announced on 24 November
the final drive to the northernmost limit of the
Korean peninsula.
In retrospect it seems obvious
that after China's 1st Phase Offensive we
should have stopped for the winter, forming a
defensible line across the narrow peninsula neck
from Pyongyang to Wonsan. That would have won the
war, but the CIA misjudged China's
intentions. When the CCF broke off to evaluate
the results of their first attack and re-group
for their next, General MacArthur misjudged their
strength.
The errors were fatal.
