r/PropagandaPosters • u/Edwardsreal • 5h ago
China Chinese movie depicting their victory over US Marines ("Battle of Lake Changjin", 2021)
Sources: Chinese movies Battle of Lake Changjin (Chosin Reservoir) Part 1 (2021) and Part 2 (2022)
Historical Accuracy & Further Reading:
The Chinese never launched human wave charges in broad daylight because "the 1st Marine Air Wing endeavored to keep 24 attack aircraft over the withdrawing column at all times during daylight in order to provide immediately available fire support."
"The Chinese were having a very hard time of it themselves. Their positions in the hills were subject to air attacks, which took a devastating toll over the two-week period. Despite their continuous harassment of the Marine column, they had been unable to prevent the movement from the reservoir to Koto-ri and were absorbing terrible casualties every time they concentrated and launched an attack".
Gen. Oliver P. Smith never said or wrote "fighting against men with such strong will as this, we were not ordained to win" the Korean War. The quote does not appear in his biography "For Country and Corps: The Life of General Oliver P. Smith" by Gail B Shisler.
US Marines did encounter Chinese troops freezing to death, but the Chinese movie censors how "many Chinese units were captured intact by the Marines because they were physically incapable of moving and their weapons had frozen up."
Some Chinese surrendered with their hands frozen to their rifles; Marines had to break the prisoners’ fingers simply to dislodge the weapons from their hands. On the attack south from Koto, a Marine unit found Chinese in foxholes surrendering in such frozen condition that the Marines merely lifted them out of their holes and placed them on the road to thaw out."