Written by Vansant. Published January 2001.
Running the Gauntlet
"November 8. Under the orders General MacArthur, U.S. planes bombed the Korean end of the bridges over the Yalu River. Little damage was done, but the action did lead to the first air-to-air action of the war: Lieutenant Russell Brown, flying an F-80, shot down a Russian-made Mig-15...Damage to the bridges proved to be useless. Within weeks the river would be frozen, and the Chinese could just walk across."
Panel 1: On the next day, the 8th Army resumed the offensive. The units from left to high were 24th Division, ROK (Republic of Korea) 1st Division, 25th Division, 2nd Division, and ROK 7th and 8th Divisions. In reserve were the 1st Calvary Division, ROK 6th Division, the British Commonwealth Brigade and the newly arrived Turkish Brigade. The terrain in North Korea was much more rugged than it had been in South Korea.
Panel 2: On November 25, Chinese Communist Forces hit the 8th Army along the Chongchon River. They had about 203,000 men, nearly twice the 8th Army...The attack began in the evening, under a bright full moon. The thermometers in some sectors had fallen to fifteen degrees.
Panel 3: A Ranger unit attached to Mike Michaelis' 27th Regiment, lost sixty-four of eighty-five men in the initial assault. The Easy Company commander, 'Dusty' Desiderio, would win a posthumous Medal of Honor for holding his men together.
Panel 4: The 9th Regiment of the 2nd Division was hit especially hard.
