On the night of November 27, 1950, in 30-degree weather, more than 80,000 soldiers of the 9th Army Group of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacked the American X Corps along a 35-mile stretch of road west and south of the Chosin (Changjin) Reservoir in Korea. By the morning of November 28, nearly the entire 1st Marine Division and the equivalent of a regiment of the U.S. Army’s 7th Infantry Division were under siege in six separate enclaves.

Nearly two regiments of Marines and three artillery battalions were holding Yudam-ni. Fourteen miles to the south, at Hagaru-ri, the Marine division’s forward command post, two artillery batteries, the equivalent of a battalion of infantry and an odd collection of service and support units were holding out. At Koto-ri, 11 miles farther south along the X Corps’ main supply route (MSR), a Marine headquarters, rifle battalion and artillery battery also were holding out. On the east side of the reservoir, two 7th Infantry Division rifle battalions, two artillery batteries and a regimental headquarters manned three isolated, precarious positions. A Marine battalion at Chinhung-ni, 10 miles south of Koto-ri, was molested but not endangered.

Both X Corps and 1st Marine Division planners immediately saw that securing the one-lane MSR connecting all the embattled forces would be the key to preventing a collapse. The pressure being applied to Marine units at Yudam-ni and Hagaru-ri and to U.S. Army units east of the reservoir was unremitting. Koto-ri was under less pressure and the MSR to the southerly Chinhung-ni was open.

Once the fog of war began lifting, all available combat units south of Chinhung-ni were ordered to Koto-ri. By the afternoon of November 28, Koto-ri was a vast vehicle park for piled-up traffic moving up from the rear. Among the mixed bag of units in this assemblage, G (’George’) Company, 1st Marine Regiment, on its way to rejoin its battalion at Hagaru-ri, had been stopped. So had the last convoy of trucks carrying the 1st Marine Division’s forward command post. Then too, B (’Baker’) Company, 31st Infantry (Baker/31), a 7th Infantry Division unit plucked from duty elsewhere, arrived after dark, as did 41 Independent Commando, Royal Marines, a 240-man British force attached to the 1st Marine Division to bolster its reconnaissance capability.

There were also scores of trucks brimming with Army headquarters and service troops and their equipment and baggage. No one really knew how many men there were within the confines of the Koto-ri perimeter. As many transients as possible were put into tents that night. Most had to feed themselves and many went hungry.Colonel Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller ordered his 1st Marine Regiment headquarters to organize the transients into a convoy that would be able to break through to Hagaru-ri in the morning. As the senior combat officer among the transients, Lt. Col. Douglas B. Drysdale, commander of 41 Commando, was placed in overall charge of the mixed unit, though hardly any of his new subordinates were so informed. According to Army Captain Charles Peckham of Baker/31, Puller personally ordered him to break through the Chinese roadblocks and lead the convoy all the way to Hagaru-ri.

On the morning of November 29, Task Force Drysdale units followed up United Nations artillery and airstrikes by attacking two Chinese-held areas on the MSR and opening the way for the Drysdale convoy. Captain Bruce Clarke’s D (’Dog’) Company, 1st Tank Battalion, arrived later from the south to find the convoy stalled at a third point. After the tanks were refueled, Clarke ordered 1st Lt. Paul Sanders’ five-tank platoon to support an assault on the ridgeline overlooking the MSR by 41 Commando and George/1st Marines. Sanders conferred briefly with Drysdale, who assigned him a common radio frequency and a small infantry support team. When Sanders’ five tanks moved up the road, they were able to fire down the ling axis of the enemy-held ridge.

The Royal Marines and George Company delivered a spirited attack with the aid of the tanks and close air support. The tanks seemed to account for several Chinese strongpoints. In time, however, Sanders lost radio contact with Drysdale and had to stop firing. When Sanders looked back to see how the convoy was faring, he was surprised to see that it had fallen far behind. Ahead, he could not even spot Baker/31, which had advanced out of range, beyond the tanks. Sanders queried headquarters and was ordered to proceed slowly up the MSR with the remainder of his company: an attached tank platoon would follow in this tracks. As soon as the major PLA strongpoint on the ridge overlooking the MSR just north of Koto-ri had been cleared, the Marines moved down the roadway and climbed aboard trucks, while 41 Commando deployed between the roadway and the skyline to screen the first elements of the long column of vehicles. It was a misty day and snow flurries whipped into the faces of the troops each time they dismounted from their vehicles to return fire. Marine Vought F4U-4 Corsairs were on station overhead, but the shifting mists and the closeness of the jumbled terrain forced many of the fighter-bombers to pull up before they could get close enough to their targets. Progress on the roadway was agonizingly slow. In the vanguard, Peckham maneuvered Baker/31 with great care. Behind, Captain Carl Sitter’s George Company maneuvered against numerous Chinese infantrymen who had been driven briefly to ground by Peckham’s company. As Baker/31’s vanguard inched forward in the column lead, Drysdale’s native aggressiveness, according to many survivors, got the better of his judgment. Peckham may have been concluding an exemplary advance against serious odds, but he was too methodical for Drysdale. It was well past noon and Peckham was directing the loading of the lead platoon’s trucks following the reduction of yet another roadside strongpoint when a tank surged past him. The next vehicle was a jeep bearing Drysdale, who yelled above the din, ‘Let’s move forward!’ Peckham demurred–he had wounded men on his hands and would not advance until they had been seen safely away. Drysdale responded with a smiling ‘Tally Ho!’ and took off, drawing 41 Commando, all the tanks and Captain Sitter’s George Company in his wake. It wasn’t long before the extensive column was slowed by a massive traffic jam, and many’soft’ vehicles were easy pickings for PLA mortars on the heights. The convoy was soon fragmented by stalled vehicles and the smoking remains of burning trucks and jeeps. Many men were killed or wounded.

Drysdale’s headlong rush also fragmented Baker/31. Unable to move back in the column, Peckham and the remnants of his lead platoon were pushed forward. At length, Baker/31’s lead platoon was stopped by a burning ammunition truck that sealed the roadway. American and British marines under Major John McLaughlin, the senior Marine X Corps liaison officer, were helping to clear the roadway of wounded men and stalled vehicles. Unable to proceed, Peckham deployed his troops in roadside ditches to return the Chinese fire from the heights.

The eventual destruction of every radio in the column assured a loss of control, and that resulted in crumbling discipline throughout that long, fire-swept afternoon. Unable to advance, numerous drivers turned their vehicles around in the vain hope of going back. For a time, ambulances filled to capacity were getting through, but even they were stopped as the roadway and verges were sealed.

Drysdale’s combat elements–most of 41 Commando, Dog/Tanks and George/1st Marines–were briefly stopped at Pusong-ni, on a narrow defile about five miles north of Koto-ri. That choke point was eventually forced, but the column’s progress was almost immediately stopped again by a demolished bridge.

Sanders, whose tank platoon was Drysdale’s vanguard, now was ordered to move aside and allow the rear tank platoon to bypass the blown bridge. The maneuver was accomplished with great difficulty, convincing all that, while tanks might get through, soft vehicles would be stopped. Drysdale sent his adjutant forward to have a look, but that officer was wounded. At the same time, sheets of gunfire from the heights wounded George Company’s machine gun officer and Drysdale himself. Command of the vanguard group passed to George Company’s Captain Sitter, who ordered everyone to deploy and return fire.

As the British and American troops jumped to the road to join the fight, a scream of ‘Grenade!’ sent many ducking for cover. Private First Class William Baugh smothered it with his body. He was mortally wounded, but he saved the men around him, for which he was bestowed a posthumous Medal of Honor.

By then it was dark, and Dog/Tanks was feeling its way along the fire-swept roadway toward the Marine roadblocks guarding besieged Hagaru-ri. One of the tanks was knocked out by an anti-tank grenade and had to be shoved into a ditch to clear the roadway. Sanders passed the friendly roadblock almost before he realized he was safe. Immediately his tank’s engine died–he had run out of fuel.

George Company finally passed through the friendly roadblock at about 8:15 p.m.–after 10 1/2 hours on the move. It was immediately ordered to help man the Hargaru-ri perimeter line.

The sudden, final lunge by the tanks and George Company, however, left the bulk of 41 Commando far behind. The Chinese quickly surrounded the 200-plus Royal Marines and proceeded to whittle away at them.

The last cohesive unit to enter Koto-ri from the south was Baker Company, 1st Tank Battalion, which arrived at 3 p.m., following many minor delays. The bulk of the company, including soft vehicles, then advanced three miles up the MSR through moderate fire to find the tail of the convoy.

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