21 Oct 20 Garand Picture of the Day

[Bob Seijas]

This period is totally misunderstood by most people. The Chinese spring offensive had been soundly defeated and the UN (US) forces were driving them back in a near rout. The Russians were very concerned that we would defeat them in Korea and continue across the Yalu into China to defeat the Mao regime and reinstate Chang Kai Chek. They were making veiled threats to use atomic weapons against UN forces. At that point the MLR was pretty close to the 38th Parallel where it all started, and Truman ordered a halt to let the Chinese save face (this was confirmed by his daughter Margaret in a book years later). By most accounts, it took the Chinese three days to realize they weren't being chased any longer, and come back to where the UN had halted. That resulted in two-years in which the Reds tried to regain the image they had clearly lost on the battlefield. A US victory was thus turned into the fictitious "stalemate" most history book allege.

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