The Yalu River, also called the Amnok River, is a river on the border between North Korea and China. Together with the Tumen River to its east, and a small portion of Paektu Mountain, the Yalu forms the border between North Korea and China and is notable as a site involved in military conflicts in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War II, and the Korean War.
Yalu River in The Hot War[]
The Yalu River served as the boundary between the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. When U.N. forces gained the upper hand against North Korea and drove to the Yalu River, the PRC intervened, sending troops across the Yalu and halting the U.N. advance.
In November 1950, Chinese troops thoroughly destroyed three divisions of American forces between the Chosin Reservoir and Hungnam, the worst defeat the American military had suffered since the Battle of Bataan during World War II.[1] During a meeting with President Harry Truman, General Douglas MacArthur acknowledged that Chinese troops would continue to mass along the Yalu River until China itself was attacked. When Truman pointed out that B-29s weren't doing as well during this war as they had during World War II, MacArthur suggested atomic weapons might make the difference if they were used on cities in Manchuria to disrupt the Chinese supply line, thereby helping to send the world into World War III.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Bombs Away, pg. 5, ebook.
- ↑ Ibid., pgs. 5-9.
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