United Nation Forces retreat during the Korean War following the Red Chinese aggression. Entrapped United States 1st Marine Division men reach Hamhung, Korea. Soldiers loaded in trucks as they come to Hamhung from Chosin Reservoir. A Chinese prisoners with a solid ice sheet around his feet. United Nation forces being evacuated from Hungnam. Military trucks and vehicles being loaded aboard Landing Ship Tanks and ships. Litter wounded being transferred onto landing crafts. Troops aboard the landing crafts. Troops being transferred onto a ship from the crafts. U.S. Major General Smith and soldiers at a grave yard during a burial as a man blows a bugle. Soldiers lined up as they pay their last respects to the dead.
LSTs 742 and 869 seen discharging tanks and other vehicles 35 miles North of Pusan, South Korea, in , 1950. Reinforcement troops wade ashore from landing craft. A column of North Korean prisoners is marched, under guard, along a road. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur is greeted by officers as he steps from an airplane. He boards a jeep. View from an airplane flying over the area. It flies above and behind a B-26 as it fires an air-to-ground weapon that explodes in a ball of fire on the ground.
Opening scene shows Major General Robert H. Soule, Commander of the Third Infantry Division, in Korea, speaking to a soldier, from a a jeep. His jeep moves past a U.S. tank. A U.S. Chaffee tank (named "Belle") drives past the camera. (Narrator notes that the enemy opened the gates of the Chowan Reservoir to flood the area, after U.S. forces secured the southern edge of the "Iron Triangle".) Two Patton tanks are seen at water's edge. Another is making way through the water. Three U.S. soldiers atop a hill. One looks through a pair of binoculars. U.S. infantry walking downhill beside a dry culvert. One examines an area of straw, that might hide enemy soldiers. He throws a grenade into it, that explodes raising smoke and noise. UN forces moving easily across roads and paths in the valley. (Narrator notes that in the meantime enemy forces infiltrated into the surrounding hills and then attacked with ferocity.) UN forces firing a 155 mm long tom howitzer to counter the enemy. Artillery barrages continuing through the night. U.S. troops firing 105mm howitzers, and a 60mm light field mortar. More views of various pieces of artillery being fired by crews of African American and white U.S. Army soldiers. Smoke rising from the surrounding hills as artillery shells explode.
Operations of United Nations troops in Korea during the Korean War. U.S. Army Major General, William K. Harrison, Jr, and U.S. Navy Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy, arrive at Panmunjom for initial peace talks with North Korean military officials. They walk past several tents and enter one. North Korean Officers walk across a field, with other structures and tents visible in background. In complete, unrelated change of scene, a contingent of the Philippine Expeditionary force is welcomed by Maj Gen Robert H Soule, Commanding General, 3rd Division and Philippine Colonel Dionisio Ojeda, who both exchange salutes with the troops on September 5, 1951. Various views of the Philippine troops being reviewed by General Soule, and in several formations. Closeup of a Philippine Captain at the front of some troops. General Soule and Colonel Ojeda standing in front of a tent, accompanied by other Philippine officers and a military photographer. Infantrymen of the 3rd Division firing rifles and M1919 Browning .30 caliber medium machine guns from cover in brush. Allied troops walk along the sides of a road. (Narrator says "A brief lull came to an end with Operation Cleanup.") A Patton tank loaded with infantrymen getting a lift uphill. Another moving downhill. Views of American tanks firing rounds in hilly terrain. An American soldier using a periscopic artillery range finder. Aircraft making bombing runs over the ridgeline. Next, United Nations forces are seen establishing defensive positions along the so-called Jamestown line. Tanks and infantry are deployed and seen in hardened bunker positions.
1st Marine Division advancing into Chosin Reservoir region in Korea during the Korean War. U.S. marines move forward. Tanks advance on a field. Artillery is fired. U.S. aircraft drop napalm bombs. Blasts on hills and Marines move forward. View of the Chosin Reservoir power plant. Marines climb the hills. Front line marines in battle fire rifles and throw grenades and white phosphorous grenades. Marines in battle fire recoilless guns and 16mm mortar. They fire 75 caliber guns. Marines use smoke bombs. A marine carries and fires a flamethrower to attack enemy positions dug in.
1st Marine Division encircled near Chosin Reservoir Korea during November-December 1950 in the Korean War. U.S. marines walk and help wounded to get onto a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft. The marines walk over a ramp to the aircraft. They carry a wounded marine on a stretcher and transfer him into the aircraft. Marines receive the order to retreat and to burn and destroy everything. View of burning houses and buildings in a village following the orders. The marines and trucks being retreat. Aircraft in flight overhead providing cover. The marines pull dead bodies behind them over snow covered, frozen ground.