74 { China’s Quest
CCP leaders did not expect US intervention and were surprised by it. The
United States was in the process of demobilizing its armed forces and was too
weak strategically, they had believed. The United States recognized Taiwan
as part of China both in the Cairo Declaration and in post-1945 US handling
ot Taiwan matters. Moreover, China was backed by the mighty Soviet Union.
On June 30, 1950, three days after Truman’s statement, Zhou Enlai informed
the PLA navy that the invasion of Taiwan was being postponed and that
forces allocated to that operation were being transferred the China–North
Korea border region. Loss of a golden opportunity to secure Taiwan was the
first cost to the PRC of Mao’s green light to Kim Il Sung’s war.Fighting the Americans in KoreaChinese entry into the Korean conflict took US forces by complete surprise.
Chinese forces deployed forward exercised strict march discipline that pre-
vented their discovery by US reconnaissance aircraft. They moved only at
night, with camouflage netting set in place by 5:30 a.m. (before dawn) and
remaining up until sundown at 7 p.m., when troops resumed their for-
ward march. During daylight, men, equipment, vehicles, and draft animals
remained immobile under camouflage nets. Unauthorized movement beyond
camouflaged shelters was strictly prohibited. Individuals caught in the open
when an aircraft appeared were ordered to remain completely immobile until
the plane passed. Violators of march discipline were shot. Reconnaissance
squads scouted ahead to find and prepare the next night’s bivouac site. Such
stealthy but quick movement delivered the element of surprise and gave con-
siderable tactical success to CPV during the initial phase of combat with US
and South Korean forces. Not expecting Chinese intervention, US/UN forces
had allowed gaps to develop between units which CPV exploited with great
skill. First CPV contact with US/UN forces came on October 25 in the Unsan
area when powerful surprise assaults by CPV forces forced the United States
to retreat. CPV forces then withdrew and disappeared, hiding in prepared
and carefully camouflaged bivouacs in mountainous areas.^37
A second phase of the CPV assault began on November 25 with powerful
attacks at several points of the US/UN line. By mid-December, US/UN forces
had been pushed south of the 38th parallel. On January 4, 1951, CPV forces
retook Seoul. CPV forces often attacked at night and with overwhelmingly
superior numbers. Their use of trumpets and gongs for communication
and to boost morale sometimes frightened US/UN troops. By late January
1951, CPV forces had pushed US/UN forces south of Osan and Wonju, and it
looked, from the perspective of both Beijing and Washington, as though the
CPV might achieve their strategic objective of driving the Americans out of
Korea. Figure 3-1 illustrates the tides of war in Korea.