This book tells the riveting story of one of the most heroic battles in American history. On General Douglas MacArthur's orders, a force of 12,000 U.S. Marines was marching north to the Yalu River in late November 1950. These three Marine regiments of the 1st Marine Division -- strung out along eighty miles of a narrow mountain road -- soon found themselves completely surrounded by 60,000 Chinese soldiers. Despite being given up for lost by the military brass, the 1st Marine Division fought its way out of the frozen mountains, miraculously taking their dead and wounded with them as they ran the gauntlet of unceasing Chinese attacks. - Back cover.