1. Overwelming odds, from 15-1 to 80-1 in places, the Chinese and North Koreans attacked with 120,000 regular troops and 60,000 in reserve with the intentions of overwhelming and annihilating the Second Division.
2. Staggering enemy casualties, the most generally accepted figure is 65,000 during the entire offensive lasting no more than six days. 35,000 of those casualties laid concentrated in front of 2nd Divisions lines.
3. Heavy losses were incurred on elements of the US Second Division especially the 23rd and 38th infantry.
4.An artillery barrage surpassing any in WWI or WWII, an estimated two thousand howitzer rounds in eight minutes focused on a break in the lines near hill 1051.
5. The two battalions of the 23 RCT that were cut off and surrounded, extreme fighting at close range took place at that point.
6. The number of UN casualties varies widely in historical accounts due to the fact that many of the missing were in fact dead.
7. Some of the official records can be hard to obtain because they have been destroyed by fire.
8. The second phase of the Chinese Communist offensive of 1951 began to focus on a small village called Chaun Ni where 2200 of the 23rd RCT were located, there was a small aid station there and Headquarters. As the attack intensified they became cut off, running out of supplies and ammunition they sustained heavy casualties there and in an attempt to escape down a road controlled mainly by the Chinese, The Chinese while attacking in masses would lose thousands each day in an effort to overwelm UN positions, hence the name May Massacre.
Page 1of 2
All works copyright 2006