Cold War crescendo: in the author's first three volumes in a series on
battles of the Korean War, North Korean forces cross the 38th Parallel,
rolling back US and South Korean forces into a small corner of the
Korean peninsula. Months later, commander of the United Nations Command
(UNC) in Korea, General Douglas MacArthur, launches a daring
counteroffensive invasion at Inchon, enveloping North Korea.
Despite a warning from Beijing that it will intervene if US forces cross
the 38th, MacArthur uses the UN's conditional authorization to land
elements of the US X Corps at Wonsan and Riwon in North Korea. The
Eighth US Army and South Korean forces capture the North Korean capital,
P'yŏngyang, while American paratroops make the first combat jump of the
conflict at Sunch'ŏn and Sukch'ŏn, cutting the road to the Chinese
border.
While MacArthur's ground forces edge closer to the Yalu River, and the
general having designs of chasing the retiring North Koreans across the
river into China, in October 1950 the Chinese politburo immediately
deploys 200,000 members of the 13th Army Group of the newly titled
People's Volunteer Army (PLA) on a preemptive 'defensive' operation into
North Korea.