Episode 16 – The Low Point:

200,000 PLA troops roll back the UN army from North Korea. 10 PLA divisions slam into the 8th Army in the west, sending them back to the south. The war is going very badly for the UN forces, as a major Chinese intervention was not forseen (although the Chinese DID warn them about crossing the 38th parallel). President Truman considers the use of atomic weapons, and says that their use is up to the field commander (MacArthur). However, as MacArthur increasingly infuriates the president by questioning his orders, Truman considers sacking MacArthur in order to have a more reliable field commander in place in case the president authorizes the use of atomic weapons. Prime Minister Atlee and Truman meet in a show of solidarity, and to discuss the possibility of attacking China. An interesting moment in this episode is when former Secretary of State Dean Rusk admits that the reason the atomic bomb was not needed in Korea was because there were no atomic targets in North Korea, as the US Air Force had already bombed “everything that moved, every brick standing on top of another.” (This segment was censored from the version of this documentary shown in the USA). US, UK and South Korean troops near the Changjin (Japanese name: Chosin) Resevoir are cut off. Troops in the Chinese Army suffer horribly from cold and starvation.