 As the 2nd Infantry Division entered the valley, later known as the "Gauntlet", the Chinese machine guns delivered punishing fire while mortar shells saturated the road. The length of the roadblock caught the 2nd Infantry Division by surprise, and the road was soon filled with wrecked vehicles and wounded and dead soldiers. Those who tried to take cover in the ditches were promptly left behind by the convoy rushing south, and unit cohesion instantly evaporated. During the day, the air cover tried to suppress the Chinese positions with some success, but with no air cover at night, the Chinese attack intensified. Finally, the Chinese blocked the road completely by destroying the US 38th and 503rd Artillery Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Division, and the immobilized artillery pieces forced the rest of the division to abandon all vehicles and to retreat by hiking through the hills. At the rear of the division, Colonel Freeman attempted to save his 23rd Infantry Regiment by retreating through the Kunu-ri — Anju road. In one of the last acts of the battle, the 23rd Infantry Regiment fired off its stock of 3,206 artillery shells within 20 minutes, and the massive barrage shocked the Chinese troops from following the regiment. The last stragglers from the US 2nd Infantry Division finally arrived at Sunchon on December 1, and by December 2 the Eighth Army had completely lost contact with the Chinese.
