On November 24, the day set for the new 8th Army offensive, MacArthur flew in from Tokyo for the jump-off, and, on impulse, told his pilot to fly along the Yalu at 5,000 feet so that he could see the entire area in detail. "All that spread before our eyes," he wrote, "was an endless expanse of utterly barren countryside, jagged hills, yawning crevices, and the black waters of the Yalu locked in the silent death grip of snow and ice. It was a merciless wasteland." MacArthur saw no signs of his destiny: the 300,000 Chinese who were waiting to pounce.
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