Out of the fighting at Sudong the marines gained valuable insight into the Chinese military. They discovered the Chinese leadership was surprisingly good but that their communications was extremely poor, that you cannot effectively conduct a war using bugles and whistles to direct troops. Most important, the marines learned that no matter how large the Chinese attacking force, no matter how deep their penetration, if you could hold out until daybreak, artillery and air power would drive the Chinese to cover.

The two Chinese assault regiments paid a steep price for their failure. The 371st lost the equivalent of five rifle companies in its 1st and 3rd battalions. They lost a total of 793 dead. The 3rd Battalion of the 37th was badly hurt by the destruction of two rifle companies. In contrast the Marines lost 61 dead and 283 wounded. One Marine commented, "They were a helluva lot better than the North Koreans, better trained, better equipped, and better led.