The coolie in the CCF ranks has no superior in the world at making long approach marches by night and hiding by day, with as many as fifty men sharing a hut or cave and subsiding on a few handfuls of rice apiece. Night attacks became the rule. CCF attacking forces ranged as a rule from platoon to a company in size, being continually built up as casualties thinned the ranks. After giving CCF tactics due credit for their merits, some serious weaknesses were also apparent. Each Chinese soldier had issued to him 80 rounds of small arms ammunition upon crossing the Yalu River. This was his total supply. Artillery and mortar rounds were severely limited. Radio communications extended only to the regimental level, telephones to the battalion level. Below that the companies depended on runners, bugles, whistles, flares and flashlights for communication.

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.