Shortly thereafter, the division was the first unit to break out of the Pusan Perimeter starting on 16 September and Eighth Army then began a general offensive northward against crumbling KPA opposition to establish contact with forces of the 7th Infantry Division driving southward from the Inchon beachhead. Major elements of the KPA were destroyed and cut off in this aggressive penetration; the link-up was effected south of Suwon on 26 September. On 23 September the Division was assigned to the newly activated US IX Corps. The UN offensive was continued northwards, past Seoul, and across the 38th Parallel into North Korea on 1 October. The momentum of the attack was maintained, and the race to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, ended on 19 October when elements of the ROK 1st Infantry Division and US 1st Cavalry Division both captured the city. The advance continued, but against unexpectedly stiffening resistance. The Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) entered the war on the side of North Korea, making their first attacks in late October. The Division was within of the Manchurian border when the PVA launched their Second Phase Offensive on 25 November. During the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River, soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division were given the mission of protecting the rear and right flank of the Eighth Army as it retired to the south. After this battle, while surrounded and outgunned, the division had to fight its way south through what was to become known as "The Gauntlet" - a PVA roadblock long where the 23rd Infantry Regiment fired off its stock of 3,206 artillery shells within 20 minutes, a massive barrage that prevented PVA troops from following the regiment. This fighting around Kunu-ri cost the division nearly one third of its remaining strength.