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Book of the Week 1/20/2019: On Desperate Ground
On Desperate Ground - The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest BattleBy Hampton Sides Doubleday, 2018 Amazon - On Desperate Ground From an introduction before the Table of Contents: Sun Tzu says that in battle there are nine kinds of situations, nine kinds of "ground." The final and most distressing type is a situation in which one’s army can be saved from destruction only be fighting without delay. It is a place with no shelter, and no possibility of easy retreat. If met by the enemy, an army has no alternative but to surrender or fight is way out of the predicament. And he wasn't even considering the temperature is 25 below zero. I had read several articles about the "Frozen Chosin" and my son returned from Boot Camp well-versed in the story. This book has quite a bit of the history leading up to the battle – about a third of the volume, starting with some Korean perspective history and the end of World War II. The Japanese constructed Chosin Reservoir to generate electricity for their war factories in occupied Manchuria. MacArthur's brilliant, impossible landing at Inchon is covered in some detail, but it seems the success of that effort caused his ego to go into hyperdrive, leading him to ignore warnings and intelligence about the coming Chinese invasion. The author wove a fascinating human interest story into the horror. A teenager flees the North shortly after the end of WW II and starts a new life in Seoul. The commies invade, so he hides. When the Americans recapture Seoul, he lies about his birthplace and becomes a translator in the center of the drive to the Yalu, the North Korean port of Hungnam – which just happens to be his birthplace. He gets a few hours off, finds his family, and ultimately helps them escape to the south. You just can't make this stuff up! The author does not portray MacArthur generously, nor his right-hand man in Korea, General E. M. Almond. Almond performs a fantastic humanitarian gesture, however. After all the Marines and troops have departed from Hungnam Harbor, he facilitates transport for 100,000 refugees fleeing the advancing Chinese army. The author claims more than a million South Koreans trace their lineage to those evacuated. Plenty of detail about the Marines, the vicious fighting, heroism, courage, brutality, and intense cold, as well as the Army on the eastern shore of the Reservoir. The detail of the episodes makes you wonder if there were awards for valor. The photos depict several heroes with their Medal of Honor. The ending seems somewhat anticlimactic. Once the Marines construct a makeshift bridge, destroyed by the Chinese, everyone sort of strolls down the hill into Hungnam harbor for debarkation. An epilogue details some of the participants’ later lives. Once the fighting starts, you won't want to put the book down. Posted by: Bobby 2019-01-13 |
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