Task Force Smith - Korea: The Lesson Never Learned

by John Garrett

"No more Task Force Smiths" - This catchphrase is used to express a desire to avoid the perceived mistakes that lead to the defeat of Task Force Smith during the opening days of the Korean War. It deployed and was decimated by the North Korean advance. The defeat has generally been blamed on poor training, poor leadership and poor equipment. The real cause for the failure, however, has been ignored. Task Force Smith was deployed to the Korean Theater without any concept of how and why it was to be employed. During the initial phase of the Korean War, the United States forces were repeatedly thrown into battle against the North Koreans without any real reflection, but under the illusion that it was better to do something than nothing. This book explores what happened to Task Force Smith and why. The lesson never learned is that the understanding of military science and the operational art, not technology, plays the greatest role in victory or defeat.

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2012

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Reviews

[JD · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read about the deployment and destruction of Task Force Smith at the beginning of the Korean War. The author does a good job at highlighting the facts that this task force was not destroyed because of lack of courage, leadership or equipment, but rather by the failure of commanding generals who just wanted to get American troops in the fight against North Korea, and thus ending up pitting two companies of infantry along with one artillery battery without adequate anti tank capabilities against three infantry and one armored regiment of North Koreans. What followed this initial failure was followed up by more failures and the lives of brave young men, until structure and objectives were clearly defined by the commanders. Quick read that is worth the time about this four hour long battle.