On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

by Hampton Sides

From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War."Superb ... A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story—the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir—has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep." —The Washington PostOn October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war.As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea.Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, "Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Military Fiction, Military History, American History, Audiobook

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 2, 2018

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A [Chinese] soldier, armed with a rifle, climbed onto the bed of the truck. He came to the first man, leveled the barrel between his eyes, and fired. He moved on to the next. Then the next…[Ed] Reeves sat up, half out of his sleeping bag, and watched as though it were movie. He didn't know any of these Americans especially well – he’d just shared the bed of a truck with them for a day and a half – but he was in awe of them. They didn't beg or cry; they didn't utter so much as a whimper. They looked their executioner in the eye and died with dignity…When the barrel slid over to Reeves, he felt strangely at peace. His eyes followed the smooth metal until they found the eyes of the soldier. Reeves did not see malice in them. He was a kid, following horrible orders. Possibly, from his point of view, it was a mission of mercy – get it over with in an instant, rather than let them slowly freeze to death. The soldier was standing no more than three feet away when he squeezed the trigger. The muzzle blast knocked Reeves to the floor. Then the barrel swung over to the next man…”
- Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle


The Korean War occupies a strange place in American military history, sandwiched between World War II (the “good” war) and Vietnam (the “bad” war). It was fought for nebulous reasons (many contemporary accounts from ordinary soldiers stress their uncertainty of purpose) and ended in a draw, with the North Korean/Chinese forces on the one side, and the South Korean/U.N. forces on the other, essentially reverting to the status quo ante bellum. It is a relatively forgotten conflict (or “police action”) whose essential importance has only been demonstrated by the fullness of time.

While the Korean War in general has not lodged itself in the public consciousness, its most famous battle certainly has.

In November 1950, the North Korean forces were on the run. After early, stunning successes, Douglas MacArthur’s landing at Inchon flipped the field and sent them scrambling northward. Despite the threat of Chinese intervention, MacArthur pursued, sending three columns toward the Yalu River. In the broken terrain of the Taeback Mountains, in the midst of a terrible winter, the Chinese forces that MacArthur believed would stay out of the war arrived in force. At the Chosin Reservoir, the American X Corps, including the men of the First Marine Division, found themselves surrounded by thousands of Chinese soldiers. Over the next seventeen days, a brutal fighting retreat ensued, comprising one of the great epics in the annals of warfare.

Hampton Sides’ On Desperate Ground tells this story in gripping, almost cinematic fashion. This 337-page book is taut, fast-paced, and novelistic in its details. Employing brief chapters, Sides provides a broad, stripped-down overview of the Korean War that sets the stage for the Chosin drama. Even if you’ve never read a word on the subject, Sides ensures that you have enough context to understand what is going on.

***

The centerpiece of On Desperate Ground is – of course – the battle itself, and Sides effortlessly deploys his immense storytelling skills. There are some limitations, though. For instance, Sides does not attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the fight around the Chosin Reservoir. Instead, he focuses on General Oliver Prince Smith and the First Marines. Undoubtedly, this will further stoke inter-service rivalries, as the plight of the Army, with the exception of a brief interlude with Task Forth Faith, is mostly ignored. Furthermore, Sides is interested in the experiences of the men, rather than the tactical ebb and flow of the battle. If you want to know about every single maneuver, or desire an extensive recounting of the positioning of troops down to the last platoon, you are not going to find that here.

***

When it comes to the larger mechanics of battle, Sides gives you the basics, but that’s all. Instead, he follows individuals, providing engrossing mini-arcs of men under impossible duress, battling the enemy and the cold. And that is the beating heart of On Desperate Ground. This is a grunt's-eye view of ferocious combat that often became hand-to-hand and face-to-face. There is, for example, Lieutenant John Yancey of Company E, charged with defending Hill 1282 against waves of Chinese troops.

In the midst of this action, a Chinese attacker, armed with a Thompson submachine gun, moved in close and squeezed a burst into Yancey’s face. One of the bullets entered Yancey’s cheek just below his eye and angled down through his sinus cavities, coming to rest in the back of his neck, near the base of his skull. Luckily, it had missed his spine, but along the way the projectile had fractured his cheekbone, jarred loose numerous teeth, and dislocated his jaw. Worst of all, the bullet pried Yancey’s right eye from the socket. The ball, dangling by a cord of nerves and fibers, rested high on his cheekbone. Yet, somehow, Yancey was still functioning. He picked himself up from the snow and, with his good eye, spied his assailant reloading his Thompson. Reflexively, Yancey snatched his .45 pistol from its holster…and fired two rounds into the enemy soldier’s abdomen, killing him. Then Yancey, horrified but not knowing what else to do, cradled his eyeball and gently mashed it back into its ragged hole.

This is history with the detail of a novel, and it lands with force because of that.

***

On Desperate Ground is a technically flawless book. It is popular history at its best: rousing, entertaining, informative. It never bogs down, never gets tangled in minutiae. Indeed, it seems designed for mass appeal, with the Marine-centric narrative, the bite-sized chapters, and the brutal evocations of combat. This is an unabashed tale of heroism and sacrifice, of men against fire and cold.

This is one of those books I feel comfortable guaranteeing. If you pick this up, you will not regret it.

And yet.

***

It’s almost not worth mentioning, but I finished this with twinge of mild disappointment. Somewhere, my wife is shaking her head, knowing that I live most of my life in a state of mild disappointment.

But hear me out.

Hampton Sides is at his absolute best when he is working with unknown stories, from a daring P.O.W. rescue in Ghost Soldiers, to the doom of the Navajos in Blood and Thunder, to the tragic Arctic expedition of the U.S.S. Jeanette in In the Kingdom of Ice. He has a knack for digging deeper, for illuminating some of the small corners of history that tend to get lost in shadow.

He does not get a chance to put those skills to use here.

The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir is not an unknown story. To the contrary, it has been told and retold numerous times. And not just by Americans, either. One of the highest grossing movies in Chinese film history is The Battle at Lake Changjin, an expensive, nearly-three-hour epic that provides a very different perspective on Chosin (while proving that Hollywood is not the only entity making absurdly ahistorical productions brimming with questionable computer effects and emphatically unrestrained jingoism).

Sides provides a beautiful presentation, but does not reveal anything new. Certainly, he has done his job in interviewing participants. However, at this late date, I do not know how much these interviews add to what we already know. Most of the stories featured prominently in On Desperate Ground have been covered before, extensively. Just recently, an entire book was released about Fox Company’s bloody hilltop stand (The Last Stand of Fox Company). Likewise with Jesse LeRoy Brown, a black Corsair pilot shot down while providing air cover (Devotion). More than that, Sides does not really have anything to say about the battle, other than that it was an extreme test of endurance. He is content to repeat the conclusions found in other secondary sources, especially Martin Russ’ Breakout.

***

This is an exceptional example of narrative nonfiction done right. It checks the boxes. Yet, I cannot help wishing that Sides had used his considerable talents as both a historian and a writer to highlight some other aspect of the Korean War. The men of the Frozen Chosin – especially the Marines – have their monuments.

Almost seventy years after Kim Il Sung’s legions poured over the 38th Parallel, we have a better idea of what a North Korean victory in 1950 might have meant. That knowledge adds considerably to the deeds of the South Korean, U.S., and U.N. troops that held the line. Sides would have been doing a valuable historical service if he had looked a little harder for the unsung heroes.

[Brett C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outmanned and outgunned are two cliche words that best describe the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and I was captivated the whole time. I immediately followed this after reading The Korean War by Max Hastings. Sides helped fill in the gaps with the Inchon amphibious landing, moving to Wonsan, the collective push to the Yalu River, and the "Home By Christmas" campaign.

I enjoyed the story because of how it was written. It was part historical narrative, military & political narrative, and action story. Sides explained the conflicting leadership between General Smith and General Almond. He also discussed the passive-aggresssive tension that existed between General MacArthur and President Truman. Along the way Sides gave detailed and personal accounts of Marines at various times as they fought off the overwhelming Chinese forces.

Something I found interesting was about Communist China and Chairman Mao in sending Chinese troops into Korea to fight the "imperialist criminals". Sides helped provide cultural and political background of China that led to their eventual deployment into Korea as a belligerent force, pgs. 62-8.

I was reminded of the Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino when he said "We used to stack f**ks like you 5-ft high in Korea—use you for sandbags!". Sides explained throughout engagement the Marines would stack dead Chinese in front of foxholes to stop bullets and absorb blasts from grenades, pg. 166

Great book in my opinion. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the Korean War, the Chosin Reservoir ordeal, and Marine Corps history. Thanks!

[Stefania Dzhanamova · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his book, Hampton Sides covers the legendary breakout at Chosin Reservoir, including Inchon, Seoul, Sudong, and Wonsan.

The daring amphibious assault on the South Korean port of Incheon was General Douglas McArthur's last great success, and his alone. He fought for it against the doubtful Navy planners and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was an audacious but brilliant gamble, and in the end he carried the day: Inchon surely saved thousands of American lives just as he had predicted. If there was one serious flaw in his plan, however, it was the totality of its success, which gave him more leverage over Washington and the Chiefs. The greatest battle of Douglas McArthur during the Korean War was not against the Truman administration or against the Chinese and North Koreans, but against himself – the contest between his intelligent, creative, and brave side, and the part of him that was vainglorious, selfish, and arrogant. Because Inchon was such a success, it gave an enormous boost to his already gigantic ego and his worst side won. After this amphibious landing, for which he had stood against everyone, on all other issues it was hard to stand up to him. "It was as though he had become the emperor, and a touchy one at that, . . ." writes Sides.

In October 1950, despite of Mao's warning that he'd take military action if Dugout Doug sent UN forces north of the 38th parallel (which divided South and North Korea), McArthur assured President Harry Truman that China would not enter the war. The same month China secretly entered the Korean War on the side of Kim Il Sung. Even when 200,000 Chinese troops slipped into North Korea, however, McArthur and Major General Edward "Ned the Dread" Almond, the commander of the US forces, dismissed the idea that "Chinese laundrymen" could present a threat to Americans. Dugout Doug boasted his special knowledge of the "Oriental mind" and preferred not to notice them. "Ned the Dread", a notoriously difficult man, deeply appreciative of McArthur, who had seen "qualities in Almond that others had missed" and had "single-handedly rehabilitated his career", acted on McArthur's wishes and insisted that 20,000 men from the 1st Marine Division advance to the Chosin Reservoir in the mountains of North Korea, over a single unpaved path in freezing weather and violent snowstorms. They were expected to capture the reservoir and then advance to the Yalu River (which flows along the border between North Korea and China). This idea, reveals Sides, was absurd. Disastrously for the Marines and all other soldiers who would suffer in the mountains of North Korea, McArthur was blinded by his sweeping success at Incheon and didn't look at the battlefield afterwards. He wilfully chose to ignore that the war was far from over and then the Chinese were coming.
From November 26 to December 13, the men under the command of Major General Oliver P. Smith (some 30,000, nicknamed "the Chosin few") were encircled and attacked by about 150,000 Chinese troops, who were sent to destroy UN forces. "McArthur had blundered badly," writes Sides. "He had been outwitted and outflanked by a guerrilla army with no air force, crude logistics, and primitive communications, an army with no tanks and precious little artillery." The fact that the soldiers were able to break out of the encirclement and withdraw to the port of Hungnam is nothing short of a miracle. Sides shows how all Marines jointly improvised, organised, and blasted their way out of the hellish trap their eminent boss, the "American Caesar", had helped set. The author highlights the outstanding strength and courage of individual man, adding a human element to his narrative. Private Hector Cafferata, for instance, fought in his stocking feet in freezing temperatures (20 below zero), and killed over a hundred enemy soldiers with the help of his best buddy, Private Kenneth Benson, who blinded by a shrapnel, continued to reload guns for Cafferata from memory. In all, US Army losses numbered around 2,000 killed and 1,000 wounded; for the 1st Marine Division, the numbers were 750 dead, 3,000 wounded, and about 200 missing in action. Sides also emphasises the fact that although the Second World War had ended only five years ago, the Marines were too often sent ill-equipped and ill-trained to Korea. The gear was inadequate to combat the cold, which on top of that, affected aversely not only the machinery, but also the minds of the men.
When – miraculously – the Marines came down to safety, Dugout Doug did not bother even to congratulate them. He was responsible for a glaring intelligence failure, but it "seemed not to register with the supreme commander that the nightmare the Marines had just passed through had any relationship to him."

Hampton Sides had done a brilliant job chronicling a tragic but little-known episode of the Korean War. The account includes cinematic battle scenes and insightful assessment of the leadership and politics at the turning point of the war, which shows how the commanders and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division
prevented a military debacle of enormous proportions. With the author's compelling style and impeccable research, ON DESPERATE GROUND reads like an action-packed thriller. Definitely recommendable to any Korean War buff.

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few years ago I was walking to my car in a public parking lot as an elderly man was getting out of his. I noticed a Marine emblem on his bumper and a sticker that said "The Chosen at the Chosin Reservoir" I went over to him and shook his hand, saying "Thank your for your service and your heroism" as I pointed to the sticker. He got tears in his eyes and said" I didn't think anyone remembered". What a moving moment it was. I thought about him when I bought this book.

I would need a thesaurus to describe this book.....wonderful, superb, brilliant, and all the other words that would do this historic work justice. The Battle of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War was without a doubt one of the most glorious defeats (think of Dunkirk) in the history of warfare. Douglas MacArthur, sitting in comfort in Japan, decided that after his surprise landing at Inchon, the Marines should drive into North Korea and beyond into Manchuria. It was a horrible military decision since the Reservoir was in a valley ringed by mountains and rough terrain where the Chinese Army could surround the American troops in a deadly situation. And that's exactly what they did.

The book follows the Tenth Corps on their march to Chosin and their ultimate retreat and the reader is spared no detail of the hopeless situation in which the Marines found themselves. Although the Chinese Army had neither the equipment or the training of the Americans, they had troops......many, many troops, who charged into battle with no thought of death or surrender. They simply overwhelmed by sheer numbers. To add to the horror of the battle and retreat was the weather, reaching -20F and freezing men where they slept (when they had a chance to sleep).

The ingenuity of the Marines as they retreated was desperate but brilliant and they overcame almost impossible odds to reach safety, The author personally interviewed several of the survivors to prepare for this book which gives the reader in "insiders" look at some of the personal heroism and tragedy in the words of those who were there. Semper fi, gentlemen, Semper fi.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is amazing.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a treat to have Sides create a narrative for us on a tough job our soldiers had in Korea and gather in some lessons relevant to our precarious position today in that part of the world. I’ve had nothing but 5-star reads with this talented storyteller and history sleuth, and this one continues that tradition.

His major focus here is on a critical campaign that almost started World War 3, namely MacArthur’s initiative after landing at Inchon and retaking Seoul to invade North Korea and win the war with a drive to the Yalu River boundary with China. This triggered People’s Republic of China’s deployment of more than 200,000 troops across the Manchurian border. About 120,000 of these soldiers surrounded the 20 thousand or so American Marine and Army troops around the Choisin Reservoir (more properly “Changjin”). These men had been sent to the austere mountainous region with a fragile supply line in the form of a 78-mile stretch of two-lane road back to the port of Hungnam with many vulnerable choke points and a critical bridge. From the perspective of key officers and enlisted men, Sides delivers a well-crafted and harrowing story of how the Marine and Army troops held up to being surrounded and assaulted by overwhelming forces and boldly pulled off a successful fighting retreat. Along the way he covers enough of the whole war and antecedent events to provide a good context to this major turning point.
In addition to excessive enemies, the trapped UN forces faced the extreme challenges of the terrain and the winter weather. As can be seen below, the Choisin Reservoir region is rough country for the logistics of combat, and few soldiers beset there had any alpine warfare training or experience. And winter in high country there meant temperatures that often got to -20F. It’s hard to convey the personal impact of such cold better than the following face. You could imagine the difficulties of digging a foxhole in such weather, the constant threat of frostbite, and challenges of treating the wounded.





Despite these challenges, advantages the UN forces included better clothing and weapons than the Chinese and Communist Koreans and, in clear weather, total dominance of the skies for air strikes and supply drops. The following map can provide some geographical perspective and illustrate the main phases of the war. In the bottom right, you can see how far the North Korean army had pushed the South Korean and occupying UN forces by September 1950, to a small region around Pusan. The brutal urban warfare leading to the loss of Seoul and desperate retreat to the south was well covered in another more comprehensive book about the war, David Halberstam’s masterful The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. You can see how the invasion of Inchon opened the door for an effective assault on the flank and supply lines of the invaders. MacArthur, from his command site in Japan, couldn’t resist following up the successful retaking of South Korea with an attempt to defeat the North once and for all. Truman warned him to pull back at any sign of engagement in the war by the Chinese, but the Joint Chiefs gave him plenty of latitude to push as hard he wanted. He was aware of lots of Chinese troops over the border in Manchuria, but he was blind to the possibility of their willingness to defend their client state and for a long time ignored plenty of evidence that regular Chinese army troops were present in force (one soldier complained: “If you are shot and killed by an enemy that isn’t there, are you still alive?”). You can see how the Choisin Reservoir area was effectively the tip of the spear for whole military campaign. The book doesn’t delve much into the tough fighting by the 7th Army Infantry Division to the east of the Reservoir region or UN troop battles in northwestern Korea.



Fortunately, General Oliver Smith, Commander of the First Marine Division, was assigned to lead the advance through the Chosin region. He had experience with MacArthur’s overreaching in the Pacific theater of World War 2, where he fought with the First Marines in their useless slaughter in the taking of the island Pelieu (6,500 casualties). He had reason to believe that many Chinse troops had already infiltrated into North Korea and that they were advancing into a trap. His idiot supervisor as X Corps Commander and MacArthur acolyte, Major General Edward Almond, constantly pressing him to recklessly advance ahead, Smith slowed their advance and left supply caches along the way. He wisely took the initiative to build up the mining town at the southern tip of the Reservoir, Hagaru-ri, into a stronghold and direct his brilliant chief engineer, Col. John Partridge, to direct work around the clock to construct a landing strip suitable for C47 cargo planes for supply and evacuation of the wounded.


Major General Oliver Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division accompanies MacArthur on a tour after taking Inchon

In the next map, the print will be too small, but it usefully illustrates the encirclement of the Marine positions to the west of the reservoir and of the Army task force on the east side. Lt. Colonel Faith’s story of holding in the face of mass attacks and then leading his Army units on a breakout is so tragic in its details. His column was effectively cut in half at one bottleneck and only 1,000 of 2,500 made it to the relative safety of Hagaru, a few hundred as individuals walking across the ice, wounded and freezing. To the west, the survivors of the embattled outpost Yudam took enough hills by fierce combat to enable them to break through multiple roadblocks and ambushes on the road to Hagaru. Another dangerous bottleneck to surmount was Tonktong Pass, which the particularly brave Fox Company, led a colorful Captain William Barber, had lost most of its men guarding for days from a strategic hill.



With consolidation of his forces at Hagaru, Smith eventually got the message through to command that retreat was necessary to prevent total obliteration (he famously preserved morale of his troops by exclaiming, "Retreat, hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction". The fighting retreat down the road toward the port of Hungnam was brilliantly orchestrated by Smith against tall odds. With just enough trucks to cram his wounded in, he made the sad decisions to execute their dying prisoners and to bury 117 of their dead in a mass graves. Many refugees followed in the convoy’s wake on foot. The convoy came to a dead stop at high point called Funchilin Pass due to a large span of the bridge there having being blown out by the Chinese. Calling again for the magic of Partridge’s engineering skills led to the unusual plan of having the Air Force deliver by parachute eight massive girders of 2,900 pounds each to repair the breach. Evacuation of the survivors of whole expeditionary force and 14,000 refugees to boot at Hungnam was a massive and successful effort involving nearly 200 ships.


A sad but necessary breah of the Marine principle to not leave fallen comrades behind: the burial of 117 Marines, Army soldiers, and Royal British Commandos on the evacuation road south of Choisin

The outcome of the Battle of Choisin Reservoir was a complete turnaround in the war. All of MacArthur’s claim just weeks earlier to be close to ending the war was ashes in his mouth as he realized the impossibility of defeating China’s vast forces and armaments supplied by the Soviet Union. When he was called on the carpet by Truman for getting him in very hot water with his electorate (and inspiring Sen. Joe McCarthy to call for his impeachment), MacArthur claimed to have intended to force China’s commitment to their imperialist Commie designs. Before the war was finally over and back to the permanent standoff across the 38th parallel, both men supposedly considered use of nuclear weapons.

The result of the Korean War was a return to a standoff between two Koreas across the 38th parallel, which was supposed to be a temporary division between Soviet and Allied occupation zones after the ouster of Imperial Japan from the peninsula toward the end of World War 2. Compared to long wars like Vietnam and Afghanistan, the three years of fighting was relatively short. But the casualties were very high, making it a shame how it has become a forgotten war by many. According to Wikipedia, the U.S. suffered about 34,000 battle deaths, South Korea about 138,000, North Korea about 215,000, and China 114-183,000. Other NATO nations such as the UK, Canada, Turkey, and Australia suffered 300-1,000 combat deaths. As often neglected in the butcher’s bill for war, civilian deaths dwarf those of the soldiers, with 374,000 estimated for South Korean and over a million for North Korea. The U.S. campaign of massive bombing of all North Korean cities in the war is the major contributor to the huge disparity. For every death recorded, multiply by 2 or 3 for the injured and maimed.

Seems hardly worth it to return to the status quo. All it proved is that the U.S. with NATO was willing to make sacrifices to block national dominos from falling. But in the mind of most enemy soldiers, they were defending their homeland, and the sense of threat felt by the PRC over American occupation of a land at their borders might be comparable to the U.S. stance if China or Russia were to invade Mexico. Regardless of the politics and whether you consider the fateful invasion of North Korea a tragic mistake, the contribution and sacrifices of soldiers on both sides should not be forgotten. Ironically, the civil war never technically ended. Amid all the Trumpery involving Korea this year, a small step forward was made when the presidents of the two Koreas met at the demilitarized zone in April and pledged to forge a peace treaty within a year’s time.
In its excellent balance between coverage of the big picture of a war at the level of generals and politicians while weaving the human story of those in desperate combat, this book shares many of the virtues of Sides’ “Ghost Soldiers”, his previous history of the Battle of Bataan and successful rescue of survivors from a Japanese prison camp by an intrepid group of commandos. Sides excels in marshalling all available resources and his own interviews with participants to create a narrative as readable as a good novel. Unlike that book, he didn’t delve much into the actions of the adversaries of the Americans or even into the stories of their allies. One exception is the details on the life of a Seoul medical student who was born in the north and eagerly served as a translator for the NATO forces.

This book was provided for review by Doubleday. If you want a bit of a preview, check out the excellent PBS documentary film, the “Battle of Choisin”, for which Sides served as a consultant and commentator.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah, this is the book! There aren't many authors who can keep my bedside lamp burning until 0300 hrs on a workday, but that's what happened to this one. Any good war story has to have a mixture of brass (officers, strategy, planning) and balls (grunts, action, blood and guts, brotherhood). Hampton Sides has mixed these ingredients in just the right combination, which is about one part brass to three parts balls.

Sides spends a bit of time explaining what we already knew: that MacArthur was as crazy as a shithouse rat, an officer who loved to be in the rear with the gear, surrounded by sycophants. His real effort is expended in relating the heroic battles of the USMC against overwhelming Chinese forces in the battle for the Chosin Reservoir, commonly called the "Frozen Chosin". I'm not going to relate any exploits here, Sides has already done that for you in his book. Suffice to say that these leathernecks are a bunch of tough hombres, and there's enough action here to satisfy even Lee Ermey, God rest his leathery old soul! (I'll give the Sarge his due, since he was snubbed by Hollywood this year).

Sides also covers the famous retreat, possible only by American ingenuity and the fact that they had tons of gear they could use to just "miracle" bridges out of seemingly thin air. Probably no other country at that time could have pulled off that retreat, simply for want of the equipment.

The author has generously provided us with photos pertinent to the text, on glossy paper, thank you very much! And a map of the area on the inside of the cover, where I found it eventually after cursing the lack of a map.

A couple of passages amused me or raised my eyebrow. One occurs on page 113 where Sides is trying to impress upon us the terrible cold that the Marines faced at the Chosin Reservoir:

"Overnight temperatures went into free fall. Within a few hours, the mercury plummeted forty degrees, to nearly ten below zero Fahrenheit."

Well that's kinda cold, I guess....if you don't have a jacket or something. Around these parts -10 is a bloody heat wave. And combatant reports of small arms fire kicking up waterspouts from the ice on the reservoir indicates that maybe the Chosin wasn't as frozen as we might think. And on
page 193 I found "Some of the U.N. units were performing valiantly - especially a brigade of Turks, who had surprised everyone with their resilience and ferocity." I wondered why any General would be surprised by Turkish ferocity...it's not like it hasn't been well documented. Ask the Aussies about dealing with Johnny Turk in WWI.

Overall, I think this is about as close to perfect as a war book can get. Sides gets the meat of the story over efficiently and in a captivating manner. I could have done without the photo of Chesty Puller, though...he scares hell right outta me!

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Sun Tzu says [in ‘The Art of War’] that in battle there are nine kinds of situations, nine kinds of ‘grounds.’ The final and most distressing type is a situation in which one’s army can be saved from destruction only by fighting without delay. It is a place without shelter, and no possibility of easy retreat. If met by the enemy, an army has no alternative but to surrender or fight its way out of its predicament.

“Sun Tzu calls this ‘desperate ground’.” – Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground


Hampton Sides graduated from Yale with a degree in American history. However, he first made his mark as a journalist whose work was published in major periodicals. But beginning with the publication of Ghost Soldiers in 2001 he has become a hugely successful author of critically acclaimed narrative histories.

His latest is On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle, published in 2018. As the subtitle indicates, it is not a comprehensive study of the Korean War, but primarily focuses on the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

In his review of the book in the Christian Science Monitor, Randy Dotinga writes that “it’s a towering tale of official ineptitude and battlefield fortitude that plays out against the backdrop of America’s most forgotten modern war.”

Sadly, to many Americans it is simply the war that took place between WWII and Viet Nam.

On Desperate Ground is an account, not of a heroic victory, but rather a heroic retreat. Sides makes the case that the tragic and bloody circumstances that led to the retreat would have never occurred without the misjudgment of a narcissistic seventy-year old military commander.

General Douglas MacArthur was the supreme commander of allied powers in the Pacific and as such was in charge of the postwar occupation of Japan when North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950 and drove the South Korean and U.S. Armies south to a perimeter surrounding the port of Pusan at the tip of the Korean peninsula.

On September 15, MacArthur launched an audacious, highly risky amphibious landing in South Korea at the port of Inchon located due west of Seoul, the South’s capital city. A lot of things could have gone wrong, but they didn’t. And the invading Marines were able to liberate Seoul and drive the North Korean army in disarray back to the north beyond the 38th Parallel which divided the two countries.


“War is the unfolding of miscalculations.” – Barbara Tuchman


Sides lays the blame for the miscalculations that followed Inchon squarely on the shoulders of Douglas MacArthur.

After the dramatic success of the Inchon landing, hubris, defined as a feeling of excessive pride, self confidence, and arrogance, became an overwhelming mindset that hampered Douglas MacArthur’s vision of what was to come after Inchon.

Had the war ended with the North Korean army defeated and driven back to the north it would have lasted about three months. But because of official ineptitude at the top the war lasted another three years, ending in stalemate with the two countries still divided at the point they were when the war began.

Unfortunately, MacArthur’s delusions of grandeur got the best of him and instead of ending the fighting with the liberation of South Korea he made plans to cross the border and march all the way to the Yalu, the river that separates North Korea and China.

The General had assured President Harry Truman that “organized resistance [would] be terminated by Thanksgiving” and that the troops would be home by Christmas.

Truman asked that MacArthur be sensitive to any indication that China or the Soviet Union might enter the war. He demanded that at the first sign of any involvement on the part of either of those nations that MacArthur was to halt his advance.

Sides writes:

MacArthur played down Truman’s concerns. His own intelligence indicated that the Chinese wouldn’t dare enter the conflict – and if they did, he was sure his forces would destroy them. He did not think much of Mao’s troops. [He believed] they were nothing more than a band of serfs – subsisting on rice ball and yams, relying on little burp guns and fizzly explosives that usually failed to detonate, an army held together with hemp string and bamboo.

It was on October 15 that MacArthur assured Truman that the Chinese would not enter the war. Four days later, Chinese troops in large numbers began to infiltrate into North Korea. MacArthur refused to believe the clear intelligence that reported the infiltrations and moved ahead with his plans to march to the Yalu River.

Sides calls it “one of the most egregious intelligence failures in American military history.”

If Sides is unable to hide his disdain for the role that MacArthur, as well as General Ned Almond, the overall commander in the field, played in Korea, he expresses great admiration for the commander of the First Marine Division, General Oliver P. Smith.

He writes that Smith is “one of the great underrated generals in American history,” that he was “cerebral, soft-spoken” but also a man of “ruthless efficiency.” He “was a ‘by-the-book’ Marine – but he knew when to throw the book away.”

In other words, Smith was the anti-MacArthur.

MacArthur’s grandiose battle plan involved three columns marching north toward the Yalu River. The columns would be separated from each other by high mountains, which made communication between them extremely difficult, and more important, made it impossible for one column to come to the aid of another in case one got into trouble.

Smith’s Marines would have the most difficult assignment. They would be forced to march more than seventy miles up a narrow road that wound its way into the highlands eventually to a large artificial lake known as the Chosin Reservoir. After they achieved that objective they were to keep going until they reached the Yalu located a hundred miles from the reservoir.

From the start, Smith opposed the plan, but he was unable to convince MacArthur and Almond that the march to the reservoir would put his command in a dangerously exposed position. The major problem was that there was only one road to the reservoir and only one road out in the event retreat became necessary -- and it did.

In addition, the Marines had other problems, including the terrain and, even worse, what turned out to be one of the coldest winters ever experienced in North Korea.

Fortunately, Smith did not suffer from the hubris that characterized MacArthur and Almond, and thus he possessed the foresight to take some precautionary measures in the event that his division was attacked and/or surrounded.

And of course the Chinese were in the area and they did attack. The Marines, about 13,000 men, were cut off and surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops.

The battle was fought in extremely brutal weather that saw temperatures dip to 20 degrees below zero or at times even lower.


"At the mess tent, a cup of scalding coffee would accumulate a skim of ice within minutes. Canteens and C-rations froze solid. Fingers stuck to metal…. It had a cauterizing effect on wounds. Blood from bullet holes or shrapnel tears simply froze to the skin and stopped flowing.”


It is estimated that the Chinese suffered an estimated 30,000 killed in action and about 12,000 wounded. The Marine casualties included 750 dead, with 3,000 wounded, and about 200 missing.

How the division escaped is a remarkable feat, a successful retreat that was made possible by a general, who, unlike MacArthur and Almond, took nothing for granted.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best account of the Chosin Reservoir battle I have read. Sides is an excellent historian and his exhaustive research shows. But more than that, Sides knows how to weave individual stories into the broad overview and still keep the narrative pace moving smartly along.

Chosin was the site of the first major engagement between the United Nations coalition force commanded by the vainglorious Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Mao Zedong’s People’s Volunteer Army. Gen. Oliver Smith of the First Marine Division spearheaded the effort. North Korea had started the war five months earlier when it invaded the South. United Nations forces pushed the North Koreans back beyond the 38th parallel, and MacArthur thought he could defeat the North Koreans decisively so as to reunite the country. But, when the Americans got closer to the Chinese border, Mao decided to intervene in a BIG way—shifting 300,000 troops to the Korean peninsula from a planned engagement with Taiwan. These troops were ill-prepared for the brutal cold and lacked even sufficient guns. [Indeed, the most common guns were American ones scavenged from the Nationalists, who had lost to the Communists.]

Gen. MacArthur completely underestimated the Chinese’s fighting prowess and disregarded his own intelligence reports indicating that the Chinese had crossed the Yulu River into North Korea. Gen. Smith was not so sanguine and did his best to prepare for the worst, while still following orders from headquarters. Those efforts allowed for one of military history’s greatest tactical retreats.

The battle was fought in extreme cold, dipping to -25 degrees Fahrenheit on occasion. [And as my Marine son said after cold weather training in Canada, “Hell is not hot, it is cold.”] The cold caused the radios to not work properly so communication was ‘dicey’. The only positive thing that could be said about such cold was that it helped to cauterize wounds.

The ‘butcher’s bill’ was huge. Casualties totaled 10,000, some 4,300 of them Marines. More than 7,000 other Marines suffered noncombat injuries, primarily frostbite. By contrast, the Chinese reported roughly 50,000 killed or wounded.

Highly recommend.

[happy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hampton Sides in one of those authors whose books automatically goes to the top of my TBR list. His look at the first 6 months of the Korean War and the Marines escape from the Chosin Reservoir does not disappoint.

This narrative really begins with MacArthur’s great gamble – the invasion at Inchon and the subsequent liberation of Seoul. In telling this story, Mr. Sides relates the unreasonable time table MacArthur set, Seoul had to liberated by 25 Sep (the 3 month anniversary of North Korea’s Invasion) and how it dictated the Marines tactics. The commander of X Corps (the 1st Marine Divisions higher HQ), MG Ned Almond’s, was in complete agreement with it. As with most other accounts of Inchon and Chosin, Almond comes off badly. With the capture of Seoul, he is show to be completely in agreement with MacA and when the Marine Commander, MG OP Smith, objects, basically tells him to shut up and soldier. His distain for non white troops is also highlighted. As the action moves north of the 38th Parallel, the X Corp is moved to other side of Korea and the race to the Yalu begins.

As he tells the beginning of the movement north, the author does a good job relating the total disregard the National Command Authority all the way up to Pres Truman, had for Mao and his threat to intervene in Korea. He also does a good job of relating the pressure Gen Almond put on Gen Smith to pick up the pace in the race for the Yalu.

The story really picks up when the Chinese finally come in for real. Mr. Sides makes excellent use of first hand accounts to tell the story of both the advance to and the retreat from the reservoir during that awful, freezing cold November/December. In telling the story of the battle, the author focuses on the defense of the pass between the Marines advanced units at Yudam-ni the Division HQ at Hagaru-ri, the Tokong Pass. Part of the story of the defense of pass is the story of the Chinese- American Lt. Chew-Een who led the relief effort of the Marines holding the Pass. He led the relief force cross country using a map and compass and dressed himself in aircraft recognition panels as to be easily seen. The story of the Tokong pass is horrifying, at the same time it is inspiring. Marines refused to be evacuated, even with injuries that would seem to be fatal. In telling this part of the story the author relates probably the only advantage of the extreme cold – it literally stopped the bleeding.

Among the other stories Mr. Sides recounts is the destruction of the Army’s Task Force Faith on the eastern side of the reservoir. In contrast to the commonly held belief, Mr Sides recounts an heroic defense and says that the Task Force really didn't fall apart until their ammunition was almost exhausted and their commander killed, more that five days. The story of Task Force Drysdale – when a British Marine Commando led an attempt to reinforce the Division HQ also figures prominently in the narrative.. In spite suffering major casualties – Drysdale managed to get 300 reinforcements, less than 1/2 of the troops that left Koto-ri, to the Division HQ. Yet another story in the narrative is the rebuilding of the bridge at the Funchiin Pass allowing the Marines to escape down the MSR.

While telling the story of the bridging of the pass, the author tells of the how the Marines, AF and Army improvised a method of delivering sections of Baily bridges and when the stress of vehicles moving over the bridge threatened to cause it's collapse, how the engineers reinforced the bridge with plywood and other scrap lumber, then literally used the frozen bodies of their enemies for ballast to stabilize the bridge.

While Mr. Sides is scathing of MG Almond in the run up to the Chosin, he does give credit where credit is due. He states that during the retreat, Almond did everything possible to aid the Marines.

One of the best and most inspiring of the accounts Mr. Sides relates is that of the first African-American naval aviator, Ens Jesse Brown, and his wingman, LT Thomas Hudner. Ens Brown is shot down and trapped in his a/c while providing CAS to the Marines and LT Hunder deliberately crash lands his aircraft near him in an attempt to free him from his a/c and rescue him. He is unable to extract Brown from his aircraft even when help arrives in a helicopter. Hudner stays with Brown until he dies. For his efforts he is awarded the Medal of Honor.

In summary, while the battle was not a strategic or tactical victory, it was a moral one. The 1st Marine Division destroyed the better part of 10 CCA divisions and manged to get away with their equipment and wounded. Mr. Sides does an excellent job of recounting how the Marines arrived in that God Forsaken part of North Korea, the devastating cold they faced and more importantly how they got out - devastating their opponents at the same time. This is a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in wars or warriors. I would rate this a 4.25 star read

[David Eppenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am giving this book 5 stars. The 5 star rating for me means the book possesses a WOW! factor(s) and this book certainly had me expressing that sentiment on several occasions. To begin with I have to confess that 20th century wars generally do not have a great deal of appeal for me as they tend to have been overly done by popular media. Consequently, I do not know much about the Korean War and surprisingly this war didn't seem to get the usual media exposure of wars fought after the invention of movies, television, and the internet. The only movie I can recall about the Korean War was Gregory Peck in "Pork Chop Hill". It has been called the Forgotten War and that really is true. I read Jeff Shaara's historical fiction regarding the same subject last year and that book opened my eyes and awareness to the battle depicted in these pages but I cannot imagine a better, more concise, more readable, and more entertaining treatment of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir that what has been accomplished by Hampton Sides.

While the author has written a history he has written it with the heart pounding excitement of a bestselling thriller. Even knowing the outcome of the various disparate events in this battle I couldn't put the book down until I read another page and then another and, well we all know how that goes. Sides doesn't go into a lot of detail about the specifics of the engagements and the strategies and tactics. This is not that sort of book. What the reader is given is a strong sense of living the struggles and terrors that were experienced by Marines and soldiers that were there and those that commanded them. While many of the stories told in this book may have been previously recounted in other works this author still does a masterful job of telling the stories for the benefit of readers that are not as knowledgeable of this War or this battle. This book is an example of how history really should be written so that ordinary people can better appreciate and digest the information that we should all be familiar with. The reader cannot help but put this book down and come away with a better understanding of the horrors of war and a greater appreciation for the young people that are sent off to endure these horrors. This book is going on my Highly Recommended bookshelf and I hope all of you give this book a well deserved read. Enjoy.

[Dax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sides always does a great job of humanizing conflicts of war by selecting a handful of individuals and focusing on their specific experiences. In 'On Desperate Ground', Sides follows historical figures such as General MacArthur and President Truman to provide big picture context, but the meat of the book, which provides the strongest images of the conflict for the reader, follows the Army and Marine grunts on the ground. It is the experiences of these men that bring the ugliness of warfare to light.

The Chosin Reservoir was a remarkable battle for multiple reasons. In one respect, it illuminates the consequences of hubris (particularly on the part of MacArthur and Almond), but it also illustrates the pride and valor of the United States Armed Forces. This was the United States' version of Xenophon's march of the ten thousand (something that Sides references multiple times as well), and it really is a remarkable read.

It is embarrassing how little I knew about the Korean War up to this point. 'On Desperate Ground' is a well crafted introduction into the war and its greatest battle. Even if you are already familiar with The Chosin Reservoir, read this.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Hampton Sides does not disappoint. This was a uniquely engaging - in parts, riveting - and easily accessible slice of military history, nicely placed in time and place and context, seasoned splendidly with just enough human interest to ramp up the empathy, but not distract, and ... as is the case with his other stuff ... efficiently written so it feels as if the pages are turning themselves....

I'm long past the point of being objective about Sides' work - he's one of my favorite non-fiction authors, full stop. He won me over with Ghost Soldiers, and, in some ways, this felt to be cut from the same cloth (even if the underlying story was ... on the one hand, broader, yet ... seemingly, less epic). This isn't necessarily the kind of stuff I expect that folks will be assigned to read in the military's senior service schools, but it's still incredibly informative - as military history goes.

I've read (much, much) less about the Korean War than, by comparison, Vietnam or World War II (and, for that matter, World War I) or even the Revolutionary or Civil Wars .... I'm sure there are reasons for that, but, as a result, while much of this was familiar (as always, MacArthur remains a uniquely polarizing figure, and ... more times than not, I consider Truman insufficiently appreciated), there were plenty of stories-within-the-story which were totally new to me.

I look forward to reading whatever Sides publishes next.

[Steven Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hampton Sides latest book, ON DESPERATE GROUND: THE MARINES AT THE RESERVOIR, THE KOREAN WAR’S GREATEST BATTLE has met, or even surpassed the high standards for excellent narrative history that he has set in his previous works. The book is based on extensive interviews, memoirs, command of secondary sources, and the ability to place the reader along side historical decision makers and the soldiers who carried out their orders. Whether Sides is writing about James Earl Ray and the assassination of Martin Luther King; the last survivors of the Bataan Death March; a biography of Kit Carson; or the late 19th century voyage of the USS Jeanette to the unchartered Artic waters, he tells his stories with uncanny historical accuracy and incisive analysis.

In his current effort Sides conveys the authenticity and intensity of war on the Korean peninsula. His portrayal of the bravery of America soldiers is clear and unsettling as the realism of combat is laid bare for all to see. At times it is difficult to comprehend what these soldiers were able to overcome and reading the book during the week of Veteran’s Day makes Sides work that more relevant.

Sides integrates all the important historical figures into his narrative, including American Marines and members of the US Army. We meet the egotistical General Douglas MacArthur and his staff of sycophants and supplicants. MacArthur can carry out the Inchon landing against all odds, but this logistical miracle seems to fuel is insatiable need for further glory. Fed by men like General Ned Almond whose main goal was to carry out MacArthur’s wishes, sluffing off any advice or criticism by other planners the only result could be the disaster that encompassed American soldiers at the Chosin Reservoir and along the Yalu River. Disregarding intelligence that went against his own staff, MacArthur and Almond would push on disregarding and ignoring contrary opinions. President Harry Truman appears and seems to go along with MacArthur, particularly at the Wake Island Conference until proof emerges that over 250,000 Chinese Communist soldiers have poured into North Korea from mid-October 1950 onward.

Perhaps Sides most revealing portrait in explaining how American soldiers met disaster in the Chosin Reservoir region was his comparison of the views of Major-General Oliver Prince Smith, the Commander of the First Marine Division, a by the book Marine who described MacArthur as “a man with a solemn regard for his own divinity;” and Major-General Edward “Ned” Almond, MacArthur’s Chief of Staff. All Almond cared about was speed, disregarding the obstacles that Smith faced in planning MacArthur’s assault on northern Korea. Smith was a deliberate and fastidious planner who resented Almond’s constant goading. He felt that Almond strutted around (like MacArthur!) and made pronouncements based on minimum intelligence. Almond was a racist who down played the abilities of Hispanic American troops and thought very little of the fighting ability of the Chinese. For Almond’s part he viewed Smith as an impediment to his overall goals of carrying out MacArthur’s wishes. He believed that Smith was overly concerned with planning minutiae, and his deliberate approach detracted from his grand plans.

Sides portrayals of American soldiers and the their character provides insights and provide a mirror for the reader into the person’s abilities and their impact on their units, individual bravery, and the success or failure of their unit, battalion, or company’s mission. Studies of Lee Bae-Suk, a Chinese-American who escaped North Korea as a teenager and enlisted in the Marines; Captain William Earl Barber, Commander of Company F, 2nd Battalion role protecting the Toktong Pass, a key route to the Chosin Reservoir, and a student of Sun Tzu as was Mao Zedong; the exploits of Seventh Marines’ Company E, known as “Easy” Commander, First Lieutenant John Yancy at Hill 1282; Lieutenant Chew-Een who led the column to rescue Fox Company encircled by Chinese troops; the Jersey contingent of private Kenneth Benson and Private Hector Cafferata, Jr.’s heroism in Fox Company; Lieutenant Thomas Hudner who would earn the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery for his attempt to rescue Ensign Jesse Brown who hailed from a Mississippi sharecroppers background to become the first African-American fighter pilot in the US Navy; are among many along with other portrayals that are eye opening, as so many soldiers continued to fight on against all odds, despite wounds that would not have allowed most to even stand upright.

Sides description of combat is almost pure in of itself, but completely unnerving. A prime example is the fight for Hill 1282 and the rescue attempt of Fox Company. The Chinese would attack American soldiers in human waves by the thousands paying little, or no attention to casualties as Marines repeatedly cut them down. The carnage and suffering are hard to comprehend as is the bravery of US Marines fighting in sub zero temperatures in the middle of the night to protect a small piece of geography in northern Korea against an enemy, lacking in communications using the unnerving sounds of bugles, cymbals, whistles and such to organize their attacks. Battles are seen through the eyes of the participants and the will and desire of each man is on full display.

Sides has written an excellent narrative military history, but on another level, he has produced a study that highlights the relationship between men in combat and how they rely upon each other for their survival. It is a book about heroes, the idiocy of war, and the incompetence of decision-making by people at the top who are willing to send men to their deaths, in many cases without batting an eye. The book reads like a novel, but it presents history as truth, that cannot be denied or dismissed.

[Sweetwilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a testament to why the United States Marine Corp is the greatest fighting force in the world. A group of Gung Ho Marines are often mistaken as arrogant. This is not arrogance you see. It is Esprit de Corp and pride. The source of this pride and Gung Ho spirit can be traced to specific events such as Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima but there is no greater example than the 1st Marine Division's retrograde movement out of the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.

Thank you Hampton Sides for this tribute to the 1st Marine Division. It is a tribute from top to bottom: To its Commanding Officer, O.P. Smith, who protected his Marines from the destructive orders of X CORP to the lowest ranking misfit Pvt. who broke out of sickbay to return to the line with frostbitten feet to man the perimeter of hill 1282. In between, there are scattered stories of heroics such as a corporal fighting in stocking feet all night in minus 25F weather with a wind chill of minus 70F; to a Chinese speaking lieutenant who broke out of sick bay with an arm in a cast and stole a jeep so that he could return to the front line. He would lead a relief expedition behind enemy lines, purposely donning a construction workers vest with reflective panels on the back so that his men could see him in the dark. It contains some great quotes from Chesty Puller; the famous Marine who said when he saw his first ever flamethrower “where do you attach the bayonet?” Chesty told reporters that “This is a shitty war but it’s better than no war at all.” It also contains a great story of an engineering marvel when the Marines fix the bridge at Funchilin Pass.

I think the legendary Chesty Puller said it best when he said So the Chinese are to our east. They’re to our west. They’re to our north. And to our south. Well, that simplifies things. They can’t get away from us now. The Marines destroyed 10 Chinese divisions during what O.P. Smith called an “Advance in another direction.”

To understand someone you must first, learn their history. I pity those of you that did not have the opportunity to claim the title of Marine but at least Hampton Sides has provided you with this narrative so that you can understand a particular source of Marine pride. The bar for the United States Marine Corp has been set very high by those that came before us. This is why death is preferred before dishonor. I invite all dog faces, swabs, civilians in uniform (air force), rifle droppers (anyone who has ever fought or ran under an Italian or French flag) or anyone that is interested to learn about feats of Marine daring to read this book.

This book is as good as any of the other Hampton Sides books. I would say that Blood and Thunder is his best but this is a close second and as good as if not better than Ghost Soldiers. I give it a strong 4.5 stars. I can’t rate a book less than 5 stars that is so good that I couldn't put it down. I finished it after only 3-4 days of reading so the final rating is 5 stars.

[Elyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reason I wanted to read this book is because my ex-father-in-law was a Korean War Marine veteran. He was one of the few Marines able to walk off Fox Hill at Chosin Reservoir on his own two frost-bitten feet. My FIL and I never knew quite what to think of each other. I respected him but also thought he was a little nuts. My ex and I couldn't have children and were thinking of adopting a little girl from China in the 1990's. When my FIL heard this, he flat out said he could never accept a Chinese baby as a granddaughter.

Now that I've read this book I understand my FIL better. He died in 2014 and we weren't in communication anymore anyway after my divorce. The questions I would ask him now if I could. Hampton Sides' book is a masterpiece of narrative non-fiction. He interviewed the surviving Marines, soldiers, and airmen and did extensive research. He brought the whole horrible event to life. My FIL's attitude towards the Chinese people is no longer an enigma to me. By the end of this campaign most American fighters no longer considered them human. For instance, on their way back to the ocean they had no sandbags left to repair a bridge they needed. Instead they used the bodies of dead Chinese soldiers to shore it up.

As Sides described the Chinese troops swarming by the thousands down the hills, it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings movie battle scenes showing the attacks of the orcs. But Sides never let his readers forget that these Chinese soldiers were human. Very well done. I won't be forgetting it any time soon.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will need more time to write a worthy review about this truly remarkable book about the courageous Marines at Chosin. Hampton Sides’ absolute mastery of narrative non-fiction is on full display here.

[Sonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

― “Luck in combat is fickle,” Barber once said. “But I’ve noticed through the years that those who make the best preparations enjoy the best luck.”
― Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

As we approach the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, it’s fair to say that most Americans do not know the troubled history of the Korean peninsula. For good reason, the Korean War has often been labeled the “Forgotten War.” One need only open a standard history textbook to see how few lines are devoted to U.S. involvement in Korea. The memory of Korea has been unable to escape the long shadows cast by other conflicts of the twentieth century, especially World War II and Vietnam. Yet, the three years of bitter fighting profoundly shaped American Cold War policy for the next four decades.

The war broke out on June 25, 1950 when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel, invading South Korea, after North Korean leader Kim Il-sung received a promise of support from Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. General Douglas MacArthur, the American commander of all United Nations and South Korean forces, devised an audacious and incredibly risky amphibious assault of the harbor at Inchon over extremely unfavorable terrain, overcoming the strong objections of more cautious generals. The Inchon landing by the X Corps in September 1950 cut the North Korean army in half. Combined with the breakout from Pusan by the 8th Army, the Inchon landing had led to a stunning reversal in the Korean War. For a few weeks that fall, it seemed that MacArthur’s invasion had whipped the communists and would soon end the war. A confident MacArthur told President Truman that organized resistance would be eliminated by Thanksgiving. He told his troops that they would be home by Christmas. Yet, MacArthur would soon make one of the worst military intelligence blunders in U.S. military history.

Ignoring reports of contact with Chinese Communist Forces troops, MacArthur ordered both the Eighth Army and X Corps to move north past the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea, a maneuver he claimed would end the war for all practical purposes. Chinese leader Mao Zedong had warned MacArthur not to send U.S. forces north of the 38th parallel, but the overly confident general dismissed Mao’s warning, even as hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers poured across the border and prepared to attack.

Underestimating the fighting ability of the Chinese, MacArthur ordered the US X Corps to advance inland to the Chosin Reservoir. From there, two divisions would move west, a maneuver that would place the X Corps behind the enemy troops that would be facing the Eighth Army. MacArthur’s plan required an advance over 55-miles of single-lane, unpaved road over some of the roughest mountain terrain in the dead of winter. Understanding the cost, Major General Oliver Smith, commander of the 1st Marine Division, told Major General Edward M. Almond, the hard-hitting commander of the US X Corps, the plan was rash. But Almond, operating directly under MacArthur, ordered the Marines forward. Because of the difficult mountain terrain, the X Corps soon found itself stretched out along a lengthy front. On November 14, an arctic cold front descended over the North Korean high country, plunging the temperature as low as −36 °F amid blinding snowstorms. The cold created considerable danger of frostbite and weapon malfunctions. It was so cold that blood plasma froze and was useless on the battlefield. MacArthur had unwittingly exposed his troops to ambush and terrible suffering.

― “MacArthur had blundered badly. He had been outwitted and outflanked by a guerrilla army with no air force, crude logistics, and primitive communications, an army with no tanks and precious little artillery. He was responsible for one of the most egregious intelligence failures in American military history.”
― Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

On the night of November 27, the Chinese launched multiple attacks and ambushes along the road between the Chosin Reservoir and Koto-ri. An estimated 300,000 Chinese troops encircled the much smaller American force. Thousands of Chinese soldiers swarmed the American positions; several American units were overrun and destroyed. The assault had taken the U.N. forces completely by surprise. A brutal 17-day battle ensued. Despite the odds, the Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese.

― “The next star shell revealed a horrific panorama: The snow was smeared with blood. Twisted corpses and shorn body parts had been flung in all directions.”
― Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

― “The cold seemed to come with only one upside: It had a cauterizing effect on wounds. Blood from bullet holes or shrapnel tears simply froze to the skin and stopped flowing.”
― Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

Despite being encircled, the American forces were miraculously able to break out. MacArthur ordered the withdrawal of UN forces to the port of Hungnam. Despite the cold weather, harassing fire, and roadblocks, UN forces were able to inflict numerous casualties while engaging in a great tactical withdrawal. They inflicted such heavy losses on the Chinese Army that it was put out of action for six months. The Americans had lost 750 men, while killing an estimated 30,000 Chinese. General MacArthur did not bother to greet his troops in Hungnam, nor did he apologize to them. As Sides writes, “It seemed not to register with the supreme commander that the nightmare the Marines had just passed through bore any relationship to him.”

― “the man was incapable of accepting blame, or assuming responsibility, for the mistakes that had been made. Already he was beginning to cover his tracks, to write his own posterity papers. He had started to formulate a defense for himself, a counter-narrative that, in many ways, would appear to be delusional. He would argue that he had known all along that the Chinese were going to intervene en masse. He had seen it coming for many weeks.”
― Hampton Sides, On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle

Not surprisingly, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir is regarded by many historians as one of the most brutal in modern warfare. That the battle took place at all was the result of poor intelligence and hubris on the part of General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur was vain, arrogant, and overly confident. He bore much of the blame for the fall of the Philippines early in World War II. Knowing of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he failed to protect his men and the Philippines from the same fate. He grossly underestimated the ability of the Japanese while overestimating the ability of the soldiers under his command. In Korea, he ignored compelling intelligence showing that the Chinese were coming. That said, some genuine heroes emerged from the battle, such as Captain William Barber of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, and Lieutenant Kurt Chew-Een Lee from 1st Battalion, 7th Marines.

Military Historian Hampton Sides has produced a compelling account of battles, leaders, and the fighting men, told in a concise, well-paced narrative and lively prose. He uses his considerable narrative gifts to give the reader a compelling account of battles, as well as the human consequences of the failures of the military leaders involved.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Hampton Sides begins his unforgettable account of the battle fought at Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War with this statement:

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 by 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 its way out of its predicament.

Sun Tzu calls this “desperate ground”……

After reading On Desperate Ground I was humbled by the unfathomable suffering that the Marines and soldiers endured in the Korean War battle at Chosin Reservoir. The Korean War is often referred to as America’s “forgotten war”. Thanks to this outstanding account of what happened there, anyone who reads this book will never forget the selflessness and sacrifices of the brave men who fought there.

The poignant personal stories are so overwhelming and compelling that it is impossible to put the book down. Countless acts of heroism and sacrifice are revealed. The urgency, extreme cold and deprivation are palpable.

In many ways the book reveals the actions of two very different generals — Oliver Prince Smith and Douglas MacArthur. General Smith’s compassion, integrity, experience, and on the ground leadership helped insure that thousands of men survived the battle. His calm demeanor was an inspiration to the men he commanded. One Marine expressed a feeling held by many others, “I’d follow him to hell because I know he’d get me out.” Military historians placed much of Chosin’s success on the actions of Smith, regarding him as one of American history’s most under appreciated generals.

General MacArthur, on the other hand, displayed none of those qualities. He greatly underestimated the determination, capability, and strength of his opponents. He was disdainful of the Communist forces and felt that his army would overtake them in a few weeks. He refused to believe credible ground intelligence and never set foot in areas of combat. However, he was an arrogant self promoter and didn’t miss an opportunity for a photo-op. He retreated to his comfortable headquarters in Tokyo where he would direct the battle remotely. When the enormity of the slaughter was revealed, MacArthur refused to accept blame and began to formulate a counter narrative that absolved him from any responsibility for defeat. In April 1951 President Truman relieved MacArthur of his command.

This powerful and unforgettable book should be required reading for students. It’s a part of American history that has long been forgotten. Hampton Sides’ meticulous research has brought this period of history to life. The account is based on years of research into archives, unpublished letters, declassified documents, interviews with survivors and survivors’ families, and photographic history. I would give this book ten stars if I could.

[Karen R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent story by the author of In the Kingdom of Ice about the key battle at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. The details of the war’s greatest battle are stunningly written. I loved everything about this book which covered details of tactics, politics, heroism, major historical character portrayals.

The marines fought like never before in history. Inter-relationships between the various military elements - Army, Marines - were meticulously researched by Sides. Sources include written accounts, books, interviews of actual participants and historical archives. I don’t think Sides left any stone unturned. Gripping!

Infuriating to discover the political missteps of General MacArthur in placing the Marines and Army in grave danger and disregarding the intelligence and the input from senior officers on the ground. Overwhelming numbers of aggressors, supply lines stretched too far, the preening of MacArthur and staff telling him only what he wanted to hear. He put so many soldiers at risk!The ingenuity and courage of boots on the ground and determination of the units who refused to capitulate was incredible. Thanks to Doubleday Books for providing an early ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a pleasure to review and the third I’ve read by Sides. I’ve just downloaded the audio version of his 2006 work titled Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West - my book of choice for our 17 hour drive south this coming weekend!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along with Candice Millard and Laura Hillenbrand, Hampton Sides is my favorite narrative-nonfiction author on the planet. (Erik Larson is a close fourth.) Sides's latest offering doesn't disappoint; ‘On Desperate Ground’ is a bracing story of courage and survival against impossible odds. The writing is exquisite. How does it compare to Sides’s other books? Here is my entirely subjective ranking (with stars):

1. Hellhound on His Trail (5)
2. Ghost Soldiers (5)
3. On Desperate Ground (4.5)
4. In the Kingdom of Ice (4.5)
5. Blood and Thunder (3.5)

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Korea seemed a long way from home – a long way to come to fight and bleed and die, in a war that was not officially a war, for a cause that at times was not altogether clear, for an endgame that was anybody's guess.”

Narrative non-fiction that provides an account of a significant battle of the Korean War that took place at the Chosin Reservoir near the end of 1950. Sides begins his account with the Marines landing at Inchon to relieve UN troops, and their subsequent march to Seoul. The North Korean troops were in retreat, and General Douglas MacArthur, sensing a chance to end the war, made the decision to pursue them to the Yalu River. He either ignored or incorrectly interpreted reports that vast numbers of Chinese troops were massing at the border. Substantially outnumbered in a below freezing temperatures in a remote mountainous region, the Marines were left with no choice but to find a way back to the coast. The manner in which this was accomplished is an amazing story of courage and ingenuity.

Sides provides all the necessary background and context, leading up to the climactic set piece. He describes the differing leadership styles of the commanders. General Oliver Smith comes across as heroic, in contrast to the hubris of General MacArthur and imprudence of Major General Edward Almond. He describes their failure to act on the gathered intelligence, basically denying the evidence. It probably could have included a bit more about the Truman-MacArthur disagreements.

Once the author gets to the major set piece, the Chosin Reservoir, it is a riveting story, focused on the individual soldiers’ experiences. The gruesomeness of war is on full display. After reading this book, I have no issue with calling it a war regardless of whether or not it was “officially declared.”

As time goes on, we lose more and more of the veterans who fought this war, I want to ensure that I understand what they experienced. This is a well-written and well-researched book describing the beginning of the war, the mistakes that were made, and the reasons it endured for so much longer.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping, well-researched and readable history of the 1st Marine Division from Inchon to the Chosin Reservoir.

The book doesn’t have much new material, but the narrative is interesting, compelling and informative, and moves along briskly. Sides ably covers the Marines’ ordeal; the decisions made by the Truman White House, the UN command, and the Marine commanders; and the communist side of the campaign. Sides covers how MacArthur’s decisions contributed to disaster, how Oliver Smith translated MacArthur’s plans to action, how he led the breakout, and how he dealt with Ned Almond.

Some more maps would have helped, though, and MacArthur and Truman disappear from the narrative after their Wake Island meeting. The misfortunes of Task Force Faith are also mentioned, but how they exctricated themselves isn’t discussed in depth (nor is the story of how Smith’s men got from Hagaru-ri to Koto-ri) Also, the end of the book deals with how the rest of the war played out, but we don’t see how the US decided not to resume a push north. There is also relatively little coverage of the artillery, armored and air forces’ role.

A powerful, vivid and well-written work.

[Porter Broyles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a member of the M*A*S*H generation. In other words, most of what I know about the Korean War I learned from watching Hawkeye, Hot Lips, Radar, et al.

I've been wanting to learn more about the war, but didn't know where to start.

This book was an excellent choice.

This was a very well done interesting book on one of the most significant battles of the war. It provides sufficeint background on the key figures that it leaves you wanting to know more about the War, but covers the subject in sufficeint detail that you do not feel short changed.

I'm generally not a person who likes "battle" books, but this is a definite exception.

[Perri · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Desperate Ground had me as riveted as though this decades old Korean war story was in real time and the outcome not yet decided. Huge admiration for the unsung heroes and the sheer mettle of marines and others in perilous conditions, along with loathing (cough* MacArthur*) for others. Sides is adept at interspersing stories of the individual with the larger picture of the how and why of this epic battle. Hail to the Chosin Frozen Few! Thanks to Doubleday for the advance copy.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Chosin Few

“So the Chinese are to our east. They’re to our west. They’re to our north. And to our south. Well, that simplifies things. They can’t get away from us now!” – Colonel “Chesty” Puller, on learning his regiment was surrounded at Koto-ri in North Korea

Hampton Sides’ latest book is a riveting saga, set in the opening months of the Korean War, a war I knew next to nothing about, aside from what I’d learned watching M.A.S.H. episodes and visiting the MacArthur Museum in Norfolk, VA some years ago. Frankly, I doubt I’d have read anything about the Korean War had Sides not written this book, as he’s one of my favorite authors, but now I’m keen to read more on the subject, especially as On Desperate Ground is devoted only to the initial ill-fated campaign.

While I blazed through this book, I found myself repeatedly shaking my head in disbelief at two things. First, and most notably was the shortsightedness of MacArthur and his designated on-the-ground commander, Edward Almond. (MacArthur never actually spent the night in Korea during the war, we’re informed.) Sides does little to burnish or forgive either man, with Almond seeming to take his cue from the preening general, who had little use for those pesky “facts” that contradicted what he wanted to hear.

Secondly, though, were the incredible stories of about a dozen or so soldiers from all the ranks – from general down to private – but mostly of the Marines, led by General Oliver Prince Smith, “a cerebral, soft-spoken man whose habits seemed atypical of a gung-ho Marine. There was no bluster in his demeanor….People called him ‘the Professor.’... He was fluent in French, drank sparingly, read the classics and never cursed. An expert gardener, he cultivated roses in his spare time.”

Naturally, Sides contrasts Smith’s demeanor and actions to good effect with those of MacArthur and Almond, both aggressive and self-assured, neither seeing a need for caution, pooh-poohing the idea that the Chinese would become involved, and even when it was clear that they were involved, subscribing to the idea that the forces were not significant.

But boy oh boy, were they ever wrong….

“And then masses of men, moving through the night, throwing themselves at the Americans. Said one Marine: ‘It was as though a whole field got up on its feet and walked forward. I never saw anything like it.’ Said another: ‘A hell of a lot of Chinese went down, but a hell of a lot more kept coming. You got the impression the waves were endless, like surf lapping on a beach.’”

In fact, some 300,000 Chinese were attacking the positions of the American-led UN forces.

Rather than approaching this debacle as a blow-by-blow account, Sides focuses on key individuals, to dramatic effect. And here was where I found myself literally shaking my head and murmuring “Woooah!” at descriptions and events, and at the sheer heroism. The narrative jumps from location to location, but usually centers on a handful of individuals who played key roles or whose ordeals were both representative and spectacular, such as Lt. Chew-En Lee, “the most irascible and most determined officer in the whole battalion,” and the first Chinese-American officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Lee, at 120 pounds, was a slight but fierce man who led the “Ridgerunners” in a daring night-time trek to relieve Fox Company, which was holding a key hill but facing annihilation. Carrying eighty pounds of gear despite being injured and wearing a cast on one arm, Lee managed against all odds and by dint of unconventional tactics to usher the relief forces to the hill, where an unforgettable sight greeted them:

“What had happened here was remarkable to contemplate. A single company of surrounded men, outnumbered ten to one, had held on in arctic weather for five days and five nights. And not only held on: They had slaughtered their foe. The magnitude of the carnage filled the Ridgerunners with awe as they marched down through it. The field was littered with hundreds and hundreds of Chinese corpses. ‘I swear to God,’ said Owen, ‘you could have walked without touching the ground, using those bodies as a carpet.’”

Another thing that struck me while reading was Sides’ wonderful use of description and quotations. Not only has he garnered the most effective direct quotes from the soldiers, but he brings the sights, sensations, smells, and feel of the battlefield to the reader. Here are a few phrases that I particularly admired:

The Chinese advancing up a snowy hill at night sounded like “thousands of feet walking across a carpet of cornflakes.”

An officer looks up during the heat of battle to the surrounding hills and “The highlands around Yudam-ni had come alive with pyrotechnics. It looked as if the mountains were covered in fireflies.”

Two soldiers, one blinded, fight off the Chinese. One fires the weapons, while the blinded one reloads, using muscle memory alone. The marksman shoots and kills reflexively, not pausing, as “Smoke curled from the weapon, until finally the barrel guard caught on fire. He smothered it with snow, and it ticked and steamed as it cooled.”

Just before the evening attack: “A fine, powdery snow began to fall, coating everything, dampening the miscellaneous noises of the valley. Then the night grew silent. The snowflakes made tiny ticking sounds as they accumulated on rifle barrels. Everyone could sense that the Chinese were close at hand.”

Though it was not particularly cold when I read this book, I wrapped myself in a blanket, chilled by Sides’ descriptions of the unbearable, almost arctic, conditions.

This is, in short, a book for those who enjoy war stories, not to mention tales with a kernel of a moral lesson as well. And heroes. Lots and lots of heroes. It’s fierce, bloody, well told, and altogether gripping.

“This is a shitty war – but it’s better than no war at all!” - Colonel “Chesty” Puller (again)

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I essentially read this book in 2 sittings - it was really tough to put down. I had previously read Mr. Sides' book about the U.S.S. Jeannette, which I found compelling despite covering (IMO) a less interesting topic, so my enjoyment wasn't terribly surprising. I know almost nothing about the Korean War beyond what I "learned" from M*A*S*H, and my desire for a little knowledge combined well with Sides' flair for storytelling.

As other reviewers have noted, the beginning of the book gives a description of some of the major players as well as some background of the situation, but the battle itself is described primarily via first-hand accounts. Regardless of whether the people involved remembered everything exactly as it happened, it's an effective approach which seems to have become fairly common lately.

Sides doesn't have many nice things to say about Douglas MacArthur. I have no basis to argue with him, but I wondered how a guy whom he (convincingly) describes as a delusional fool could become a five-star general. I think American Caesar is one of the books in my huge stack (probably purchased 20+ years ago), and I'll have to see if I can dig it out - like Sides, William Manchester was an author who wrote compelling history.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Thanks to Hampton Sides, Doubleday, and Goodreads for an excellent weekend.

[thewanderingjew · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle,
Hampton Sides, author, David Pittu, narrator
There are few books I would like to award more than 5 stars, but this is one of them. Not only is it researched thoroughly and written logically, with the clear lens of the backward glance, the audio has a pitch perfect narrator, imparting the story with the clarity and structure the author intended. He plants the reader right in the thick of every scene with descriptions and prose that transcend the time and place without his ever usurping or going beyond the purpose for which he was chosen. He brings the story to life and engages the reader completely. Although history can be dry to some, this is not, and I think there will be few who will not read it through, experiencing what the soldiers did in each battle. Not a single reader will fail to understand the need to have toxic masculinity when fighting this war, or any, for that matter. War is evil, no doubt about it, but when engaged in it, one must be totally absorbed in it.
Although the book covers the reason America was in Korea, the infighting between the Marines and the Navy, and the incompetence of some of the commanding officers who designed and implemented the tactics of the Korean War, it dwells mostly on the courage and stamina of the brave soldiers who fought against all odds, to overcome the enemy, in a strange place, in an unkind climate. They bravely fought the Chinese soldiers who were instructed to defy and ignore every rule of the Geneva Conventions, by their leader, Mao Tse-tung.
It was 1950, the American soldiers were young, they were devoted to the cause and they were a brotherhood of men. Although these marines, who came from many backgrounds to fight the battle of the Chosin Reservoir, were eventually forced to retreat, they can only be described as displaying what today would be called something akin to male toxicity, yet without these kinds of soldiers, we Americans, not by our own choice, might all be speaking a different language than our own English. The Commanding officer, of the First Marine Division, General Oliver Smith, is an unsung hero of the war. He saved more men then was thought possible, against odds also thought impossible. Another unsung hero, in this historic, but little known battle, was Lieutenant Colonel John Partridge. He never gave up, which is a huge quality of toxic masculinity. It is the idea of maintaining perseverance in the face of extreme danger and impossible odds and of then accomplishing the impossible in just that way.
Truman, led down the garden path by Douglas MacArthur, who was beginning to be ruled by his arrogance more than careful thought and planning, approved the war strategies he proposed. Unfortunately, they led to unnecessary loss of life and the eventual stalemate decision of the war, with no clear winner, as the odds were stacked against them by an arrogant General. Still, though outnumbered, the soldiers did perform valiantly. Many of the commanding officers, like General Ned Almond, were political, and their carriage and behavior belied the reality and casualties of war. More concerned with their image and future, they made decisions founded on their own fantasies and not the intelligence with which they were provided, but ignored. Some blamed their failures on others, putting innocents in harm’s way to justify their actions. MacArthur wanted the spectacle of war, the photo ops and the praise and began to lose sight of the danger of failure. Almond, who supported MacArthur was a racist until he died and he blamed the black soldiers for failures. Racism was alive and well as the Korean War raged, but there were examples of heroism and brotherhood in spite of it. The soldiers were cut from a different cloth than many Americans today with the idea of nationalism and love of flag and country being so widely disparaged.
The story is told in five parts beginning with start of the war in Seoul, and ending with the evacuation by sea to the United States for the soldiers of General Smith’s valiant regiment. Two of the generals, MacArthur and Smith, who were involved in the battle plans, one laying them out and the other carrying the orders out, were as different as they could be. While MacArthur never met a spotlight he did not like, Smith preferred his privacy. He did not need medals or cameras as MacArthur fed upon those needs. Smith’s concern was for the safety of his men and winning the battle. MacArthur’s concern was pretty much for his own image and success, which is what led to his ultimate failure.
There were so many unsung heroes who did not claim the center of attention and yet fought and/or died with incredible valor. Their respect for their commanding officers and their country was beyond admirable. The marines were duty bound and they performed their duties with gallantry and honor whenever possible. They were a brotherhood of men, devoted to each other and their country. They devised ways to defeat the enemy in the face of the most dreadful odds. They did not give up. How many of us retain such strong convictions, today, convictions that would spur us on beyond what is thought humanly possible? Today, such qualities are often mocked, especially in men, and not given the praise they deserve.
Sometimes men and women are called upon to do things they do not like, but for the sake of the greater good, they perform their duties with bravado and spirit. Their daring should be respected. Perhaps we need to reinstate the draft, or a draft of some kind, like the Peace Corps, that is not voluntary, so that all young people give some time to the service of their country and do not expect their country to serve them. I cannot write more without giving the heart of the book away, but if every high school student read and analyzed this book, male and female, in a genderless society some think is utopia, they would begin to understand far more about their country than they do now, as they think only of their technical devices, their idealism and self-serving needs. As President John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. America may have lost its way, but it can find its way back if we start educating our young to love it once again.

[Bob Mayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turning defeat into victory is one of the hardest of military accomplishments. Pulling off a retreat under a pressure is an extraordinary tactical maneuver, fraught with disaster. This excellent book details one of the Marine Corps greatest accomplishments that accomplished both. The author goes into detail into how this was accomplished and the bravery of the men who made this happen. Must read for all students of military history.

[Alan Tomkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesomely good. Perfectly constructed narrative and intense, vivid writing that immerses the reader in one of the most amazing military campaigns in American history. Totally epic. Highest recommendation.

[Peter Tillman]

As this is a new book and will come due soon, I’m going to close it out as DNF, about halfway in. The writing is fully up to Sides’ usual high standards, but I’m just not in the mood for it. I'll tell you why, below. As always, please read the publisher's intro (top of page) first. I’m likely done. Left unrated.

Taking a break at p. 89. Too much bad stuff: MacArthur’s strutting peacock crap and fake deadlines, his toady Gen. Edward Almond (Marine Gen. Smith’s boss), an incompetent, impulsive man, a violent racist, and a piss-poor general. MacArthur’s fake deadline for victory, and the destruction of Seoul to meet it. The overconfidence of the American brass, Pres. Truman & Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall included. Army “intelligence” ignores the Chinese army captives, taken in North Korea. And why would the US want to antagonize the Chinese? The hydropower dams near the Chinese border, built by the Japanese in the 1930s, power Chinese Manchuria. The Americans thought the Chinese would just stand by, as US troops took possession of the dams, and marched up to the Chinese border? Good grief.

Stalled at p. 142. Gen. Smith has failed to dissuade Gen. Almond from his crazy plan to send the Marines into the mountains just before winter. The sole access is a one-lane mountain road. Gen. Smith builds a substantial airstrip and supply dump near Chosin Reservoir, for the Chinese ambush he thinks is coming. In Sides telling, this was Mao’s plan all along, and he particularly wanted to mousetrap and defeat the Marines.

Sad premonitions of blunders & misjudgements in Vietnam, years later. Etc, etc.

Looking ahead, past where I read:
In early 1951, President Truman fired Gen. MacArthur for insubordination. Years later, he said:
“I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.” Give 'em hell, Harry!