Pacifica Military History Free Sample Chapters.pmd

228 Pacifica Military History
CHOSIN
Heroic Ordeal of the Korean War
By Eric Hammel
Told from the point of view of the men in the foxholes and tanks, outposts,
and command posts, Eric Hammel’s Chosin is the definitive account of
the epic retreat under fire of the 1st Marine Division from the Chosin
Reservoir in December 1950.
The author first sketches in the errors and miscalculations on the
part of the American high command that caused the Marines to be strung
out at the end of a narrow road scores of miles from the sea. He then
plunges right into the action: the massing of Chinese forces in about
ten-to-one strength; the Marines’ command problems due to the climate
and terrain and high-level overconfidence; and the onset of the overwhelming
Chinese assault.
With a wealth of tactical detail and small-unit action Chosin: Heroic
Ordeal of the Korean War is the most complete, most compelling
book written on this iconic battle. Author Eric Hammel’s masterful
account offers invaluable perspective on war at the gut level.
Praise for Chosin
“Hammel’s book is full of accounts of the stuff that legends are made
from. It is a cliffhanger of a story, and he tells it master-fully. Readers
should be warned: Just as in the campaign itself, where there was no
rear echelon and everyone was a combatant, so too, if you go into Yudamni
with the Marines you had better be prepared to be with them all the
way on to Hungnam and freedom.” —Sea Power Magazine
“This is a view over the foxhole’s rim. It concentrates on the superlative
effort, suffering and courage of the young enlisted Marines, sailors and
soldiers who glared at the quilted-uniformed enemy and refused to be
stared down ... a factual, revealing and penetrating look at war at its
worst and men at their best.” —The San Diego Union