Free Download On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle
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On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle
Free Download On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War's Greatest Battle
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"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." (Washington Post)
From the New York Times best-selling author of Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War.Â
On Oct. 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.Â
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. Â
Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of marines and Koreans who survived the siege.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. Â
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."
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Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 12 hours and 7 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Random House Audio
Audible.com Release Date: October 2, 2018
Language: English, English
ASIN: B07DJYRVM7
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
This book did something rather extraordinary for me. After reading it, twice, I was motivated to visit the US Marine Corps Museum just outside of Quantico. There, the museum keeps an entire section on what the Marines faced in Korea, including a life-size diorama with climate control to show the cold and, frankly, hellish conditions faced during a prolonged battle. As an aside, if you find yourself near Quantico, visit the museum. You will not regret it.Indeed, this book gave me some added context to not only what I was seeing at the museum's Korea exhibit, but the culture of excellence the USMC instills in its Marines. The narrative is gripping and highly approachable to the lay reader, yet Sides also successfully walks that fine line between making it interesting AND informative without making it read like a novel or some kind of historical fiction puff piece. Disadvantages and such are not given short shrift, and Sides certainly does not go out of his way to deify the Marines. No, their actions do just fine doing that without any kind of embellishment necessary.Moreover, Sides looks at the home front as well, including Truman's struggles and the decisions he made. What results here is a book that takes a view of a battle from many perspectives, leaving the reader most appreciative of the wheels within wheels. It's not a dry recitation of facts - it's information.We hear from many different Marines who were there, and Sides respectfully lets them speak for themselves. No editing of their recollections, nothing other than his taking extreme effort in finding these men and interviewing them, and allowing we the readers to enrich ourselves from not only his efforts, but from hearing the facts from the original sources.In reading this, I'm struck that the last time I felt like this after reading history for a brave force of extraordinary men, I was transported to WWII and following the experiences of Easy Company in Band of Brothers. Like BoB did with WWII, On Desperate Ground motivated me to learn more about the Korean War - which I think is very important given that the war seems to have dissolved out of the consciousness of our nation (living mainly in MASH reruns, unfortunately...).This book is fantastic. I do not praise it lightly, nor do I name drop BoB recklessly. On Desperate Ground is an important book, to not only fully understand what our Marines accomplished at Chosin, but what the United States Marines have as their legacy as the Corps moves forward toward new challenges. An outstanding book.
It's not often that you come across popular history that reads like good literature. On Desperate Ground follows the First Marine Division from their landing at Inchon to their legendary route at the Chosin Reservoir, and manages to be both detailed history and gripping narrative. Author Hampton sides provides a detailed look at the men, the commanders, the strategies, the terrain, and the politics for not just the Marines and allied Korean and UN troops, but also their North Korean and Chinese opponents.If there's a hero in this book it is Marine General Oliver Smith, commander of the First Marine Division and architect of the Inchon landing. It was Smith who turned MacArthur's plan- "We will land at Inchon"- into reality, and it was Smith who led the breakout and retreat from Chosin, managing to extract the 100,000 soldiers of the American X Corps and Republic of Korea I Corps along with nearly 98,000 citizens, surrounded by 120,000 soldiers of the Chinese PLA. Smith's nemesis was his direct commander, Major General Ned Almond. Almond was one of MacArthur's inner circle of trusted aids, or as others often characterized them, toadies. Almond had an undistinguished career in WWII, and blamed his poor performance leading the 92nd Infantry in Italy- which he blamed entirely on his African American soldiers. His racism extended not only to his troops, but to Filipino troops who were part of the UN forces, and to the Republic of Korea troops, who had shown themselves to be fierce fighters in the battles to retake the South. Alexander Haig, who was an aide to Almond in Korea, wrote that "[Almond] was not a believer in the racial integration of the Army, and thought those of us who were, such as myself, were in the need of education, or perhaps something stronger, to wake us up to reality."Having secured Inchon and driven the North Korean soldiers from South of the 82nd Parallel, MacArthur decided to push North to the Yalu, and chose Almond to lead that campaign, much to the dismay of Smith and others. Almond had his forces advance along narrow roads, making resupply or reinforcement difficult or impossible. Smith and others warned that Almonds plan was a dangerous division of forces, to which Almond maintained that North Korean forces would not put up a fight. Almond also echoed MacArthur's opinion that, contrary to intelligence assessments, China would not intervene, and even if they did, they were not a significant fighting force. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of PLA soldiers were preparing a trap for invasion forces.The results of MacArthur's grand strategy and Almond's ground tactics are well known. UN forces encountered a massive PLA force, and despite superior tactics, weapons, and experience, found themselves outnumbered and encircled. Author Hampton Sides follows the progress of the battle and retreat through the eyes of commanders and individual Marines, soldiers, and airmen. It's a powerful, realistic, narrative and a book I recommend highly to anyone with an interest in the Korean war.
This is a good review of the Marines at Chosin, and ever better for the General Oliver Smith, who has been overlooked. However a more serious problem is a total absence of MAPS in the book. I cannot speak for the other editions, but I have never read a mil-history without a single map. I don't recall this omission in "Ghost Soldiers", but cannot swear it is true. If you order this book, see if you can see on Amazon, the table of contents, and look for a map page. That is a serious problem
Since there a lot of good books on the Chosin Peninsula battle, I didn't know what to expect from this book. However, it does an excellent job of bringing together these existing sources coherently. The author also brings something that these other sources don't, a strategic context for this great battle of the Korean War. As you would expect, General MacArthur is shown as the pompous fool that he was - he surrounded himself with yes men and was a primary culprit for the tragedy that unfurled. At the end of the book, President Truman's quote was appropriate. (I won't provide it here - you should read the book) The author also uses the many primary sources, Breakout by Martin Russ, Colder Than Hell, by Owens, and The Last Stand of Fox Company (and Devotion which is an excellent book on the first black naval aviator and his friend, also a naval aviator). If you are interested in more on the tactical aspects of the battle and the impact on individuals, I highly recommend these (as the author does at the end). I also highly recommend this book, it brings together elements from these sources and adds a strategic context thereby providing additional value.
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