Retelling Story Of Heroic Battle

'Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950'

by Martin Russ Fromm International, $27.50$

In November 1950, the war in Korea seemed close to an end: U.S. troops were approaching the Yalu River that separated Korea from China, about to close in on the remnants of the tattered Korean army, secure victory, and were expected to be home for Christmas. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.

Instead, thousands of Chinese Communists silently poured across the border, trapping 12,000 U.S. Marines in the rough, bitterly cold mountains. The story of how these Marines battled their way out of that trap remains today one of the most heroic stories of the century.

In "Breakout," former Marine and Korean War veteran Martin Russ tells the story of the Chosin Reservoir campaign at ground level. He relies on first-hand accounts from the Marines themselves of the horrific conditions and brutal combat, weaving their voices with official accounts of the battle. It is a compelling story, and hearing it from the voices of the then-young Marines themselves brings it vividly to life.

In November 1950, U.S. troops were advancing both in the east and west of North Korea, closing in a giant pincer movement that would trap the remaining North Korean troops. Commanding generals, confident that the Chinese would not intervene, dismissed concerns by the Marines that they were unprotected and stretched too thinly in the rugged mountains. Indeed, even the initial reports of Chinese troops in North Korea were dismissed as imaginative or nothing more than a handful of volunteers. In fact, as U.S. forces learned to their dismay, the forces were quite real, enormous in number and devastatingly prepared to take maximum advantage of the difficult terrain.

Encircled by more than 60,000 Chinese troops, trapped in mountains with only one narrow road for access - which was quickly cut off by enemy troops - and battling sub-zero weather, the grossly outnumbered U.S. forces were given little hope of survival. Even the newspapers at home described their plight as hopeless. But the story of the raw bravery, skill and firepower focused by the Marines as they blasted their way out of those deadly circumstances is nothing less than astonishing. Reluctant to ever admit a retreat, the Marines famously dubbed their exit an "attack in a different direction."

Carrying most of their wounded, and many of their dead, the Marines successfully extracted themselves and nearly 1,000 vehicles while inflicting massive numbers of casualties on the surrounding enemy troops. Gung-ho to the end, one young Marine commented that "they're in trouble, not us." He was right.

As strong as this story is, it is not quite strong enough to mask the flaws in this account of the battle. Although vivid, Russ' ground-level approach to the narrative does not often pause to explain the context of particular engagements or provide detailed maps or photographs that might illustrate the topography or location of the combat. Almost 50 years after the fact, such an account could have, but does not in "Breakout," put the battle in a larger historical context.

Still, the unmistakable feel of this hard reality seeps from the pages of this book: that these young Marines saved themselves from circumstances that would have crushed almost any others. The Chosin Reservoir campaign, and those who fought it, deserves its places as one of our country's most heroic battles.

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