★★★★★ 5
"Bowser, those Chinese never did stand a chance." - Marine general O.P. Smith
Format: Hardcover
The signs was already there. To anyone that bothered to look.
But prejudice and victory fever had blinded the top brass to what was unfolding on the ground.
Luckily for the men on the ground, there was one top brass that saw the signs, and acted on it.
That was the overall situation for the men of the 1st Marine division and the 7th Army division in November 1950.
While McArthur and his entourage were busying themselves with the planning of victory parades in Tokyo and promoting a 'Home by Christmas' atmosphere to the press, general O. P. Smith was already laying the ground work for what would determine the outcome of the Chosin reservoir campaign.
In the surrounding snow covered hills and mountains, a vast number of Chinese soldiers from the 9th Army was being rushed into position to spring the trap that McArthur and Almond was walking into.
What followed was a series of battles that was almost as brutal as the weather. I say almost, because the biggest killer of Chinese troops, wasn't American bombs and bullets, but the winter. One of the coldest in Korean history. Accompanied by the howling wind sweeping down from Manchuria and Siberia.
Both sides made their share of mistakes.
McArthur, for rejecting any intel showing that Chinese troopes were in Korea.
General Song Shilun, who's troops had been told American soldiers were 'paper tigers'. As such, the PLA, anticipating a quick and easy victory, withheld winter cloths and issued only 2-3 days worth of rations while ordering their troops to make a 60 mile forced march from the border, across snow covered forests and mountains, to the reservoir.
When the order to attack came, the troops were already in the early stages of starvation.
Not only did the Marines held their ground, they annihilated the Chinese units. To make matters worse, their primitive means of communication made it impossible to coordinate their attacks. While as the Marines, despite being surrounded, was able to grind the Chinese units down through a combination of Marine Air Wing, combined arms and gung ho spirit.
That, and general Smiths precautions allowd both the Marines and the Army units to fight their way out of a calamity caused by the prejudicial ignorance of McArthur and Almond.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2026
