Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950

It's unfortunate that Korean War veterans are finally getting due recognition for their unheralded sacrifices in a cold, desolate corner of the world half a century ago by way of a drummed-up scandal. They deserve better than No Gun Ri as an epitaph. Martin Russ provides it.The Chosin Reservoir campaign was born in overwhelming disaster and redeemed only by the selfless courage of U.S. Marines, Army and Navy aviators. Yes, this is going to be a controversial book because Russ is especially harsh in his assessment of the Army's performance on the east bank of the Chosin Reservoir. In large part, the GIs were let down horribly by their commanding officers, particularly Gen. Almond, whose complacency nearly got every man of them killed.But Russ does show us those GI survivors who weren't willing to go down without one hell of a fight. That's the most we can ever ask of any soldier. Many doggies kept the faith at Chosin and upheld the best traditions of their branch of the service.Chosin, for the U.S. Marine Corps, may have been its finest moment since Iwo Jima. From the first, terrifying night assaults at Yudam-ni to the end of the campaign, these men got the job done in weather and combat conditions that deserve to be described as "hellish." They were well-led, for the most part, and not about to let the overwhelming odds stop them."Saving Private Ryan" was a moving tribute to the good fight against fascism in Europe. The Korean Conflict deserves its own cinematic treatment, one that accurately reflects the doubtful nature of the U.S. commitment to South Korea and to its own troops. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt for the children and the grandchildren of the men who fought at the Chosin Reservoir to see the suffering their grandfathers endured for them.Until Mr. Spielberg decides to film the saga of the Chosin Reservoir, Martin Russ' marvelous account stands as an elegy to a generation that American history has, at times, seemed to forget. To all the men who served at Chosin -- to those who lived and those who died -- no matter what branch of the service, thank you for what you did. And thank you, Mr. Russ, for calling the attention of younger Americans like myself to this outstanding saga of heroism.

Lucid and well written, Breakout deals with the fate of X Corps in November-December 1950, focussing on how its central element, the 12,000 men of the 1st Marine Division, battled its way out of the Chinese envelopment at the Chosin Reservoir in sub-zero temperatures. With combat insight gained the hard way and his attention to the tactical imperatives as well as the human costs of battle-author and former Marine, Martin Russ, interviewed more than 200 veterans of the Chosin fight--Breakout is a hands-down winner.Breakout is also a study of personal sacrifice and heroism against overwhelming odds. Much is made of how the Chosin Marines lived up to their Corps' motto, Semper Fidelis (always faithful), by bringing their wounded and dead and most of their equipment with them in spite of a fanatical enemy, impossible terrain, and unimaginable weather conditions."'I learned that only leadership will save you in such conditions,' observed one company commander. 'It's easy to say that a man has to change his socks; but getting him to do so when the temperature is twenty-five below is another matter. Boot laces become iced over, and it's a struggle just to get the boot off your foot.'"Many individual Marines in Russ's account of the Chosin ordeal stand out for their combat spirit, raw courage and leadership under fire. One, 1st Lieutenant Chew-En Lee, ran a machine gun platoon in Baker Company, 7th Marines. Tough and unyielding even by Marine Corps standards, Lt. Lee spoke fluent Chinese, yet shied away from interrogating prisoners for fear of being reassigned to intelligence duty in the rear, away from his own unit, which was always in the thick of the fiercest fighting. One issue Russ meets head on is the generally sorry performance of U.S. Army units attached to X Corps during the Chosin Reservoir campaign. It is widely held that in addition to superb leadership, the more rigorous basic training received by the Marines, along with their esprit de corps, gave them the tenacity to prevail where the poorly led, inadequately trained, and insufficiently motivated Army troops were at times unable to function. After completing their terrible ordeal, with the Chinese hordes beaten back and fading into the distant hills, the battered Marines marched into the port city, Hungnam. As the 1st Division sailed from the harbor on December 15, 1950, one of the most memorable chapters in Marine Corps history came to a close.The Marines had maintained unit cohesion and combat effectiveness in the face of suicidal human-wave attacks, continuous snipping and mortar fire, and obstacles that included a downed bridge over an impassible chasm. They carried on despite cold so bitter it froze their hands and feet, retarded the performance of their ordinance, and made mush of the oil in their vehicles. Their courage, honor and commitment to their Corps and to each other prevented what could easily have become a total rout. Small wonder Mari

Seldom does a reader get the opportunity to read a true account of modern battle that is so gripping, so detailed, and so unforgettable as is this story of the attempt by 12,000 American Marines to fight their way out of an encirclement by seven divisions of Chinese and Korean troops at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. Written by an ex-Marine who was himself a wounded veteran in Korea, its lines wring of the accuracy and poignancy only eyewitnesses could tell about the plight of the men caught in the snow, wind, and sub-zero cold to fight off the vastly superior number of Chinese and Koreans and escape from the trap that had been set for them. This is a riveting story well told.The situation was bleak; it was mid-winter, and the Marines were cut off from supply lines and exposed to the extremes of weather, surrounded by seven divisions of better equipped and better situated Chinese and Korean troops who were most fanatical in their pursuit of them, ready to move in and annihilate the whole Marine force. The Marines, meanwhile, had little or no air support due to the terrible weather conditions, were relatively low on ammunition and other supplies, and the terrain was so formidable that they were quite effectively cut off and isolated and on their own. There could be little or no help from outside to save them. Yet through all these obstacles and with the numbers so much against them, the Marines slowly but methodically fought their way out, hill by hill, bluff by bluff, regiment to regiment, battalion to battalion, company to company, whatever it took to inflict such terrible casualties on the Chinese and Koreans as they went, as they fought, from Division level all the way down to small groups of 3 or 4 men fighting with unvarnished tenacity to kick ............... out of the opposing force through sheer guts, grit, and courage. This is a tale that will long be told in beer halls and at all Marine functions with pride and enthusiasm, for it is truly one of the finest moments for the Marines in modern combat, detailed here with such verve in the words and recollections of many who fought there. The reader feels like a member of the force as he reads through stirring accounts of men who just would not surrender, retreat, or desert their friends and buddies, who instead fought back with sustained vitality and surprising tenacity under the worst conditions imaginable. This was a fighting force that single-handedly destroyed seven opposing Divisions of enemy forces to walk out of the Chosin Reservoir under their own power, through the crucible of combat, and out the other side to a victory so memorable it will love forever wherever Marines gather. Read it and understand. Enjoy!

In October, l950, in one of the greatest blunders in military history, MacArthur ordered the l6,000 men of the lst Marine Division into north Korea near its border with China. MacArthur made matters worse by separating the Marines into 4 units approximately 10 miles from each other. Martin Russ in "Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950" tells how MacArthur's misjudgment almost resulted in the entire lst Marine division being annihilated. (Final count of Marine casualties: 2,400 dead, 3,500 wounded, 200 missing, 6,200 nonbattle casualties, mostly frostbite.) (Full disclosure: I'm an ex-Marine.) In November l950 the Marines met the Chinese communist forces in battle for the first time. A pamphlet told the Chinese troops what to do: "Kill these Marines as you would snakes in your home." (30,000 Chinese died in the campaign.) "Breakout" tells the amazing story of how the Marines fought their way from north Korea to the sea against daunting odds. Sixty thousand Chinese had surrounded the Marines. The cold -- 20 to 30 degrees below zero -- was causing frostbite and weapons to freeze up. The terrain was icy and mountainous. There was little food and little time to rest at night, since the Chinese attacked at night. Unless totally disabled, the wounded could not be evacuated to the rear since there was no rear and they were needed on the firing line. But through it all morale and optimism remained high.The stories of unbelievable courage and perserverance are moving and uplifting. For instance Lt. John Yancey was ordered to hold a crucial hill which controlled a roadway between two large Marine units. Yancey's 176 men, outnumbered over 20 to 1, held off wave after wave of assaults. Yancey was wounded twice in the head, 120 of his men were killed or wounded, but they held, and this defense is generally recognized as keeping the 8,500 Marines up the road from being wiped out. Once down to 6 men in his immediate vicinity, Yancey yelled "Stand fast and die like Marines." (Years later Yancey received a bill from the Marines for $146.70 for throwing away a nonworking carbine during a firefight.)In another incident a captain, a company commander, was brought into the medical tent. Upon seeing a doctor the captain said: "Let's go, doc, patch me up pronto, will ya? I gotta get back to the company." When the doctor looked down he saw one of the captain's legs flopped over at a 90 degree angle, with white phosphorous inexorably burning itself into the captain's leg. The captain kept saying, "Can't you hurry it up, doc? I gotta get back to the company." Past exposure to every kind of human trauma did not keep tears from forming in the doctor's eyes.Fourteen Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Robert Kennemore lost both legs when he put his knees on a hand grenade to save those around him. (Years later Kennemore had to be institutionalized in a VA hospital after he was hit with a pipe and robbed after cashing his disability check i

Breakout: The Chosin reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950 - Fromm InternationalIf you read only one book this year about men at war, let it be this oneYou will read of the men of the 1st Marine Division and their fight out of the trap set for them by 7 divisions of Chinese whose sole mission was the extermination of the Marines.You will read of the men of the 1st Marine Division and a small commando of British RoyalMarines fighting in incredibly difficult terrainand in flesh-killing cold, cold so deep and bitterthat weapons froze and exposed flesh turnedleper-white with frostbite.You will read how the Division fought, regiment by regiment, battalion by battalion, company by company, platoon by platoon and, finally, in smallgroups of 3 and 4 to repulse and win through attack after attack by a sea of tough, seasoned Chinese troops.You will read of individual acts of simple but great heroism and fidelity, for the men who fought in those frozen wastes remained faithful to one-another and their unit and their Corps.And throughout it all you will hear the voices of the men Russ interviewed and set down in their personal narratives, which he seamlessly wove together with his superb exposition. And always they speak simply of the extraordinary events in which they took part when they were young and slim and quick, events which remain fresh and immediate after almost 50 years. And they speak in the rhythms and accents of Americans from every region - from the barrios of Los Angeles to the privileged precincts of Westchester County.And, at the end, you will feel joy and pride as they stride out of the trap in step, marching and singing a paean of triumph, having destroyed 7 Chinese divisions and bringing out all their wounded and most of their dead. And you will weep for the dead. And you will weep for the survivors, not in pity but, perhaps, in envy for men who have lived out a personal fidelity to something larger than themselves, men who, in a paraphrase of Norman MacLean¹s words, went through, and not around the experience of combat. And you will thank Martin Russ for his craft and art in creating this superb book. - Reviewed by R.A. Clark -