This Kind of War (H)

T.R. Fehrenbach's "This Kind of War" is the classic military history of the Korean War. Fehrenbach addresses the strategic and operational aspects of the conflict, but much of his focus is on the tactical experience of U.S. units. His book is a searing indictment of the U.S. military and of the United States for having failed to maintain combat-ready forces less than five years removed from the end of the Second World War. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps elements thrust into sudden conflict in June 1950 following the communust invasion of the Republic of Korea had to relearn, the hard way, all the old and hard lessons of warfare. Young soldiers who had been coddled by peacetime occupation duty in Japan found the battlefield to be a merciless place of death for those who were unprepared. In Fehrenbach's words "They were learning, in the hardest school there was, that it is a soldier's lot to suffer and that his destiny may be to die." Fehrenbach's prose is blunt and straightforward; the narrative sketches the ancient truths of combat and their modern realities and pulls no punches with respect to the shortcomings of both the military and the political leadership. Aging General Douglas McArthur ran great risks during the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter in August 1950 to husband forces for the spectacular September counterstroke at Inchon that turned the tide of combat, only to underestimate the risk of Chinese intervention and suffer an humiliating defeat inside North Korea in November. In parallel manner, the Truman Administration made the hard political decision to intervene in June 1950, then failed to think through the likely implications of going north to the Chinese border in October 1950. Fehrenbach dispenses credit where due. The U.S. Eighth Army pulled itself together after its initial defeats to successfully defend South Korea, then reconstituted itself a second time after its defeat by the Chinese near the Yalu River. It would persevere to the armistice in 1953. Thousands of individual soldiers, NCO's, and officers overcame the shock of combat to become highly effective fighters, ultimately fighting far larger formations of Chinese and North Korean communists to a bloody standstill in the nation's first modern and rather unhappy experience with limited war. This book is highly recommended to the student of the military art and of the Korean War. Fehrenback's narrative provides a vivid reminder that we live in a world of tigers.

I read THIS KIND OF WAR almost 20 years ago. It stays with me as one of the best and most important books I've ever read.Fehrenbach was, as another reader-reviewer says, too close to the story to write with the objectivity he later displayed in his excellent histories of Texas, Mexico, and the Comanches. But that kind of detachment will show up in other histories by different authors. What Fehrenbach gives us is the view of someone whom was there, and whom witnessed it all from the inside -- confusion, complacency, cowardice, stupidity, valor.I'm very glad that this book is so popular in the Army and Air Force. I hope it continues to be read, and learned from. I just wish it were a standard high school textbook, both to let our youth know why we should stay out of war when we can, and what we MUST do when we are in one.Not a perfect book, but a necessary one for those whom would understand the nature and requirements of war.

This is a timeless classic on warfare and how America responds to armed conflict. No other book that I've read during my 12 years in the Army has described battle, its effects on soldiers, and the hardships of warfare so well. If you only read one book about the Korean War this should be it. Written before Vietnam, the book foretells some of the problems of that war with eerie accuracy. I found myself shaking my head as I read similiarities between the pre-Korean army and the active army today

I read this book during the course of my undergraduate education in Military History and have made a point to reread it throughout my career. As a rifle company commander I have made it mandatory reading for all of my platoon leaders. The text still compels me today to be sure that my piece of the Army is ready to fight and win. If you can only read one chapter in this text read chapter 25, Proud Legions. It is the centerpiece that puts the guts into a well crafted work. I will continue to read this book and continue to require my subordinates to do the same.

As a young U.S. Army company commander in Korea in 1975, my battalion commander issued me a paperback copy of "This Kind of War" with instructions to read it and discuss it with him. I carried the much refered to, tabbed, underlined and used book for 15 years, when I again returned to Korea. I was pleased, when during in processing, I was issued a hard back copy of the book, as were all officers and sergeants. In 1994, during the Normandy 50th Anniversay Commemoration in France, I presented a copy to President Clinton. Today, as a Colonel with 28 years service, I still find it a readable, honest, timeless, useable source. I think all members of congress and senior administration leaders, as well as anyone concerned about America's military, should read chapter 25. Fehrenbach's insight about America's volunteer military is timeless...his counsel is again being verified today in Kosovo and in our peace keeping missions in Bosnia and Macedonia. Smug, psuedo-intellectual military analysts often disregard Fehrenbach's insight and conclusions. His ability to present complicated issues in a human, realistic, understandable manner circumvents any argument that his opinions are dated. History, to include our Iraq/Bosnia/Kosovo adventures, have proved his premise.