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Title: Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950 by Martin Russ ISBN: 0-14-029259-4 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.19 (102 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Semper FI!
Comment: "Breakout" by Martin Russ. Sub-titled: "The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea, 1950"
Almost a first person "I was there" Marine account of the surrounding of the United States Marines by the Chinese Communist Army at the Chosin Reservoir, at the border between North Korea and the People's Republic of China, in 1950. Martin Russ has written this book almost exclusively from the point of view of the ground-pounding Marine, with the general officers rarely mentioned. When Mr. Russ does mention high-ranking individuals, such as General Douglas MacArthur, it is to point out, scornfully, their mistakes and lack of leadership. Interestingly, Russ does not emphasize the role of Marine General Chesty Puller in this campaign.
This review is called "Semper Fi" as Mr. Martin sees almost everything from the USMC perspective, with a major exception (perhaps) being the U.S. Navy Medical Corpsmen who accompanied the Marines. Was the U.S. Army that bad?, "Thus, one U.S. Army unit abandoned another U.S. Army unit" p. 262. A more balanced presentation is called for, as, for example, in the efforts of Naval Air , who supported the Marines on the ground as much as Marine Air.
Overall, despite the defendable bias for the Marines, the horror and the "you are there" recounting of the swarming of the Chinese soldiers into death by guns of the Marines makes this vivid description of the Chosin campaign well worth reading.
Rating: 5
Summary: When Hell Froze Over
Comment: 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 Marines bristle when the Chosin Reservoir actions are characterized as a "retreat." As the legendary, Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller famously put it when told the regiment he commanded, the 1st Marines, was entirely surrounded: "They've got us just where we want them. We can shoot in every direction now."
A combat Marine's account of the Chosin Reservoir fight, Breakout is as exhaustive as it is exhausting. Yet, it would have been helpful if the author had included topographic maps showing the movements of the various units at different times during the battle--though this may be a petty criticism, since this is not a military textbook. What the lay reader can and does gain from this book is an appreciation of the sacrifices made by those who survived and those who paid the ultimate price. In this, Breakout serves much the same purpose as Tom Brokaw's phenomenally popular, The Greatest Generation. "I did a good thing. It was worth remembering," said one veteran of the Frozen Chosin. So might it be.
Rating: 1
Summary: Essay in Mendacity
Comment: I read this book when it was first released and was astonished at the approach that the author (Martin Russ) decided to take while characterizing the US Army involved in this campaign as well as the scope of his ignorance on the subject.
His bias towards the Marines is understandable I suppose, but it pervades the book in such an embarrassing degree that one starts to see that there's really no objectivity here, and the best thing to do is sit back and enjoy this as pulp fiction. The Marines stand tall as always and the army gets its little tush whipped, interspersed with a number of defamatory quotes the origin of which is anyone's guess.
I find it strange that this all is being lauded as some sort of historical work of great import when the fact is that there are absolutely no new revelations outside of a few personal stories or author's interpretations, all of which share the core feature that the "research" that supports them is little more, in fact, than a compendium of anecdotes divorced from their original context; either that, or they are anonymous--"The Marine officers don't hide under a bridge like ours do." He also has no footnotes, which is very interesting.
Regarding the above quote, it is difficult to imagine such a generalization, as most army officers were killed in combat or were severely wounded. I would imagine a bridge is a good place under which to seek cover but the plain fact is that the army veterans have spoken highly of their officers; many earned the second highest valor decoration the army can bestow. A widely admired leader, Lieutenant Colonel Don Faith, was invested with the Medal of Honor posthumously after being killed in close quarters combat at the front of his men. Through vile innuendo Martin Russ sneers that the colonel wasn't worthy...
One of the most mendacious claims Russ makes regards the Navy's order to returning Marine and Naval personnel to not speak to the media regarding the army's alleged behavior. Truth be told, this order was really issued because a Navy chaplain claimed to have knowledge of some wounded army personnel who exagerrated their wounds past their actual severity in order to be evacuated. This Navy officer was later proved wrong.
Towards the end of the book the charge of collective ineptitude is again levelled at army units, this time during the famous withdrawal to the coast. Incredibly, army units supposedly snipe at the Marine column they're supposed to be protecting. I spoke with an army officer who was there with the Marine column and who has attmepted to chronicle the events of those days. He has spoken with a different Marine author about that silly charge and the author admitted that it was 50 year old hearsay.
50 year old hearsay--that just about sums up Breakout. No historical revelations or insights, just hearsay and some good old interservice hatred that has echoed down throughout the years.
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Title: Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir by Joseph R. Owen ISBN: 0804116970 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 30 August, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Coldest War : A Memoir of Korea by James Brady ISBN: 0312265115 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 08 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Retreat Hell by Jim Wilson ISBN: 0671678663 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1989 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950 (Texas A & M University Military History Series) by Roy Edgar Appleman ISBN: 0890964653 Publisher: Texas A&M University Press Pub. Date: December, 1991 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Marines of Autumn by James Brady ISBN: 0312280815 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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