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Title: Pork Chop Hill: The American Fighting Man in Action, Korea, Spring, 1953 by S. L. A. Marshall ISBN: 0-425-17505-7 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 12 June, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A very informative novel that keeps one wanting more
Comment: What made me choose this book? Firstly I wanted to read the book because my grandfather fought in one of the battles' right next to pork chop hill and he said it would be a great book to read because it really gave a good account of it. I also wanted to choose a military novel because as a future officer of the Army I wanted to see a first had account of military strategy, which is what it gave me.As I read the preface, I found that SLA Marshall was a brigadier general at the time and he was a military operations analysis officer. And that this book was recounted from the perspective of surviving soldiers through interviews immediately following the fighting. This intrigued me more to read it because I knew I was getting a first hand account of what happened at Pork Chop Hill.I feel this is a must read as future officers, because it is an extremely comprehensive book on military strategy and combat.
Rating: 4
Summary: Pork Chop Hill by S.L.A. Marshall
Comment: Marshall's spellbinding version of the battle of Pork Chop Hill remains one of the most comprehensive books about military strategy and ground combat ever written. War veterans and military strategists would love this book.
April 1953, while peace talks continue in Panmunjom, Korea, only 70 miles away the battle of Pork Chop Hill raged. Marshall's book analyzes of one of the last battles of the War to be fought--Pork Chop Hill. Someone not familiar with what stage of the war this battle occurs may be lost by its significance. Marshall's story is about the senseless loss of lives in a battle that had no real military significance. It is recounted from the perspective of surviving soldiers through interviews immediately following the fighting.
Marshall, as a war correspondent and military operations analysis officer, is directed by the military to interview the front line men, on the battlefield, in order to make recommendations to military command of anyone deserving medals. In doing so, Marshall conveys the excruciating effort put forth by American soldiers against crafty Red Chinese, who were familiar with hillside, secret underground tunnels and well-camouflaged holes to aid in the hand-to-hand combat. Most American soldiers, recently rotated to the platoon, had not acquainted themselves with the terrain and even became lost during the night advance. At a disadvantage and exhausted, some soldiers hid in the bunkers, not even firing their rifles at the enemy.
Marshall states in his book "Compared to Gettysburg or the Ardennes, Pork Chop Hill was hardly more than a skirmish. But within the force that engaged, losses were unusually heavy."
Marshall uses this analogy to emphasize the excessive casualties for a relatively minor battle. Marshall relates how American press rushed to cover the battle at Freedom Village (that was occurring simultaneously), which left the heroism and sacrifices at Pork Chop Hill unreported. Marshall states: "The neglect" from the press was worse because a few weeks earlier the 7th Infantry had been lambasted for the loss of Old Baldy and the staging Operation Smack. They had been described as weary, slipshod, demoralized troops, and, while the Pork Chop Hill fight was on, this caustic criticism from home was repeated over Red Chinese loudspeakers to the American fighters." Psychological propaganda, a common tactic used by the Red Chinese, blasted belittling statements about the American's over loudspeakers positioned directly on the battlefield.
Marshall prints the derogatory language used by soldiers in referring to the Red Chinese as "Chinks". However, quotes from the soldier's themselves are devoid of vulgarities, lessening the emotional effect, but necessary for a book written in the early 50's to be published. This book is a factual, chronological progression of the battle, containing great detail about military tactics, and an almost matter-of-fact account of injuries and deaths.
I do not prefer this type of book because as the reader I was not able to make any emotional attachment to any single character. It seemed as though this book lacked any real plot and was written strictly to retell this struggle of power between the United Nations and the Red Chinese.
The Korean War was once considered a "police action," but to the thousand of brave soldiers, who lost their lives and survived, it was a war.
Rating: 3
Summary: Classic Korean War account
Comment: Marshall's First hand account of Pork Chop Hill remains one of our most gripping account of this snapshot of the Korean War. The first hand stories from the front line grunts and officers offer an amazing look into who made up our front line.
Marshall starts this account of Pork Chop Hill's defense, loss, and the fight to regain it at a run. Two other battles on the same front line are told to set the stage of the command climate and the events building to the battle for Pork Chop. While these two accounts (one a repulse of the Chinese and one a loss of an outpost) set the tactical stage for the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, a reader unfamiliar with the Korean war and what stage of the war this battle occurs in will be lost by his original account.
As Marshall tells the story of what happened on Pork Chop he gives a vivid description of what occured from the perspective of the survivors from each platoon. The flavor of battle is retold well thru his account. What is conveyed most is that there really is no way a person can understand the exhaustion and effort put forth by the men involved.
A couple of interesting anachronisms show up in his near fifty year old telling. His careful censorship of the language use by the soldiers is unfortunate. Granted, if he used the language that soldiers really used, he couldn't get his book published in the fifties. However, the attempt at artfully dancing around what the soldiers really said is a little annoying. So on one hand the censorship was required to get the book out in the day it was written, while on the other it lessens the blunt accuracy of the account. In a similar vein, the other oddity I found was how easily the derogitory language towards the Chinese flowed. There was even this one passage where an obviously Chinese American soldiers was refering to the enemy as "Chinks." Again a reflection of the times
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Title:Pork Chop Hill ASIN: 0792841662 Publisher: Mgm/Ua Studios Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $13.46 |
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