Breakout, by Martin Russ

Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950, by Martin Russ
Fromm International, 1999
436 pages, 4 pages of b&w photos, Sources and recommended reading, index
Library: 951.9042 RUS

Description
On November 27, 1950, a Chinese army of some 60,000 men poured over Korea's border intent on wiping out a force of 12,000 US Marines marching north to the Yalu River on General Douglas MacArthur's orders. Three Marine regiments were strung out along 80 miles of a narrow mountain road that snaked its way up sweeping slopes to the high plateau of the Chosin Reservoir. Winter had arrived, a merciless wind driving temperatures down to a bone chilling 30 below.

Thus the stage was set for one of the most stirring tales in the history of American arms. Soon the Marines were completely surrounded by eight Chinese divisions who suddenly emerged from hiding to pounce on the unsuspecting Americans.

How the Marines, despite serious losses, broke out of encirclement while inflicting grueling punishment on the enemy, is the gripping story Martin Russ tells in this extraordinary book. In five days and nights of below-zero winds they fought back the waves of attacking Chinese before they reorganized for the epic escape down frozen mountain trails. Running a bloody gauntlet all the way to the sea, they managed to bring their wounded and equipment with them, giving birth to the ringing battle cry ever after associated with the Marines: "Retreat, hell, no! We're attacking in another direction."

Weaving into his account the voices of scores of individuals-ordinary Marines and their officers-Russ creates an unforgettable portrayal of the terror and courage of men as they face sudden death, making the bloody battles of the Korean hills and valleys come alive as they never have before.

Table of Contents
The book does not give names to any of the chapters.

The Last Stand of Fox Company, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

The Last Stand of Fox Company, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009
317 pages plus Acknowledgments, Appendix (listing of the men of Fox Company) selected bibliography, and index
15 maps and 27 b&w photos
Library: 951.9042 DRU

Description
November 1950, the Korean Peninsula: After GEneral MacArthur ignores Mao's warnings and pushes his UN forces deep into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themseves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge in the Nangnim Mountains. This crucial choke point will need to be held open at all costs...

The mission is handed to Captain William Barber and the 246 men of Fox Company, a courageous but undermanned unit of the Seventh Marine Regiment. Barber and his men are ordered to climb seven miles of frozen terrain to a rocky promontory overlooking the pass. The Marines have no way of knowing that the ground they occupy-it is soon dubbed Fox Hill-is surrounded by ten thousand Chinese soldiers who have poured over China's border into North Korea in the past month. The Marines are outnumbered by forty to one.

As the sun sets on the hiill, and the temperature plunges to thirty degrees below zero, Barber's men dig in for the night. At two in the morning, they are awakened by the sounds-bugles, whistles, cymbals, and drumbeats-and smells-the pervasive odor of garlic, a natural Chinese cold remedy-of a massive assault by thousands of enemy infantry. The attack is just the first wave of four days and five nights of nearly continuous Chinese attempts to take Fox Hill.

Amid the relentless violence, three-quarters of Fox Company's Marines are killed, wounded, or captured. Barber, shot in the leg, drags himself from foxhole to foxhole to direct the remaining American forces. His men are reduced to gnawing at frozen C-rations and sharing sleeping bags with their own wounded to survive. The cold becomes so intense that rifles and machine guns jam with ice, bazookas will not fire, and Marines are forced to load bullets into the chambers of their automatic weapons one at a time. But the temperature is also a blessing: scores of men are saved from death when their bullet wounds freeze over almost as quickly as they are opened.

With newspaper headlines across Americabeginning to report the bleak situation at the Chosin, and President Truman, General MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs debating the use of atomic weapons in North Korea, the increasingly desperate Marines on Fox Hill fight off the Chinese with shovels, knives, rocks and their bare hands.

Just when it looks like the outfit will be overrun, Lt. Colonel Raymond Davis, a fearless Marine officer who is fighting south from the Chosin, volunteers to lead a force of five hundred men on a daring mission that will seek to cut a hole in the Chinese lines and relieve the men of Fox Company.

The Last Stand of Fox Company is a fast-paced and gripping account of courage and self-sacrice in th face of impossible odds. The authors have conducted dozens of interviews with the survivors of the episode (which ultimately produced three Medal of Honor recipients) and they narrate the story with the immediacy of classic accounts of a single battle such as Guadalcanal Diary, Pork Chop Hill, and Black Hawk Down.

This book is must-reading for anyone who wants to experience the heart-pounding action, suspense, and heroism of "one of the most extraordinary battles in Marine Corps history." (Nathanial Fick)

Table of Contents
Prologue
The Hill
The Attack
The Siege
"We Will Hold"
The Ridgerunners
Epilogue
Afterword
Postscript 2009
Acknowledgments
Appendix
Selected Bibliography
Index