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2019-01-13 -Land of the Free

Book of the Week 1/20/2019: On Desperate Ground

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Posted by Bobby 2019-01-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 ...This was also the fight where the Marines were coming up on an impassible ravine, and the US Air Force managed to drop several bridge sections that were manhandled into place by the Marines, and the breakout went on.

From Wiki:
"With the path to Hungnam blocked at Funchilin Pass, eight C-119 Flying Boxcars flown by the US 314th Troop Carrier Wing were used to drop portable bridge sections by parachute.[1]:297[34] The bridge, consisting of eight separate 18 ft (5.5 m) long, 2,900 lb (1,300 kg) sections, was dropped one section at a time, using a 48 ft (15 m) parachute on each section.[1]:296 Four of these sections, together with additional wooden extensions were successfully reassembled into a replacement bridge by Marine Corps combat engineers and the US Army 58th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company on 9 December, enabling UN forces to proceed.[1]:296–304 Outmaneuvered, the PVA 58th and 60th Divisions still tried to slow the UN advance with ambushes and raids, but after weeks of non-stop fighting, the two Chinese divisions combined had only 200 soldiers left.[9]:108 The last UN forces left Funchilin Pass by 11 December.[1]:314"

I have read for years about the Breakout, but it didn't hit me until just recently that when my Dad joined the Corps in mid-'53, the men who walked out of Chosin were the ones that trained him. I understood him a lot better after that.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2019-01-13 07:02|| 2019-01-13 07:02|| Front Page Top

#2 A good one on the same topic but at a small unit level is "The Last Stand of Fox Company", Drury and Clavin, 2009, which ought to be required reading for all members of the Chinese politburo. (Quick summary: Never f'n ever launch a human-wave assault on a determined company of US Marines.)

Posted by Matt 2019-01-13 10:40|| 2019-01-13 10:40|| Front Page Top

#3 Clarification - both the amazing bridge reconstruction and the incredible story of Fox Company are in the book.

Posted by Bobby 2019-01-13 11:06|| 2019-01-13 11:06|| Front Page Top

#4 East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950 by Roy E. Appleman, LT.Col. AUS (Retd). He also wrote a two-book history of the Korean war (very good!).

He covers the short, doomed battle of the Task Force Faith, the 31st Infantry RCT, that is overlooked by most in the Chosin Reservoir battle. Normally the only mention is a derisive sneer at the Army stragglers... But remember that without them the Marines would have had one less regiment concentrated and had to still face the same number of ChiComs.

Posted by magpie 2019-01-13 16:26|| 2019-01-13 16:26|| Front Page Top

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