Shadow Warriors: The Covert War in Korea

by William B. Breuer

Overview

Praise for The Great Raid on Cabanatuan "An exciting narrative presented by a first-rate storyteller." —Publishers Weekly Acclaim for Feuding Allies "An absorbing look at the impact of Alliance politics on the outcome of WW II." —Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471144380
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	04/01/1996
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.38(w) x 9.54(h) x 0.99(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM B. BREUER is one of today's most popular military historians and the author of twenty-three books, including Feuding Allies, The Great Raid on Cabanatuan, and MacArthur's Undercover War.

Table of Contents

Partial table of contents:

A Tangled Web of Politics.

A Conspiracy in Moscow.

A Ruse to Mask an Invasion.

Search for a Scapegoat.

Reign of Terror in Seoul.

A Clandestine Organization Is Born.

Spying on the Enemy.

Guiding in a Fleet.

A Secret Trek to the Yalu.

Three Communist Masterspies.

Top Secret: The Li Mi Project.

Father Sam and the Soviet Agent.

An Espionage Conspiracy Unmasked.

A POW Camp Propaganda Machine.

The Donkeys of Yellow Sea Province.

Soviet Troops and Pilots in Disguise.

The Big Bug Bonanza.

A Scheme to Kidnap Syngman Rhee.

Aftermath.

Notes and Sources.

Index.

Maps.

Editorial Reviews

In an engrossing tale of unsung heroes and high-risk missions, military historian Breuer (Feuding Allies, 1995, etc.) penetrates the little-known espionage, propaganda, and guerilla operations of the Korean war.

When well-equipped, Soviet trained North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel on June 15, 1950, in what Breuer calls a "second Pearl Harbor," the overmatched South Korean defenders were quickly driven into a small pocket in southeastern Korea called the Pusan Peninsula. There they held fast, with the emergency support of newly arrived (but inexperienced) American troops. The covert war began almost immediately. General Douglas MacArthur's special warfare unit spread disinformation before his surprise landing at Inchon in the enemy rear. Army and CIA units trained many South Koreans and sent them North to spy and to carry out guerrilla operations, often with great success. Yet the North Koreans and their Chinese allies had their covert victories, too. Communist forces often seemed to know when and where the UN forces would attack. Breuer tracks these leaks back to the highly placed British traitors Philby, Burgess, and MacLean, who sent copies of US plans to Moscow. And the Communist propaganda machine lied so effectively about American "atrocities" that some countries demanded investigations, while, Breuer reveals, the Communist military tortured and killed POWs (including Americans) and civilians. While China and the Soviet Union were officially neutral in the war's early days, Breuer finds that Chinese and Soviet soldiers and airmen (with their equipment and supplies) were covertly available to the North Koreans, as they were later to the Communists in North Vietnam.

Built on personal interviews and sound secondary research, Breuer's account should please both students of modern military history and espionage enthusiasts.

Kirkus Reviews