Disaster in Korea: The Chinese Confront MacArthur

by Roy E. Appleman

Overview

Disaster in Korea tells the story of General MacArthur's November 1950 attack to the Yalu River, an attack that was repulsed by 200,000 Chinese "volunteer" infantry. "The research is meticulous, the narrative enlightening, and the lessons profound. Appleman knows the war intimately, and he conveys it with authority. . . . balanced, candid, and engrossing."—Union News Sunday Republican "Appleman's full, authoritative Disaster thus fills a vital gap in the history of American arms and the Korean War. It is a candid and compelling story, chock full of lessons for battlefield commanders."—Parameters

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603441285
Publisher:	Texas A&M University Press
Publication date:	07/01/1989
Series:	Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series , #11
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)
Lexile:	1380L (what's this?)

About the Author

Lt. Col. Roy E. Appleman, AUS (Ret.), the leading historian of the Korean War, himself a veteran of that conflict, is author of East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950.

Forthcoming volumes by Appleman will complete the account of UN forces'combat action in the Korean War.

Editorial Reviews

"The amount of research and study [Appleman] undertook was prodigious; and there is a tremendous amount of detail of happenings at every level, including extracts from Chinese army records." — Army Quarterly and Defence Journal

Army Quarterly and Defence Journal

"Appleman's hard-hitting narrative . . . . is balanced, candid, and engrossing."   —Military

Military

"The long-awaited official volume . . . is not likely to be as comprehensive and detailed on small-unit actions between 24 November 1950 and 26 December 1950, as Roy E. Appleman's Disaster in Korea. Also, the official history is not expected to be as frank as Appleman's account of the defeat of the US Eighth Army by the Chinese Communist forces in late 1950. . . . It is doubtful that any researcher will surpass his mastery of the available documentation. . . . Perhaps his finest contribution in this significant, if altogether somber, book is his detective work in piecing together, mainly through interviews and correspondence with survivors, what happened to the United Nations forces near the Chongch'on River and Kunu-ri in Northwest North Korea in late November and early December 1950, especially the US 2d Infantry Division, which suffered near ruin as a fighting force. Appleman's research on the operations around Kunu-ri is particularly detailed and impressive in view of the loss or incompleteness of many unit records. . . . This is a solid work, but sometimes exhausting in details and certain to be controversial in evaluations of units and commanders."—D. Clayton James

D. Clayton James

" . . . . his book must be recognized as the best work available on this part of the war." —Journal of American History

Journal of American History