East of Chosin, Roy E. Appleman
East of Chosin, Roy E. Appleman
List: $21.99 | Sale: $15.39
Club: $10.99

East of Chosin
Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950

Author: Roy E. Appleman

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Unabridged: 13 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/30/2010


Synopsis

Roy Appleman's East of Chosin, first published in 1987, won acclaim from reviewers, readers, and veterans and their families. For the first time, there was one complete and accessible record of what happened to the army troops trapped east of the Chosin Reservoir during the first wintry blast of the Korean War. Based heavily on the author's interviews and correspondence with the survivors, East of Chosin provided some of those men with their first clue to the fate of fellow soldiers.

In November 1950, U.S. forces had pushed deep into North Korea. Unknown to them, Chinese troops well equipped for below-zero temperatures and blizzard conditions were pushing south. With the 1st Marine Division on the west side of the frozen Chosin Reservoir, the army's hastily assembled 31st Regimental Combat Team, 3,000 strong, advanced up the east side of the reservoir. Task Force Faith in the extreme northern position caught the surprise Chinese attack. With rifles and vehicles often immobilized in the cold and snow, the task force struggled to retreat through a tortuous mountain gauntlet of enemy fire. With truckloads of dead and wounded trapped along the road, a few of the 385 survivors trudged across the frozen reservoir to alert the marines to their plight.

About Roy E. Appleman

The late Roy E. Appleman wrote several military history studies, among them South to Naktong, North to the Yalu; Okinawa: The Last Battle; and Ridgway Duels for Korea, which won the Truman Library Book Award. During the Korean War, he served as an army historian, interviewing troops shortly after combat. He left his papers, including all interviews related to the Chosin campaign research, to the Army History Center at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin on June 06, 2018

A wonderfully written book about a little known chapter of the Korean war. This is the story of the 31st RCT on the east shore of the Chosin reservoir. Chosin you say? I know all about that. Well you most likely kmow about the 1st Marine Divisions battle and subsequent fighting withdrawl on the west......more

Goodreads review by Don on May 29, 2012

I have read many books on the Chosin Reservoir as my dad fought there. He has been mentioned in most of them, and this book is no exception. Still, not letting that flavor my opinion of the book, it is very well written with great detail and background info to help flesh out the evolution of events......more

Goodreads review by Mark on November 27, 2022

Saddest book I've ever read. It's right up there with Young Men and Fire, though where that one is an unabashedly literary and poetic work, this is anything but. Appleman is a military man writing military history for (presumably) a military audience, and even though it was published by a civilian u......more

Goodreads review by John on May 25, 2021

Excellently researched history of the defeat of US Army forces on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir in 1950. Using both contemporary documents and interviews with survivors, the author is able to piece together a coherent history of the battle fought by the US Army on the east side of the Chosin......more

Goodreads review by Wai on July 18, 2022

When I was in high school, I read Combat Actions in Korea by Russell Gugeler. A great book and I still have that book after nearly 25 years. My point is I have some basic ideas of Battle if Chosin Reservoir and Task Force Faith. But this book gives me a lot more understanding of what was happened in......more