Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

On desperate ground : the Marines at the reservoir, the Korean War's greatest battle / Hampton Sides.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Doubleday, [2018]Edition: First editionDescription: xiii, 394 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780385541152
  • 0385541155
Other title:
  • Marines at the reservoir, the Korean War's greatest battle
Subject(s):
Contents:
Prologue: Morning calm -- Seoul. The professor ; Traitor's house ; Across the Han ; Beneath the lighthouse ; The battle of the barricades ; The savior of our race ; God's right-hand man ; The tiger wants human beings -- To the mountains. Many, many ; King's envoy to Hamhung ; Heroic remedies ; Will o' the wisp ; Broken arrows ; A powerful instrument ; Fattened for the kill ; Never too late to talk ; Never a more daring fight -- The reservoir. Easy for us, tough for others ; Boon companions ; Easy Company holds here ; Where the bullet belongs ; Gung-ho, you cowardly bastards ; When the lead is flying ; A hot reception ; The war council ; An entirely new era -- Red snow. You will all be slaughtered ; Kissing a buzz saw ; Morphine dreams ; No soft options ; One-man army ; Every weapon that we have ; The ridgerunners ; This place of suffering -- To the sea. Attacking in a different direction ; In the day of trouble ; I'll get you a goddamn bridge ; Blood on the ice ; Taking departure ; The Bridge of Long Life ; Down to earth ; The most harrowing hour ; The crossing ; We will see you again the south ; We walk in the hand of God -- Epilogue: In the pantheon.
Summary: "A chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War."--Provided by publisher.Summary: On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. As Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir, what followed was one of the most harrowing operations in American military history. Sides' account provides a grunt's-eye view of history. -- adapted from jacket
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 951.9042 S568 Available 33111008924991
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 951.9042 S568 Available 33111009258407
Adult Book Adult Book Northport Library NonFiction 951.9042 S568 Available 33111008217743
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Superb...A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story -- the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir -- has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep."-- Washington Post

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice , a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War

On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war.

As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea.

Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.

Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, "Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"A chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War."--Provided by publisher.

On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. As Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir, what followed was one of the most harrowing operations in American military history. Sides' account provides a grunt's-eye view of history. -- adapted from jacket

Prologue: Morning calm -- Seoul. The professor ; Traitor's house ; Across the Han ; Beneath the lighthouse ; The battle of the barricades ; The savior of our race ; God's right-hand man ; The tiger wants human beings -- To the mountains. Many, many ; King's envoy to Hamhung ; Heroic remedies ; Will o' the wisp ; Broken arrows ; A powerful instrument ; Fattened for the kill ; Never too late to talk ; Never a more daring fight -- The reservoir. Easy for us, tough for others ; Boon companions ; Easy Company holds here ; Where the bullet belongs ; Gung-ho, you cowardly bastards ; When the lead is flying ; A hot reception ; The war council ; An entirely new era -- Red snow. You will all be slaughtered ; Kissing a buzz saw ; Morphine dreams ; No soft options ; One-man army ; Every weapon that we have ; The ridgerunners ; This place of suffering -- To the sea. Attacking in a different direction ; In the day of trouble ; I'll get you a goddamn bridge ; Blood on the ice ; Taking departure ; The Bridge of Long Life ; Down to earth ; The most harrowing hour ; The crossing ; We will see you again the south ; We walk in the hand of God -- Epilogue: In the pantheon.

Powered by Koha