The Korean War

Read The Korean War Online

Authors: Max Hastings

Tags: #ebook, #Korea

To

Charlotte

 

Contents

 

List of illustrations

Foreword

Prologue: Task Force Smith

1 » Origins of a Tragedy

2 » Invasion

3 » The West’s Riposte

1. Washington

2. Tokyo

3. London

4. Seoul

4 » Walker’s War

1. Retreat to the Naktong

2. Dressing Ranks

3. The Pusan Perimeter

5 » Inchon

6 » To the Brink: MacArthur Crosses the Parallel

7 » The Coming of the Chinese

8 » Chosin: The Road from the Reservoir

9 » The Winter of Crisis

1. The Big Bug-Out

2. Washington and Tokyo

3. The Arrival of Ridgway

10 » Nemesis: The Dismissal of MacArthur

11 » The Struggle on the Imjin

12 » The Stony Road

1. Towards Stalemate

2. Panmunjom

3. The Cause

13 » The Intelligence War

14 » The Battle in the Air

15 » The Prisoners

16 » Attrition: The War on the Hills

17 » The Pursuit of Peace

1. Koje-do

2. ‘I shall go to Korea’

3. The Last Act

18 » Hindsight

Appendix A:
Chronology

Appendix B:
Offers of Military Assistance for Korea by UN Members

Appendix C:
United Kingdom Forces in the Korean Theatre of War

Bibliography and a note on sources

Notes and references

Acknowledgements

Index

 

List of illustrations

 

PLATES

1. President Harry S. Truman. (
The Bettmann Archive
)

2. Key international figures in the Korean crisis:

(a) Dean Acheson; (
The Bettmann Archive
)
(b) Clement Attlee; (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)
(c) Ernest Bevin. (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)

3. General Douglas MacArthur. (
The Bettman Archive
)

4. American infantry in the first weeks of war. (
US National Archives
)

5. (a) The face of defeat: men of the American 24th Division. (
National Archives
)

(b) A captured American soldier whose body was later found, bound and shot. (
National Archives
)

6. (a) The face of tragedy: Korean civilians. (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)

(b) The face of fear: political prisoners in the hands of the South Koreans. (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)

7. General Walton H. ‘Bulldog’ Walker with one of his divisional commanders. (
National Archives
)

8. The crew of HMS
Ocean
. (
Imperial War Museum
)

9. Major John Willoughby of the British 27 Brigade questioning a Korean soldier. (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)

10. Inchon: men of the 1st Marine Division grapple the seawall. (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)

11. US Marine artillery in action. (
Popperfoto
)

12. An American doctor tends a Korean civilian. (
BBC Hulton Picture Library
)

13. Refugees being questioned by South Korean and American military police. (
Popperfoto
)

14. (a) The road north: a British jeep surrounded by a crowd of villagers. (
Imperial War Museum
)

(b) The 38th Parallel. (
Imperial War Museum
)

15. Marshal Peng Te Huai and Kim Il Sung. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

16. (a) The coming of the Chinese. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

(b) The supply route across the Yalu. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

17. (a) and (b) Chinese ‘volunteers’ in Korea. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

18. Americans surrender to Chinese infantry. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

19. US Marines rest between Chosin and the sea. (
Topham
)

20. General Edward M. Almond. (
National Archives
)

21. Chinese infantry enter the ruins of Seoul. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

22. (a) Men of the Royal Ulster Rifles move forward with sten guns and grenades. (
Topham
)

(b) A column of porters wind their way up a Korean hillside. (
Imperial War Museum
)

23. US infantry amid a characteristic Korean winter landscape. (
Popperfoto
)

24. General Matthew Ridgway with one of his divisional commanders. (
National Archives
)

25. A soldier of the Gloucesters with communist prisoners. (
Imperial War Museum
)

26. A patrol of the British 29 Brigade. (
National Archives
)

27. The hills of the Imjin battle. (
Imperial War Museum
)

28. Men of the Gloucesters at a church parade taken by Padre Sam Davies before the Imjin battle. (
Imperial War Museum
)

29. Brigadier Tom Brodie of 29 Brigade and Brigadier Basil Coad of 27 Brigade. (
Imperial War Museum
)

30. Lt.-Col. J. P. Carne. (
Imperial War Museum
)

31. (a) Chinese infantry making a night advance. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

(b) Chinese infantry laying Russian-made boxmines. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

32. The air war: (a) Communist pilots being briefed. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

(b) The MiG 15. (
Jane’s Defence Weekly
)
(c) The Sabre. (
The Bettmann Archive
)
(d) A flight deck mishap on HMS
Ocean
off Korea. (
Imperial War Museum
)
(e) A North Korean bridge. (
Imperial War Museum
)

33. Exhausted men of British 29 Brigade, April 1951. (
Imperial War Museum
)

34. President Syngman Rhee with General James Van Fleet. (
National Archives
)

35. Troglodyte warfare: (a) A British mortar position. (
Imperial War Museum
)

(b) Chinese soldiers in one of the network of tunnels on the communist line. (
Chinese National Army Museum
)

36. British soldiers help to bring in a wounded American. (
Imperial War Museum
)

37. ROK and American troops on the move. (
Imperial War Museum
)

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