Rating: 
Summary: Semper FI!
Review: "Breakout" by Martin Russ. Sub-titled: "The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea, 1950"
Almost a first person "I was there" Marine account of the surrounding of the United States Marines by the Chinese Communist Army at the Chosin Reservoir, at the border between North Korea and the People's Republic of China, in 1950. Martin Russ has written this book almost exclusively from the point of view of the ground-pounding Marine, with the general officers rarely mentioned. When Mr. Russ does mention high-ranking individuals, such as General Douglas MacArthur, it is to point out, scornfully, their mistakes and lack of leadership. Interestingly, Russ does not emphasize the role of Marine General Chesty Puller in this campaign.This review is called "Semper Fi" as Mr. Martin sees almost everything from the USMC perspective, with a major exception (perhaps) being the U.S. Navy Medical Corpsmen who accompanied the Marines. Was the U.S. Army that bad?, "Thus, one U.S. Army unit abandoned another U.S. Army unit" p. 262. A more balanced presentation is called for, as, for example, in the efforts of Naval Air , who supported the Marines on the ground as much as Marine Air. Overall, despite the defendable bias for the Marines, the horror and the "you are there" recounting of the swarming of the Chinese soldiers into death by guns of the Marines makes this vivid description of the Chosin campaign well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: When Hell Froze Over
Review: Lucid and well written, Breakout deals with the fate of X Corps in November-December 1950, focussing on how its central element, the 12,000 men of the 1st Marine Division, battled its way out of the Chinese envelopment at the Chosin Reservoir in sub-zero temperatures. With combat insight gained the hard way and his attention to the tactical imperatives as well as the human costs of battle-author and former Marine, Martin Russ, interviewed more than 200 veterans of the Chosin fight--Breakout is a hands-down winner. Breakout is also a study of personal sacrifice and heroism against overwhelming odds. Much is made of how the Chosin Marines lived up to their Corps' motto, Semper Fidelis (always faithful), by bringing their wounded and dead and most of their equipment with them in spite of a fanatical enemy, impossible terrain, and unimaginable weather conditions. "'I learned that only leadership will save you in such conditions,' observed one company commander. 'It's easy to say that a man has to change his socks; but getting him to do so when the temperature is twenty-five below is another matter. Boot laces become iced over, and it's a struggle just to get the boot off your foot.'" Many individual Marines in Russ's account of the Chosin ordeal stand out for their combat spirit, raw courage and leadership under fire. One, 1st Lieutenant Chew-En Lee, ran a machine gun platoon in Baker Company, 7th Marines. Tough and unyielding even by Marine Corps standards, Lt. Lee spoke fluent Chinese, yet shied away from interrogating prisoners for fear of being reassigned to intelligence duty in the rear, away from his own unit, which was always in the thick of the fiercest fighting. One issue Russ meets head on is the generally sorry performance of U.S. Army units attached to X Corps during the Chosin Reservoir campaign. It is widely held that in addition to superb leadership, the more rigorous basic training received by the Marines, along with their esprit de corps, gave them the tenacity to prevail where the poorly led, inadequately trained, and insufficiently motivated Army troops were at times unable to function. After completing their terrible ordeal, with the Chinese hordes beaten back and fading into the distant hills, the battered Marines marched into the port city, Hungnam. As the 1st Division sailed from the harbor on December 15, 1950, one of the most memorable chapters in Marine Corps history came to a close. The Marines had maintained unit cohesion and combat effectiveness in the face of suicidal human-wave attacks, continuous snipping and mortar fire, and obstacles that included a downed bridge over an impassible chasm. They carried on despite cold so bitter it froze their hands and feet, retarded the performance of their ordinance, and made mush of the oil in their vehicles. Their courage, honor and commitment to their Corps and to each other prevented what could easily have become a total rout. Small wonder Marines bristle when the Chosin Reservoir actions are characterized as a "retreat." As the legendary, Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller famously put it when told the regiment he commanded, the 1st Marines, was entirely surrounded: "They've got us just where we want them. We can shoot in every direction now." A combat Marine's account of the Chosin Reservoir fight, Breakout is as exhaustive as it is exhausting. Yet, it would have been helpful if the author had included topographic maps showing the movements of the various units at different times during the battle--though this may be a petty criticism, since this is not a military textbook. What the lay reader can and does gain from this book is an appreciation of the sacrifices made by those who survived and those who paid the ultimate price. In this, Breakout serves much the same purpose as Tom Brokaw's phenomenally popular, The Greatest Generation. "I did a good thing. It was worth remembering," said one veteran of the Frozen Chosin. So might it be.
Rating: 
Summary: Essay in Mendacity
Review: I read this book when it was first released and was astonished at the approach that the author (Martin Russ) decided to take while characterizing the US Army involved in this campaign as well as the scope of his ignorance on the subject. His bias towards the Marines is understandable I suppose, but it pervades the book in such an embarrassing degree that one starts to see that there's really no objectivity here, and the best thing to do is sit back and enjoy this as pulp fiction. The Marines stand tall as always and the army gets its little tush whipped, interspersed with a number of defamatory quotes the origin of which is anyone's guess. I find it strange that this all is being lauded as some sort of historical work of great import when the fact is that there are absolutely no new revelations outside of a few personal stories or author's interpretations, all of which share the core feature that the "research" that supports them is little more, in fact, than a compendium of anecdotes divorced from their original context; either that, or they are anonymous--"The Marine officers don't hide under a bridge like ours do." He also has no footnotes, which is very interesting. Regarding the above quote, it is difficult to imagine such a generalization, as most army officers were killed in combat or were severely wounded. I would imagine a bridge is a good place under which to seek cover but the plain fact is that the army veterans have spoken highly of their officers; many earned the second highest valor decoration the army can bestow. A widely admired leader, Lieutenant Colonel Don Faith, was invested with the Medal of Honor posthumously after being killed in close quarters combat at the front of his men. Through vile innuendo Martin Russ sneers that the colonel wasn't worthy... One of the most mendacious claims Russ makes regards the Navy's order to returning Marine and Naval personnel to not speak to the media regarding the army's alleged behavior. Truth be told, this order was really issued because a Navy chaplain claimed to have knowledge of some wounded army personnel who exagerrated their wounds past their actual severity in order to be evacuated. This Navy officer was later proved wrong. Towards the end of the book the charge of collective ineptitude is again levelled at army units, this time during the famous withdrawal to the coast. Incredibly, army units supposedly snipe at the Marine column they're supposed to be protecting. I spoke with an army officer who was there with the Marine column and who has attmepted to chronicle the events of those days. He has spoken with a different Marine author about that silly charge and the author admitted that it was 50 year old hearsay. 50 year old hearsay--that just about sums up Breakout. No historical revelations or insights, just hearsay and some good old interservice hatred that has echoed down throughout the years.
Rating:
Summary: Hey, Spielberg, here's a great movie property for you!
Review: It's unfortunate that Korean War veterans are finally getting due recognition for their unheralded sacrifices in a cold, desolate corner of the world half a century ago by way of a drummed-up scandal. They deserve better than No Gun Ri as an epitaph. Martin Russ provides it. The Chosin Reservoir campaign was born in overwhelming disaster and redeemed only by the selfless courage of U.S. Marines, Army and Navy aviators. Yes, this is going to be a controversial book because Russ is especially harsh in his assessment of the Army's performance on the east bank of the Chosin Reservoir. In large part, the GIs were let down horribly by their commanding officers, particularly Gen. Almond, whose complacency nearly got every man of them killed. But Russ does show us those GI survivors who weren't willing to go down without one hell of a fight. That's the most we can ever ask of any soldier. Many doggies kept the faith at Chosin and upheld the best traditions of their branch of the service. Chosin, for the U.S. Marine Corps, may have been its finest moment since Iwo Jima. From the first, terrifying night assaults at Yudam-ni to the end of the campaign, these men got the job done in weather and combat conditions that deserve to be described as "hellish." They were well-led, for the most part, and not about to let the overwhelming odds stop them. "Saving Private Ryan" was a moving tribute to the good fight against fascism in Europe. The Korean Conflict deserves its own cinematic treatment, one that accurately reflects the doubtful nature of the U.S. commitment to South Korea and to its own troops. If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt for the children and the grandchildren of the men who fought at the Chosin Reservoir to see the suffering their grandfathers endured for them. Until Mr. Spielberg decides to film the saga of the Chosin Reservoir, Martin Russ' marvelous account stands as an elegy to a generation that American history has, at times, seemed to forget. To all the men who served at Chosin -- to those who lived and those who died -- no matter what branch of the service, thank you for what you did. And thank you, Mr. Russ, for calling the attention of younger Americans like myself to this outstanding saga of heroism.
Rating:
Summary: Marines prevail in Korea against overwhelming odds
Review: In October, l950, in one of the greatest blunders in military history, MacArthur ordered the l6,000 men of the lst Marine Division into north Korea near its border with China. MacArthur made matters worse by separating the Marines into 4 units approximately 10 miles from each other. Martin Russ in "Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950" tells how MacArthur's misjudgment almost resulted in the entire lst Marine division being annihilated. (Final count of Marine casualties: 2,400 dead, 3,500 wounded, 200 missing, 6,200 nonbattle casualties, mostly frostbite.) (Full disclosure: I'm an ex-Marine.) In November l950 the Marines met the Chinese communist forces in battle for the first time. A pamphlet told the Chinese troops what to do: "Kill these Marines as you would snakes in your home." (30,000 Chinese died in the campaign.) "Breakout" tells the amazing story of how the Marines fought their way from north Korea to the sea against daunting odds. Sixty thousand Chinese had surrounded the Marines. The cold -- 20 to 30 degrees below zero -- was causing frostbite and weapons to freeze up. The terrain was icy and mountainous. There was little food and little time to rest at night, since the Chinese attacked at night. Unless totally disabled, the wounded could not be evacuated to the rear since there was no rear and they were needed on the firing line. But through it all morale and optimism remained high. The stories of unbelievable courage and perserverance are moving and uplifting. For instance Lt. John Yancey was ordered to hold a crucial hill which controlled a roadway between two large Marine units. Yancey's 176 men, outnumbered over 20 to 1, held off wave after wave of assaults. Yancey was wounded twice in the head, 120 of his men were killed or wounded, but they held, and this defense is generally recognized as keeping the 8,500 Marines up the road from being wiped out. Once down to 6 men in his immediate vicinity, Yancey yelled "Stand fast and die like Marines." (Years later Yancey received a bill from the Marines for $146.70 for throwing away a nonworking carbine during a firefight.) In another incident a captain, a company commander, was brought into the medical tent. Upon seeing a doctor the captain said: "Let's go, doc, patch me up pronto, will ya? I gotta get back to the company." When the doctor looked down he saw one of the captain's legs flopped over at a 90 degree angle, with white phosphorous inexorably burning itself into the captain's leg. The captain kept saying, "Can't you hurry it up, doc? I gotta get back to the company." Past exposure to every kind of human trauma did not keep tears from forming in the doctor's eyes. Fourteen Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Robert Kennemore lost both legs when he put his knees on a hand grenade to save those around him. (Years later Kennemore had to be institutionalized in a VA hospital after he was hit with a pipe and robbed after cashing his disability check in his wheelchair.) Private Hector Caffereta, the platoon screwup, suddenly became the rock of the platoon. His fighting fury was probably responsible for saving 2 platoons. At one point while Caffereta was throwing back live Chinese hand grenades, a Marine beside him was blinded by a grenade explosion but stayed on the line handing Caffereta rifle clips. At Hagaru-ri, using 5 bulldozers and working 24 hours a day, the Marines built a landing strip while under enemy fire. The ground was frozen l8 inches deep and steel teeth had to be welded onto the bulldozer blades. Ground broken off by the steel blades froze onto the scoops and had to be jackhammered off. When the Air Force began to evacuate the wounded, they suggested evacuating all the Marines by plane. The Marines refused since an airlift evacuation would have meant sacrificing their rear guard. Instead, 500 Marine volunteers flew in help in a situation many considered hopeless. One of the most incredible feats was how the Marines spanned a 29 foot opening over a chasm where a bridge had been dynamited. Steel treadways weighing 2500 pounds were dropped in by parachute, something that had never been tried before. Read the book to find out how this was accomplished. With dead and wounded strapped all over every vehicle, the Marines successfully fought their way to the sea. While this book could have used more and better maps to help the reader, the story told by the author through the participants' own words completely engages the reader's attention. Out of the horror of being trapped and isolated in one of the coldest places on earth, comes this tale of individual and group courage that ranks with any in American history.
Rating:
Summary: A true taste of battle in a frozen wasteland
Review: Martin Russ has given us an exceptional work here - the story of 12,000 United States Marines, interwoven with the story of some members of the US Army in the hellish environment of North Korea in late 1950. General MacArthur sent this force of Marines marching North during the Korean war, and they were suddently surrounded by a force of Chinese Communist troops five times their size (this was the first time that American troops had ever fought directly against the Chinese Communists). Although they were severely outnumbered, and fighting in one of the world's harshest environments, they somehow managed to emerge from this horrible scenario and maintain the honor and dignity that the Marine Corps has demonstrated from day one. Russ gives us a narrative history collected from many interviews conducted with survivors of the campaign and weaves it into the military and tactical struggle faced by these men. Some of the pictures that he paints are gut-wrenching because of the horrors that these men endured; some cause the reader to smile because of the way that the soldiers faced their lot and overcame such challenging obstacles. His writing style is crisp & clear, which enables the reader to sympathize with the harshness of the reality that the soldiers faced in North Korea. Without a book like this, the literature on the battles of the Korean War could never be complete. Russ has ensured that the men who faced the Chinese in the winter of 1950 will never be forgotten. I would recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in the humanistic side of the Korean war; it does not delve into the military campaign as much as the people, but it does do justice to the military commanders involved in this series of engagements.
Rating:
Summary: War below Zero
Review: This a a book about a bunch of very brave, cold Marines.
They got in their situation by poor Generalship by Doug MacArthur and General Almond. The Marines had been fighting Chinese since the end of October, 100 miles south of the Chinese border. No one believed there were Chinese in any numbers there. Marine General Smith smelled a rat, and in spite of orders to advance quickly, advanced only a mile or so a day, and built supply dumps, and an airstrip at a vital spot.
The cold is the story, with temps at 20 and 30 degrees below zero. Machines and weapons would not work. Casualties from frostbite were 6 times the battle wounds. People froze to death. Even when the Chinese attacked at the end of November and sent the 8th Army running for its life, Gen Almond insisted the Marines continue to advance.
The author is a Marine writing about Marines. Other than the Army engineers that built a bridge across a chasm to allow the Marines to get back to the coast, he has nothing good to say about the Army. They are incomptentent fools that deserved to die. The Army Col that got the Medal of Honor in this fight did not deserve it.
Chesty Puller is here, making statements that make headlines.
Col Ben Davis is here, making a cross country (mountain) trek to reinforce a Lt McCarthy, who is holding a key pass that will allow the Marines to get to the Coast. The Marines fought off somewhere between 7 and 9 divisions, inflicting thousands of casualties. The Chinese too, suffered from the cold. They wore tennis shoes, and when they attacked, the Marines could hear their frozen feet clacking on the ground, as the Chinese feet were solid blocks of ice. The ROK soldiers involved were people that had been kidnapped off the street for the Korean Army, and had no military training. They were useless.
The civilians, as usual suffered the most, getting killed by both sides. Gen Smith never did say "Retreat Hell, We're just advancing the other way!". He said, "Heck, wer are just advancing the other way." The reporters improved on it. As other reviewers have noted, it is a very biased book, and others should be read to get a balanced story. Be in a warm place when you read the book. It is a story about incredible cold and bravery
Rating:
Summary: Break out the crayons
Review: I've read "Breakout" (having an interest in this campaign), and the book essentially is a platform for the author's opinion, disguised as history, which actually is not uncommon. My main gripe with the book deals with the warped portrayal of the army units invoved, which is shaped by two things: 1) attitude/bias of the author, and 2) sources (or lack thereof). Author Martin Russ's outlook understandably stems, at least in part, from his own service in the Marines. But Breakout is a case of an author writing to an idea. This is evident by periodic fragmentary glimpses into the ordeal fo the US Army on the east side of the reservoir, and their eventual doom. This kind of cherry-picking has absolutely no credibility in any work of this sort, and coupled with evident shoddy "research" should relegate a book to adventure novel status. Russ also has no footnotes, and insinuates that research was involved due to a modest bibliography, the books of which actually rebuts all of his silly accusations. He mentions various interviews, all unnamed. One of the things which apparently hasen't fazed Russ is the very real revelation by Chinese records (before his book was published) that the army task force in question was not up against one Chinese infantry division of unknown strength, but two full strength divisions and probably part of a third, which totals at least 20,000 enemy troops - troops who were en route to finish off the marine garrison. These troops were very harshly received by the army and the divisions were rendered combat-ineffective. Russ states that he is forced to agree in part with an army historian that the army's plight enabled the marines to survive, but concludes that this was so only in the form of a sacrificial lamb. This is not so. Sacrifical lambs do not fight back inflicting thousands of casualties. But the number of Chinese involved is a crucial element to the story and has actually helped bring about a favorable change in many marines' attitudes. That's not good enough for Martin Russ, though. US Marine forward air controller Captain Ed Stamford is presented as being the only pillar of strength in this mob of men to which he was attached, and is described as being the one marine in the campaign who forgives them for their incompetence. (Captain Stamford currently is listed as a member of the Army Chapter of the Chosin Few, but no matter). As Russ only quotes a few of Stamford's statements which originally appeared in two works, I submit he was never interviewed by Russ. He also cites a flawed work on Chosin in his bibliogrphy which itself relied on a phony interview which Stamford himself angrily condemns. This is the main source of the curious negative portrayal in "Breakout" and is partly why legions of casual readers on the subject think the US Army behaved in a less than horable manner. But Russ misses the whole point: Stamford, unlike Russ, was actually there... One has to ask himself what he would have done or could have done, after fighting to the last bullet in -20F weather, dealing hard blows against a numerically superior enemy, many times in close quarters combat, until all hope was gone. Not a few heroes died there, many of them with empty weapons defending the wounded who had been brought out, despite the contemptible accusation to the contrary in "Breakout". As a retired marine colonel stated in regards this battle, "If it wasn't for the army I wouldn't be here today."
Rating:
Summary: True Tale of Herosim and beating the odds
Review: This book is a true tale of heroism. As I've read many of the other reviews, it appears a battle between Marines and other service members has ensued. For those of you who have never served in the military, there is now and has always been a inner service rivalry. There are soldiers, saliors and Marines. Marines have always done the toughest jobs for the US as is evident in this book. The Marines have not only faced the worst opposition solely, however something I don't think the Army teaches it's recruits in boot camp is the Marine Corps became well endowed with vehicles and other heavy equipment as they picked it up from the army after the retreated and abandoned their equipment in Korea. Funny....same thing happened while I served in the first Gulf War. Hey no reason to be bitter. Thanks for the stuff, it was nice to get new gear for a change. Back to the book. My brother-in-laws father was with the frozen chosin mentioned in this book and is mentioned twice in the book. He earned himself a Silver Star and obviously a Purple Heart while serving there. When he recommended I read this book, I was blown away. They say Korea is the forgotten war, we they sure are right until now. Read this book you will not regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Exciting account with annoying flaws.
Review: Martin Rus' account of the Chosin campaign is gripping. As an oral history it's real page turner. It is a terrifying account. Yet, there are several factors that made it hard to follow. The most glaring of which was the lack of time references. The whole campaign is described by day and night. There are almost no date references. This may be done on purose to give the reader an idea of what it may have been like for the Marines on the ground but it is hard on the reader. This is compounded when the author switchs back and forth between the naratives of participants. He tends to tell each of their stories form beginning to end. This gives the impression of many days passing rather than the events ocuring concurrently.
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