Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully readable; powerfully stirring
Review: Russ has written military history on a small scale. There are no sweeping movements of entire regiments here, because Chosin was not that kind of campaign. It was fought at the level of companies, platoons, squads and single combat, and it was absolutely one of the finest military actions in our nation's history. The 1st Marine Division in this action was a bunch of guys with great leaders and tremendous pride and determination. They not merely defeated the Chinese forces that encircled them in what looked like a certain death trap, but kept faith with their comrades, carried out their dead and wounded, and lost almost none of their equipment. The author, a Marine himself in Korea, makes it very clear the role that pride and sheer competence played. He understands the minds of the marines like no other could, and it gives his account an authority it would be hard to obtain otherwise. This is, in short, a brilliant account of a brilliant military campaign, and it will leave you proud to be an American.
Rating: 
Summary: Breakout
Review: A gripping series of first-hand accounts of what is in the UK, at least, a lamentably under-publicised campaign.My only criticisms are the lack of illustrations in the paperback edition, and more importantly for the militarily-minded reader, the lack of maps; just one, small scale map in the frontispiece. Simplified maps showing the key contours of the terrain through which the US Marines made their escape would enable the reader to follow the route more easily and thus keep abreast of the changing tactical situation. They would also support the author's argument that US intelligence completely misread the scale of Chinese intentions, thus allowing the subsequent envelopment that took place.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous Moving Story; NEEDS MAPS!
Review: This is a mesmerizing read. The cold weather, isolation of American marines, fighting through the hills of Korea to move down a one road narrow mountain defile to the sea... Chosin is an epic battle. This book tells the story, weaving personal courage and the story of planning and logistics together into a clear telling of how the Marines survived against multiple Chinese divisions. You come away from this book with tremendous respect and sympathy for the Chinese soldiers. The author supports the Marine view of events, but is fair to others, including the woeful but useful Army units. Personal stories are woven into the text, based on numerous interviews with surviving Marines. Like all military stories, more maps would have helped. It was irritating to see a tiny map, then read about a battle on a hill NOT marked on the tiny map. The text largely makes up for this problem. The book makes you shiver from cold, and from respect for the Marines.
Rating:
Summary: A moving portrait of men in combat
Review: The Chosin Resvoir campaign ranks among the great feats of American arms, and looms large in any history of the Korean War. "Breakout", however, recounts the saga largely in the words of the men who were there. Like few other works of history I have an encountered, the author mixes solid historical narrative with a host of first hand anecdotes. Russ creates a vivid, moving portrait of the Marines who so selflessly fought over the frozen ground of the Korean Peninsula. The reader follows the course of the campaign at a macro level, and then hunkers in the freezing slit trenches of the grunts on the ground. The only thing that prevented the "Breakout" from getting five stars was the glaring lack of maps, particularly ones outling troop dispositions. Furthermore, the narrative was somewhat choppy due to the frequent interjection of personal accounts; but that's the price you pay for first hand history. Overall, "Breakout" was both a superb historical text, and a moving, group biography of the Marines in Korea.
Rating:
Summary: hero's all
Review: What an example of heroic effort for these Marines. Hats off to them! Too bad the public dosen't realize what price has been paid on their behalf. GySgt USMC Ret
Rating:
Summary: brutal but necessary book on the Korean War
Review: It is a shame that the Korean conflict is the "forgotten war." More needs to be known about this war at the level of the "man in the street", more needs to be taught in schools, more needs to be done to honor the sacrifice of the men and women who fought there. Russ does an excellent job at covering a part of this war, the horrid Chosin Reservoir Campaign in 1950. One of the first major actions iniatiated by the United States following the North Korean invasion, it is a story of American forces being thrown back and surrounded by surging Chinese communist forces. US forces were for the most part woefully equipped and had not planned on the highly effective counterattack, and Russ chronicles many units that were cut off, surrounded, and annihilated. The US Army comes of as particularly ineffectual and poorly led, time and again failing to help its men and compounding bad situations. The true heroes, and the main focus of the book, are the US Marines. Showing that truly every Marine is a rifleman, the book is very much the story of how Marine units, far from safety, fighting in brutal cold on harsh mountaintops, ill-supplied, had to fight their way to the sea and rescue. With combat in every direction they faced and the only real help generally coming from harried naval and Marine aviators who were unable to stay long in the area, they had no choice but to launch a fighting retreat. Though the book has high praises for the Marines, it does not glamorize war. The fighting was harsh, and Russ does not hold back from describing everything from frostbite to battle wounds to crushed hopes to fields littered with corpses. The conflict was brutal and without quarter, and Russ does not flinch in detailing it. While the book might be a bit harsh for some, it is a great depiction of heroism, courage, military skill, and just plain luck, one of the unsung chapters in American military history. Everyone should read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Should have been titled REHASH
Review: This is basically a rehash, of a terrible mistake made by our forces in Korea. The author tries to twist the tragic mess that the marines and army got themselves into, so as to depict it as a victory for the marine corps. (corpse) The details are borrowed from god knows where, and though some are accurate, others would be laughable had the situation not been so serious. I'll tell the prospective reader one thing: the author sure as hell wasn't there. It's also a particular shame that the author felt it neccessary to demean one branch of the American armed forces so as to try to show his favorite branch as the heroic marvels of this fiasco. Is the marine corps great ? you bet ! but semper foo to this rehash.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: I found this book to be very biased, especially in light of recent revelations regarding the force that the Army was facing. Task Force Faith, which numbered 3200 men, included numerous South Koreans, faced a Communist Chinese Army force of 20000. They not only had to fight the Chinese, but temperatures below zero as well. In June, 2000 Task Force Faith finally received the Presidential Unit Citation for its efforts at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. It was denied to them in 1952, at the direction of Marine General O.P. Smith. One group that was instrumental in Task Force Faith receiving this Citation was the Chosin Few, an organization consisting of mainly Marines. Several Marines who fought there have also praised Task Force Faith. Retired Marine Colonel Robert Parrot has said,"May be I am talking to you now because of what the Army did". Retired Marine General Raymond Davis, a recipient of the Medal of Honor, called the Army's actions "essential" to the Marines effort. With revelations in mind, the recent praise given to Task Force Faith by Marines, and with its extreme anti-Army bias, I cannot recommend Martin Russ' book.
Rating:
Summary: "In peril, give me a U.S. Marine -- even a bad Marine!"
Review: This is an astonishing and well-told tale of courage and endurance in the face of unbelievable hardship. It ranks with Washington at Valley Forge and Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign. There can be little doubt that the mental and physical preparation of the U.S. Marine Corps places that band of brothers in the vanguard of warrior elites down through the ages. Russ, a retired Marine, is far too harsh and condemnatory with his Army brethren, who took the field with nothing remotely akin to the sang-froid, legendary self-confidence and fighting skills of the Marine Corps and their tight-knit officer corps. The outline story of the Korean War, embedded as it is in this tale of Marine Corps bravery and overall supremacy as a warfighting body, is a dark and sad presage of the subsequent diastrous meddling by the U.S. in Viet Nam -- right down to keeping score by counting bodies. One must admire the courage, esprit and indefatigable will of the U.S. Marine grunt -- and deplore the strategic hubris and tactical misjudgement that came within an eyelash of plunging the world into WW3.
Rating:
Summary: Men of Renowned
Review: Frankly I had my doubts when I began to read Breakout. But the further I got into the story the more enthralled I became. Until finally I could not put it down. Russ tells the story of that grueling campaign like no else could. You find yourself involved in their suffering, inspired by their heroism and forever grateful of their sacrifice. As so many others have stated, WHY can't these kinds of books be required reading in our schools? The younger generation of today needs desperately to know and understand the great sacrifice it took to preserve their freedom. Without men such as these (and others who fought in WWII) Liberty would have vanished from the face of the earth! I thank Russ for this well researched and excellently written narrative. It will forever stand as a testament to those brave Marines who overcame great odds and craved out a permanent niche in the annals of military history. I highly recommend this book.
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