Korean War Collection

Combat Action in Korea - 259 pgs.
by Russel A. Gugeler

This book was originally published in 1954, the year following the close of the Korean War. The accounts of small-unit actions were written primarily for junior officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates of the United States Army who had not yet been in battle. The object was to acquaint them with the recent combat experiences of others and thus better prepare them for the realities of their own fields.
Since the Korean War, some of the tools and procedures of battle have changed, but the basic conditions of combat have not. Indeed, the surprises, confusion, and problems faced on one battlefield generally resemble the difficulties met on another. Accounts of battle experience at other times in other places, then, continue to have instructive value. It is with this fact in mind that this book is reprinted.
One of the accounts contained in the original version was omitted after a review of the source material on which it was based revealed several irreconcilable errors. All of the other episodes appear in their original form. Those who absorb the lessons they offer can substantially increase their competence as leaders and members of small units in battle, and all students of military history should find profit in these intimate and objective stories of combat action.
Coauthor of Okinawa: The Last Battle in the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR Il, Russell A. Gugeler returned to active duty as a combat historian in the Korean War. He subsequently served as historian for the Pacific Theater of Operations and later as historian for Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers, Europe, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1968. He is presently the civilian historian for the United States European Command.

Combat Support in Korea - 247 pgs.
by John G. Westover

The contributions of combat service support soldiers to the success of American armies have often been overlooked by both historians and the public. Thus, it is altogether fitting that this first volume in the Army in Action Series should be John G. Westover's compilation of short, but instructive, pieces on service and support activities during the Korean War. While the details of combat actions in America's wars have been studied extensively, comparatively little has been done to enlighten the soldier of today regarding how logistical operations were conducted at the small unit level. This book will serve to repair that omission. Westover compiled this book primarily from a series of interviews conducted with men actually involved in the events at ground level. The oral history technique, which Army historians did much to develop in World War II and later, is now an accepted historical method. The value of oral history as a means of getting to the details is amply demonstrated here.

Ebb & Flow: November 1950 - July 1951 - 566 pgs.
by Billy C. Mossman

Ebb and Flow records an important chapter in the Korean War. It begins with the last weeks of the pell-mell rush of United Nations forces to the Chinese border and goes on to describe in great detail the test of American military leadership and resources posed by the taxing retreat of the Eighth Army and X Corps across the frozen wastes of North Korea. It also examines the special problems posed to a fighting army during the deadly months of stalemate in the summer of 1951. The part of the war described in this volume raises many questions for the military strategist and provides a treasure trove of lessons for the student of the art of war. The book emphasizes the limitations imposed by terrain and weather on the fighting capabilities of an American army facing surprise attack from a large, disciplined enemy. The operations it describes in such careful detail will help vivify the principles of war for those who would study the profession of arms.

History of U.S. Naval Operations: Korea - 509pgs.
by James A. Field, Jr.

Perhaps the simplest way to describe the Korean War is to say that it was different, for it fell, or seemed to fall, outside the pattern of all previous American experience. It was a surprising war in a surprising place at a surprising time, and one which imperatively called for answers to neglected problems of national defense. It was begun as a police action; it developed rapidly into an undeclared war of no small magnitude; it ended as an unpopular and seemingly profitless stalemate. It was conducted, at least in theory, less as a national enterprise in defense of an easily apprehended national interest than as an exercise in collective security under the aegis of the United Nations. And while partial precedents can doubtless be discerned in battles long ago, the package was a new and unsettling one. This is the story of the United States Navy operations in this conflict.

Korea 1950 - 292pgs.

By its participation in the Korean conflict the Army of the United States, in a determined effort to restore international peace and security, has been for the first time committed to battle under the flag of the United Nations. Confronted by most arduous conditions, the American soldier has fought with traditional bravery and skill against communist aggression in Korea. He has met every test with honor. This volume briefly records, by text and photograph, the first six months of the conflict that began in Korea on 25 June 1950.

Korea 1951-1953 - 318pgs.

This volume records briefly, by text and photograph, the Korean conflict from January 1951 to the cessation of hostilities in July 1953. Like its predecessor, Korea 1950, it attempts to provide an accurate outline of events in order to show the U.S. Army veteran of the Korean conflict how the part he played was related to the larger plans and operations of the United Nations forces. For this reason Korea 1951-1953 focuses on the operations of the United States Army but summarizes the achievements of the sister services and of the other United Nations troops in order to make clear the contributions of all to the successful resistance against armed aggression. The text, which is based upon records and reports of the Far East Command, the United Nations Command, and the Eighth Army, was written by Dr. John Miller, Jr.

Military Advisors in Korea: KMAG In Peace and War - 223pgs.
by Major Robert K. Sawyer & Walter G. Hermes

In an era when United States military assistance groups are scattered all over the world and probably will be for some time to come, the story of one of the earliest of these groups is of more than passing interest. The U.S. Military Advisory Group to the Republic of Korea, or KMAG as it was frequently called, was not only one of the first advisory groups to be formed but also one of the few that had to operate both in peace and war. This is their story.

Policy & Direction: The First Year - 483 pgs.
by James F. Schnabel

This volume describes the initial direction and strategy of the first major though limited war that the United States was to fight on the continent of Asia in the era of global tension that followed World War II. There are marked similarities as well as some basic differences between the war in Korea and the war that would follow a decade later in Southeast Asia, and certainly the study of both is necessary to understand the limitations on armed conflict under the shadow of nuclear holocaust. One can also discern in this volume the importance of individuals in altering the course of human events and the face of nations, the wider concerns that preclude the massing by a world power of its military strength in one direction, and many other facets of the nation's recent military history it behooves all thoughtful Americans to ponder.

The Medics War - 406pgs.
by Albert E Cowdrey

The Medics' War views this conflict from an uncommon angle. It documents the efforts of American Army doctors, nurses, and enlisted medics to save life and repair the damages wrought by wounds and disease. Though the charges of biological warfare made at the time are shown to have no foundation, the disease-ridden environment of wartime Korea aided the side with the best medical care. The real MASH clearly emerges in this study, along with the variety of technical innovations produced by the conflict that have advanced medical science. The perspective of The Medics' War is an enlightening one, showing that the compassionate treatment of both United Nations and enemy wounded pre-served human values in the midst of bitter, unforgiving strife. Civilian and military readers alike will gain from it a deeper understanding of the processes, destructive and reconstructive, that together made up the human experience of the Korean War.

Utilizing the fullest availability of sources in research for this volume on the USAF in Korea, the author has sought to record the story of the air war as it was - or as it appeared to informed participants - without yielding very often to speculations of what might have been if different decisions had been made or the facts had somehow been changed. Air Force failings have been stressed fully as much as accomplishments, for failures (and the reasons for them) must be evaluated if the Air Force is to progress. In this record of Air Force experience in Korea there was much that was heroic and there were other events that were unpleasant, but a military historian must freely record the mistakes and controversies if a reader or a student of military history is to understand the full meanings of military accomplishments and failures.

South to the Naktong: North to the Yalu - 800pgs.
by Colonel Roy E. Appleman

At the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, the U.S. Army combat units nearest the scene were the four infantry divisions performing occupation duties in Japan. When the Army of the Republic of Korea, supported only by U.S. air and naval forces, was unable to halt the North Korean aggressors, these divisions, seriously under strength and only partially trained and equipped for fighting, provided the troops that were committed initially to action in response to the call of the United Nations Security Council. Colonel Appleman's narrative portrays vividly the grimness of limited war against a fanatical enemy, and the tragic consequences of unpreparedness. His writing recaptures the dismay that most Americans experienced in the realization that a small, little-known country could achieve military success against a coalition that included this, the world's most powerful nation. Here is the story of how U.S. Army combat units, thrown piecemeal into the battle to slow Communist advances, fought a desperate and heroic delaying action, buying time until the United Nations forces could attain the military strength necessary to take the offensive. When that offensive was launched, it quickly crushed the North Korean forces, only to be met with the massive intervention of a more formidable adversary, Communist China.