East of Chosin (review)

80BOOK REVIEWS war Stalin saw any overriding strategic interest in Korea." What he intends by "overriding" is unclear, but there is certainly evidence of Soviet strategic interest in Korea during World War II. Finally, Kaufman may ascribe far more military moderation to officials in Washington than they rightly deserve. He does not adequately evaluate the policy discussions of late 1950 and early 1951 on the possible escalation of the war against China. Nor does he give attention to the development of Eisenhower's ultimatum that unless an armistice were signed the United States would use nuclear weapons in Korea. The foregoing criticisms aside, the book is an intelligent, sensible, clearly written, and judicious contribution to the body of scholarship on the Korean conflict. It should prove useful to both lay readers and students of U.S. diplomatic history. Russell D. Buhite University of Oklahoma East ofChosin, by Roy E. Appleman. College Station, Texas: Texas A & M University Press, 1987. 416 pp. $22.50. On a secluded wooded hillside in the U.S. military reservation in the southern section of Seoul stands a two-story, stucco building, formerly a Japanese Army barracks, now used as billets for senior noncommissioned officers. Next to the door is a brass plaque which reads: FAITH HALL Named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Don C. Faith, Jr. HQ & HQ Co, 1st Bn, 32 Regt, 7th Inf Div Killed in action 2 Dec 50 near Hagaruri Korea At the time of his death, Lieutenant Colonel Faith was commanding the remnants of a U.S. Army Regimental Combat Team which had been cut off and surrounded by Chinese forces east of the Chosin Reservoir. This book is an account of the destruction of Task Force Faith. After the Inch'on landing, the breakout from the Pusan perimeter, and the crossing of the 38th Parallel, United Nations Command (UNC) forces moved north in several widely separated columns, pursuing retreating and fragmented North Korean forces. Republic of Korea and Eighth U.S. Army forces, including Commonwealth troops, moved toward the YaIu River in the west. Republic of Korea Army units moved northeast toward the Korean-Soviet border. The U.S. Tenth Corps, consisting of the First Marine Division and the U.S. Army's Seventh Infantry Division, landed along the northeast coast of Korea and moved inland, north toward the Chosin Reservoir. Initially one Marine regiment moved up each side of the reservoir, but when the United Nations Command (UNC) and Tenth Corps decided to have the Marines strike out to the west to link up with the Eighth Army, the Thirty- BOOK REVIEWS81 first Regimental Combat Team (RCT), an ad hoc force of about three thousand men consisting of elements of the Seventh Infantry Division, was moved forward to relieve the Marines on the eastern bank of the reservoir. But as the UNC forces moved north, massive Chinese forces were moving south. The two armies collided in a series of meeting engagements across the peninsula in late November 1950. On the 27th of November, the northernmost element of the Thirty-first RCT, Lieutenant Colonel Faith's First Battalion of the Thirty-second Infantry Regiment, was preparing to attack to the north. The Chinese Eightieth Division struck first. Faith's battalion was forced back south, where it linked up with the rest of the Thirty-first RCT, which after the death of the regimental commander became known as Task Force Faith. Surrounded and heavily outnumbered by the Chinese, Task Force Faith attempted to break out to the south. The attempt failed, and all but 385 of the some three thousand soldiers of the Thirty-first RCT were killed, wounded, or captured. The destruction of Task Force Faith is one of the tragic stories of the Korean War. It is a story of heroism, but it is also a tale of human error and frailty. Sadly, it was also at the time a source of misunderstanding and acrimony between the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army. The Marines, whose troops fought well and withdrew in a cohesive, organized manner, pointed to the disintegration of the Thirty-first RCT as an example of Army ineptitude and lack of courage and spirit, while the Army...