PORK CHOP HILL

by S.L.A. Marshall ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Once again Gen. Marshall, acting this time as a correspondent but using the same methods in analyzing results, in interviewing combatants, in reporting action as he did in the earlier book, has given his readers an intensely concentrated portrait of a little area of the Korean War, the struggle for Pork Chop Hill which ended in a hardwon victory, at Snook, Sgt. Transeau in command. But before that victory, which was scarcely reported because Operation Switch was taking place at Panmunjom, there had been three bitter days, when the Chinese employed their tactics of infiltration, perfected over the years, against, raw troops, operating under the vulnerability of the rotation system, the inadequate system of patrol briefing and de-briefing, and a static trench layout which was not offset by the more efficient artillery support. The story is told in terms of the men who fought it out, and Marshall has minimized neither the heroism nor the failures. In final conclusion his faith in the basic quality of the American fighting man is unchallenged; he puts the blame higher up for the failures. The rawness of the troops made for low morale; the intuitive action on the part of enlisted men, the superior command presence of young officers, the inordinate number of cases of arrant cowardice among the ROKs -- all paid off in the end results. Incident after incident provides the raw material from which later stories will be written; human values emerge, individual heroes stand out:- Lt. Gorman Smith, Lt. E.L. Denton, Lt. Hemphill, Corporal Mata, Pfc. McKinley and a score of others- for whom-the publicity officers and the press did little or nothing to sing their prowess. All in all a moving and a stirring record which should serve a purpose beyond the initial value of the tale it tells.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 0425175057

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1956

Categories: NONFICTION