Combat Actions in Korea

by Russell Gugeler

This book is a collection of accounts describing the combat action of small Army units-squads and platoons, companies and batteries. These are the units that engage in combat, suffer the casualties, and make up the fighting strength of the battalions, regiments, divisions, corps, and finally, of the field army. Combat is a very personal business to members of such a small unit. Concerned with the fearful and consuming tasks of fighting and living, these men cannot think of war in terms of the Big Picture as it is represented on the situation maps at corps or army headquarters. Members of a squad or platoon know only what they can see and hear of combat. They know and understand the earth for which they fight, the advantage of holding the high ground, the protection of the trench or hole. These men can distinguish the sounds of enemy weapons from those of their own; they know the satisfying sound of friendly artillery shells passing overhead and of friendly planes diving at an objective. They know the excitement of combat, the feeling of exhilaration and of despair, the feeling of massed power, and of overwhelming loneliness. The author has tried to describe combat as individuals have experienced it, or at least as it has appeared from the company command post. In so doing, much detail has been included that does not find its way into more barren official records. The details and the little incidents of combat were furnished by surviving members of the squads and companies during painstaking interviews and discussions soon after the fighting was over. Conversely, many facts have been omitted from the narrative presented here. The accounts tell only part of the complete story, intentionally ignoring related actions of cause and effect in order to keep one or two small units in sharper focus. The story of action on Heartbreak Ridge, for example, describes fighting that lasted only one or two hours, whereas the entire battle for that hill went on for several weeks. Sometimes there are obvious gaps because important information was lost with the men who died in the battle. Sometimes the accounts are incomplete because the author failed to learn or to recount everything of importance that happened.

Genres: Military History

268 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[Numidica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written as part of the U.S. Army Historical series, but it is not dry history at all. It is nearly as compelling as This Kind of War by Fehrenbach, but much more carefully researched and documented. The "combat actions" that Gugeler describes are presented in a way that makes the book feel almost like a collection of short stories. Korea was the war that shattered, or at least dented, America's feeling of omnipotence that had persisted in the halcyon days after victory in WWII. Interestingly, the final years of the war looked an awful lot like WWI as the battle lines settled into stasis. I once had the opportunity to listen to General Richard Cavazos talk about his service in Korea, with the Chinese using bugles to signal attacks, and the Chinese soldiers coming out of their trenches to advance across the gap between US and Chinese lines into the teeth of machine-gun fire, mortars and artillery from the Americans. It absolutely could have been 1917 the way he described it.

[Sloane Mauldin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read of insightful vignettes during the Korean War. I drew a couple key lessons on being able to defend yourself and your position (rifleman first, specialty second- definitely thought of a Support Battalion's BSA during one of the vignettes), planning (or the results of a lack of thorough planning) and the need to invest in developing leaders at all levels (one vignette told a story of two platoons in the same company being led by a CPL and PVT respectively). All in all well worth the read.

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published for the U.S. military in 1954 as a collection of episodes, small-unit actions, both as lessons-to-be-learned and as a down-to-earth history -- ordinary soldiers' experiences, not a "military history" of high-level strategy. "These small unit actions are ... for the many, rather than the few," says the preface.

The book is unusually candid, esp. for an official history. It meant to tell of the "surprises, confusions and problems" (preface, again) and told of defeats and tragedies. For instance, it tells of an 8-inch artillery battalion that somehow was able to get through the disastrous retreat from the Yalu, against scenes that looked like Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. It tells of an Army battalion trapped near Chosin Reservoir, and Gen. Almond's helicopter trip in to hand out medals at random. "As the helicopter rose from the ground, Colonel Faith ripped the medal from his parka with his gloved hand and threw it down in the snow."

The stories are vivid, and not a dry blow-by-blow, and includes a surprising amount of dialogue. Capt. Gugeler, the author, apparently was able to get eyewitness accounts, not just official reports.

The book has been in and out of print; I'm looking at a 1970 edition by the Government Printing Office. "Since the Korean War, some of the tools and procedures of battle have changed, but the basic conditions of combat have not," says the foreword to that edition. Indeed, the book can be useful as lessons of low-level combat and leadership; certainly, a new war in Korea is possible today. Military historians will also find it useful, and the late David Halberstam did use it as a primary source for his The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. It is a vivid account of men in close battle, and has more commonality than stories from a long-ago war. Highly recommend.

[Bill Lenoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good set of short pieces covering a variety of combat action types.