Disaster in Korea

"The long-awaited official volume . . . is not likely to be as comprehensive and detailed on small-unit actions between 24 November 1950 and 26 December 1950, as Roy E. Appleman's Disaster in Korea. Also, the official history is not expected to be as frank as Appleman's account of the defeat of the US Eighth Army by the Chinese Communist forces in late 1950. . . . It is doubtful that any researcher will surpass his mastery of the available documentation. . . . Perhaps his finest contribution in this significant, if altogether somber, book is his detective work in piecing together, mainly through interviews and correspondence with survivors, what happened to the United Nations forces near the Chongch'on River and Kunu-ri in Northwest North Korea in late November and early December 1950, especially the US 2d Infantry Division, which suffered near ruin as a fighting force. Appleman's research on the operations around Kunu-ri is particularly detailed and impressive in view of the loss or incompleteness of many unit records. . . . This is a solid work, but sometimes exhausting in details and certain to be controversial in evaluations of units and commanders."--D. Clayton James