I totally understand that modern readers are not fans of deadtree books. Like I am a grognard wargamer, or a grognard roleplaying game (RPG) player, so am I a grognard book reader. Late last year, an office in the building I occasionally work in was having a giveaway. Amongst the many books I was able to acquire were two on the Korean War. Both books come from the Center of Military History, United States Army and are part of the United States Army in the Korean War series. These two books are invaluable resources for any wargame on the Korean War I might play.
South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu (June-November 1950) by Roy E. Appleman was first printed in 1961 and then reprinted in 1992; my copy is marked on the cover as, “KOREAN WAR 50th Anniversary”. As noted in the forward, this book is the first of five volumes in the series. Coming in at 814 pages, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu covers from the outbreak of the war to the Chinese intervention, specifically the early morning hours of 24 November 1950 as Eighth Army and X Corps stepped off on a new attack.
Ebb and Flow: November 1950-July 1951, written by Billy C. Mossman, is the second volume in the series. My copy carries the banner, “KOREAN WAR 40th Anniversary Commemorative Edition” on the cover. This slightly-slimmer volume comes in at “only” 550 pages. Ebb and Flow picks up the story literally moments after the previous volume ends and carries through to mid-July 1951 and the start of armistice negotiations as battlefront stagnated.
South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu and Ebb and Flow both rely primarily on US Army records. Written a mere 10 years after the titular events, insights from (then yet-to-be) declassified accounts are missing, but that loss is offset by the sheer breadth and depth of the assembled reports. Most helpfully, both books include maps done by the US Army Center for Military History that set the standard for what a good battlemap should look like.
Alas, I was not able to acquire the other three volumes of the United States Army in the Korean War. Honestly, the later volumes, Truce Tent and Fighting Front by Walter G. Hermes, Policy and Direction: The First Year by James F. Schanbel, and The Medics’ War: United States Army in the Korean War by Albert Cowdrey do not interest me as much as the first two fighting volumes do.
Feature image “Korean War Army Maps – Map I – The North Korean Invasion- 25-28 June 1950” via https://www.koreanwar.org/html/korean-war-maps-results.html?id=143
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