Wonju: The Gettysburg of the Korean War

From Booklist
Coleman, now a retired lieutenant colonel, was a sergeant in the 187th Regimental Combat Team and survived the brutal fighting in February 1951 for the critical central South Korean town of Wonju. Mixing personal memories, oral history, and thorough research in primary and secondary sources, he traces the Korean War's first eight months with an unsparing eye for the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. He then focuses on the Chinese Fourth Offensive, which met an Eighth Army that, transformed by General Matthew Ridgway, refused to retreat and used its superior firepower to deadly advantage. Traditional accounts of the decisive U.N. victory in the battle emphasize the fighting around Chip'young Ni, but Coleman's detailed account of the fighting around Wonju stresses its equal role in taking stra- tegic initiative away from the Chinese. Even in very good accounts of very ugly firefights, Coleman remains evenhanded, which helps him produce an exceptionally worthy addition to Korean War battle literature. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Seattle Post Intelligencer
“A well-written account . . .”


Arizona Republic
“Compares the action at Wonju to Gettysburg in the Civil War, the supreme but failed effort by an attacking force.”


Book Description
By December 1950, the dramatic entrance of Communist China into the war had forced the retreat of U.S., South Korean, and other United Nations troops from the Yalu River back into South Korea. In February, 1951, near a central South Korean town named wonju, UN forces finally quit running and started fighting--and stopped the Chinese juggernaut cold. Just as the Battleo of Gettysburg was the high water mark of the Confederacy's bid for secession, the Chinese offensive launched at Wonju was the high point from which China's hopes for victory soon faded. This is the first book to show that after fifteen days of combat at Wonju, Chinese leaders realized that they could not win the war andcould possibly lose it. On this not particularly well-known battlefield, UN forces led by brave U.S. and South Korean fighting men ensured South Korean independence. These battles reinvigorated the UN war effort, thanks in no small part to the leadership of the U.S. Eighth Army's new commander, Lt. Gen. Matthew Ridgway. J.D. Coleman's comparison bewteen the pivotal battles of Wonju and Gettysburg is original and thought-provoking.


Book Info
A comparison between the battle of Wonju, during the US-Korean War, and the battle of Gettysburg, during the American Civil war. Discusses the state of the Korean war during the battle of Wonju, and the political dynamics on both sides, particularly their similarity to those at the battle of Gettysburg. DLC: Korean War, 1950-1953--Campaigns--Korea (South)--Waenji-si.


About the Author
Lt. Col. J.D. Coleman, U.S. Army (Ret.), a veteran of the Korean War and Vietnam, has also written Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam and Incursion: From America's Chokehold on the NVA Lifelinesto the Sacking of Cambodian Sanctuaries. He lives in Kalispell, Montana.


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A US Army veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam wars, Coleman describes the February 1951 battle near the town of Wonju in central South Korea, characterizing it as the turning point at which the United Nations forces stopped running, turned and fought, and stopped the Chinese juggernaut cold. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


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