The Battle of Chosin Reservoir

Listen 48:55

Guest: Hampton Sides

General Douglas MacArthur was certain that the Chinese would not step into the Korean War in 1950. Unfortunately, he was terribly wrong.  As 20,000 U.S. Marines and U.N. Forces moved into the frozen mountains of North Korea, 300,000 Chinese crossed the border and surrounded the soldiers around the Chosin Reservoir. The “Frozen Chosin” battle as it is sometimes called, is one of the most brutal and dramatic of the Korean War. Historian and writer HAMPTON SIDES joins us today to talk about the leadership missteps, the hellish fighting, the frigid temperatures, and the desperation and heroism of the trapped First Marine Division. Sides new book is, On Desperate Ground.

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