Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of the Korean War

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Encyclopedia Of The Korean War: A Political, Social, And Military History is deftly edited by Spencer C. Tucker and presents the reader with a thorough, comprehensive, in-depth, and deeply researched compendium of knowledge over the Korean conflict often referred to as "The Forgotten War." Entries are listed in A to Z format; black-and-white photographs sparsely illustrate the detailed, matter-of fact text. Strongly recommended for school and community library military history collections, the Encyclopedia Of The Korean War is a superbly presented reference for looking up details concerning people, places, weapons, politics, military actions and much more about this pivotal Asian conflict.

I've been reading and studying about the Korean War recently. I had bought this encyclopedia some months ago in anticipation of this. While I have read only a few entries in the encyclopedia, the ones I have read have all been very informative with good depth. As might be expected given the length of the book, there is a wide range of topics covered.

As to format, there is a very useful listing of all the topic entries at the front of the book, along with a plethora of plain but clear maps. I might mention though, that the map on p. xxviii, intended to be a map of the Inchon landings, is actually a reprint of the initial North Korean invasion map. Also, under the entry for "Orders of Battle", one is directed to Appendix I, which seems to be missing. However, in an undertaking as extensive as this, these anomolies are minor.

In sum, this book is a very important and useful addition to Korean War historiography. I'm certainly glad it exists and that I bought it!

A great book for students of the Korean War. Thorough coverage. Excellent seller.

The problem with a work of this type is that the editor must depend on the accuracy of the submissions sent to him. The introduction by John Eisenhower has both errors of fact and errors of omission. First, he states that the 24th Division, the first to arrive was almost wiped out. Secondly he says that they were followed by the First Cavalry Division and then the 25th Infantry. He lists the 2d Infantry next, followed by the First Marine Division. He omits entirely the 7th Infantry Division, which participated in the Inchon landing concurrently with the First Marine Division. Actually the third regiment of the First Marines did not arrive at Inchon until after the 7th Infantry had completed their landing. The 24th was not almost destroyed, it remained as a fighting force until relieved on the line by the First Cavalry Division on 21 July. The 25th Infantry was the second to arrive in Korea, with its first elements landing immediately after the last elements of the 24th Division landed at Pusan.
There are two entries by Daniel Bierne, both actually about the battle at Unsan. He indicates in both entries that the First Cavalry was ordered north to block the Chinese force that had overrun ROKA forces. He also states that the 1st LU 2d Battalions of the 8th Cavalry had hardly taken up defensive positions on the evening of November 1 when theyy were overrun by two divisions of the Chinese 39th Army. The facts, as recorded in First Cavalry Division and Eighty Cavalry Regimental War Diaries and Unit Histories are that the 8th Cavalry Regiment was ordered on October 28th to proceed at 8 AM on October 29th to relieve the First ROK Division at Unsan and proceed north and west to the Yalu. They arrived on the early afternoon of October 30th after biviouacing overnight at Yongsang. Patrols sent out that day were unable to make any contact with the enemy. Relief of the 1s ROK Division was scheduled for noon on October 31st. That morning the ROK's lost 2000 yards and the Commander of the ROK unit refused to be relieved, so relief was rescheduled for the next day. Mr. Bierne also states that the 8th Cavalry was almost destroyed. Official records of the 8th Cavalry indicate that total casualties for the month of November, most of which occurred on the 1st and 2d of November were 9 killed, 235 wounded and 584 missing. Since total strength of the Regiment was about 3,000, loss of 829 hardly equates to destruction. Battery A of the 99th Field Artillery made it out intact and Battery C lost only one of its six 105mm howitzers in the battle. The missing figure was adjusted downward by 19 as that many members of the 8th Cavalry captured at Unsan were inexplicably released by the Chinese and returned to our lines on November 22. This included the First Sergeant of "I" Company of the 8ths Third Battalion, Master Sergeant Samuel Cleckner.
Mr. Tucker, in his two entries about the Battle of Osan/Task Force Smith relies almost entirely on the accounts of Roy Appleman, which are very inaccurate based on Unit Histories and War Diaries of the 24th Infantry Division and the 21st Infantry Regiment, which tell an entirely different story.

ALL IN ALL, MY ORIGINAL RATING WAS EXTREMELY ERRONEOUS, AS MR. TUCKER HAD TO HAVE SPENT CONSIDERABLE TIME AND EFFORT PUTTING THIS BOOK TOGETHER. HE COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE HAD TIME TO ENSURE THE ACCURACY OF ALL SUBMITTALS AND REFERENCES. IT HAS TAKEN ME OVER THREE YEARS JUST RESEARCHING THE LIMITED AREA CONCEERNING JUST THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF THE KOREAN WAR.