Customer Reviews

Korea - The Forgotten War (History Channel)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been fascinated with the Korean War since a grade schooler in the early 60's. I spent three seperate one year tours in South Korea in the 70's and 80's while in the U.S. Army, and toured some of the battlefields while there.
I purchased this in 1987 on VHS and really enjoyed it then. But, it does lack punch. There are no interviews of surviving veterans on either side. The work only covers the most basic points of the war and never goes into some of the more controversial incidents. (1). The brutality of the Rhee regime (Who the U.S. supported). (2). The poor performance of the U.S. Army combat units (3). The collaboration of U.S. POWs with their communist captors (which resulted in the Code of Conduct). (4). Why such a modern military force as the U.N., with all it's fire power, was forced to retreat from a bunch of "pajama clad" Chinese, who had no heavy artillery or air support. But, as always Robert Stack is an excellent narrator, and the war is presented in chronological order with decent (somewhat grainy) black and white footage.
The DVD is only 100 minutes long, so they did what they could in that amount of time.
There is so much more to that war than is covered here. For some good reading Donald Knox and Max Hastings both wrote excellent books. I give this DVD 3 1/2 stars.

Bought this for my Dad and he loved it, gave us many hours of material for conversation and I learned a lot. Very worthwhile.

A very detailed documentary/show on the Korean War (1950-53). So detailed at times it got boring but I truly enjoyed the dates, locations and month by month play of the battles and actions. It's a basic briefing of the war and doesn't get very technical. Names, places, dates and actions are talked about but other than that, not much is discussed. Again, it is highly recommended if you know little or nothing about the Korean war.

Most of American understand Korean War from superficial,shadowy
informations--"Forgotten War"!

This Records from History Chanell is generally good and recommendable to
many friends. History of Korean War is chronologically well outlined one.
I Will give you the some important epocs of Korean War.
1) unexpected in vasion of N.korea to South Korea on 25,June,1950.
2) Falling Seoul, capital of S.Korea on 28,June,1950.
3) 1st battle between despatched Smith Task Force,battalon class of
24th Div. and N.Korean infantry regiment led by WWII,World famous strong
T-34 Tanks resulted in overned with many POW(They only had useless 2.75 inch
anti Tank Bazookas) at Osan area.
4) Unprepared,insufficient,remaining 24th Div.was encircled by T-34 headed
N.kotran armies,then oyerruned wiith many POW including Maj.Gen. Dean.
5) Deffense of Pusan Perimeter was very hard and crucial. But they can withhold it.
6) Gen.MacArtthur's Inchon landing and Recapture of Seoul,Capital,S.korea Was
Great Victory !(Key role of victor was US.1st.Marine Div.)
7) Advanshing N.Korea, After crossing 38th Pararell.( after ROK=S.Korea,Capital Div.
and 3rd Div.). 8th US Army under the Lt.Gen. Walker's 1st CAV.Div captured
Pyongyang,Capital,N.Korea and Wonsan landed US.10th Corps under Maj.Gen.Almond
advanced to the North. Finally, US.7th DIV. and ROK 6th Div. reached Yalu River
bounddry of N.Korea and China ! (pyeongyang liberation was conducted by ROK 1st Div)
8) Before lnvovement of China, they estimated 6 Chinese Div. for destroying 1.US.Div,
3 Chinese Div.for destroying 1 ROK Div.They also planned Diviiding Attacks on
separately advanshing 8th Army, West side and 10th Corps,East side.
Enormous numberd,Lar-scale invovement was carried out by Ghost like infiltration
and hided thir own Fox holes.
9) At first,Chinese encircled ROK 1st Div.and 6th Div.collapsed due to Suprise Attack
from already involved 27 DIVISIONS 1 also US.2nd Div.disintergrated from encircle
and Ambush. at last US,8th Army retreated around the 38 Parallel.
dn the atherhand,US.1st Marine Div.fight back to encircled Chinese Army, famous
"Battle of Chosin Reservoir",sucessfly retreaeted and completed Heungnam Evacuation.
10) Repeated up and down battles around the 38th parallel continued until ARMISTICE !

I watched this documentary with high hopes. While the information was good, it was a fairly bland documentary. There was a lot of old war footage and some cheesy music to go along with that. The narration was alright too. There really just wasn't anything about this documentary that excited me. It was looked like the documentary was made at least 10-15 years ago, so that didn't help it out either.
I give it a thumbs up for having decent and accurate information, but a thumbs down for watchability.

It is a very-good chronologic narration of the entire war. It also does a good job relating the war to ongoing political issues. If you want to know what was all about, this is it. In the down side, the footage is of poor quality, especially in the first chapter.

I bought this as a gift for my dad, who is a Korean War Vet. It is very well produced and offers a lot of historical events associated with this war.

I Bot thi for a friend to give to his Fother on his birthday.
Kurt