Customer Reviews

The Price of Courage: A Korean War Novel

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

 

 

The Price of Courage is a story of ground combat, as viewed from the level of combat command -- and written, as it should be, by a man who has himself led infantry forces in battle, in the Korean War, where combat reduced itself daily to the awful task of getting one man around one rock in the face of fierce, inch-by-inch resistance.

Eric Holloway is given command of George Company on a cold and barren mountain when he least expects it and when, in the minds of some of his men, he least deserves it -- after a day of horror, when his own blunders have cost American lives and frustrated the battalion's advance. Under the grim pressure of necessity and in the face of bitter enemy fire, he leads his battle-weary company forward to take a mountain top. With only his courage, his instincts, and his combat training to guide him he must decide when to leave his post and risk his own life to lead a lost platoon to safety, when to lay on the artillery preparation that may cost the life of one of his wounded officers, when to bully an inexperienced lieutenant into moving forward under fire -- and when and if to ignore the orders of a "chicken" colonel who has had no combat experience.

The entire story covers but a few days and a few thousand yards of a campaign that has no clear aim other than the taking of real estate. Yet in that time Eric Holloway develops from "one of those eager beavers" concerned with career and recognition, into a resourceful and responsible commander who has earned the devotion of his men through his own courage and decisiveness.

The glum and desperate courage of the griping, but gallant, soldiers; the frightening arrogance of two or three rear echelon incompetents; the horror of a misdirected "Time on Target" that falls on friendly troops; the terrifying spectacle of a combat officer rendered helpless by fear; the cool courage and wizardry of an artillery forward observer who "walks" his shells right along the very edge of a target; the ghastly chill of sudden lonely death in the dark; the simple joys of comradeship and respite from gunfire; the inspiration of a roughneck and great-hearted commander; the gripping (and ringingly authentic) details of a yard-by-yard infantry advance along rugged and narrow ridges; the measureless bravery and devotion of those undistinguished, unimportant, and uninfluential dogfaces who do the front-line fighting -- all these are set forth in prose as clean and hard as a bayonet.

The Price of Courage is an unususal book in many ways: It is rough and plain-spoken and unprettified, without being larded with obscenity; it pictures truthfully the horror and waste of war, while celebrating the patient self-sacrifice, the nobility, and the work-a-day heroism of the plain soldier; it gives a real experience of what it is like to take men out on a cold and nameless mountainside to face death or disfigurement; it is mature and unsentimental and unromantic; and above all it tells a simple, fast-moving, well-plotted story that moves in a clear straight line, taking the reader up with the first word and not releasing him until the final sentence.

Anders provides a compelling, yet abbreviated, glimpse into infantry ground combat during the Korean War. As a novel, this book is highly entertaining and captivating. However, its downfall is that Anders does not fully explore the severity of the conflict and minimizes both the contributions of U.S. Army on the Korean Peninsula and the loss of life on both sides. The characters in this novel are never fully-developed and tend towards stereotypical representations of combat and military service, yielding a formulaic "Hollywood" style plot reminiscent of war movies from the period. The action is fast-paced and keeps even a casual reader's attention from start to finish. Despite these problems, The Price of Courage yields a believable story that gives the reader an inside look at the horrors of war through the eyes of those on the ground. This book is worth the read and recommended as background reading for studies of the Korean War or pre-Vietnam military operations and tactics.

Lt. Holloway, after having perhaps the worst day of his life by making a mistake that cost the lives of some popular men in George Company, is surprised to be given command of that same outfit as they try to take Shark and Octopus, two of the endless series of jagged peaks in front of them seemingly stretching to the horizon. The whole book covers just a few days of fighting in Korea and shows the maturation of Holloway from a staff officer to a valuable combat commander. There are several stereotypes portrayed in the battalion but the story is a good one. Good book about tactics: how to effectively use a squad, a platoon, artillery and heavy weapons to achieve your tactical objective in rocky and rolling country. Good work on the meaning of leadership, the kind that gets men back home.