A Christmas Far from Home by Stanley Weintraub

troops deep in North Korea with little hope of an escape. Those who know Korean War history know what comes next - a catastrophic Chinese attack that trapped thousands of U.S. Weintraub, who received a Bronze Star for his service in Korea, builds the suspense steadily through the early pages of this slim volume. He ignored the Chinese warnings not to go farther and the multiple pieces of intelligence that showed that Chinese troops had slipped across the Yalu or were waiting on the other side of the frozen river to attack unsuspecting U.S. MacArthur planned to finish off the North Koreans there. MacArthur's assault at Inchon seized the initiative, and by November the allied forces were close to the Yalu River separating China from Korea. But communist North Korea invaded South Korea in June, and their surprise invasion almost succeeded in conquering their southern neighbor.

troops who had swept across most of North Korea would be home by that Christmas.Īt the outset of 1950, no American leaders anticipated they would be in this situation.

Douglas MacArthur, drunk on public adulation from his service in World War II and his inspired amphibious invasion at Inchon earlier in 1950, bragged that the Korean War was over and that U.S. There are many reasons to get angry while reading Stanley Weintraub's A Christmas Far from Home, but the main reason is that the sacrifice of so many American lives in the cold desolation of North Korea in December 1950 was totally avoidable.

A Christmas Far from Home by Stanley Weintraub