On Desperate Ground by Hampton Sides

Author:Hampton Sides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2018-10-01T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

At the war council, such talk was ambient noise, static in the air, bile festering in the bowels of the Dai Ichi Building. These were early versions of arguments and recriminations that would be sent across phone lines and telex wires in the weeks ahead. The real reason MacArthur had summoned General Almond and General Walker on this night was that he wanted to hear from them. He wanted to know what they had seen on the battlefield, that very day. It was a rare moment for MacArthur. He was genuinely asking them: What did they think? What did they know? What would they do?

General Walker was the first to speak. His Eighth Army was now withdrawing toward Pyongyang. He was worried that the Chinese would outflank him. He thought he could hold a line somewhere around Pyongyang, but he wasn’t sure. The situation on the west side of the peninsula looked hopeless. Some of his U.N. units were performing valiantly—especially a brigade of Turks, who had surprised everyone with their resilience and ferocity. But overall, the west side was devolving into a rout.

Almond, predictably, was feistier. He didn’t want to abandon the grand plan. He thought his X Corps could keep going. His men had suffered momentary setbacks, but they would recover, and they would carry on to the Yalu. And in doing so, they would sever the Chinese lines of supply and communication. Like an overeager acolyte, Almond still held MacArthur’s torch.

While no written record of the meeting exists, what is known is that MacArthur categorically rejected Almond’s sanguine assessment of the battle. The supreme commander’s earnest lieutenant could be forgiven for his zeal, but the campaign to reach the Yalu was over. Even MacArthur understood that. It was time to switch over from the offensive to the defensive. MacArthur told Almond that the new strategy was for his X Corps to concentrate in the plains around Hamhung-Hungnam. Maybe they could hold on to the twin cities for the winter, or maybe they would have to quickly evacuate, with Navy ships taking advantage of Hungnam’s deepwater port. That question could be decided later. The bigger point was this: General Douglas MacArthur had finally come to see the futility of the advance. The mirage had evaporated; the dream had been extinguished. The Home for Christmas campaign had shriveled down to a dire exercise in self-preservation. X Corps was turning around and marching for the sea.

In the morning, a chastened Almond climbed back onto a plane at Haneda Airport and returned to a different battlefield.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.