Ridgway Duels for Korea (Volume 18) (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series) by Roy E. Appleman (PDF)

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Ridgway Duels for Korea (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series)

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Well written and a great value

⭐I was excited to read this book, but was quite disappointed to find a significant factual error early on in it. The author says MBR visited the CPs of the 101st AB and 82d AB at Eindhoven, where both divisions dropped in Holland and where the British 1st AB was destroyed. In fact, only the 101st dropped at Eindhoven. The 82d dropped at Nijmegen and the British 1st dropped at Arnhem (the famous “bridge too far.”) This section obviously referred to Operation Market-Garden. While this book is not primarily concerned with WWII, but the Korean War, such an error can’t be attributed to poor editing. It is indicative of carelessness on the part of the author’s research, and puts the credibility of the entire work into question for me. In fairness, at this point I decided to put the book down and subsequently, never finished it. So, I didn’t read the whole book. However, IMHO, this sort of gross factual error is inexcusable by an award-winning official US Army historian.

⭐Great detail – both at a tactical level as well as an operational level

⭐Historical

⭐Excellent book, well written and thoroughly documented.

⭐Throughout the Cold War the Soviet newspaper, Pravda, would write occasional obituaries about prominent Allied leaders from WWII who passed away. These were usually postage stamp sized articles that simply noted that they had passed on. When General Matthew Ridgway died in 1993, Pravda devoted a full page sized obituary to note his passing. This obituary stated that his most significant accomplishments was his command of UN Forces in Korea in 1951 that snatched victory away from the Communist forces and turned the war around in favor of the UN and his later role of developing the defense of Europe as the NATO Supreme Commander. This obituary indicated the significance of Ridgway’s legacy in Korea and his impact on the Cold War.This book tells in detail of how that happened. Though General Douglas MacArthur had already decided on a replacement (MG Edward Almond) after the death of 8th US Army commander LTG Walton Walker on 23 December 1950, President Truman had other thoughts and General Ridgway was appointed the next day with orders to proceed to Korea immediately. Arriving within days, the key to his success was that General MacArthur gave him greater latitude than he allowed his precedessor to prosecute the war. General Ridgway set about reversing the outnumbered, demoralized and defeated UN by announcing that there would be no retreat, no Dunkirk in Korea, that it was a fight to the death. Ridgway immediately established a unity of command, replaced or relieved commanders who were exhuasted, and promoted a more aggressive fighting spirit. The General set the example by leading from the front being everywhere on the battlefield. Within 90 days, Ridgway turned a defeated, exhausted army into a ruthless killing machine. In a series of battles of attrition called Operations Round Up, Killer and Ripper Ridgway not only stopped the Chinese Army, but inflicted grevious casualties that sent them retreating back north of the DMZ.In a sense, Ridgway’s success was squandered by the Truman Administration that decided it did not want a victorious end to the war, but a negotiated settlement. But Ridgway’s battlefield successes help push the Communists to the negotiation table. The accomplishments of General Ridgway and the UN in the Spring of 1951 was further obscured by the relief of General MacArthur and the controversey that followed. However, upon General MacArthur’s departure General Ridgway was elevated to the Command of all UN Forces in Korea until he was replaced in May, 1952. During this time, as the US Military Governor of Japan, he oversaw the implementation of the peace treaty that resulted in Japan’s restoration of independence and sovereignty.Though now long forgotten, Ridgway’s accomplishments in Korea changed the dynamics of the Cold War. Assured of an easy victory in Korea, the Communists were shocked by the reversal of fortunes and could never be sure afterwards what the United States would do when facing future conflicts with them. The Soviets, not wishing ever to endure another devastating war like WWII, avoided direct conflicts like Korea preferring to fight low intensity wars through surrogates. The Chinese in particular were the biggest losers having to endure 20 years of international isolation and denial of a seat in the UN that was rightfully theirs.Ridgway’s accomplishments in Korea are such that he is considered one of four American military leaders that will ever stand out for their lasting contributions to our country in the last half of the 20th Century – George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and Matthew Ridgway. General Omar Bradley described Ridgway’s work turning the tide of the Korean War as “the greatest feat of personal leadership in the history of the Army.”Not enough can be said of Roy Appleman’s contribution to the history of the Korean War. He was the author of the first of four volumes of the US Army history of the war, published in 1962. But after his retirement from government service, he went on to write four books in the late 1980s about the early days of the war basically telling “the rest of the story” that probably couldn’t be told in the original histories. This book is one of his best works and is a must have for students of this “forgotten war”.

⭐Great book. All of Appleman’s work on the Korean War are outstanding. When will the kindle version of Ridgeway Duels for Korea be available.

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