"In East of Chosin, [Appleman] has rescued an 
important page of our military history from obscurity. . . .
The soldiers of the 31st emerge with the respect and admiration 
their sacrifices so richly deserve."-Lt. Gen. William J. 
McCaffrey, USA (Ret.), Army


"Well written and meticulously researched . . . East of 
Chosin is military history at its best."-Harry G. Summers, 
Jr., Washington Post Book World


Roy E. Appleman's East of Chosin, first published in 1987,
 won acclaim from reviewers, readers, and veterans and their 
families. For the first time, there was one complete and accessible
record of what happened to the army troops trapped east of the 
Chosin Reservoir during the first wintry blast of the Korean War. 
Based heavily on the author's interviews and correspondence with 
the survivors, East of Chosin provided some of those men 
with their first clue to the fate of fellow soldiers.


 In November of 1950, U.S. forces had pushed deep into North 
Korea. Unknown to them, Chinese troops well equipped for below-
zero temperatures and blizzard conditions were pushing south. With 
the 1st Marine Division on the west side of the frozen Chosin
reservoir, the army's hastily assembled 31st Regimental Combat 
Team, 3,000 strong, advanced up the east side of the reservoir. 
Task Force Faith in the extreme northern position caught the 
surprise Chinese attack. With rifles and vehicles often immobilized 
in the cold and snow, the task force struggled to retreat through 
a tortuous mountain gauntlet of enemy fire. With truckloads of dead 
and wounded trapped along on the road, a few of the 385 survivors
trudged across the frozen reservoir to alert the marines to their
plight.




The late ROY E. APPLEMAN wrote five books on the "war 
of maneuver" in Korea. He left his papers, including all interviews 
and correspondence related to the Chosin Campaign research, to the 
Army History Center at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.


Number Two: Texas A&M University Military History Series