Blood on the hills : the Canadian Army in the Korean War / David Jay Bercuson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bercuson, David Jay.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Canada. Canadian Army--History--Korean War, 1950-1953.

Canada.

Canada. Canadian Army.

Korean War, 1950-1953--Canada.

Korean War, 1950-1953.

History.

Physical Description:

xvi, 269 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, 1999.

Summary:

Caught by Surprise with a Phantom Army in the Summer of 1950, The Canadian government was forced by its major allies to promise a ground combat contribution to the UN effort to push back the Communist invasion of South Korea from the north. The Canadian Army Special Force, as the Korean contingent was first called, was hurriedly raised, trained, and sent to Korea, ill-prepared for a mountain war against a determined, well-armed enemy. Canadian soldiers fought bravely, often against impossible odds, to carry out their mission, but were hindered by cautious UN Command strategy, by poor British and Canadian defence doctrine, by uneven leadership, arid by inadequate equipment and training. In the end, they did their duty, and more, in stopping Communist aggression in its tracks, but the Canadian Army chose not to remember the lessons of Korea, even though, as a limited war, it set the pattern for virtually all the wars that followed in the second half of the twentieth century.

Blood on the Hills is the first full non-official history of the Canadian Army's operations in the Korean War. The book covers the period from the start of that war to the cease-fire in July 1953, and describes and analyses the mobilization of the Canadian contingent, its training, manning, and equipment, and its efforts in combat. David Bercuson focuses on the many consequences of the army's unreadiness to undertake combat operations in Korea, and the army's lack of success in learning lessons from its experience in an active theatre of war.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0802009808 :

OCLC:

41347254