Striking back

About this book

As the harsh Korean winter of 1951 ended, the U.N. forces faced a critical period in the war. Strategic planners in Washington and ground commanders in Korea were unprepared and ill equipped for the nature of the combat and it was the individual soldiers fighting these battles who ultimately paid the price. Striking Back: Combat in Korea, March-April 1951, the second installment of Army colonel William T. Bowers's three-volume series, describes the ground level combat from the perspectives of the battalion, company, platoon, squad and individual soldiers. March 1951 ushered in a new strategy as U.N. forces shifted from defense to offense. These particularly savage military operations ranged from rapid advances and withdrawls to airborne and river crossing operations reminiscent of those employed in World War II. The brutal nature and strategic significance of these campaigns had profound effects on not only the combatants themselves.