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Korean War documentary?

Cardinal

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Does anybody know of a really great documentary on the Korean War? My knowledge of that conflict is embarrassingly thin. Help me to be smarterer.
 
By the way, it was this article that prompted my desire to know more about the Korean War:


China's involvement in that war provides important historical context for understanding the issue with China today.
 
Does anybody know of a really great documentary on the Korean War? My knowledge of that conflict is embarrassingly thin. Help me to be smarterer.
You would be far better served with books on the topic. Unfortunately, most of my books are still in boxes, or I could give you the details on a few good ones. First thing to note about the war was that Chew-Een Lee and O.P. Smith where remarkable, and anything you can find on either is worth delving in to.

Oh, my order history on Amazon to the rescue. Here are 3 to get you started:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101971215/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 <~simply great book, well written and covers the key fighting.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812916700/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 <~the bible of the Korean War. Does a great job with the Puson Perimeter and how desperate things where in the early days. Also covers just how terrible MacArthur and Almond where during the war.

For a memoir, try https://www.amazon.com/Colder-than-...J,B08BSL1Q4G,B07Q3HDK7S,B01F19U5GS,B01FODDTXC
 
Does anybody know of a really great documentary on the Korean War? My knowledge of that conflict is embarrassingly thin. Help me to be smarterer.

I haven't looked for this topic there, but I've found a number of really great presentations from Prime videos presented by very knowledgable professors from various universities.
 
I'm an audio-visual guy when it comes to such as learning to do with wars. To do with any documentary, I can usually find out pretty quickly if I'm getting anything from it, but no single one does quite as much as seeing as many as I can find and always learning something salient I didn't know before. That's what I've found with war docs. I've seen so many that discuss the whole of a war, I now get more from those that go into greater detail about a part. Detail makes a great diff. As I find a doc I hadn't seen before, I learn all the more. I've found little contradiction so much as more info/detail that gives diff perspective and understanding of the facts. Like several docs on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.
 
@Cardinal



Edit: Lee was one of the most badass soldiers of any war. Injured early in Chosin, he escaped from the medical area where he had been treated, returned to his men, and led them very much from the front(wearing a reflective vest to make sure his men could see him at night and in the snow...which of course meant the Chinese could see him too), took point when General Ray Davies went further into NK to rescue a unit, at night, in sub zero temperatures and a blizzard. Just an all around badass in every way.
 
You would be far better served with books on the topic. Unfortunately, most of my books are still in boxes, or I could give you the details on a few good ones. First thing to note about the war was that Chew-Een Lee and O.P. Smith where remarkable, and anything you can find on either is worth delving in to.

Oh, my order history on Amazon to the rescue. Here are 3 to get you started:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101971215/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 <~simply great book, well written and covers the key fighting.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812916700/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 <~the bible of the Korean War. Does a great job with the Puson Perimeter and how desperate things where in the early days. Also covers just how terrible MacArthur and Almond where during the war.

For a memoir, try https://www.amazon.com/Colder-than-Hell-Reservoir-Bluejacket-ebook/dp/B009SC9WBY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39AUS1VAUVRBJ&dchild=1&keywords=colder+than+hell&qid=1635777061&qsid=145-0252187-9928071&s=books&sprefix=colder+than+hell,stripbooks,113&sr=1-1&sres=0804116970,1717356788,1477848061,B00A6HCF32,B01N8Y9BRG,B000CRSF3K,B086PPJBXF,1986283097,1913193888,B099P4YS33,B0922VCMCJ,B08BSL1Q4G,B07Q3HDK7S,B01F19U5GS,B01FODDTXC

Do you know more like Colder Than Hell. I'll be reading the other two (not that I have time...). Started on "On Desperate Ground"
 
Do you know more like Colder Than Hell. I'll be reading the other two (not that I have time...). Started on "On Desperate Ground"


MacArthur was given the Medal of Honor for F'g up the Phillipines Campaign in WWII and the nutcase totally miscalculated the Chinese invasion of N. Korea and wanted to invade them when Truman finally sacked his arrogant ass. Those are the two at the top of his long list of reasons he was a lousy commander. I don't know, though, how the cited book treats him.
 
MacArthur was given the Medal of Honor for F'g up the Phillipines Campaign in WWII and the nutcase totally miscalculated the Chinese invasion of N. Korea and wanted to invade them when Truman finally sacked his arrogant ass. Those are the two at the top of his long list of reasons he was a lousy commander. I don't know, though, how the cited book treats him.

It's a first hand account of one of the first people thrown in, ending when the author was wounded. He doesn't delve into any sort of analysis of MacArthur overall, but it's pretty clear the men all felt HQ had its head permanently lodged up its ass.
 
James Brady was an author and Korean War vet, (USMC.) He used to have a page in the Sunday Parade magazine. His company co had been the governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee. Brady wrote a few books about Korea, non-fiction and novels based on his service there. I recommend his books for authenticity and writing skills.

 
Does anybody know of a really great documentary on the Korean War? My knowledge of that conflict is embarrassingly thin. Help me to be smarterer.

The best one I've seen lately was a PBS American Experience episode - The Battle of Chosin.
 
You would be far better served with books on the topic. Unfortunately, most of my books are still in boxes, or I could give you the details on a few good ones. First thing to note about the war was that Chew-Een Lee and O.P. Smith where remarkable, and anything you can find on either is worth delving in to.

Oh, my order history on Amazon to the rescue. Here are 3 to get you started:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101971215/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 <~simply great book, well written and covers the key fighting.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812916700/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 <~the bible of the Korean War. Does a great job with the Puson Perimeter and how desperate things where in the early days. Also covers just how terrible MacArthur and Almond where during the war.

For a memoir, try https://www.amazon.com/Colder-than-Hell-Reservoir-Bluejacket-ebook/dp/B009SC9WBY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39AUS1VAUVRBJ&dchild=1&keywords=colder+than+hell&qid=1635777061&qsid=145-0252187-9928071&s=books&sprefix=colder+than+hell,stripbooks,113&sr=1-1&sres=0804116970,1717356788,1477848061,B00A6HCF32,B01N8Y9BRG,B000CRSF3K,B086PPJBXF,1986283097,1913193888,B099P4YS33,B0922VCMCJ,B08BSL1Q4G,B07Q3HDK7S,B01F19U5GS,B01FODDTXC

To be fair, Inchon was a stroke of genius on MacArthur's part. That's the thing that always gets me about MacArthur - sometimes he's a genius, sometimes he's a dolt. You don't really get a handle on the man if you only like at one side to the exclusion of the other.
 
Does anybody know of a really great documentary on the Korean War? My knowledge of that conflict is embarrassingly thin. Help me to be smarterer.
Tubi has some good docs.
 
I'm an audio-visual guy when it comes to such as learning to do with wars. To do with any documentary, I can usually find out pretty quickly if I'm getting anything from it, but no single one does quite as much as seeing as many as I can find and always learning something salient I didn't know before. That's what I've found with war docs. I've seen so many that discuss the whole of a war, I now get more from those that go into greater detail about a part. Detail makes a great diff. As I find a doc I hadn't seen before, I learn all the more. I've found little contradiction so much as more info/detail that gives diff perspective and understanding of the facts. Like several docs on the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.
Like you most of what I watch are documentaries and I've seen a ton about the second world war. Man's inhumanity towards man never ceases to amaze me.
 
To be fair, Inchon was a stroke of genius on MacArthur's part. That's the thing that always gets me about MacArthur - sometimes he's a genius, sometimes he's a dolt. You don't really get a handle on the man if you only like at one side to the exclusion of the other.
Well, no. It is kinda standard strategy to invade up a peninsula to cut off the enemy(see: Italy in WW2 as one example). And choosing Inchon as the invasion spot was a stroke of pure incompetence that worked out due to two things: O.P. Smith(who wrote the book on amphibious landings, then rewrote it again after all he learned during WW2) being in charge, and that one key part of the new mines meant for Inchon harbor not having made it there yet(those mines where so good they would stop the next planned amphibious landing in NK). After the invasion, General Almond, MacArthur's hand picked commander for the operation proceeded to place all his emphasis on capturing Seoul, despite the strategic reason for making such an invasion being to cut off, isolate and destroy the enemy further down the peninsula. The marines, who where trying to do that cutting off, kept being pulled away to aid in the attack on Seoul. This allowed large numbers of NK armor to escape back into NK.

MacArthur was hit or miss in WW2. His casualty numbers for what he accomplished where remarkably low for example. His work in post WW2 Japan was exemplary. Korea, not so much. Our successes in Korea where despite MacArthur and Almond, not because of them.
 
Do you know more like Colder Than Hell. I'll be reading the other two (not that I have time...). Started on "On Desperate Ground"
Not for Korea I am afraid. Some great ones for Vietnam and WW2(If I Die In The Combat Zone for the former is pure brilliance, and With The Old Breed for the latter being one of the best ever war memoirs), but I do not know any more for Korea. If you find some, let me know.
 
MacArthur once called Eisenhower “the best clerk he had ever had.”

On the Plain at West Point there are statues of each man. They are situated so that neither can see the other.
 
Well, no. It is kinda standard strategy to invade up a peninsula to cut off the enemy(see: Italy in WW2 as one example). And choosing Inchon as the invasion spot was a stroke of pure incompetence that worked out due to two things: O.P. Smith(who wrote the book on amphibious landings, then rewrote it again after all he learned during WW2) being in charge, and that one key part of the new mines meant for Inchon harbor not having made it there yet(those mines where so good they would stop the next planned amphibious landing in NK). After the invasion, General Almond, MacArthur's hand picked commander for the operation proceeded to place all his emphasis on capturing Seoul, despite the strategic reason for making such an invasion being to cut off, isolate and destroy the enemy further down the peninsula. The marines, who where trying to do that cutting off, kept being pulled away to aid in the attack on Seoul. This allowed large numbers of NK armor to escape back into NK.

MacArthur was hit or miss in WW2. His casualty numbers for what he accomplished where remarkably low for example. His work in post WW2 Japan was exemplary. Korea, not so much. Our successes in Korea where despite MacArthur and Almond, not because of them.

Yeah, well, that's the thing about the obvious... the enemy can recognize it as well. The North Koreans knew there was going to be an amphibious invasion... but even so, MacArthur managed to pull it off as a complete surprise. If you can't recognize what an act of genius that was involved with that - the logistics, planning, and subterfuge involved - in pulling something like that off, well, I figure that's on you.

MacArthur was an undoubted genius at war. I'm not. Sometimes I can appreciate his genius... sometimes I can't. But where I can't, I tend to conclude I'm the one - from my armchair perspective - who is missing something.
 
Not for Korea I am afraid. Some great ones for Vietnam and WW2(If I Die In The Combat Zone for the former is pure brilliance, and With The Old Breed for the latter being one of the best ever war memoirs), but I do not know any more for Korea. If you find some, let me know.

Thank you very much and I mean that.

I'm not entirely sure what it is I'm trying to understand, just the general shape of it. First accounts are key (lined up against histories). I seem to have some weird blend of morbid curiosity and deep respect. And wanting to know how people tick and why, really, they tick in that particular way.



Taking a step back: if anyone wants to dig into the era more generally, read David Halbersham's "The 1950s".
 
Yeah, well, that's the thing about the obvious... the enemy can recognize it as well. The North Koreans knew there was going to be an amphibious invasion... but even so, MacArthur managed to pull it off as a complete surprise. If you can't recognize what an act of genius that was involved with that - the logistics, planning, and subterfuge involved - in pulling something like that off, well, I figure that's on you.

MacArthur was an undoubted genius at war. I'm not. Sometimes I can appreciate his genius... sometimes I can't. But where I can't, I tend to conclude I'm the one - from my armchair perspective - who is missing something.
I did not say that the success of Inchon was not due to genius, but that the genius part was mostly OP Smith. Also a ton of luck since if the harbor had been mined with the good mines, the invasion would have failed, badly.
 
Yeah, well, that's the thing about the obvious... the enemy can recognize it as well. The North Koreans knew there was going to be an amphibious invasion... but even so, MacArthur managed to pull it off as a complete surprise. If you can't recognize what an act of genius that was involved with that - the logistics, planning, and subterfuge involved - in pulling something like that off, well, I figure that's on you.

MacArthur was an undoubted genius at war. I'm not. Sometimes I can appreciate his genius... sometimes I can't. But where I can't, I tend to conclude I'm the one - from my armchair perspective - who is missing something.

I'd suggest from my armchair that one major failing was failing to guess at just how committed early "communist" countries were to establishing buffer spheres. It's as if he thought China would shrug. Or maybe it was an insane gamble; get there, wall off, they eventually give up. Whatever it was, it failed. And he got a lot of people killed.

Strange, given USSR behavior. Strange given Chinese behavior (they chased Shek how far?). But then I've already disqualified myself, so what the hell am I trying to say?



I hesitate to say a damned word about how I would order troops around, but I'd like to think that taking account of the general ground consensus is important.
 
I'd suggest from my armchair that one major failing was failing to guess at just how committed early "communist" countries were to establishing buffer spheres. It's as if he thought China would shrug. Or maybe it was an insane gamble; get there, wall off, they eventually give up. Whatever it was, it failed. And he got a lot of people killed.

Strange, given USSR behavior. Strange given Chinese behavior (they chased Shek how far?). But then I've already disqualified myself, so what the hell am I trying to say?



I hesitate to say a damned word about how I would order troops around, but I'd like to think that taking account of the general ground consensus is important.

Hindsight is 20/20. If you look at it from MacArthur's perspective, it was barely a year since the Chinese Civil War had ended - not even a year if you count the take-over of Hainan. Why wouldn't it have been valid to assume that they would have had their hands full in consolidating their power internally rather than seeking to get entangled with a nuclear-armed superpower?

I think MacArthur figured this was a now-or-never opportunity to take back as much real estate as possible while the Chinese had their hands full.

Regardless, though, obviously that wasn't MacArthur's call to make... but that's the other thing about geniuses - they tend to be loose cannons.
 
I did not say that the success of Inchon was not due to genius, but that the genius part was mostly OP Smith. Also a ton of luck since if the harbor had been mined with the good mines, the invasion would have failed, badly.

Fortes fortuna iuvat.
 
Like you most of what I watch are documentaries and I've seen a ton about the second world war. Man's inhumanity towards man never ceases to amaze me.


More than just being sent to death camps and being enslaved and worked to death, the Nazis would just shoot Jews and others on the streets by the dozens. One doc I watched as a day to day of the entire war that revealed a great deal of that kind of detail I'd not seen before. Not just the fact of it, but how prevalent it was. How normal and usual, common.
 
More than just being sent to death camps and being enslaved and worked to death, the Nazis would just shoot Jews and others on the streets by the dozens. One doc I watched as a day to day of the entire war that revealed a great deal of that kind of detail I'd not seen before. Not just the fact of it, but how prevalent it was. How normal and usual, common.
The nazis weren't real big on compassion, either were the japanese, they both looked at themselves as superior races to all others. With that said, if I were alive in that time and not german or japanese, I think I would try to make myself as invisible as possible. They thought nothing of killing you for invented offenses or no reason at all, you were vermin. That amount of evil I will never comprehend. Hope we don't turn america into something similar!
 
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