Summary Of On Desperate Ground By Hampton Sides

The book On Desperate Ground was written by Hampton Sides, an award winning author best known for his stories of wars and daring expeditions. The topic of On Desperate Ground recounts the chilling tales of Marine soldiers who fought at the Chosin Reservoir in the 1950s. The author’s purpose for this story was to inform people of the harrowing circumstances that befell many Marines there. I chose this book because I realized I knew very little about the Chosin Reservoir, not even knowing where it was, and its importance in US history and for the Marines. Also, my grandfather later went to South Korea after the war and seeing the pictures of the carnage that had resulted from the war made me even more determined to know what had happened there years prior. Though there is

Once Chinese soldiers were identified, inland Marine battalions, which only consisted of about 3,000 men each, dug in at important land areas. The huge Chinese army would attack hard, night after night with huge forces, at the battalions until many either got captured or had to retreat. The battalions that retreated went to the sea, where they evacuated out of the country. Soon an armistice was signed ending the war for now and returning everything geographically to how they were before. The author’s thesis was to honor Marines who fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage while facing probable annihilation and temperatures plunging to twenty degrees below zero. Sides accomplished his goal as the book showed the extreme courage of the men even when the odds were against them with the prosperity of death everywhere. The text says, “Hector Cafferata and blinded Ken Benson managed to hold on for nearly six hours, plugging what appeared to be a gaping hole between the Second and Third Platoons... The company had held, but just barely. Nearly a third of the company had become casualties in a single night” (pg.