Rating: 
Summary: The Harsh Realities of the Korean War
Review: Although I am an avid reader of American military history, I read few first-person accounts of war because I tend to prefer books about geopolitics, grand strategy, and decisive weapons systems. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book about a marine officer's experience during the Korean War. It was easy reading, its narrative was straightforward, informative, and, I believe, honest, and it provided some valuable insights into the harsh realities of the first of the Cold War's regional conflicts.The United States' "forgotten war" began on June 25, 1950, when the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea). At the time, Author Joseph Owen was a Marine Corps lieutenant stationed in North Carolina, living with his wife and their two young children. According to Owen: "Nobody at Camp Lejeune had expected a shooting war. Nor were we ready for one." A captain who had been an adviser to the South Korean Marine Corps predicted Korea would be "[o]ne lousy place to fight a war. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and straight up and down mountain terrains all year round. Except for those stinking rice paddies down in the valleys. Human manure they use. Worst stink in the world." Nevertheless, according to Owen: "The possibility of American Marines in a combat role excited us." Owen writes: "The North Koreans continued to overpower the meager resistance offered by the South Korean soldiers....Seoul, the South Korean capital, fell with hardly a fight, and the Red blitzkrieg rolled southward. In response, President Truman escalated American involvement in the war. He ordered General MacArthur, America's supreme commander in the Far East, to use U.S. Army troops stationed in Japan to stem the invaders." And: "General MacArthur called for a full division of Marines to help him turn back the North Koreans. According to Owen: "The Marine Corps welcomed the call, but we did not have a full division to put in the field;" and "More than seven thousand of us at Camp Lejeune received orders to proceed by rail to Camp Pendleton. There they would form into companies and embark for Korea." Owen's unit, "Baker-One-Seven became one of three rifle companies if the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment....Our ranks were filled by 215 men and 7 officers who had never before served together....Many of [the privates] were beardless teenagers with little training beyond the basics of shouldering a rifle and marching in step." While training, there was much concern about the readiness of the Marines for combat. At one point, after a sergeant remarks that the troops need more training in boot camp, Owen succinctly invokes reality: "They are not going to boot camp. They are going aboard ship. And they are going to fight." On September 1, the company boarded a Navy transport for the three-week voyage to east Asia. According to Owen: "Ready or not, we were on the way to war." And, according to Owen, the 1st Marine Division's orders were "to go for the Yalu River," North Korea's border with China. At one point, a veteran officer provides this paraphrase of William Tecumseh Sherman's famous dictum: "War is hell, but you never know what particular kind of hell it's going to be." The Korean War hell was cold and barren. Owen writes: "We were chilled through and bone tired as we slogged our way back to battalion....The bivouac was lumpy with rocks and boulders;" "The cold weather was as formidable an enemy as the Chinese;" and "Rarely did the [daily action] reports exceed zero degrees, and there were lows of twenty below." By the time Owen's outfit arrived in Korea, he writes, "we were making bets that the war would be over before we got into it." Owen's Marines could not have been more wrong. While Owen is inspecting his men's weapons, a private asks: "Think we'll get shot at today, Lieutenant?" Owen replies: "We're taking the point for the regiment. If the gooks are there, they'll be shooting at us." A few pages later, after the outfit's first experience in combat, Owen comments: "We were fortunate that the enemy had not chosen a "fight-to-the-death" defense of this hill, as they would when we advanced farther north." But some fighting was hand-to-hand. At one point, Owen writes: "Judging from the noise they were making, and the direction of their grenades, the North Koreans were preparing to attack, not more than thirty yards away." The Captain tells Owen and the other subordinate officers: "The Chinese have committed themselves to this war....The people we will fight are the 124th Division of the Regular Chinese Army....They're tough, well-trained soldiers, ten thousand of them. And all of their officers are combat experienced, their very best....A few hours from now we'll have the Chinese army in our gunsights. We'll be in their gunsights. You damn well better have our people ready for some serious fighting." The combat was, indeed, brutal. According to Owen: "The Chinese attacked in massive numbers, an overwhelming weight, but they also endured terrible casualties." Owen recalls that, while waiting for one Chinese attack, the "men stacked Chinese bodies in front of the holes for greater protection." And the fighting around the frozen Chosin Reservoir may have been the most brutal of the war. Owen ultimately suffered wounds requiring 17 months of treatment, and he never regained full use of one arm. A few months ago, I reviewed James Brady's wonderful The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea here. This book has different charms. Whereas Brady is a gifted professional writer, there is no elegant prose here. But Owen provides an equally vivid account of this ugly war. Big, sophisticated studies of military history focusing on geopolitical principles and grand strategy rarely offer narrative moments like the ones in this book. Reader are unlikely to forget the Korean War after reading Joseph Owen's Colder than Hell.
Rating:
Summary: Blunt, straightforward, gimmickless...
Review: Books about war can be so dramatically different even if they are essentially dealing with the same subject. It's less about "which war" and rather more about how one registers the whole experience on a psychological level. Also important is if and what kind of an agenda one carries with him.
In "Colder than hell" we're offered an account from the eyes of a lieutenant who fought at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. The main difference with other military history books is that the author, having been there, describes things through a spectre that i could best describe as "uninvolved". Books about the Vietnam war, for example, have that unmistakable political aspect to them which is obviously attributed to that very charged epoch they deal with, even if their authors were also direct war participants.
In this one, what immediately struck me was that from the very first pages the author takes the possibility of being in a war not only almost naturally but seems to eagerly anticipate it. He doesnt ask any difficault questions, doesn't wonder why he's going to wind up some 1000s of miles away from home fighting people he hardly knows the culture of (and vice versa), but instead seems to consider this as a task that one approaches with questioning it at all.
Sign of times radically different than what followed the Korean War? More than certainly. That is perhaps an element that strikes as very intriguing in this book but it's left lingering somewhere in the beginning and the author doesn't touch it again.
Still, it goes to show what dramatic changes took place after those years.
Lieutenant Owen (the author) gives a morbid and incredibly vivid description on the events that happened in the Chosin Reservoir as the American Marines fought an almost face-to-face battle with their Chinese counterparts.
In a mountainous terrain and in bitter winter conditions with temperatures more than often below zero, sometimes under-equipped clotheswise, with very little time to rest or even be allowed to be under blankets and with frostbite claiming almost equally as many victims as the bullets and the mortars, Owen and his batallion fought (as any soldier ultimately does) their enemy, the elements, and themselves. Owen, keeps hitting the reader with honesty as he doesn't omit to mention his everpresent fear at the prospect of death looms nearer every day that goes by.
He survived, but his accounts of those that fell next to him are given in a cold almost cynical manner, the way it actually happens when bullets are zipping over your head and you dont have time to ponder on the person dying next to you in agonising pain but only time to stay alive yourself.
Most of the book is written in that manner, as if he's describing things live from the scene. Long emotional passages are not to be found here and this actually makes "Colder than hell" an ultra realistic description of the horrors it deals with.
This will get more credit from you as you read it than i could possibly give here because it is, undoubtdely, a very gripping book.
Heavily recommended for avid readers of military history.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent personal narrative on the Korean War.
Review: Colder than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir. By Joseph R. Owen. Reviewed by Mike Davino Army Korean War expert Lieutenant Colonel Roy Appleman has called the 1st Marine Division of the Chosin Reservoir campaign "one of the most magnificent fighting organizations that ever served in the United States Armed Forces." The remarkable and inspiring story of the division at the Chosin Reservoir has been the subject of numerous books and several films. During their fighting withdrawal, the Marines decimated several divisions of the Chinese People's Liberation Army while at the same time fighting an exceptionally harsh winter environment. Joseph Owen's new book on the subject tells the story from the cutting edge perspective of a rifle company. The author served as a mortar section leader and rifle platoon commander in Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines from its activation in August 1950 through the Inchon-Seoul and Chosin fighting where he was severely wounded. There are many reasons given for the outstanding performance of the Marines in northeast Korea during the winter of 1950. It is clear from this book that a large measure of the credit goes to the Marines and their leaders at the small unit and rifle company level. Owen's narrative covers the hasty activation and training of the company, its brief participation in the fighting north of Seoul after the amphibious assault at Inchon and the details of its intense fighting at Chosin. He candidly discusses the mistakes made by the leaders and Marines of Baker Company, to include his own. More importantly, Owen covers what they learned from these mistakes and how they used that knowledge to defeat the Chinese in a series of intense actions. Although focused at the company level, the author frames his story with the overall conduct of the campaign. Refreshingly, unlike many books about the Chosin campaign, it is free of partisan sniping about the contributions made by the various services involved. Owen gives credit to the Army units that fought at Chosin as well as the contributions of naval and air forces and our British allies. This book is rich in lessons about small unit leadership, training and combat operations. It is an excellent addition to the personal narratives on the Korea War.
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Summary: RECOMMEND THIS ONE TO YOUR COLLECTION
Review: Excellent read for those interested in this particular conflict. The author is quite discriptive in his narration. He is able, somewhat, to give the "feel" of the circumstances..if that is even vaguely possible through the written word. The author has a tallent for enabling the reader to actually visualize the situation...sometimes rather difficult to accomplishe when addressing military movement on the battlefield. Again, I recommend you add this one to your collection. I makes a very nice reference book along with being a very good read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I listened to the audio version but it was unabridged. The audio version has a fantastic narrator. The book itself is well written and a gripping story. If you want a 'you are there' tale of Marine combat in the Korean War (or just infantry combat in general) this book is for you. It pulls no punches and gives it to you straight as the author saw it. The story is very much a study of combat leadership and low-level infantry combat and does not dwell on the other larger aspects of the Korean War (either military or political).
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Summary: A Must Read for all MARINES
Review: I recently read "Colder than Hell" and found it to be one of the most motivating books that I have ever come across. Joseph Owen gives an exceptional description of the challenges that the Marines encounter while they are fighting in the Korean War. I am an active duty Marine and after reading this book I hope to display the type courage and strength that Owen and his fellow Marines of Baker-One-Seven did during the Korean War and their breakout of Chosin Reservoir. I would suggest this book to not only Marines but to any Military professional who wants an accurate, and in you face description of what the Korean War was like.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for all MARINES
Review: I recently read "Colder than Hell" and found it to be one of the most motivating books that I have ever come across. Joseph Owen gives an exceptional description of the challenges that the Marines encounter while they are fighting in the Korean War. I am an active duty Marine and after reading this book I hope to display the type courage and strength that Owen and his fellow Marines of Baker-One-Seven did during the Korean War and their breakout of Chosin Reservoir. I would suggest this book to not only Marines but to any Military professional who wants an accurate, and in you face description of what the Korean War was like.
Rating:
Summary: Wow, just Wow!!!!
Review: My dad served as a soldier in the Pacific War and has never talked about it--even after I saw combat as a Marine. So I was shocked when he handed me "Colder than Hell" and recommended it as a true account of what combat is really like. We agree and can't understand why it has not been made into a movie. This is a rare account of a subject that generally can't be explained unless you have experienced it. He captures the breathless horror that is combat. Combat vets will finish it and simply say "Yes". The rest of the world will say "Oh my God" and thank men like Owen who have faced the dragon. A must real for the universe.
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Summary: Chosin Up Close And Personal
Review: There are essentially two ways to approach an historical review of a compaign, either as an historian who was never there (reviewing documents, etc.) and the personal viewpoint. The latter gives you a good overview of the whole campaing, whereas the former provides a very focused view. Naturally, it is best to view all options, but I prefer to read the first-person accounts for some real perspective. This is what you get--the unvarnished look at how one company dealt with the catastrophe of Chosin, turning it into a victory (no matter what the Chinese reviewer has to say). That one division, the 1st Marine Division, was able to survive against ten Chinese division, and survive intact as a fighting force, speaks volumes of the men in that division. When you read how Owen and his men coped, you can appreciate the fighting capabilities of the American soldiers--particulary when they are put in unprepared situations by idiots like MacArthur and his so-called intelligence officers in Tokyo fighting by remote-control. Owen showed how the men in the field could see the train-wreck coming, but were never listened to. This is where the first-person account deviates from the outside approach with the old "we told you so" and can prove it. I would also like to mention that I have met Owen and Chew Enn Lee, when they gave a talk on the book. You could not imagine two more opposites in personality. Lee, who goes by "Karl," is still to this day highly respected by his men. They have petitioned the Department of Defense for Karl to receive the Medal of Honor for leading part of the breakout. No matter how much they petition on his behalf, it just falls on deaf ears. I think this is just the continuation of the we-know-better-than-you that permeates the rarified air breathed by higher ups. When you see what Bob Kerrey did for his Medal of Honor--and not taking anything away from him--you wonder why Karl Lee walked away with less.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read Military History Book
Review: This book is a must read for any legitimate military history historian. It illustrates the changing perspective of the European concept of war in which human life has at least some meaning to the concept of war with an Asian opponent in which human life apparently is not that important. Although still very important, the "one shot, one kill" concept as applied to masses of troops for that often required "reach out and touch someone" 1,000 yard shot, must of necessity give way to the concept of a "one shot, many, many kills" concept of modern day warfare with this kind of opponent. It also illustrates the "how" of the "unexpected" Chinese ambush of the American forces. Both the Army's and the Marine's outdoor enthusiasts knew that they were there, although not in what immense strength, but military headquarters in Japan refused to believe them.
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