Cold War crescendo: in the author’s first three volumes in a series on battles of the Korean War, North Korean forces cross the 38th Parallel, rolling back US and South Korean forces into a small corner of the Korean peninsula. Months later, commander of the United Nations Command (UNC) in Korea, General Douglas MacArthur, launches a daring counteroffensive invasion at Inchon, enveloping North Korea. Despite a warning from Beijing that it will intervene if US forces cross the 38th, MacArthur uses the UN’s conditional authorization to land elements of the US X Corps at Wonsan and Riwon in North Korea. The Eighth US Army and South Korean forces capture the North Korean capital, P'y?ngyang, while American paratroops make the first combat jump of the conflict at Sunch’?n and Sukch’?n, cutting the road to the Chinese border. While MacArthur’s ground forces edge closer to the Yalu River, and the general having designs of chasing the retiring North Koreans across the river into China, in October 1950 the Chinese politburo immediately deploys 200,000 members of the 13th Army Group of the newly titled People’s Volunteer Army (PLA) on a pre-emptive defensive’ operation into North Korea. AUTHOR: Born in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, historian and author Gerry van Tonder came to Britain in 1999. Specialising in military history, Gerry started his writing career with titles about twentieth-century guerrilla and open warfare in southern Africa, including the co-authored definitive Rhodesia Regiment 1899-1981. Gerry presented a copy of this title to the regiment’s former colonel-in-chief, Her Majesty the Queen. Having written over twenty books, Gerry writes extensively for several Pen & Sword military history series including Cold War 1945-1991’, Military Legacy’ (focusing on the heritage of British cities), Echoes of the Blitz’, and History of Terror’.
20 colour and 75 b/w illustrations
