In the Devil’s Shadow: U.N. Special Operations During the Korean War

Published fifty years after America’s first clash with communism, this highly readable book presents the most authoritative and comprehensive recounting to date of the secret UN war fought deep behind communist lines. Making extensive use of documents declassified from Department of Defense and Central Intelligence Agency archives exclusively for this book, as well as interviews with veterans of the savage air-land-sea campaign in North Korea and Manchuria, Michael Haas takes the reader into a world still unknown to most historians. It is a disturbing account by any standard, replete with tragedy, heroism, and scandal. Equally disturbing are the author’s revelations of the bitter bureaucratic feuding that occurred between senior U.S. Army officers and CIA station chiefs in Japan, feuding that squandered the sacrifices made by Korean partisans and their American advisers as well as British commandos, U.S. Navy frogmen, and CIA field operatives.

Crisply written, prodigiously researched, and unrivaled in scope, this work will fascinate readers with its detailed descriptions of classified operations never before made known to the public. As a veteran special operations officer and respected author, Haas is uniquely qualified to analyze the subject and its importance to the development of the modern-day U.S. Special Operations Command. His book is certain to be regarded as the best-documented and most realistic account yet published of UN efforts behind enemy lines.