From the Danube to the Yalu (Military Classics Series)

Clark came to Korea after a successful campaign in Italy in World War II. He soon found Korea was a different story. The enemy was granted sanctuaries from which he could strike without fear of retaliation due to political restrictions, violating every principle of war. Future wars waged under the same restrictions would produce similarly results. Military and diplomatic planners for Vietnam would have profited by reading this work.

Washington wanted the war ended as soon as possible. South Korean President Syngman Rhee's answer to an armistice that would leave his country divided was, "Never!!" Clark agreed with Rhee but knew America had selected a no win strategy. An armistice that preserved half of Korea was the best he could do. Today, Korea remains a divided country with armed forces facing each other over battle lines drawn in 1953. Hopefully, Rhee's dream of a free, united Korea will eventually be realized to the benefit of people North and South of the 38th Parallel.

This short book, written only a few months after the armistice was signed, showed exactly how the Communists would conduct themselves in the future. William Westmoreland, Creighton Abrams and Henry Kissinger would be subjected to the same tactics in the field and at the negotiating table later. We owe much to men such as Clark who fought an inhuman foe on the battlefield and at the peace table to preserve freedom for as many as possible.

Today, it is common practice to denounce the "cold war" mentality that, some say, led us into Vietnam. This book effectively shows that cold war fears had a very real basis in fact. Young readers who have not and will not grow up under the threat of a nuclear holocaust and are looking for an answer to why we spent billions to defend against the reds should read this work. The threat was both significant and real. This and other incidents proved it.


General Mark Wayne Clark   June 8, 1999
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This book should be listed more correctly under Mark Clark, Mark Wayne Clark, General Mark Clark or General Mark Wayne Clark. NOT Mark General Clark. In the forties and early fifties, Mark Clark was as famous as General as H. Norman Schwartzkof. Mark Clark was the best friend of Ike and was one of the great egos like Marine Generals Holland Smith and AA Vandergrift who are forgotten today because no movie like Patton or McArthur or Chesty were made for them. Clark was in charge of Africa and Italy and became the Governor General of Austria during the occupation. Although Ridgway replaced McArthur in Korea, it was the more senior Clark who was called on for the armistice. He never received a fifth star. Most probably because he was blamed for the heavy casualties he took at Anzio. I am too young to know. This is an excellent book. He also wrote "Calculated Risk." He was at Ike's bedside during the last days talking of the old days at West Point. He died in 1984 a couple miles from my home in Northwestern Michigan.