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The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat Kindle Edition

by Bob Drury (Author), Tom Clavin (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,135 ratings
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“The authors of the bestselling Halsey’s Typhoon do a fine job recounting one brutal, small-unit action during the Korean War’s darkest moment.” —Publishers Weekly
 
November 1950, the Korean Peninsula. After General MacArthur ignores Mao’s warnings and pushes his UN forces deeper into North Korea, his 10,000 First Division Marines find themselves surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by 100,000 Chinese soldiers near the Chosin Reservoir. Their only chance for survival is to fight their way south through the Toktong Pass, a narrow gorge that will need to be held open at all costs. The mission is handed to Captain William Barber and the 234 Marines of Fox Company, a courageous but undermanned unit of the First Marines. Barber and his men climb seven miles of frozen terrain to a rocky promontory overlooking the pass, where they will endure four days and five nights of nearly continuous Chinese attempts to take Fox Hill. Amid the relentless violence, three-quarters of Fox’s Marines are killed, wounded, or captured. Just when it looks like they will be overrun, Lt. Colonel Raymond Davis, a fearless Marine officer who is fighting south from Chosin, volunteers to lead a daring mission that will seek to cut a hole in the Chinese lines and relieve the men of Fox. This is a fast-paced and gripping account of heroism in the face of impossible odds.
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  1. Print length
    396 pages
  2. Language
    English
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    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Grove Press
  5. Publication date
    November 10, 2009
  6. File size
    3665 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The authors of the bestselling Halsey's Typhoon do a fine job recounting one brutal, small-unit action during the Korean War's darkest moment. In November 1950, as General MacArthur's troops were advancing deep into North Korea, China warned that it would intervene if armies approached its border. U.S. troops were scattered through mountainous terrain at the onset of a freezing winter. Using extensive interviews with survivors, the authors tell the story of one 234-man company ordered to secure a rocky promontory overlooking the legendary Chosin Reservoir. Abundant and detailed maps enable readers to track the vicious week-long battle almost minute by minute as the men fought off repeated assaults by overwhelming Chinese forces until another marine unit arrived to rescue the few survivors. The authors draw no great lessons from Fox Company's ordeal, but deliver a precise, technically accurate account of the fighting. Although aimed at military buffs, the closeup views of individual marines tested to their limits will engage any reader curious to learn how brave men fought a conventional 20th-century war. 100,000 announced first printing; 12-city author tour.(Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The authors of Halsey’s Typhoon (2007) are back with an equally fine book on an episode in the Chosin Reservoir campaign of the Korean War. Sent to hold a hill on the marines’ line of retreat, Fox Company of the Seventh Regiment’s Second Battalion wound up besieged by an entire Chinese division. Three-quarters of the company became casualties before a rescue column fought its way through to them, and three Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded for the action. Drury and Clavin have researched thoroughly, especially the memories of Fox Company survivors, and have written with their customary vividness. They remind us that the predicament of handfuls of Americans fending off foreign hordes isn’t just a Hollywood spectacle. It has been a grisly reality, in this case with both sides enduring bone-chilling cold, untreated wounds, and starvation. A must for the Korean War shelves, invaluable beyond all historical period value for its coverage of infantry combat at its worst. --Roland Green

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008V43OBO
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; First Trade Paper edition (November 10, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 10, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3665 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 396 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,135 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Tom Clavin

    Tom Clavin

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    TOM CLAVIN, whose most recent book is FOLLOW ME TO HELL, is a bestselling author who has worked as a newspaper and web site editor, magazine writer, TV and radio commentator, and a reporter for The New York Times covering entertainment, sports, and the environment. He has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and National Newspaper Association. Six of his books have been New York Times best sellers: THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT IS, DODGE CITY, HALSEY'S TYPHOON, THE LAST STAND OF FOX COMPANY, BLOOD AND TREASURE, and FOLLOW ME TO HELL. Other books that have received popular and critical acclaim include TOMBSTONE, WILD BILL, ALL BLOOD RUNS RED, TO THE UTTERMOST ENDS OF THE EARTH, THE LAST HILL, and LIGHTNING DOWN. Tom is also a nationally syndicated columnist and "The Overlook" can be found at tomclavin.substack.com. His next book, THE LAST OUTLAWS, will be published on November 7 by St. Martin's Press. For more information, go to tomclavin.com

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  2. Bob Drury

    Bob Drury

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    The New York Times bestselling author Bob Drury is the recipient of several national journalism awards as well as a three-time National Magazine Award finalist for his reporting from Belfast, Sarajevo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Darfur among other earthly Edens. His books include THE RESCUE SEASON, A DOG'S GIFT, and, with co-author Tom Clavin, THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT IS, HALSEY'S TYPHOON, VALLEY FORGE, BLOOD AND TREASURE, THE LAST HILL and THE LAST STAND OF FOX COMPANY, for which he received the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's General Wallace M. Greene, Jr. Award.

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
3,135 global ratings
That we didn't know our enemy in Korea.
5 Stars
That we didn't know our enemy in Korea.
The authors identified so many men and told stories about them. They would have a whole chapter covering one day and details of the night fighting with the chinese. There were 24 Chinese divisions surrounding the United Nations Forces in North Korea during November and December of 1950. General Almond said they were just a bunch of Chinese laundrymen and go right through them. In reality many were battle-hardened soldiers who had fought with Mao in the Chinese Civil War. Others were Nationalists who had fought with Chiang Kai Check. Some of the North Koreans had fought with the Chinese and the Russians. MacArthur was so arrogant that he refused to believe there were large numbers of Chinese until it was too late. I am preparing a Power Point about the 1st, 5th, 7th and 11th Marines that fought around the Chosin Reservoir with special attention to the Five Days of fighting that Fox Company had fighting Chinese that outnumbered them 10-1.
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Top reviews from the United States

Daniel L. Driewer
5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing account of the exploits of Fox Co during the battle of the Chosin Reservoir
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
Simply an incredible book, of the valor of the Marines of Fox Co, in the Korean War during the battle of the Chosen Reservoir. I'd heard and had become marginally familiar with what happened during the Korean War, when MacArthur disregarded intelligence and warnings that the Chinese would enter the war on behalf of the then defeated North Koreans, should the USA got near/to the Yalu River. The Chinese did and swarmed the American lines, outnumbering them by what 10, 25, 100 to one? Who knows for sure. What is for certain is the valor, bravery, fighting spirit, the esprit de corps of Fox Company and others that fought in spite of overwhelming numerical odds, in weather fit for the South Pole - who can live yet alone fight in actual temperatures of -25 to - 35 below zero?! If you read no other book on the Korean War, I suggest you choose this one. At the end I was simply in tears and even now as I type this, thinking about the accounts of the haggard, frostbitten and in many cases also walking wounded marines, that, having defended the escape route for the Americans around the Chosin Reservoir, when "marching" into the Hagaru-ri Supply Station/Airfield, "throats dry and raw, the entire company picked up the Marine Corps tune with each man singing" as best they could : "From he halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli"...." Simply Amazing.
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F. Moyer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent account of an important marine battle of Korean War
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2022
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This is one of the best historical war books I’ve read (and I’ve read many). The book is quite limited in scope as it covers the fighting by about 240 marines as they try to hold a hill for about a week. Why bother to hold one lousy hill for just a week? Because China’s sudden, surprising entry into the war threatened to cut off the fighting retreat of thousands of marines away from the Chosin Reservoir. So the book provides some historical background, but the book’s focus is on the marines themselves and their tenuous efforts to hold out against the Chinese’s vastly numerically-superior forces.

The conditions they were fighting under were horrendous. Temperatures as low as -20 deg F. Some guns were too frozen to fire. Some grenades were too frozen to explode. Frostbite was a constant concern. The only positive was that some wounded didn’t bleed to death because their bleeding wounds froze closed. It’s hard to imagine more inhospitable conditions.

But most important, this book focused on the individual marines doing the fighting. For some of the marines, there was a small but personal bit of background so that each of those marines could be seen as an individual rather than just a name. But many died. And many were wounded. Still, some survived. And it seemed like the reader learns the fate of nearly every one of those marines. So this book is one of the most personal war histories I’ve read (that isn’t a one-man account such as “With the Old Breed”).

Bottom line: One of the most personal war histories I’ve read.
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Henry B. Davis IV
4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Account of the Chosin Reservoir Breakout I have read yet. A must read. :0)
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2021
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With the proliferation of first person, common-soldier accounts it is easy to assume this style of history is becoming a bit worn. Fortunately, this book which was first published in 2008 breathes new life into this genre. While it is full of action and memorable characters, the authors' ability to develop these characters while keeping track of the local situation and putting the conflict in its global Cold War context is outstanding. In a very crisp, flowing narrative you come to know these characters backgrounds, their individual and group struggles during some of the war's most brutal fighting, and then are treated with excellent summaries of each men's lives (very much in Paul Harvey's "and that's the rest of the story" style). The American military's breakout from encirclement by Chinese Communist Forces in the Chosin Reservoir area was a mixed bag at best with Army units disintegrating into small groups of armed men and the Marines succeeding to remain in cohesive units albeit suffering great casualties as well. I have previously read accounts of both Army and Marine Corps units in this action, but I must say this book is the best written of them all. I highly recommend The Last Stand of Fox Company to anyone interested in people's reactions to extreme situations, the Korean War, United States Marine Corps history, or just military history in general.
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Top reviews from other countries

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steve andrews
5.0 out of 5 stars An incredible true story of the bravest of the brave.
Reviewed in Canada on September 15, 2020
Verified Purchase
Outstanding book, an amazing recollection of heroics that almost seem impossible to believe that it really happened. An honour to read.
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MS
5.0 out of 5 stars En anglais mais un concentré de combat en Corée.
Reviewed in France on January 9, 2018
Verified Purchase
Puissant ! Le récit le plus détaillé, le plus puissant concernant le combat Marines contre chinois en Corée, 1950. Les témoignages multiplient l'impression d'oppression du combat que l'on touche du doigt.
Attention, ce livre se concentre exclusivement sur les combats menés par la Fox company sur la colline de Toktong pass du 27 au 4 décembre.
Il illustre presque charnellement et avec force les combats ultra violents ayant eu lieu entre les innombrables soldats chinois et une compagnie de Marines américains gonflés de jeunes réservistes envoyés brutalement à la guerre.
En résumé :
Une position qui doit être tenue à tout prix pour sauver leurs camarades. (pour les forces de l'ONU)
Une position qui doit être conquise à tout prix pour liquider la 1 division de Marines (pour l'armée populaire chinoise).
Le froid, l'absence de soutien (au début s'entend), l'impact de l'attaque (des attaques), la trivialité de la guerre, la mort et les blessures, les gelures, les armes enrayées, les hommes qui ronflent écrasés de fatigue en pleine bataille, les conduites héroïques banales tellement elles sont constantes. Les membres de l'USMC ont pour eux une résistance aux privations, au froid, une combativité surprenante pour ces jeunes soldats, civils 4 mois auparavant. A méditer pour ceux qui doutent des capacités des militaires de réserve ... A lire - en anglais - par ceux qui s'intéressent à la "forgotten war" et à la capacité de résistance, de résignation, d'abnégation, de combativité du soldat chinois, digne d'admiration.
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Yvonne Davies
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on June 26, 2015
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Excellent book
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