Mao's Generals Remember Korea - Net Assessment - Book Review

Air & Space Power Journal, Summer, 2003 by Anthony C. Cain

The recollections of Gen Yang Dezhi, commander of CPVF's 19th Army Group and later the commander of CPVF itself during the war, provide a unique account of the war from a combatant commander's perspective. General Yang responded to political, ideological, and operational pressures as he attempted to create military conditions for victory. In one amazing section, he accuses UN forces of using bacteriological warfare in the form of "three different kinds of insects. The first kind looked like black flies, the second was a kind of flea, and the third was similar to both ticks and small spiders" (p. 157). To the editors' credit, they allow the memoir to speak for itself on this and other issues, providing a footnote that documents the evidence pertinent to this accusation. Ultimately, this charge was revealed as a Soviet--North Korean hoax intended to discredit UN forces during the war.

In the final chapter, which deals with Maj Gen Chai Chengwen's recollections of the truce talks, readers see the same issues that appear in Western narratives, but from a different viewpoint. General Chai patiently outlines the "reasonable" expectations of the Chinese negotiating team and then shows how inconsiderate and obstructionist behavior by the American-led UN negotiating team unnecessarily extended the truce talks to the detriment of world peace.

The multifaceted nature of the memoirs selected for Mao's Generals Remember Korea gives the reader a 360-degree operational view of Chinese efforts to counter UN and US actions in the Korean War. The editors allow the participants' accounts to stand on their own merits but provide excellent footnotes to guide readers to broader interpretations and understanding. Military historians, serving officers, and designers of future military campaigns should read this essential volume carefully because it provides a rare glimpse into the "troubles of the enemy."

Col. Anthony C. "Chris" Cain (BS, Georgia State University, MAS, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; MSS. Air War College; MA, PhD, Ohio State University) is the chief of the Professional Journals Division of the College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education (CADRE). Colonel Cain was recognized as the AETC Educator of the Year while serving as a faculty member of Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). While at ACSC, he directed the Theater Air Campaign and the Airpower Studies Courses. In 2002, the Smithsonian Institution Press published his book, The Forgotten Air Force: The French Air Force and Air Doctrine in the 1930s. Colonel Cain's aviation experience includes serving as a B-52 instructor radar navigator and flying 26 missions in Operation Deserv Storm. He is a distinguished graduate of ACSC and a graduate of both Squadron Officer School and the Air War College resident program.