The Frozen Hours Read online

  The Frozen Hours is a work of historical fiction. Apart from the well-known actual people, events, and locales that figure in the narrative, all names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to current events or locales, or to living persons, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 by Jeffrey M. Shaara

  Maps copyright © 2017 by David Lindroth Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  BALLANTINE and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Hardback ISBN 9780345549228

  Ebook ISBN 9780345549235

  randomhousebooks.com

  Book design by Caroline Cunningham, adapted for ebook

  Cover design: Tom McKeveny

  Cover art: Eternal Band of Brothers by Colonel Charles Waterhouse

  v4.1

  ep

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Epigraph

  To the Reader

  List of Maps

  Introduction

  Part One

  Chapter One: Smith

  Chapter Two: Riley

  Chapter Three: Smith

  Chapter Four: Riley

  Chapter Five: Smith

  Chapter Six: Riley

  Part Two

  Chapter Seven: Smith

  Chapter Eight: Sung

  Chapter Nine: Riley

  Chapter Ten: Smith

  Chapter Eleven: Sung

  Chapter Twelve: Riley

  Chapter Thirteen: Sung

  Chapter Fourteen: Smith

  Chapter Fifteen: Riley

  Chapter Sixteen: Smith

  Chapter Seventeen: Riley

  Chapter Eighteen: Riley

  Chapter Nineteen: Smith

  Part Three

  Chapter Twenty: Sung

  Chapter Twenty-one: Riley

  Chapter Twenty-two: Riley

  Chapter Twenty-three: Riley

  Chapter Twenty-four: Smith

  Chapter Twenty-five: Riley

  Chapter Twenty-six: Riley

  Chapter Twenty-seven: Smith

  Chapter Twenty-eight: Riley

  Chapter Twenty-nine: Sung

  Chapter Thirty: Smith

  Chapter Thirty-one: Riley

  Chapter Thirty-two: Riley

  Chapter Thirty-three: Smith

  Chapter Thirty-four: Riley

  Chapter Thirty-five: Smith

  Chapter Thirty-six: Riley

  Chapter Thirty-seven: Smith

  Chapter Thirty-eight: Sung

  Chapter Thirty-nine: Riley

  Chapter Forty: Smith

  Afterword

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  By Jeff Shaara

  About the Author

  The long nights. Too long.

  Time stops, frozen in place.

  I beg the Frozen Hours for the

  Sunrise.

  Too many memories

  Ice and Death

  I’m ready to join my friends.

  —A U.S. MARINE ON FOX HILL

  TO THE READER

  IT’S CALLED “THE FORGOTTEN WAR,” but no war is ever forgotten by the people who fought it. In tackling this story (as in my World War II series), I had the enormous luxury of speaking with living veterans. They are of course very elderly men now, who, like all combat veterans, share the experience of facing a deadly and, in this case, an utterly unfamiliar enemy. But this story is not just about combat. There is another enemy here, in some cases far more deadly: the coldest winter in this part of Asia in decades.

  You might notice that I do not use the term “police action” to describe the Korean War. That is the label attached to the conflict by an American government deeply fearful that expansion of the confrontation in Korea might very well erupt into World War III. But this story is told not from the government’s point of view, but through the eyes of a select group of men who were there, who faced their enemy, or those who carried the awesome responsibility of walking the tightrope between their duty to their men and the wishes of their superiors.

  This book is not an attempt to explore the entire Korean War. The focus here is more narrow, which raises a question I grapple with, and agonize over in every book I’ve written: What do I leave out? By speaking with veterans and veterans’ groups, I have been offered wonderful material for an enormous variety of stories, every one as important (and often as painful) to the participants as any other. If I should go further down the road, adding more volumes, possibly creating a trilogy of stories set in Korea, then certainly I can include so much more than you will find here. But this is a single volume, my choice for now, and my responsibility is, first and foremost, to tell you a good story.

  This book begins with the invasion of the Korean port of Inchon, in September 1950, and then follows events that extend into mid-December. The focus is primarily on the United States First Marine Division, along with smaller army units and a unit of British Royal Marines. For roughly two weeks, beginning in late November, these men engage overwhelming numbers of Chinese troops around a place we know as the Chosin Reservoir. (I use that name throughout this story, as did most of the Western commanders, since it is the name given to the Changjin Reservoir [the Korean name] by the maps then in use, which were almost always Japanese.) The harrowing tale of that vicious struggle between the Allied forces and the Chinese needs no embellishment. When the temperatures drop well below zero, for men on both sides, staying alive means staying warm, while at the same time engaging in deadly combat with an enemy who is as desperate and as miserable as you are.

  If you have read my work, you know that my goal is to take you into the minds of the key characters and tell you the story through their eyes. Here there are three primary characters, two of them Americans: Marine Private First Class Pete Riley and the division’s commanding officer, Major General Oliver P. Smith. The third voice is the commanding general of the Chinese field armies that oppose the Marines, General Sung Shi-lun. Also included in this story are characters who are well known to any student of this war: Douglas MacArthur, Lewis “Chesty” Puller, and many others. As well, there are the less familiar, just as important to this story: Marine Sergeant Hamilton “Hamp” Welch, Army Lieutenant Colonel Don Faith, Marine Captain William Barber, and more.

  I am often asked about just how these points of view come into being; just how accurate is this story? In every story I do, the events are real, the history as accurate as I can make it. This is a novel by definition because there is dialogue, and you are seeing the events through the eyes of the characters themselves. For me to reach the point where this book emerges, I must feel that I can speak for these men. For that I rely enormously on their own words, their memoirs, collections of letters, diaries, and so on. My goal in the research is not just to get the facts straight, but to get to know these characters as intimately as I can. It is a risky thing to put words into anyone’s mouth, especially a respected figure from history—a challenge I accept. You might not agree with my particular interpretation of an event as it happens in this story, and that is a challenge to legions of military historians, as well as the veterans who were there. Controversy surrounds this entire campaign, as it surrounds many of the people involved. There are always other points of view, and disagreements abound. In every campaign where disasters occur, there is blame. I have been painstaking in keeping close to the historical record. There will be some who disagree with that record, and I’m prepared to accept grief for that. This is one stor
y. It is not the only story and certainly not the final story.

  Some of you will no doubt feel I have ignored or overlooked the sacrifices and accomplishments of so many other soldiers, airmen, and Marines, other stories, other heroic deeds, other periods of the Korean War that could have been explored. Perhaps I will move into those areas at another time. For now, this is my salute to the men who were forced to wage war through one of the most horrific events in military history, in conditions none of them had any reason to expect. Many, on both sides, did not survive. And certainly, the casualties in any conflict deserve to be honored. But the survivors deserve as much respect. For me, the greatest assets I had were the living veterans or their families who were willing to sit down and talk. At the end of this book is the Acknowledgments section, where so many of those people are listed. I hope you will take a moment to notice that. It is to those wonderfully generous people that this book is also dedicated.

  And I hope that, by the end of this book, in some small way this war might be a little less forgotten.

  JEFF SHAARA, APRIL 2017

  LIST OF MAPS

  The Korean Peninsula Before Hostilities, May 1950

  Inchon Invasion Plan

  Wonsan Landing

  Hungnam to Yudam-ni, Troop Positions

  Chosin Reservoir Detail

  Almond’s Order to Race to the Yalu River

  MacArthur’s “Pincer” Plan

  Fox Hill—November 27

  Fox Hill—November 28

  Chosin Reservoir—November 28

  INTRODUCTION

  FOR CENTURIES, KOREA is a nation of farmers, attracting little attention from the outside world, beyond the immediate interests of its neighbors. It is the Japanese who consider Korea worth pursuing, and throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, the rest of the world seems willing to concede Korea to Japan. Though the United States signs a formal treaty of “amity and commerce” with Korea in 1882, there is little enthusiasm for a confrontation with the Japanese, and when the Japanese occupy Korea in 1905, the American government backs away. Having defeated the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese have no formidable rivals in the region at all, and so are now free to treat Korea as they wish. The result is brutal for the Korean people, whose hatred for the Japanese intensifies into a guerrilla war. But the Japanese are far too powerful, and dissent is crushed.

  In 1945, with the dropping of the atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, World War II concludes and the Koreans ecstatically welcome their liberation. But the nation suffers from fragmentation, with no official government and no cohesive political infrastructure. Into this void come the superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, who move in to establish their own spheres of self-interest. In an agreement solely based on convenience, Korea is divided along what appears on a map to be the most logical geographical boundary, the 38th parallel, which neatly splits the country in two. The Soviets control the North, the Americans the South. As the conflicts between the two nations blossom into the Cold War, the 38th parallel takes on a different importance, as a border between East and West. Exhausted by World War II, neither side pushes hard for a direct military confrontation, and the Soviets are the first to blink, pulling their troops out of North Korea in 1948. They leave behind a government controlled by their handpicked ruler, Kim Il-sung, who will make few moves without Soviet approval. In the South, the Americans have made a feeble effort to inspire a democratic regime, which is now headed by Syngman Rhee. Rhee professes deep friendship for the United States, but his rule over South Korea is autocratic at best, and a brutal dictatorship at worst. The Americans, eager to support anticommunist governments, embrace Rhee as a valued ally, seemingly oblivious to the abuses he inflicts upon his own people.

  As the war of words begins to heat up between North and South Korea, Kim Il-sung quietly builds a vast armada, strengthened by military aid from the Soviets, who come to regard him as a significant thorn in their side. The Soviets are not at all enthusiastic about Kim’s saber-rattling, or his poorly disguised ambition to reunite Korea under his own rule. Gradually, Joseph Stalin withdraws direct Soviet support for Kim and Kim begins to seek another ally who would support his goals. He thus forms an alliance with the Communist Chinese, who are now led by Mao Tse-tung.

  Comforted by the withdrawal of the Soviets, the American government relaxes considerably, believing that the risk of confrontation in this part of Asia has virtually disappeared. Though American forces occupy bases in Korea, they are a faint shadow of the military that had defeated the Japanese. By 1950, in the five short years since the end of World War II, the extraordinary military might of the United States has been deflated almost completely. Throughout the world, governments are far more concerned that the next great war might begin along the hostile borders that now spread through Europe. What military strength the Americans still possess is mostly positioned where they face off against the Soviets along the border between East and West Germany. Korea, like most of Asia, has become an afterthought.

  In Tokyo, the American and Allied occupation forces are commanded by General Douglas MacArthur, who rules over the Japanese as a benevolent dictator. The Japanese not only accept MacArthur’s presence, they welcome it, and the American military there is regarded with unexpected affection by the Japanese people. Thus are the Americans convinced that all is well in Asia, and their troop presence in Japan, as well as Korea, is not only weakened but toothless. The troops sent to Korea in support of Rhee are poorly trained and poorly equipped. The South Koreans fare no better, their American occupiers believing that allowing Rhee to control a strong military might in fact create more problems than the Americans are willing to tolerate. While Rhee’s army flounders under disinterested American supervision, Kim Il-sung has built the North Korean army into a powerful fist.

  In March 1950, the American intelligence community concludes that the North Koreans are preparing an invasion of the South. But those reports are dismissed at all levels of the American government, including Douglas MacArthur. Such intelligence noise is regarded with the same lack of seriousness paid to the boisterous threats being made by various communist governments worldwide, none of which are considered legitimate.

  On June 25, 1950, the North Koreans open a massive artillery barrage across the 38th parallel, followed by the advance of ten divisions of well-trained and well-equipped ground forces. Backed up by Soviet-made tanks, manned by well-trained Korean crews, the invasion drives southward in four major prongs. As South Korean defense forces dissolve, woefully unable to blunt the invasion, Kim Il-sung tells the world: “The South Korean puppet clique has rejected all methods for peaceful reunification proposed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and dared to commit armed aggression north of the Thirty-eighth parallel. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea ordered a counterattack to repel the invading troops.”

  Though Kim’s absurd declaration is mocked in Washington, within hours the American government begins to understand that this invasion is more than meaningless posturing. Petitioning the United Nations Security Council, the Americans push for blanket condemnation of the North Korean attack. The vote is unanimous in favor of supporting South Korea only because the Soviets, who could have simply vetoed the measure, are not in attendance that day. Thus, for the first time in its history the United Nations enter a war, as defenders of South Korean autonomy. The most logical choice to command a hastily formed conglomerate of military forces is General MacArthur.

  To those who question this strong show of American resolve to go to war over what many in the United States see as an obscure and insignificant land, President Harry Truman describes this fight as a crusade against the spread of worldwide communism, that the Soviets should be taught that our resolve in this matter is absolute. The assumption in Washington is that the Soviets are pulling all the strings, Kim’s army merely a proxy for Soviet intentions to dominate the West, one conflict at a time. No one officially entertains the
idea that Kim’s only real ally is Red China.

  On June 26, one day after the start of the invasion, President Truman receives the following message from Syngman Rhee:

  “Things are not going well militarily.”

  It is a mammoth understatement. Backed by more than sixteen hundred artillery pieces, some ninety thousand North Korean troops have virtually erased any defensive lines the South Koreans can put in their path, and within three days they easily capture the South Korean capital, Seoul. As stunned American and Allied troops begin to mobilize for a defense against the invasion, they are forced into a small portion of southeast Korea, framed by a small mountain range to the north and the Naktong River to the west, around the city of Pusan. Militarily, all that remains of South Korea is a besieged area now called the Pusan Perimeter, an area fifty by one hundred miles, pressed against the Sea of Japan. Though the South Koreans and their allies, primarily the Americans, are pressed into a desperate situation, the North Koreans have overplayed their hand. As they lengthen the distance from their own border, so too do they stretch out their supply lines. Commanded by American army general Walton Walker, the Americans strengthen the defenses along the Pusan Perimeter, while the North Korean juggernaut grows slowly weaker. Though portions of fourteen North Korean divisions press toward the Allied positions, not even Kim Il-sung has anticipated that his army would drive so far so quickly. Despite the jubilation emerging from Kim’s propaganda machine, the Allied forces continue to build, forcing a virtual stalemate along the perimeter. By mid-August, Kim’s army is outnumbered, though the confidence of the Allied forces remains at a low ebb. Faced with little change to the situation, Douglas MacArthur devises a new and audacious strategy to break the siege. Ignoring his advisors, and the strategists in Washington, MacArthur plans an invasion of his own, an amphibious assault against the western coast of South Korea, at the port of Inchon. MacArthur’s plan is to drive American soldiers and Marines inland, far behind the North Korean positions, slicing through any remaining supply lines, thus squeezing the North Korean troops between two major forces. Few officers in MacArthur’s camp believe the plan will work, many referring to the odds as “a five-thousand-to-one shot.”