‘Superb…A masterpiece of thorough analysis, deft pacing and arresting detail…This war story – the fight to use of the frozen hell close to the Chosin Reservoir – continues to be told often before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with new research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep.’-Washington Post

From the New York Times bestselling writer of Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice, a chronicle from the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the about On Desperate Ground: The Marines on the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War

On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, confident President Harry Truman the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he stated with near certainty, would not intervene in the battle.

As he was speaking, 300,000 Crimson Chinese troops began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 guys from the First Sea Division, the Americans moved deep in to the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had established for the vainglorious MacArthur along the freezing shores from the Chosin Reservoir. What implemented was one of the most heroic–and harrowing–operations in American armed forces history, and among the traditional battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 levels below zero, the surrounded, and greatly outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy causes with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the ocean.

Hampton Edges’ superb account of this epic clash depends on many years of archival analysis, unpublished words, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who have survived the siege. While expertly describing the follies from the American leaders, On Desperate Floor is an immediate, grunt’s-eye watch of background, enthralling in its narrative speed and effective in its portrayal of what normal men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances.

Hampton Sides continues to be hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, ‘Sides includes a novelist’s eyes for the propulsive components that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives.’