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To the Last Round

I’m no expert, but I have a passing interest in military history. I’ve read more books on the Napoleonic wars than I would care to remember and our shelves are liberally stacked with histories of the second world war and books about the British army. However, I have to admit that my only exposure to the Korean war was watching M*A*S*H on TV.

Andrew Salmon’s excellent book, To The Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea 1951 helped to redress that balance somewhat. The book gives a brief overview of the causes, strategies and effect of the Korean war, which I found enlightening, but the main thrust concerns the heroic stand made by a British battalion, cut off from support and surrounded by overwhelming numbers of Chinese soldiers.

The stories of heroism, amazing stoicism and simply humanity in the face of an inhuman situation make gripping reading. If you are interested in things-military, I strongly suggest that you get your credit card out and give this one a go. If you don’t like history, particularly military history, then this one probably isn’t for you.