Formidable Enemies

At the beginning of the Korean War, American soldiers didn't think highly of the North Korean soldier. Our military leaders had an even lower opinion of the North Korean army, one they viewed as primitive, poorly equipped and trained, a virtual gaggle of peasants. American opinion of the military prowess of the Red Chinese mirrored their derogatory view of the North Korean Peoples Army (NKPA). Ample evidence to the contrary was available from the many Western observers who had spent time with the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) during its struggle against the Japanese and the Nationalist Chinese armies during and after World War II.
Certainly, these rabbles in arms would melt away when faced with the technological might of the United States and its allies. Combat soon corrected these false impressions, first with the NKPA during the retreat to Pusan and the defense of the Pusan Perimeter, and later with the massive PLA counterattacks of November 1950. With the armistice in 1953 came an end to the carnage of the Korean battlefield. Three long years of combat with these formidable adversaries, proved the prowess of the Communist armies.
But what of the individual North Korean and Red Chinese soldier. Who was he? How did he come to be in the army? How was he equipped? How was he trained? What made him fight so ferociously, often in the face of certain death? Formidable Enemies addresses these questions and many others. For the first time author Kevin Mahoney gives the reader a close-up look at these formidable enemies.