Victories Lost

by Thomas A. Davis


Formats

Softcover
$11.95
E-Book
$4.95
Softcover
$11.95

Book Details

Language : English
Publication Date : 6/29/2001

Format : Softcover
Dimensions : 5x8
Page Count : 316
ISBN : 9780759631021
Format : E-Book
Dimensions : E-Book
Page Count : 316
ISBN : 9780759631014

About the Book

Victories Lost (104,000 words; 30 chapters) is projected against the backdrop of the struggle between President Harry S. Truman and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur over Korean War policy, and the use of nuclear weapons. MacArthur, intent on gaining victory over the North Korean and the Communist Chinese forces, planned to encourage Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (driven from the mainland by the Communists in 1949) to invade the Chinese mainland with his large standing army from his refuge on Formosa. MacArthur planned to support the Nationalist Chinese attack with his own landings on the mainland using United Nations (predominantly American) forces. No weapon was to be held back in his pursuit of victory. To this end his staff drew up a target list of ten cities on the Chinese mainland to be destroyed with the "atomic" weapons. As a final twist, a band of radioactive waste ten miles wide was to be laid on the north side of the Yalu River, the boundary between China and North Korea, as a barrier between the mainland Chinese and the North Koreans. Truman's military and foreign policy was diametrically opposed to MacArthur's sense of "winning" the war in Asia.


About the Author

The author, once a high school history teacher, is a retired naval officer, a business owner, a pilot, an amateur astronomer, a fossil hunter, and an old car buff, among other interests. In the United States Navy he served in a variety of ships as a surface line officer and commanded a Destroyer and an LST in combat. As a staff officer ashore, he served in many locations. The author was assigned two tours in Washington, D.C., and commanded a shore station. He established two businesses after a career in the navy. While operating these businesses, he was elected as President of the local Chamber of Commerce. He has written various articles for aviation and professional naval magazines.