CMH Pub. 20-2. United States Army in the Korean War series. Covers United States Army action in Korea from the outbreak of the war to the full-scale intervention of the Chinese Communists in November 1950.

Ebb and Flow records an important chapter in the Korean War, the period from late November 1950 to early July 1951 when battle lines did indeed ebb and flow in pronounced surges. Billy C. Mossman begins with the last weeks of the pell-mell rush of United Nations forces to the Chinese border and goes on to chronicle in great detail the test of American military leadership and resources posed by the taxing retreat of the Eighth Army and X Corps across the frozen wastes of North Korea. He highlights the limitations imposed by terrain and weather on the fighting capabilities of an American army facing surprise attack from a large disciplined enemy. In addition, the operations he describes in such careful detail vivify the principles of war for those with an interest in studying the profession of arms.

Once termed a police action, the Korean War was fought by massed armies on a constricted field of operations. Its battles were as intense as those of any other war this century. The Medics' War views this conflict from an uncommon angle. It documents the efforts of American Army doctors, nurses, and enlisted medics to save life and repair the damages wrought by wounds and disease. Though the charges of biological warfare made at the time are shown to have no foundation, the disease-ridden environment of wartime Korea aided the side with the best medical care. The real MASH clearly emerges in this study, along with the variety of technical innovations produced by the conflict that have advanced medical science. The perspective of The Medics' War is an enlightening one, showing that the compassionate treatment of both United Nations and enemy wounded preserved human values in the midst of bitter, unforgiving strife. Civilian and military readers alike will gain from it a deeper understanding of the processes, destructive and reconstructive, that together made up the human experience of the Korean War. William A. Stofft Brigadier General, USA Chief of Military History