New Zealand and the Korean War, vol. 2, Combat Operations.

• Author: Orange, Vincent

Volume II: Combat Operations Author: Ian McGibbon Published by: Oxford University Press, Auckland, in association with the Historical Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, 1996, 508pp, $69.95.

`This is, without doubt, the best book written so far on New Zealand's external affairs.' Thus David McIntyre -- who surely needs no introduction to readers of these pages -- on Dr McGibbon's first Korean War volume, Politics and Diplomacy (OUP, 1992). High praise indeed, and thoroughly justified, but no-one could claim that volume two, Combat Operations -- though skilfully composed and therefore easy to read -- sets an equal standard with regard to New Zealand's military affairs. How could it? There simply were not enough operations and only one, that around Kap'yong in April 1951, was of major significance. Nevertheless, McGibbon has produced solid bricks out of thinly scattered straw.

No more than 6000 New Zealanders served in Korea (some 4700 soldiers, mostly gunners or drivers, plus 1300 sailors, aboard various RNZN frigates). They rarely came under sustained fire and suffered very few fatalities: no more than 21 men were killed in action or died of wounds, while a further 24 were killed accidentally in New Zealand, Korea or Japan; 81 were wounded or injured. And yet this `butcher's bill', blessedly short as it is, includes post-Armistice service and extends over seven years, from July 1950 to October 1957. In other words, a death-rate of only one in 133: lower than that for traffic or industrial accidents among a similar number of men during the same period back home.

In drawing attention to these figures, I certainly intend no disparagement either of McGibbon's excellent book or of the admirable conduct of a majority of those men -- most of them eager volunteers, selected from numerous applicants -- who served in Korea. But the author himself points out that one in six of those New Zealanders who served overseas during the First World War were killed or died on active service and one in twelve during the Second. But thanks to Wellington's acceptance of Britain's strategic vision -- that we reserve our strength for a third expedition to the Middle East whenever the Third World War should begin -- only a handful of New Zealand infantryman (and very few regular soldiers of any kind) took part in what proved to be largely an infantryman's war. It may be that 80-odd New Zealand lives were thereby saved, because a Belgian infantry battalion...