All Episodes
Previous Next
Dec. 25, 2023 - Bannon's War Room
47:36
Episode 3272: The Combat History Of Christmas
Participants
Main voices
p
patrick k odonnel
31:16
s
steve bannon
10:58
| Copy link to current segment

Speaker Time Text
unidentified
O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here,
until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, thou day-spring, come and cheer our spirits by thy advent here.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, Monday, 25 December, the year of the war 2023, as we wind down this 2023, a historic year.
If you've been with us, we've accomplished so much.
And how have we accomplished it?
Through human agency.
We talk about this being a spiritual war, but you must act.
Remember, God needs human instrumentality to act.
I want to thank everybody, particularly those who have watched this and followed us for years doing this.
Patrick K. O'Donnell.
So Patrick, why does he risk being criticized even more?
He's under tremendous pressure.
He may be relief for cause, right?
A lot of people say later this was a desperate gamble to save his command of the Continental Army.
I think he was correct.
Why would you split your forces up to do a force crossing of a river under just horrific conditions?
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
He wanted to have a double embellishment, basically, of Trent.
To basically have a crushing defeat of the Hessian force that was there.
And that's what he does accomplish.
But it's not through the initial plan.
It's like all plans in war, they usually evaporate in first contact.
And that's certainly the case here.
But it's the river itself that prevents the plan from coming together.
It's impassable.
To all but the most experienced mariners.
And that's where Washington had the most experienced mariners, the best mariners probably in the world at the time.
The Marblehead Mariners and the 14th Continental Under Glovers overarching command in this brigade.
But they had trained, basically they were fishermen that had spent decades in the Grand Banks to fish.
And this is the most treacherous waters of the world to this day.
And every year in Marblehead, when fishing was the main source of income, literally hundreds, if not dozens of men would die every year because their boats would capsize, they would go overboard.
But it was in that environment, that chaos, that they were able to forge incredible teamwork of resiliency as well.
uh... to to depend upon one another to get the job done and that's certainly the case here to cross the delaware river in a deal with all the other of forces that were there of washington's uh... you know part of this plan has failed to cross the river that night it's by the way it's also why do you think what what what what the i would talk about the weather because there's a northeastern Why did he pick Christmas night, and why did he refuse to back off that, given the weather?
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Not the weather forecast, but I mean the actual weather.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
The weather is a double-edged sword.
It's treacherous to cross, but also it screens his movements.
What he didn't know, but what he suspected, was that the Hessians and the British knew that he was coming.
unidentified
And they did.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
They had spies.
Everywhere they had bits and pieces of information that the attack was coming.
And they knew it was coming.
But a series of events, a really, a very fascinating series of events, occur that prevent Johan Rahl from believing that this is the main attack.
And that night, they cross, Christmas night, during this massive Nor'easter, there's snow everywhere, but as Washington has to make this, it's nearly a 10-mile march from the crossing point all the way down to Trenton, and they have to go through some gorges and other things.
It's pretty treacherous.
As they're making that march, they run across the company of Virginians, and they are astounded by, you know, what are you doing here?
And this is a group of men that attacked without orders, Earlier that day, they were basically, the thought is that it was a vengeance mission.
That they were trying to get back at the Hessians for something that occurred earlier.
And they are there.
And the thing that happens is, Raw believes that those men, that small company of Virginians, was the main attack.
And then he started to believe that nobody would cross In a Nor'easter, this is impossible.
He lets his guard down.
Even though the intelligence is coming in, that the attack is coming.
In fact, there's an enslaved servant of one of the locals that comes that night to give Johan Rall, who's an amazing commander, Hessian commander, German commander, who had been fighting since his youth, literally was born into war practically with his father.
And in one, it had been part of several critical battles during the American Revolution at Fort Washington at White Plains.
He is playing checkers with a local, and this enslaved person is about to hand him a message, and he just shoves it, pushes it off.
The message was that the Americans are coming, and he doesn't know.
Without the message, he doesn't know.
And Washington's army and the Marbleheaders continue to march down.
And, uh, right around dawn, uh, they appear.
And, uh, the Hessians, unlike the, the Christmas books that, you know, we read, you know, maybe when, in our youth, that these guys were drunk on Christmas day and not ready, is false.
They were all, they were prepared.
In fact, they were, the, the raids by, uh, Adam Stevens, the, the Virgins that I mentioned in other raids had put them on high alert.
They literally, they were sleeping with their rifles in a uniform in their cartridge boxes.
Ready for anything.
And they were roused up and they tried to immediately counterattack.
And there's a really quite an epic sort of story that occurs here in Trenton where they seize the Hessian guns and they're taken back and it's quite a battle.
And an amazing aspect of American history takes place right here.
But another key element to this entire thing, and this is why Washington's divided his army, was to envelop the Hessian garrison.
And it's John Glover and the Marbleheaders and their brigade that marches down the river road that basically parallels the Delaware, and they seize a critical bridge over Assen Peak Creek, and they take the high ground, and they cut off one of the main ways of escape for the Hessians to go back towards Bordentown and escape this envelopment which is occurring on them.
And most Revolutionary War battles are fought where they both sides engage and then when one side is having the better of the other, the other army withdraws and the engagement is not as decisive.
As it could be.
And this is what Trenton is a decisive battle, where the entire garrison, nearly over 900 men, along with their, their cannon and other equipment are captured.
And it's part of 10 crucial days of two, three other battles, total three battles included.
The second battle of Trenton, which is fought at the bridge that I mentioned at Assam Peak Creek, which is another epic story of where Washington has to hold the line at this bridge, and they do so against all odds, where there's multiple attacks across the bridge.
Washington himself, the commander-in-chief, his horse is near the rail of the bridge, but they were able to repel these attacks, which had they been able to cross the bridge, they might have split the army in two and destroyed it right then and there.
It was Potential for crushing defeat, much like the Battle of Brooklyn could have potentially had with the Continental Army.
And then there's, of course, the Battle of Princeton, which occurs a day later.
And these three battles combined are ten crucial days that change the course of absolute American history, as well as world history.
It has a seismic effect on Empires in Europe, the war suddenly changes from one of absolute defeat where people that are even loyalists, or I mean people that are, you know, signer of the Declaration of Independence signs amnesty that the British offer.
As well as other citizens that start to jump ship.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
A New Jersey signer of the Declaration of Independence actually took amnesty before this happened.
These 10 days happened over the Christmas period.
I just want to make sure the audience understands, why are crack German troops, the Hessians, why are they Even there at the front line, defending Trent right across from the Americans.
Why do you have these, essentially, creme de la creme forces from Germany in this fight?
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
The British have a problem.
They have a massive, you know, they have 13 colonies, and then also Canada, the 14th, if you consider that, that have to be contained or quelled.
And that requires a massive amount of manpower.
They have the largest fleet in the world at the time.
They have to man those ships, but they also have to man their army.
And they don't have enough troops.
So what they do is they go to the various kingdoms that are in Germany, which offer their troops for hire.
If you have the money, they will basically rent out their troops.
And that's what you have with these Hessian allies.
And these guys are crack, excellent fighters.
that are well-trained and very disciplined and exceptional on the battlefield in most cases.
So that's why they're there, because they don't have enough troops.
And this is a continuing problem with the American Revolution.
There's never enough troops to hold the land.
And this is a problem that would have been an issue with the American and during the American Civil War as well.
Trying to control or hold the land of a population that's hostile.
It's incredible.
That's why the real story of the American Revolution is if you were able to basically take the Loyalists and create more Loyalists as well as loyal troops to combat Patriot troops that were during the American Revolution.
Had they done that earlier and were more focused, it may have been Decisive for the British Empire.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Ten days that shook the world.
Ten days that got the world's attention that the Americans could actually fight.
That things like Saratoga and others were not just, or even Bunker Hill, where we technically, we technically, I think, won, was just not a fluke.
Ten days that shook the world at Trenton, the bridge at Trenton, and then Princeton that got people's attention starting on Christmas night.
Okay, Patrick A. O'Donnell, we're going to take a A short commercial break here.
In a moment, he's going to come back.
We're going to get to the Battle of the Bulge next, and then Chosin Reservoir.
And this is a story of heroism of the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps under forbidding conditions.
The Northeaster on the crossing of the Delaware was almost, as Patrick's told me, it was almost hurricane force winds.
I mean, this was a brutal night.
that Washington crossed, but I gotta tell you, it compares to the brutality of the weather around Bastogne and other places in the Battle of the Bulge and also in Korea.
Just horrific, horrific conditions that American soldiers have fought through over the Christmas season in defense of their country.
Absolutely amazing stories.
Patrick K. O'Donnell, the best combat historian of his generation.
Here's the reason.
Every book is years of research to go back to original documentation, journals, Letters, all of it.
So it's almost like reading a novel.
The characters themselves speak in their own voice.
Take a short commercial break.
We're going to enjoy some Christmas music on Christmas morning here in the War Room.
I want to thank everybody for gathering around and maybe opening some gifts.
Having some Warpath coffee at warpath.coffee slash warroom.
Having some Warpath coffee and enjoying Christmas morning.
unidentified
We're going to return in a moment with Patrick O'Donnell.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Okay, welcome back.
Here on Christmas morning, I want to thank everybody, those throughout the world, for watching, listening in.
Patrick K. O'Donnell, 1944.
We've landed at Normandy.
We swept through, we broke out of Normandy.
We had the horrific Battle of Normandy, not just D-Day, but the breakout.
Patton had to come in.
They had to relieve a couple of commanders.
We finally did that.
Montgomery came up with Market Garden about how to get to the Rhine River the quickest.
A lot of bloodshed.
Rome has fallen.
Paris has fallen.
But we're not quite there yet.
Set it up.
Where are troops?
And how does this happen?
One of the most horrific of all winter battles in American combat history, sir.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
The Battle of the Bulge begins in early, like mid-December.
What's going on is, as you mentioned, there's the breakout.
But American supply lines are stretched, very thin in many cases.
And we have army groups that are positioned along a broad front.
And several of them are positioned in an area known as the Ardennes Forest, which is considered as a quiet sector.
And it's here that Hitler picks for a great counter offensive in the West.
to change the course of the war, to somehow use some of his crack troops, including the 1st SS Panzer Corps, along with about 400,000 troops, 1,400 tanks, thousands of planes, to attack the Americans in this so-called quiet sector.
For me, the bulge really begins about a week, 10 days earlier.
And what I mean by that is, The 2nd Ranger Battalion was fighting in the Hurricane Forest, and their objective was to take the highest hill there, called Hill 400, near a place called Bergstein.
And why this is important is because Hill 400 overlooks the assembly areas for the German Army and the SS during the Battle of the Bulge, and they wanted to protect it at all costs.
So, on December 6th, The 2nd Ranger Battalion, which is an elite unit, these are the boys of Pointe du Hoc that Reagan talks about, are assigned Mission Impossible to take the hill.
An entire regiment, combat command, had been annihilated trying to take the town and the hill, but they were barely holding on in the cellars in Bergstein, and they moved the 2nd Ranger in there to seize it.
So on dawn, on December 7th, the men attacked, and it's an epic bayonet charge.
They literally have to cross an open field, and they storm the hill.
But for three or four days, they pound it with everything that they have, and they send one infantry battalion after another, as well as armor, to try to dislodge the Rangers.
And the reason why they care is because this is the high ground that overlooks what's going on.
for the greatest counter-offensive of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge.
And the Rangers are able to seize the hill.
They hold it against all odds.
I mean, there's, I tell this story in Dog Company, and you have just epic scenes in this movie, in this book where, I mean, for one, the Rangers are being overwhelmed constantly by crack paratroopers that the Germans sent against them.
And in one foxhole, One of the individuals literally grabs two MP40 machine pistols and fires at his incoming, the incoming German soldiers and is able to repel that attack.
But many of these men are subjected to nearly 20 battalions of artillery as the hill is plastered.
But they send intelligence that there's something going on in the background.
But in many cases, like in many cases of intelligence history, Nobody connects the dots, and the Battle of the Bulge begins on December 16, 1944, where one of the largest counteroffensives begins for the German army.
Over 400,000 strong, with hundreds of tanks and assault units and guns, attack in a weakened area.
And it's here that there are small groups of Americans that delay this incoming tide of German soldiers.
And I've interviewed thousands or hundreds, thousands of American elite troops, Rangers and paratroopers, OSS, and I also interviewed the elite of the German Army, including the Waffen-SS.
And those are some very compelling stories.
These guys really literally felt that they were back I remember interviewing one member of the 1st SS Panzer Division and he was just like, he saw, you know, the massive Tiger II tank that we have a picture of right there.
And he felt that they had been, you know, they had been reconstituted and that they were going to win the war.
And if it wasn't for Americans that just put up an amazing defense, there are many Americans that had literally collapsed during this counter offensive in the early days.
And it was the strategic reserve that we had was made up of the 18th Airborne Corps.
This included the 82nd Airborne, 101st, and the 17th Airborne Division.
And these men were quickly rushed to the front on December 18th to stem the tide.
And we talk about Bastogne, but let's first focus on the northern shoulder.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, hold on, one thing, and I know we're pressed for time here, so we'll figure to get through it, but why are the American troops, many of them, that are there, not the ones that were relieved from the Bastogne, or the 101st that held a Bastogne, but so many of the regular army seem like they're not trained, they're not combat ready, they're not equipped, people are not ready for winter, they're not ready for this particular winter.
This is another one where the elements, just like at Trenton, the elements are unbelievable.
There were entire regiments.
I think the 501st was one of the infamous regiments.
Surrenders with very few combat casualties psychologically.
What happened, given how late in the war we are?
How many troops, millions of troops were being trained back home?
The combat leadership of this, the actual, some of the, even the NCOs, command structures broke down.
What was it?
The Germans for a moment there thought, hey, we might drive these guys back to Antwerp.
We may drive them into the sea, another Dunkirk.
And then these weak nations in the West will just collapse.
We'll cut a deal with them and we'll fight the Russians.
We could actually save, the Germans for a minute thought they could actually save the German Reich by this, given the unpreparedness of the American troops.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
There was a lot of unpreparedness.
There was this, People were poorly equipped.
They just felt that the war was nearing a close.
That Germany didn't have the capabilities or strength to mount such a counter-offensive.
I mean, Germany had wisened up.
They cloaked a lot of their signals.
They operated at night.
To move and position troops into these positions, these assembly areas.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
They were also, by the way, once again, just like you started thinking, they also had many German troops, special forces in American, they were in American uniforms, and many of these were German-Americans that spoke English, right?
I mean, one of the things that people were fooled by, or at least legendarily, was that there were actual German troops dressed as Americans that fooled some of the untrained American troops.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, this was a German operation, a special operation, where they literally parachuted some elements of troops behind the lines.
They were wearing American uniforms.
They spoke perfect English.
They were changing the signs around.
They created a tremendous amount of chaos in those early days.
And it made people constantly look over their shoulder.
Were these men really Americans or not?
I mean, the famous thing is they have Code words that were based on, you know, baseball games or football games that were just generally that Americans would know versus somebody that was impersonating an American.
But this created a tremendous amount of chaos.
Scorzani was the commando in charge of this operation.
And they stowed a tremendous amount of chaos.
And it's the 82nd, 101st that come in.
And I'm wearing a medal.
From a member of the 509 parachute that was given to me right before Fallujah.
And he wore that medal at the first parachute jump in North Africa in 1942 and fought through the entire war.
Wow.
And at Battle of the Bulge, the 509 was thrust against the 25th SS Panzer Grenadier Division on December 28th.
And they closed a gap in the line and they sacrificed themselves for America that day.
And this unit, which started out about 800 men strong, was reduced to about 60.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Good lord.
Okay, why don't we hang over for a second, because I want to get back to, we're going to carve a little time, we'll expand into the D-block for Chosin, but I want to finish Bastogne, and particularly the relief of Bastogne, of how it was virtually a miracle in the middle of the winter, General Patton, and the heroism of the 101st Which really became legendary, you know, after the 82nd and the 101st, the heroism at D-Day, and then followed by Market Garden, right?
Remember the bridge too far?
And then finally at the defense when they were totally surrounded and about to be crushed.
Talk about cussedness, grit, and determination.
The response to the Germans when the Germans said, hey, either surrender or you're going to be destroyed.
Truly an American story.
A truly American story over Christmas.
Short commercial break.
The Combat History of Christmas, an annual tradition here at the War Room.
Patrick K. O'Donnell, the Combat Historian, is going to join us in just a second.
unidentified
So rosy, my, so rosy, my So rosy, rosy, rosy In a stable we were glowing Fum, fum, fum On December five and twenty Fum, fum, fum On December five and twenty Fum, fum, fum On December's most important day The Tosque Day We were forced to church and go We had the sweetest funs and plenty Fum, fum, fum God was in the stays a-fasting Fum, fum, fum
On the Sabbath day we called O'er a meadow, o'er a meadow And we sang the holy song Fum, fum, fum Fum, fum, fum O come, O come, Emmanuel O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Rejoice, rejoice Rejoice, rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee Hey, welcome back to the War Room.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Patrick K. O'Donnell, we're at Bastogne, and it is Christmas, the Christmas season of 1944.
What happens?
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
Bastogne is basically in the early, on December 16th, elements of the 10th Armored Division, as well as tank destroyers and other Sort of cats and dog divisions and units kind of fall back to Bastogne.
And they're very weakly holding it at this point.
And it's the 101st Airborne that is trucked in in cattle cars, cattle trucks actually, open, they're open air things.
And they, they're told in, in and around Paris that they need to get ready and prepare for combat.
And men just like jump into these trucks with their M1 Garands or whatever they have.
Many of them are poorly equipped.
They don't have winter clothing.
And they're trucked into Bastogne, and they hold... Bastogne is a road octopus, it's called.
It's kind of a road... It's a hub of multiple roads that intersect it, and it's key to hold.
And the Allies know it, instead of the Germans.
They want it.
And they send some of the... After the northern push kind of fails, what happens is, Bastogne becomes a critical point that the Germans want to take at all costs.
And they begin to surround it after the 101st gets in there.
101st takes the series of hamlets that surround Bastogne and they hold it.
And they do an amazing job of holding these positions.
And these are paratroopers.
They're elite troops.
They are trained to believe that they can take five to one of the enemy.
In many cases, these guys do the impossible, even though they're lightly armed.
I mean, the best that they have is a 60mm mortar or a bazooka, probably.
And they're going up against German armor.
And there's Panther tanks, etc.
that are coming at them.
And they're holding their ground.
And Germans surround the town.
And in and around Christmas, the Germans provide an ultimatum to the commander of this The assistant division commander, who's in charge at that point, Anthony McAuliffe, is asked to surrender the town to the German forces.
And I interviewed hundreds of these guys for Beyond Valor, including General Henry O. Kennard, who was in the intelligence section at the time.
He was there.
He witnessed the interaction between the Germans and McAuliffe said nuts and that was the result.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Did he say nuts or is that the one they put out to the press?
He was a little more army forthright was he not?
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
There was also talk that it was something the effect of Or something to that effect.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Even more, even more, even more, even more in your face.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
His command says, I think what you said, General Nutz, would be appropriate.
And it was a Nutz with an exclamation point.
And the Germans had no idea what that meant.
But it meant that they were holding the town and they were not going to surrender.
An inch.
And the 101st as well.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
It was tough going.
They had no reinforcements.
They had no material.
I mean, they barely hung on.
Talk to me about the heroism in that winter of Patton's Third Army and coming to relief.
Even Montgomery and his guys, who were pretty tough hombres, said no army could pull out of a full-scale battle.
And I think in 96 hours, continually go across basically the length of France and Germany.
to relieve Bastogne, but Patton did it.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
That's what Patton does, and he's prepared, and he just encourages his men to change position, to basically attack north to push up towards Bastogne, which the 101st was holding along with these other units that I mentioned.
And they relieve them, and there's, you go to the U.S., the new U.S.
Army Museum, there is a jumbo Sherman tank there that is the first A representation, or the first tank that actually crossed the line there at Bastogne by an officer by the name of Bogas.
And it's, you know, that breaks the siege.
And then there's the Germans then continue, though.
And the Battle of the Bulge isn't just a one-week affair.
This lasts over a month, a month plus a week or so.
And it's a real grind that is dealt with in Extreme weather.
This is the most, the coldest winter, you know, on history in Europe up, you know, for many, many years.
And the men that are there are men of iron.
I interviewed so many of these veterans at Beyond Valor, and they would always tell me when they had to shovel the drive, that they would get that tingle in their feet.
And many of these men had trench foot or frozen feet.
Which is just a horrendous thing and it would bring back the memories.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
No, no, no, no, but talk to that because this is chosen.
This was Trenton.
This was chosen reservoir.
This is this was the bulge.
They didn't have equipment men had were frostbit.
They had frozen feet.
They hadn't eaten in days.
They had no medical care.
I mean, this is the average man that the the Valor, and just to stick to it and just hang in there and not quit, is so inspiring.
I mean, not just Patton's army having to go through hell to get there, but the guys that held on and had every opportunity to surrender, right?
And they refused to surrender, and then refusing to surrender brought the war to a... probably would have taken another year or two if they had collapsed and they'd gotten to Antwerp, it may have taken another year or two to defeat Nazi Germany.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
These men were not equipped with shoe packs or rubber boots that would have prevented a lot of this stuff.
They were wearing paratrooper boots in most cases or other combat boots where the snow would literally just go right into your foot and freeze the flesh.
In many cases, they had no mittens, they had no winter jackets, but they had to somehow unbelievably power through weather that just will kill you.
And it did.
It killed many of these men that literally sometimes men would fall asleep in their foxhole and never wake up.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Let's pivot to, I want to make sure we give appropriate time to Chosin Reservoir because of all the horrors we've mentioned, the horrors in Korea in that winter are almost unbelievable.
Talk to me about the weather condition.
We're going to talk about Chosin Reservoir now, but just talk to me the setting for both the Chinese troops who were, the Chinese troops were, these were Chinese army that Mao wanted to have die because they were from a Kuomintang army, that it shifts the sides and allowed the American State Department to grant the victory in the Chinese Civil War, but Mao never trusted these generals and he sent them to Korea.
He sent them to Korea to die, not so much even by the Americans, but to freeze to death.
The winter was that horrible.
Talk to me about the conditions at Chosun.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
This is the Chosun Reservoir, which if we begin with June 25th, 1950, the North Koreans attack and they nearly overrun the Korean peninsula.
MacArthur comes in.
There's a Pusan perimeter, and they're barely holding.
There's some really epic, heroic moments there.
They're barely holding, and then they land at Incheon, where they basically flank the North Koreans and force them to withdraw to the north.
And over a series of months, the Allied armies, under MacArthur's command, push towards the Chinese border.
And he believes the war will be won by Christmas.
That is the plan.
But what's going on is Mao Zedong has other plans, and he sends so-called volunteers, which are his army, large groups of his army.
And as you mentioned, many of these men fought under Chiang Kai-shek, and they were there to die.
They were there, the CCP planned to basically put them into combat, and if they survived, that's fine.
But they were poorly equipped.
They were equipped with American arms, in some cases, and whatever else that they had.
But these were very much iron soldiers.
They were tough guys.
There was no enlistment period in the Chinese Army.
It was for life.
And they were there.
They went into Korea.
And it's my book, Give Me Tomorrow, which is on George Company 3-1, that the story really picks up.
They landed in Inchon.
That's their first combat.
Most of the men of George Company, many of them had never been to boot camp.
They were reservists, as they were called at that point, which didn't include sort of the training that we have now.
They would just go to a middle school and talk about the Marine Corps.
Several of these guys didn't even know how to throw a grenade.
But on the ship over, they were trained on how to use their M1 Garands and throw grenades and basically combat tactics by their NCOs.
Most of these men were battle-hardened.
Veterans of the Pacific War that had fought at, you know, at Guadalcanal or on Iwo Jima.
And they trained these men on the ship over.
They landed in Chang.
They march up towards the north.
And it's here that the Chinese surround, in the dead of night, the 1st Marine Division.
And the story of George Company is really an epic one, Steve.
The division is spread out over multiple little tiny hamlets, and it's stretched out over many, many miles in an area known as the Chosin Reservoir, which is deep north.
It's a very mountainous terrain, and the Chinese have over 120,000 men surrounding the 1st Marine Division, as well as some attached Army units, which is around 30,000 strong.
The numbers fluctuate, but they're vastly outnumbered.
8th, 10 to 1.
In many cases, or more.
And they're spread out in the Chinese, basically, attack at the end of November 1950.
And their job is to destroy and annihilate elements of the 1st Marine Division, as well as the Division.
And George Company is in a place called Coterie, which is a small little hamlet.
It's under the command of Chesky Puller, the legendary Marine General.
And he is told to organize a task force to relieve a place called, to add reinforcements to Hagara-Ri.
And it's here that everything is coming together for the division.
The various elements of the division are retreating towards Hagara-Ri.
They're building an airstrip to reinforce the division and then bring out the combat wounded, but they need time.
And the George Company has to break through A cauldron to somehow get to Hager Re so that they could build the airfield and they can also hold the town.
And the puller organizes a task force.
They have to go up an 11 mile road.
And on each side of the road is a Chinese division, thousands of troops.
And it's called Task Force Drysdale.
It includes some Royal Marine Commandos, a series of tanks, some army units, But also George Company.
And they're in open trucks and they have to basically burst through an entire division to get to Hagerty.
And the story is quite amazing.
is the main character of the book.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Hey, why don't we hold that story to a return?
We've got our closing segment, and I want to close with the heroism of these individuals.
To inspire you on a Christmas morning, Combat History at Christmas.
unidentified
short break. Back in a moment.
I'm going to be a little bit more quiet. I'm going to be a little bit more quiet. I'm going to be a little bit more quiet. I'm going to be a little bit more quiet. I'm going to be a little bit more quiet.
I'm going to be a little bit more quiet.
Okay, welcome back to...
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
of the country.
Welcome back to War Room.
We're at the Chosin Reservoir.
Patrick K. O'Donnell.
Make sure you've got some, uh, you want to get warm, just want to get some Warpath coffee.
Warpath.coffee, promo code WAR.
Make sure you get it.
You will not, uh, once you're, once you have Warpath, you'll never go back to something else.
Patrick, uh, this was human agency that got these folks out of this terrible jam.
And I tell you it from a disaster.
To one of the great moments of the United States Marine Corps, just a historic outfit.
Chosin Reservoir, sir.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
The Marine Corps receives 10 Medals of Honor here at the Chosin Reservoir.
And one of the first is given to PFC Baugh, who's in this convoy that I mentioned.
And the Chinese are in and around these trucks.
They're ambushing it.
And Baugh, they throw a grenade at the truck.
And Vaughn jumps on it to save all of the men in his squad.
And it cost him his life.
As they push forward in Task Force Rysdale, they encounter what they think are American troops.
But they're actually Chinese soldiers.
They're wearing American uniforms.
They're near an aid station.
And Rocko Zulu, who's the main character in this book, who's a master sergeant, who's in who's in Guadalcanal and many other Pacific war campaigns, is on a .50 caliber machine gun and tries to take out many of these infiltrators and is shot through the chest multiple times with bullets.
I'll never forget when I interviewed him, he pulled up his shirt and the entire left side was all scar.
And all of his men that day thought he was dead and they put him on a pile of bodies.
They were stacking bodies like five or six feet high.
You know, it was, it was, there were that many people that were Marines that were killed.
He was put on one of those bodies and the unit went on and they pushed on to a place called East Hill.
And East Hill was the critical hill.
It was the high ground over Hagerary.
It had to be held at all costs.
And the small company of men, They had .30 caliber machine guns in their M1 Garands and grenades.
They would face an entire Chinese regiment.
They would face them, you know, on human wave attacks.
And I'll never forget the descriptions that night of, you know, they have a green flare go up and literally the entire ground was moving with thousands of Chinese troops that these guys were facing.
Their guns would glow white.
Because they threw so many rounds downrange at the Chinese.
But they held the position against all odds for days.
Coming back to Zulu, somebody from another unit heard a cough eight hours later, and they rescued him.
In the airstrip that I mentioned, the critical time that was needed to build that, they evacuated him.
The men never knew that he survived until their first reunion, which was At the Thayer Hotel near West Point.
And they had a guy show up.
And they were all talking about Rocco Zullo, who had been killed at the Chosen Reservoir in 1950.
And he would just listen to their stories as he went around the room.
unidentified
And he said, I am Rocco Zullo.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
But they held the hill against all odds.
unidentified
Wow.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
It's unbelievable.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
That's the opening scene.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
How do we get?
Tell me about Give Me Tomorrow.
About the book, how can people know that you were in a revolution?
You were embedded in Iraq.
Yeah, go ahead.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, I was embedded in Iraq with 3-1.
And I came home on a plane at Camp Pendleton.
Came home alone.
I told my parents not to come.
And I was greeted by a man of George Company that said, by the way, you carried our battle guide on in Fallujah.
And we held off against the Chinese regiment.
Would you like to go to lunch with us?
I said, absolutely.
They took me to the train station.
And the next thing I know, a year or so later, I'm at their reunions.
And it's one of the great untold stories up until that point of the Korean War, of how these men helped save the 1st Marine Division, which then was able to evacuate Hagrid Re.
And make their way back to the coast in one of the greatest... I mean, the Balochok Reservoir is an epic story.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
No, fighting retreat is like something from the ancient Greeks.
It's like the march up country, right?
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
And they annihilated it all.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
It's that level.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
They annihilated and mauled the tiny armies that they built.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Absolutely.
The Chinese, I'm telling you, bad duty there.
All of Korea, the whole thing was just a nightmare.
And the lack of training and equipment and all of it, you see oftentimes how the troops are not really at the top of people's minds.
That's why we do the Combat History Christmas every Christmas.
Patrick, where do they go to get all your writings?
You're obviously a favorite of the War Room.
You're the favorite historian, combat or not, of MAGA.
They love you.
So where do they go for the books?
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
I'm at PatrickKODonald.com.
I'm on Getter, at Combat Historian, as well as Twitter.
And I appreciate the posse.
I've met so many of them, and it's been a tremendous honor.
Thank you.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
And make sure, Posse, make sure you leave comments over at Getter particularly.
Patrick reads them all.
Maybe you'll respond to a couple or three.
Patrick Caradano, Merry Christmas.
Thank you for doing this every year, brother.
I really appreciate it.
patrick k odonnel ▲ ● ▼
It's an honor.
Thank you so much.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Thank you, brother.
From Handel.
unidentified
I think a premier in Dublin.
steve bannon ▲ ● ▼
Merry Christmas.
To the greatest audience, and most powerful political force, and the most powerful, decent, and necessary nation on man's earth.
unidentified
Merry Christmas.
🎵Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah🎵
▲
Export Selection