Fortune Favours the Brave

A Korean ridge known as the Hook was the scene of three epic battles in late 1952 and early 1953. Each battle involved a different distinguished regiment: the 7th U.S. Marines and Britain's Black Watch and Duke of Wellington's Regiment. Most of the British troops were 19-year-old conscripts, known as National Servicemen, who performed in these battles like seasoned veterans. Although British troops conducted sizeable operations in the Falklands and Persian Gulf, this is the last battle to date in which British troops sustained and inflicted large numbers of casualties. With the 50th anniversary of the Korean War under way, a new generation of readers will be fascinated and moved by these desperate battles against heavy odds.