"Michaelis, what are tanks for?"
"To kill, sir."
"Take your tanks to Suwon," Ridgeway said.
"Fine, sir," Michaelis answered. "It's easy to get them there. Getting them back is going to be more difficult because they (the Chinese) always cut the road behind you."
"Who said anything about coming back?" Ridgeway answered. "If you can stay up there twenty-four hours, I'll send the division up. If the division can stay up there twenty-four hours, I'll send the corps up." That, thought Michaelis, was as the start of a brand-new phase of the war, the beginning of the turnaround.
From 'The Coldest Winter' by David Halberstam.
'To kill, sir.' Korea was a disaster for everyone involved.[1] The clarity of purpose and will shown by Michaelis and Ridgeway must have been a ray of sunshine to everyone involved.
[1] Except the Chinese government.
