Glorious Pages

The North Korean invaders were not only battle-weary, depleted and discouraged--they were also hungry. Last week, about 300 Reds attacked a handful of G.I.s on a hill and pounced eagerly on U.S. rations. The Reds were still eating when counterattacking G.I.s started to fight their way back up the hill.

The Communists were getting starved for new victories, too. North of Taegu, a Red army corps of three divisions tried for four nights on end to barrel their armor down a poplar-lined stretch of road held by Colonel John ("Mike") MichaehV crack 2;th Regiment (see below). After six days & nights in this sector, the mauled Communist divisions pulled back out of U.S. artillery range.

By Their Toenails. Two of these divisions shifted to the east, away from the Americans, where they threw an armored spearhead at the South Koreans on the Uisong-Yongchon road (see map). This was flat country, good for tanks, and the South Koreans gave ground, but this week they were holding and Yongchon was not seriously threatened.

On the south-coast flank, where the enemy's chewed-up 6th Division had been reinforced, the Reds quickly recovered from Task Force Kean's "spoiling attack" (TIME, Aug. 21) and hammered again at the approaches to Masan, the main gateway to Pusan. But this time, no overly expensive spoiling attack was needed to save Pusan. The 5th Regimental Combat Team and the 24th Regiment (the 25th Division's crack Negro outfit) struggled valiantly for upland vantage points called Battle Mountain and Sobuk Ridge. Half a dozen times the heights changed hands. At one stage the doughfeet were described as hanging on "by their toenails"--but they did hang on.

On the east coast the Communists mounted a heavy counterattack and drove the South Koreans back four to seven miles. This week the Reds had fought to within 2^ miles of Pohang, and although the enemy pressure there was stronger than anywhere else on the front, no great alarm was registered. Said General Walker: "It is my belief that the over-extended enemy is making his last gasp."

Rest for the Weary. On the Nak-tong front, the Communists' Changnyong bridgehead was gone, liquidated in fierce fighting by the Marines and the 24th Division. To the north, at Hyonpung, the enemy still had a small force of about 2,000 men on the east bank of the river, but mopping them up would be no problem. That, however, would not be the 24th's job. The 24th was being relieved by the fresh 2nd Infantry Division, which had just arrived in Korea.

Since July 3, when its advance elements had been committed (in two-company strength) south of Seoul, the 24th had been fighting without respite. Now it was entitled to rest, for a while, on its laurels. On a quick visit to the front last week, Army Chief of Staff J. Lawton ("Lightning Joe") Collins paid his tribute: "The 24th has written one of the most glorious pages in military history with its actions in Korea."

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