Dreadful Winter

From Siberia, which harbors the world's largest cold air mass, bitter winds swept down over Manchuria last week to the mountains and bleak fields of North Korea. Typical December weather seemed to be coming in a month early. Behind the front, the countryside was dotted at night with bonfires at which U.S. troops warmed themselves. In the fighting lines, the numbed and miserable doughfeet had no such comfort. Medical officers treated their first cases of frostbite and trench foot.

In the U.S., families of soldiers were horrified by reports that some units were still fighting and shivering in summer clothes. A few angry Congressmen threatened to demand an investigation. Needled by the uproar, the Pentagon cabled General MacArthur for information. The general answered that all troops fighting in the northernmost (and coldest) areas were winterized; that although some pilfering of winter clothing (by Koreans from Army warehouses) had occurred, the losses had not affected frontline supply.

Retail Trouble. It was certainly not true, as some people in the U.S. seemed to suspect, that the Army had failed to prepare for Korea's dreadful winter. Quartermasters in the U.S. and in the field had started planning for it last July. By last week enough winter wear for all U.S. troops had been laid down in Korean supply dumps, with some left over for R.O.K. units. But, as one officer explained, although "wholesale distribution" had been attended to, there was still trouble with "retail distribution." The primitive, war-damaged North Korean roads were clogged with other supplies, and the cold weather itself was hampering supply operations. Last month, when the weather was warm and the Chinese had not yet intervened, corps and division commanders had clamored incessantly for food and ammunition to keep the mop-up rolling. After the Chinese attack, the first call was for fighting supplies to repel the new enemy. Winter clothing shipments had taken a low priority.

Frozen Tears. Even if every U.S. soldier had received his winter issue before the first nip of cold, there would have been suffering. Units of the 7th Division, which had winter clothing, were fighting last week in 20-below-zero cold. The cold brought tears which froze on the men's faces. After a U.S. attack near the Manchurian border, medical officers reported as many casualties from cold as from enemy action. Only quick work by litter teams prevented those wounded by gunfire from freezing to death.

Summarized TIME Correspondent James Moffett: "Winter, when you don't have a home and fireside, is an atrocity no matter how many clothes you wear." In North Korea, U.S. soldiers faced one of the coldest winter campaigns in U.S. military history.

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