Throwing the Book

The Chinese advanced through U.S. minefields as if the mines were not there. On one sector, said a U.S. colonel, Red soldiers, blowing themselves up so that others might follow, "set off mines so. fast that it sounded like artillery." Dead and dying Chinese festooned the U.S. wire. Watching the Chinese advance to agony and death, marveling G.I.s told each other that they must be doped. (But among many hundreds of prisoners, U.S. medical officers have not yet found a single enemy soldier who was under drugs.)

The U.S. and its allies threw the book at the attacking enemy--the book of everything learned in eleven months of fighting Communists in Korea. U.N. artillery was zeroed in on the avenues of enemy advance; machine guns were placed to sweep points at which the Reds would be stopped or slowed by the wire. Searchlights and parachute flares lit up the night fighting. U.N. planes hit the Reds with the heaviest night air attacks of the war. The night raiders included 6-293 dropping 500-lb. fragmentation bombs with proximity fuses to produce air bursts. The bombers used a new radar technique which almost equals daylight bombing in accuracy.

Like a Rock. The Chinese launched their heaviest blow at the Inje sector (see map), in difficult mountainous terrain where the front was held by ROK units. Hitting the ROKs has become a standard Chinese tactic, and was not unexpected by the allied command; but General Van Fleet did not have enough troops to back up the South Koreans in the west-central sector. He had done the next best thing: he posted a dependable, battle-seasoned U.S. division--the 2nd Infantry--on the South Koreans' left, and he had armored reserves ready to rush forward in case of a breakthrough. The 2nd was badly mauled in the Communist offensive last November, pulled itself together under hardbitten Major General Clark Ruffner, fought brilliantly last January and February against Chinese attacks.

As they had last month, the ROKs again fled from the oncoming Chinese, were overwhelmed and driven back.* Some 96,000 howling Chinese swarmed into the breach, enveloping the 2nd Division on three sides. Even with its flank and rear gone, the 2nd--including French and Dutch units--stood like a rock, fought off the frenzied enemy for three days.

Said one of the 2nd's regimental commanders: "If the [ROK] unit on our east flank had not collapsed, we would have piled so many Chinese on the minefields to our front that their own troops would not have been able to climb over the bodies. As it was, they got around my regiment. We slaughtered so many that their blood covered our boots because we had to walk over them to get into the new perimeter. They poured into our lines despite our tremendous firepower. They cut off companies and battalions. But as we pulled into the new line, our men still were anxious to fight."

U.S. armored rescue forces broke up an enemy roadblock in the 2nd's rear, and helped the division re-form a solid line below Chunchon. On the fourth day, enemy pressure slackened while the Chinese removed their thousands of dead and wounded from the battlefield. At week's end, they attacked again with 30,000 men. The onslaught was broken.

The 2nd claimed 35,000 enemy casualties in five days of fighting. But General Ridgway, making his fourth visit to the front since he became commander in chief, asked for an end to such guesses, ordered that claims henceforth be limited to counted enemy dead and prisoners.

Not Like a Walk. West of Chunchon, the Chinese aimed a force of 25,000 men down the Pukhan River valley toward the confluence of the Pukhan and the Han. If successful, this assault would have been a serious flanking threat to Seoul. It was beaten off. South Koreans, fighting well on this front, killed 684 (counted) Reds with bayonets and knives.

On the east coast, South Koreans pulled back below the 38th parallel, covered by a naval force including a U.S. battleship.

By week's end, the expected big drive for Seoul had not materialized. The first feeble attack on the city was shredded by artillery. At week's end four North Korean battalions, clumsily approaching in daylight, were cut to pieces. Dazed prisoners said they had been assured by their commanders that Seoul had been abandoned, that all they had to do was walk in.

Before the week was out, determined U.S. patrols were ranging north of strongly held defenses, harassing the enemy's efforts to continue his offensive. One bold U.S. armored column--far north of the main lines--was ambushed by angry Chinese who swarmed all over it, trying to destroy the tanks with pole and satchel charges. The U.S. tanks fired on one another with machine-gun bullets, which did not penetrate the armor but killed the Chinese on top. Some of the Reds were blown to bits by their own explosives. When the tanks finally withdrew, they were covered with blood.

* Six officers, including a regimental commander, of the 6th R.O.K. Division, which panicked at Kapyong in April, were court-martialed last week, got from two to 15 years' hard labor. Division Commander Brigadier General Chang To Yung, 28, and two other regimental commanders were 'reprimanded, docked a couple of months' pay, but kept their commands. Stiffened with replacements and new artillery, the 6th was back in the line last week again near Kapyong, and, according to U.S. observers, was doing well.

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