The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Press, Pittsburgh PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
8 March 1953 – 14 March 1953
The Press, Pittsburgh PA
“The Eisenhower era begins as the Stalin era ends.”
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More than 2,000 North Korean Communist POWs staged a riot on Yoncho Island. Twenty-three of the mutineers were killed and 42 injured as UN troops crushed the revolt. A number of UN security personnel were injured, none seriously. Die-hard Communist enlisted prisoners touched off the rioting in the compound while the unarmed UN commander and his assistant were supervising the distribution of food. The commander had ordered a prisoner found guilty of breaking the rules be brought out. The prison compound inmate representative refused to comply, leading to an attack of throwing rocks by 60 to 70 prisoners.
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said Monday that he believes Stalin’s death would enhance future hopes of world peace. “Stalin is dead,” he told a news conference. “He cannot bequeath to anyone his prestige. The Eisenhower era begins as the Stalin era ends.”
An overnight assault on Porkchop Hill by Reds was repulsed by US troops, leaving at least 140 enemy dead. A correspondent reported, “The Communists threw everything at us. You couldn’t believe they had that much stuff. My guess is they hit Old Baldy [an adjacent peak] at least 600 times. But Old Baldy really got off easy. It was Porkchop that bore the brunt of it. The whole hill seemed to be on fire…One great mass of explosions. What a night!”
Testimony in the US Senate was given by high military officials that indicated that ammunition shortages were felt “very acutely” at the Korean front. An official stated, “Every effort is being made to increase ammunition production, especially in the higher calibers.” In response, General Taylor, commander of the Eighth Army, said that his army has “all the ammunition it requires to carry out its mission.” Interviews with other troops in country backed him up.
The American ambassador to the Soviet Union told that country in the UN that the American Army it said committed atrocities in Korea was “the same army which helped the Soviet army defeat Hitler. The US Army was good enough for you in 1942, 1943, 1944, and 1945. It should be good enough for you now and would be if your government’s policy had not so drastically changed.”
American infantrymen battled through a ring of Communist troops to rescue an outnumbered US patrol that had made a seven-hour stand in the winter’s heaviest snowfall to break up a 100-man Chinese attack. Snow had fallen all along the 155-mile front. It ranged from eight inches in the west to 14 inches in the east. In some sectors the snow changed to rain late in the day and turned supply routes into quagmires.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Pittsburgh Press)