The Korean War, 70 Years Ago,
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
15 July – 21 July 1951
The Republican, Kane PA
Death takes a holiday.
*****
United Nations and Communist armistice teams made “some progress” Monday toward an agenda for cease-fire negotiations at their fourth and shortest meeting so far in Kaesong. The meeting lasted less than two hours and ended in an atmosphere of much greater cordiality and without a single armed Red guard inside. There was every evidence in Kaesong that the Reds had kept their agreement to make it a neutral city as the cease-fire talks opened. No armed soldiers were seen anywhere. But Red forces outside the demilitarized zone around the conference city also were strengthened. Nothing ominous was seen in that build up, however, although one UN patrol drew heavy fire from the Reds south of the city Sunday afternoon.
A dispute over one unnamed “key issue” blocked completion of an agenda for Korean cease-fire negotiations at the sixth armistice meeting at Kaesong. The official UN report of the conference said additional progress had been made, however, and solid agreement was reached on two major agenda points. There was no explanation of the key issue which held up completion of the agenda but it had been believed earlier that the United Nations and Communist teams were at odds over Chinese demands for an immediate cease-fire with guarantees for keeping it to be worked out later. On Friday the talks were delayed by 24 hours because of storms. The 16 other nations supporting the US in the war supported the Americans’ determination not to knuckle under to a Communist demand to pull foreign troops out even at the price of continuing the war. Saturday’s news brought concerns that the foreign troop withdrawal issue would “wash up” the cease-fire talks. Correspondents were wagering even money that there would be no more cease-fire sessions in Kaesong.
The Communists had rushed at least 27 divisions to the Korean front, building their battle force to an estimated 720,000 men, since cease-fire talks began, the 8th army announced. UN troops pounded enemy lines throughout the week to keep Red troops off balance for any possible “double-cross” attack during the truce negotiations. Most of the Red reinforcements were thrown into the eastern front, where UN soldiers dug in on newly won high ground after a three-day offensive which drove Communist troops back more than 7 miles toward their key supply and communications hub at Kumsong. Stiffened Red resistance all along the front ended “death’s holiday” for American fighting men. For a 24-hour period, not a single American soldier fell in death on the battlefield for the first time since the US entered the war and only a very few were wounded. But the 8th Army said that new casualties came as US troops and their UN allies slammed into Red defenses while cease-fire talks dragged on. By week’s end it was disclosed that the Reds had massed an estimated 300 tanks 55 miles north of Kaesong, and were “ready to go” in a new assault at any time.
B-29 Superforts were back over Korea, hitting Red marshalling yards. They were striking against enemy supply trains which had been moving up to the front ever since the start of cease-fire talks brought a lull in the fighting. Bombers left fires raging in the Red east coast port of Wonsan, to follow up on 153 consecutive days of shelling of the big supply base. Warships poured more than 6,000 shells and rockets into Wonsan where fanatic Red defenders dug into cliffside holes to survive the sea and air bombardment. The heavy air-sea attacks pointed up declarations by UN officials at the advance truce camps that the Reds were “getting the worst of this stalemated war and we intend to see that it gets even tougher.” They said UN aggressive pressure against the Reds would continue up to the hour of a cease-fire.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Kane Republican)