The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Evening Herald, Shenandoah/Pottsville PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
11 March – 17 March 1951
The Evening Herald, Shenandoah/Pottsville PA
Seoul falls again to the Allies.
*****
Communist resistance collapsed along the 70-mile central Korean front and Reds were fleeing headlong toward the 38th Parallel. Aerial observers reported signs that the Communists also were abandoning the former capital of Seoul, which was threatened by an Allied flanking drive to the east. Nine UN divisions reported gains of up to three miles as they moved cautiously north along the front in the wake of withdrawing enemy forces. They advanced at will – one US 25th Division tank-infantry task force on the western flank lashed out four miles and reached the enemy’s Seoul-Chunchon supply highway. Tank and infantry task forces were within sight of the big enemy base of Hungchon and the strategic east-central crossroads town of Chanpyong. Vanguards were within 24 miles of the Parallel, and the city of Seoul was now outflanked. There were reports that the Reds were digging in along an line anchored on Hongchon, some 20 miles south of the 38th, for a new stand by possibly 100,000 troops.
On Wednesday Republic of South Korea troops reoccupied the capital without firing a shot and hoisted their flag above the Capitol building. The Reds had fled north from Seoul and elsewhere all along the 140-mile Korean battlefront. Allied tank patrols pursued them to within 15 miles of the 38th Parallel without catching up. Allied reoccupation of Seoul came two months and ten days after Chinese Communist troops drove UN forces out at the climax of a massive offensive that hurled the Allies back from the Yalu River boundary with China. This was the fourth time the battered capital had changed hands during the war. North Korean forces captured it on 29 June 1950, four days after crossing the 38th Parallel. The US recaptured the city on 28 September 1950, and the Communists wrested it back on 4 January 1951.
Late in the week UN troops captured the big Communist supply base of Hongchong in central Korea and sent tank spearheads slashing north toward Chunchon, eight miles south of the 38th Parallel. Other 8th Army divisions occupied Seoul in force and drove on north all across the battlefront. The Reds continued to withdraw, fighting rear guard actions only in the east-central mountains. There, the American advance was slowed to a walk when reinforced Chinese Communists opened up with a massive artillery barrage of white phosphorus shells amid speculation that the enemy had decided to turn and fight. A thundering artillery duel erupted as American guns responded to the Chinese. The Americans threw 50 shots for every one the Reds shot. In recaptured Seoul, civilian police joined UN troops in routing out Communist stragglers and agents while armored spearheads fanned out to the north. Although the Reds fought back on the central front, they continued their withdrawal in the mountains to the east. Some 250,000 Communists were reportedly halting at the 38th Parallel for a new stand. They had reeled back 30 miles or more in less than two weeks under massive Allied blows.
MacArthur said on Monday that the Communist aggressors must be halted in Korea or they will use their victories there as a springboard to attack other parts of the world. “Asia is the gateway to their plans,” he said in a statement. He also said that the Communist threat was still great despite the fact that the challenge had been met in Korea and its advance retarded. Following the fall of Seoul, he said that “fundamental decisions” would need to be made about whether to cross the 38th Parallel. Given the difficult-to-defend terrain near it, such a large force would be needed that it could sweep the Communists back to the Yalu and pave the way for Korean reunification. On Saturday he paid a visit to see “my friends, the Marines” on the central front. “Everything is going well,” he said on his return to Tokyo.
Spring sunshine was defrosting the earth of Korea and the grisly death that hid under it. Communist anti-personnel mines no bigger than a beer can were becoming more sensitive to the tread of a foot. A man who steps on a detonator would be riddled with fragments from the waist down. An anti-tank mine tears four or five sections of track off the tank, immobilizing it. Far worse will happen to a jeep or truck that hits one.
The US Secretary of State said on Friday that Red China had made no reply to the latest peace proposals of the UN to end the war. At the same time he declined to say whether General MacArthur had UN authority to cross into North Korea. The Assistant Secretary of Defense said that the US was still understrength in Korea. Restating her support for universal military training, she said that only two methods of assuring security existed – a large, professional army, expensive in men and money, or a small professional army plus large numbers of well-trained reserves.
Congress continued to work on draft bills. In the House, a measure to drop the draft age to 18-1/2, extend the term of service from 21 to 26 months and require at least four months of training was moving through committee. The Senate had approved a bill to start the draft age at 18 and extend the term of service to 24 months.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Shenandoah/Pottsville Evening Herald)