The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The News-Herald, Franklin and Oil City PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
17 February 1952 – 23 February 1952
The News-Herald, Franklin and Oil City PA
Fighting rages in “MIG Alley.”
*****
The Communists indicated on Monday that they would insist that issues not strictly connected with Korea be discussed in a post-armistice peace conference. Such insistence could cause a new deadlock in the truce negotiations. The Reds indicated that they were ready to hold out stubbornly for acceptance of Russia as a neutral country on a six-nation armistice supervision team. Another group of UN and Communist staff officers agreed on a number of minor changes in a Red-prepared draft agreement on an exchange of war prisoners. This included provisions to permit the Red Cross to bring in supplies for prisoners, and to allow Red Cross teams to accompany prisoners from prison camps to their own lines. The deadlocked question of forced versus voluntary repatriation of prisoners did not come up. The next day truce negotiators agreed on a recommendation for a Korean peace conference, but split further over Russia’s eligibility to police an armistice. The full armistice delegations agreed to recommend to their government that talks begin within 90 days of a cease-fire on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Korea.
On Wednesday the Reds rejected a UN compromise offer to cut troop rotation during a truce from 40,000 to 35,000 men a month. There was speculation that the Reds might be holding out on the troop rotation issue in an attempt to blackmail the UN into accepting Russia as the sixth member the neutral commission. But the next day the UN said it had vetoed Soviet membership on a truce supervision commission because Russia is too close geographically to Korea and has a record of “past participation” in the country. Communist staff officers refused to accept the UN delegation’s explanation, and the deadlock over Russia’s eligibility stretched into its seventh day. Meanwhile negotiators moved closer to a compromise solution to troop rotation. New offers from both sides were only 5,000 troops and one port of entry apart, and the UN was confident the gap could be closed. The next day the Reds agreed, but injected a new issue with a bitter protest against the massacre of 69 Communists in the Koje internment camp. The prisoners had been killed by American security forces in a riot.
UN forces hit the Communists with bayonets, tanks, and planes on Monday to keep them off balance. Nineteen American Sabrejets screening “Operation Strangle” fighter-bombers damaged two Communist MIG-15 jet fighters and routed 38 more in a blazing dogfight over northwest Korea. The next day heavily outnumbered Sabrejets shot down three MIG-15s in battles ranging all across “MIG Alley.” Downing one MIG was one of the leading pilots for the Air Force, COL Francis Gabreski of Oil City, who had shot down 26 enemy planes in WWII.
On the ground Monday, UN tanks and infantry wiped out a reinforced Communist platoon in one of three hit and run “killer raids” along the western half of the front. The infantrymen stormed Silver Star Hill south of Pyongyang, at the apex of the old Iron Triangle, with fixed bayonets, and killed an estimated 30 enemy troops with the aid of withering fire from supporting tanks. The raiding party also destroyed a network of bunker positions before returning to its own lines.
South Korean Marines smashed an attempt by nearly 1,000 Communist troops to capture Allied-held Yang Island off the Korean east coast, only 150 miles south of the Soviet border. The South Koreans sank 13 of the 20 communist invasion sampans, drowned 70 Reds, killed 70 others, and captured six in a 24-hour battle ending at 1100 on Thursday.
American battle casualties in Korea now totaled 105,841, an increase of 333 over last week’s report, the Defense Department said. The casualties included 18,347 deaths, 75,068 wounded, 10,042 missing, 995 captured, and 1,389 previously missing but returned to service.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Franklin and Oil City News-Herald)