The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Public Opinion, Chambersburg PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
10 August 1952 – 16 August 1952
The Public Opinion, Chambersburg PA
And heavy fighting continues.
*****
On Monday Chinese Communists dug in on Siberia Hill on the Korean western front under a terrific day-long assault by UN fighter-bombers and pressure from US Marines. The low, shell-scarred knob east of the Panmunjom truce site had exchanged hands five times in two days. The Reds first seized it from 1st Marine Division troops before dawn Saturday. A US Eighth Army night communiqué said fighting continued for the lonely outpost on the hill. Enemy casualties through Sunday in the hill fight were estimated at 225 killed and 250 wounded.
The next day Marine flame-throwing tanks and riflemen burned and blasted the Chinese off the hill just before midnight, then swept on and captured Bunker Hill, dominating the sector. Later the same day US Marines beat back 400 Chinese reds charging the hill. A US Eighth Army staff officer said the Chinese suffered heavily. Before the attack began, the Marines estimated they had killed or wounded 553 Reds in the sector since bitter fighting erupted on Saturday. Marines met the charge with air strikes, mortar, tank, artillery, and small arms fire, but for a time in mid-afternoon, a Marine spokesman said the entire Siberia area had been “quiet as a church mouse.”
On Wednesday, US Marines and artillery cut to ribbons 750 Chinese Communists assaulting leathernecks entrenched in prefabricated bunkers atop Bunker Hill. A battalion-sized attack – the second major bid of the Chinese to recapture the height – was broken at dawn. Chinese losses were described as very heavy. Into Thursday two more large Chinese attacks were beaten back, and the Marines retained their newly won prize. Estimates were that the Reds had lost over 3,000 in dead and wounded since Saturday.
The US Fifth Air Force said Sabrejet pilots probably destroyed one Russian-made MIG-15 and damaged another in the eighth straight day of jet battles over North Korea. This ran the UN MIG bag for the past eight days to 19 destroyed, one probably destroyed, and 20 damaged. In Monday’s clash near the Manchurian border, four Sabres fought against four MIGs at 35,000 feet.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Chambersburg Public Opinion)