The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Republican, Kane PA

Korean War Weekly Front Pages

14 December 1952 – 20 December 1952

The Republican, Kane PA

Air attacks on the North continue unabated.

*****

American Sabrejet pilots claimed ten Communist MIG-15 jet fighters in wild air battles over MIG Alley in northwest Korea. They were the first such duels in five days. The Fifth Air Force, however, only confirmed two of the damage claims. The others awaited confirmation by gun camera film. On Wednesday Superfortresses hurled tons of bombs on two big Communist supply areas in North Korea while outnumbered American Sabrejet pilots shot down one MIG-15 and damaged four others. The next day UN fighter-bombers smashed a huge Communist troop concentration 20 miles south of Pyongyang, destroying at least 70 buildings and damaging 30 in a four-wing attack. On Friday dive bombers hurled bombs and bullets into a sprawling troop center north of Kaesong, destroying at least 40 buildings and leaving the target a mass of flames. Ending the week B-29s blasted a northwest Korean Communist railroad storage hub through which the Reds funneled food and ammunition to the front lines. On those lines, temperatures near Kumhwa, including Sniper Ridge and Triangle Hill, plunged to three degrees below zero.

UN guards killed 82 Communist civilian internees and wounded 120 others in smashing a mutinous demonstration on Poagam Island, near Pusan. The death toll was the highest ever suffered by prisoners in clashes with Allied guards at UN prisoner camps. It was believed the demonstration was part of a plan for a mass breakout. Two American soldiers and two South Korean soldiers were injured by rocks hurled at them by Red Korean internees who clambered atop a steep terrace. Many of the rioters were former inmates of Koje Island’s infamous Compound 62, where commissar rule and organized violence exploded last 18 February in a riot in which 75 prisoners and one American soldier were killed and 139 prisoners were wounded. The commander of the prison island told how more than 4,000 fanatic Communists “hypnotized” themselves into staging the riot that ended only when UN guards fired point blank to save their own lives.

Announced American battle casualties in Korea now totaled 127,867, an increase of 209 over last week’s figure. This included 22,381 dead, 92,628 wounded, 9,336 missing, 2,029 captured, and 1,393 previously missing but returned to service.

(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Kane Republican)