The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Times, Chester PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
4 May 1952 – 10 May 1952
The Times, Chester PA
“Take it or leave it.”
*****
Waves of Allied fighter-bombers, striking from dawn to dusk, shattered a giant Communist supply center in the biggest air attack of the Korean War. The record day-long assault spread ruin and flame through an eight square mile supply complex at Suan, southeast of the North Korean Red capital of Pyongyang. It was screened by Allied jet pilots who shot down two Communist jets and damaged a third as they repulsed attempts by the enemy fighter planes to break through and interfere with the raid on Suan. The huge air attack coincided with an increase in the tempo of ground fighting along the entire front as the truce negotiations appeared on the edge of failure.
Key members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee gave bipartisan support to President Truman’s warning that the United Nations “will not buy an armistice” in Korea by forcing 100,000 war prisoners to return to their Communist homelands against their will. Mr. Truman said, “We will not buy an armistice by turning over human beings for slaughter or slavery.” The “take it or leave it” tone of the President’s statement, officials said, reflected Allied determination to stand firm on the prisoner problem even at the risk of renewed large-scale fighting.
A US brigadier general, Francis T. Dodd, was taken captive by 6,000 Communist prisoners in the notorious Koji island compound #1. The commander of the Eighth Army said that force would be used if necessary to free him, but he expressed confidence that Dodd would not be harmed during any rescue attempt. Dodd himself had been optimistic on his telephone talks with prison officers outside the compound, which bolstered hope for a safe return.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Chester Times)