The Korean War, 70 Years Ago, The Times, Gettysburg PA
Korean War Weekly Front Pages
3 February 1952 – 9 February 1952
The Times, Gettysburg PA
Operation Quagmire.
*****
The fighting continued: American airmen blew up two Communist ammunition depots and razed two big supply centers, the US 5th Air Force reported. The supply centers were less than 50 miles from Panmunjom, site of Korean truce talks. An F-51 Mustang pilot said their bombs and rockets touched off fires that could be seen for miles. On Wednesday, for the second time in 48 hours, Allied infantrymen recaptured a hill position on Korea’s western front without firing a shot. Reds seized the vantage point northeast of Yonchon Monday night. Allied troops regained it Tuesday without opposition. The Reds took it again Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning the UN again marched to the top without seeing a single Communist soldier. In other ground action Wednesday, the Allies threw back three light Red probes in the mountainous east. UN foot soldiers welcomed warmer weather. Temperatures climbed to 32 degrees at points which had subzero weather for several days. On Thursday, Allies stormed across a frozen river south of Panmunjom and raided two Red hills.
Nine B-29 Superforts hit rail lines and industrial targets in North Korea Tuesday night. Light bombers knocked out 35 of 70 vehicles spotted on enemy highways during the night. Allied naval HQ said navy planes and warships killed or wounded over a thousand Red troops in the week ended 3 February. Late in the week, American Shooting Star jets blasted Haejo, a rail and highway junction in western Korea, with bombs and napalm. Pilots reported that more than 30 supply buildings were destroyed or damaged. On Saturday, it was reported that nine US warplanes had been lost in the week ending Friday. The Communists lost none. Antiaircraft fire claimed seven of them, a dogfight one, and one crashed due to a mechanical failure.
The UN Command cautioned against expecting quick agreement on a Korean armistice. Tokyo HQ described Communist truce tactics as “operation quagmire.” “Recent minor compromises” at Panmunjom, the Command said, fit “the Communist see-saw of progress.” They don’t necessarily involve any change in “their main program of bargaining inertia.” The Reds had agreed to none of the main points of conjecture, or had agreed where their concessions essentially meant nothing.
On Wednesday the Communists proposed a high-level political conference within 90 days after a Korean armistice to negotiate withdrawal of foreign troops, settle the Korean problem, and resolve related issues in the Orient. The three-point proposal was made at Panmunjom in the first full dress session of truce negotiating teams in two months. Allied delegates initially made no comment. They took the proposal under study and promised to reply later. Observers expressed doubt the United Nations Command would agree to the third point. Significantly, the communist proposal referred for the first time to the People’s Republic of China as a belligerent in Korea. Heretofore the Reds had insisted that Chinese fighting in Korea were volunteers. The next day, the Allies agreed to the Communist proposal. Each side gave some ground on troop rotation. For the Allies, it was dropping the demand that the Communists trade displaced civilians for UN-held war prisoners. The Communists planned to gear the return of war prisoners to the Allied rate. But negotiations remained as far apart as ever on key issues blocking an armistice.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Gettysburg Times)