Out of Haystacks

Airborne leathernecks of the Marine Corps' First Air Wing made a dashing debut in Korea last week. Taking off from a Navy carrier, gull-winged Corsair fighter-bombers attacked antiaircraft emplacements, troop concentrations, bridges and transports in the vital Chinju area. In low, ground-hugging runs, the Corsairs flushed Red soldiers out of haystacks and woods.

The Marine action was part of a general plan to prevent enemy troops from crossing the Naktong River in strength. Jet F-80 Shooting Stars and F--51 Mustangs ranged up & down the river valley looking for enemy concentrations, went after patrols that managed to get across. Rainstorms prevented constant vigilance, but on one fair day the Far East Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force fighters and bombers flew a record 550 sorties.

Meanwhile, B-29s continued to attack the enemy's factories.* Pilots carrying out a follow-up raid on a big oil refinery at Wonsan (one of the principal fuel sources of the North Korean tanks), which had been bombed by B-29s the day before, reported the refinery "a twisted mass of steel." In three big strikes, B-29s had dropped 1,300 tons of bombs on the Chosen Nitrogen Chemical Co. at Hungnam, 126 miles north of the 38th parallel. The Air Force claimed to have severely damaged at least a third of the "buildings, laboratories, power plants and warehouses" in the target area.

At week's end the B-29s switched back to tactical targets, hit the battered Seoul rail yards with 100 tons of bombs, and bombed railroad bridges to the south. There were indications that the North Korean air force, which has been lying low for weeks, might be getting reinforcements from Russia. F-80 Shooting Stars, twice raiding Kimpo airfield near Seoul last week, counted more than a score of La7 and Yak fighters which had not been there a few days before. The Americans shot up nine of the newcomers.

* Washington learned last week that much of the information on which the B-29s were basing their bombing of industrial targets had been obtained by Edwin W. Pauley in 1946 when, as U.S. representative on war reparations in Korea, he had made a trip through North Korea, taking photographs and collecting data, in a survey of Japanese assets to guide U.S. reparations policy.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.