Turning Point?

For weeks the U.S. command in Korea has faced a crucial choice between two plans of battle. One was to withdraw to the shortest possible defense perimeter immediately surrounding Pusan and build up within it for a counterthrust. A shorter perimeter could have been more easily held by fewer troops, giving battle-weary G.I.s a chance to rest up in the rear.

The other bolder plan called for holding the widest possible perimeter, including Taegu and Pohang. This would mean stringing out in a thin line and shuttling units back & forth to block enemy thrusts; but for political, morale and strategic reasons it seemed to the top command important to hold Taegu, the provisional capital of the South Korean government and an important base for U.S. tactical aircraft. The hold-Taegu strategy, obviously ordered by General Douglas MacArthur and General Walton Walker, prevailed. By last week there were heartening signs that that strategy was correct.

The Communist enemy was showing signs of attrition. Time & again he failed to take advantage of situations where the U.S. forces were exposed to serious damage and possible breakthrough. For example, while his Changnyong bridgehead was being cut to shreds (see Battle of Korea), the North Koreans in a smaller bridgehead to the north did nothing to help.

The Reds had suffered desperately from U.S. airpower. Almost since the beginning of the war the enemy had had to move men and supplies by night; by day his supply lines and battle areas, had been bombed and strafed, while his factories and storehouses in the rear were being pounded by strategic bombers.

Where once the invaders used 20 or more tanks to spearhead major assaults, he now used three or four. When he was presented with juicy targets, his artillery was often silent, presumably for lack of shells. Many North Korean prisoners complained of short rations.

The U.S. beachhead perimeter was taking on the likeness of a tough elastic barrier which yielded locally under pressure but quickly snapped back to upset the invaders. Said one commander: "If we had four new divisions this afternoon we could sweep straight through the enemy."

The time for a general Allied counteroffensive was still far off. According to U.S. intelligence the North Koreans now had 15 divisions in the line, five more than they reportedly had two weeks ago, indicating that the Reds had committed the bulk of their reserves.This week the enemy was again massing troops in the south between Chinju and Masan, but by all possible human calculations, the U.N. beachhead was assured. It was the best week for the U.N. forces since the war began--and perhaps the war's turning point.

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