Winter War

With shocking suddenness the U.N. victory march in Korea was stopped, and hurled back. Driven from advanced positions near the Manchurian border (see below), U.N. troops settled grimly to holding a defense line which in some places was only 45 miles north of Pyongyang. Generals who two weeks before had promised to have their forces on the Yalu River in a matter of days now discussed a "winter war." Said one U.S. officer grimly: "I think we can hold them."

"Alien Forces." How had a seemingly sure victory been snatched from the U.N.'s grasp? The first official explanation came in a communique issued last week by Douglas MacArthur. The supreme commander accused "the Communists" of sending "alien Communist forces" across the Yalu River and of concentrating possible reinforcements behind the "privileged sanctuary" of the Manchurian border. Said he: "While the North Korean forces with which we were initially engaged have been destroyed or rendered impotent ... a new and fresh army now faces us, backed up by a possibility of large alien reserves and adequate supply within easy reach to the enemy but beyond the limits of our present sphere of military action."

This week, in a report to the U.N., MacArthur was more specific. He listed six instances of anti-aircraft fire from the Manchurian side of the Yalu River on U.N. planes; the intervention of Chinese Communist combat units, totaling 7,500 troops, north of Hamhung and south of the Suiho Dam; and the information from captured Chinese Red Army men of other units in action. The Supreme Commander's clipped conclusion: "[These] are mat ters which it is incumbent upon me to bring at once to the attention of the United Nations."

What happened next depended chiefly on the Chinese Communist government. The enemy forces now in Korea appeared strong enough to fight a campaign through Korea's bitter winter. If the Chinese sent more reinforcements piecemeal into North Korea, the campaign would be even longer. If they sent large forces, a full-scale war between China and the U.N. army might result. If the estimated 300,000 Chinese troops now in Manchuria crossed the Yalu into Korea, outnumbered U.N. forces might well be driven back below the 38th parallel.

World War III? Partial, unadmitted intervention would have some advantages in Chinese eyes. It might serve to protect the great Yalu River power dams (see map) from which Manchuria draws electric power for its factories. It might save face for the Communists in Asia, might prevent the U.N. from creating a stable, anti-Communist nation on China's borders. It would surely profit the U.S.S.R. which would be delighted to see U.S. energies drained by a long Asian war.

Last week the front pages of Red China's newspapers blossomed with "popular demands" that the Chinese army push the "U.S. imperialists" out of Korea. So far the U.N. had treated the belligerent Peking regime with anxious forbearance, and a turn-the-other-cheek mildness. But if Communist troops and aircraft continued to cross the border, sooner or later there would be no choice for the U.N. command except to blow up the Yalu River dams and bridges, to bomb airfields and troop concentrations in Manchuria.

In such a choice, the threat would be a new and greater war, perhaps a World War.

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