Any Hour, Any Weather

Near Ichon a battered Greek unit was fighting off a Communist attack, with heavy support from U.S. artillery. Suddenly a higher headquarters silenced the artillery, to call in an air strike. As the big guns stopped, the tempo of the Red attack increased. The Greek commander flourished his pistol at a U.S. artillery liaison officer. "I want artillery!" he raged.

Most Eighth Army troop commanders would have sympathized. Since the Korean war began, the U.N. forces' close and plentiful artillery support has helped as much as airpower to neutralize the vast manpower superiority of the Communists. Last week, day & night artillery barrages kept the Communists from overwhelming the defenders of Chipyong and Wonju.

While air strikes are dependent on the weather, artillery support is a constant that infantrymen can reckon on. Last week, in a heavy snowstorm, U.S. troops near Yoju edgily waited for a Communist attack. Then, as they heard the muted rustle of outgoing shells through the curtain of the snow, they relaxed. "That's what I like about those gunners," a platoon sergeant said. "Any hour, any weather, always on the ball."

Guns in a Circle. Since the Chinese Communists have little artillery of their own, U.S. batteries worry less about concealment, move up far closer to the front than field manuals specify. Mobile batteries have accompanied armored patrols as far as 30 miles inside enemy territory.*

The enemy makes gun positions the special targets of his infiltrating units. Because there is seldom enough infantry to protect them, artillerymen often have to double as foot soldiers. It is not unusual in Korea to see a battery with its guns drawn up pointing outward in a circle, its gunners ready to fight off enemy infantry with rifles and point-blank artillery fire. One battery has been attacked eight times by Red infantry. Said Lieut. Charles Skinner: "This isn't like the last war in Europe, where the front lines were in front of your guns. Here, the front lines are all around you."

The 105-and the 155-mm. howitzers are still the standard weapons of U.S. division artillery. The high-velocity 90-mm. tank gun is tops at lashing shells point-blank into enemy-held caves or tunnels. Some infantrymen swear by the twin 40-mm. antiaircraft gun, mounted on a halftrack. Said one colonel: "They're just ideal for those Korean hills--they go over them like a vacuum cleaner."

Doughfeet Right Behind. In early Korea actions, infantrymen were slow in following up artillery concentrations on enemy positions. Since artillery fire often does little more than stun a well-dug-in enemy, this delay lost them the advantages of artillery preparation. Eighth Army veterans now close in confidently behind the last bursts, calmly watch their own "outgoing" stuff land 100 yards away from them.

In few wars has there been such close contact and cooperation between artillery and infantry. Major General David Barr, back in Washington last week after leading the 7th Division in Korea, gave a field commander's encomium: "The atmosphere in Korea is that there is nothing the artillery won't or can't do; no place the artillery won't or can't go."

*Artillery operating behind enemy lines is a well-supported U.S. military tradition. Major General "Jeb" Stuart, the peerless Confederate cavalry leader, invariably took Major John Pelham's horse artillery battery with him on raids deep into Union territory.

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