Waiting for the Whistle

On the fogbound eastern mountains last week, Syngman Rhee's South Korean troops fought bitterly for ground they would only have to give up under an armistice. Things were not that way along U.S. sectors of the line. U.S. soldiers bathed in the streams within view and rifle-shot of the enemy, and heard Chinese loudspeakers warn them: "Keep your heads down; the war is almost over."

Communist forces have grabbed more than a dozen outposts from the U.N. since truce talks resumed in earnest five weeks ago. When U.S. troops were attacked they defended their positions well, but eventually withdrew, and launched few counterattacks. One U.S. commander explained why. Said he: "How would I ever explain it if I lost 50 men trying to take back an outpost the day the armistice was signed?"

If fighting were to continue, the Eighth Army's Main Line of Resistance would be menaced by the new Red gains. But under an armistice, the U.N. will have lost little in the last weeks' battles, since the Eighth Army's projected truce line-- based on the best defensive lines in all sectors--is well behind present positions anyway.

Along the actual fighting line, G.I.s hunched over radios, hungry for news, but preserved an outward skepticism. In a regimental operations bunker, a private who enthused over the prospects was answered by a sleepy-eyed sergeant. "Do you think," said the sergeant, "that you could finish sweeping the floor before the whole damn war is over?" The big question on most lips was how the cease-fire would affect rotation. Said one G.I.: "If peace comes, somebody is going to let us sit here for 18 months. That's a long time to spend on your duff in peacetime."

According to the truce terms, both sides are to pull back two kilometers (about 1 1/4 miles) within 72 hours of an armistice. Defenses have been in preparation for more than a year by units when in reserve. At headquarters, a top Eighth Army officer explained: "We'll just pick up our stoves and take the glass windows out of the bunkers on the front and move them back a ways. All the new line needs then is a bunch of G.I.s keeping house in it." Despite these paper plans at headquarters, regimental commanders at the front were still in the dark about what to do when a cease-fire came. One of them guessed that it would take at least two months to put the new line in sound shape. Some of them hated the idea of pulling off the front lines. Said Colonel Hugh Harris, Eighth Army operations officer: "We've put a hell of a lot of money into that line to build it up ... It's like leaving the Panama Canal behind."

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