Reds’ Central Korea Stand May Collapse
UN Troops Smash Ahead on 22-Mile Battlefront
The Florence Morning News, Florence, S.C., Monday October 15, 1951.
U S. EIGHTH ARMY HEADQUARTERS, KOREA, Monday, Oct. 15, 1951 – (AP) – Allied infantry smashed ahead another mile and a half early today against what appeared to be possible Chinese Red collapse in Central Korea.
It was the third straight day that three Allied divisions attacked along a 22-mile front below Kumsong, a Communist supply and staging depot some 35 miles north of Parallel 38.
Kumsong is well protected by mountains.
AP photographer Bob Schulz reported from the front that American and South Korean foot soldiers made gains of 3,000 yards in the first four hours of their attack Monday.
Schulz said that the gains of almost a mile and a half were made “against an astonishing lack of Chinese resistance.”
In the assaulting forces were troops of the U. S. 24th Division, and the South Korean Second and Sixth Divisions.
The lack of intense infantry fighting in this sector contrasted sharply with the recent raging battles on the Western and Eastern fronts. There Chinese and Korean Reds contested every yard.
AP photographer Robert H. Schulz reported from the Central front that Sunday’s gains on the approaches to Kumsong brought to nearly three miles the ground taken in the three-day push. Kumsong is a Red supply and staging depot area well protected by mountains some 30 miles north of Parallel 38.
The Allied Force – the U. S. 24th Division and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Second and Sixth Divisions – has seized nineteen hills in the advance, two of the most important Sunday. One is 2,000 feet high.
Schulz reported the most noteworthy aspect of the advance was the “only moderate” resistance from what are apparently unusually poor quality Chinese troops.
Whether these teen-age and middle-age scrapings from the Chinese military barrel are the main defense of the Kumsong sector or whether they are only a forward screening forte remains to be seen.
It was possible, however, that they are only advance troops.
Action on both the Eastern and Western Front was at a slower tempo Sunday.
In the “Heartbreak Ridge” area, South Korean troops made only a partial advance against one hilltop position in the face of intense Red fire. They seized another height northwest of Yancgu (?) after hand-to-hand combat.
AP correspondent Stan Carter said Dutch troops also secured a hill against light to moderate opposition. South Koreans backed by American tanks, captured another height just east of Heartbreak Ridge.
In the West, AP correspondent George McArthur reported artillery and patrol action. Eighteen Communist tanks were seen in the area north of Yonchon. They did not approach Allied positions.
Other Headlines on October 15, 1951.
Allied Plane Strafed Neutral Zone,
Gen. Ridgway Says UN, Communist Officers Hold 3-Hour Meeting
Other Headlines on October 15, 1951.