REF ID:A42901 

l'.HB \v A.SHIN GT ON POS.T. 

Tueatlay, Deeemboer 11, 1950 

The · Washhtgto~ Merry-Go-Round _' - ~ 'II. 

' .... ' ~ . I 

'PiiP~r,' CUrtaill _For Chines~ Reqs· · :·· By.pr,~ P,earso,n ~~~~ outspoken wi;i. •11 ti.. fro"-' "Tt .,.. ""'"e"• ... ~• T ···-- ',_· __ _ 

Bellho~B at the.Waldorf-Astoria 

Hote~i"'New.York, au World W,.r 

· II :vets,. are sore as a boll at the 

· big liquor· parties thrown by the 

Chinese Communists in the 

Waldorf Tower. · One bellhop, on being sum- moned to the 

Communist 

suite', was asked to brlri.g 

up the newi--. 

paper1. He 

·loaded himself , , with the New 

' Pearson ' York· T i m e,.s, 

New' York Mirror and the Herald 

Tribune and rapped at the door. 

'Taklng·one look at the'newspapers,' the bland Chinese reprl-

' manded: "No, no, not these papers. 

The Daily Worker." · · The bellhop, though seething in- . side, just . as • blandly replied: "SorTy, sir, we can't get .it here. 

You'll have to'. make your. own ar-· rBDl!!Ments.~'' ' 

, ~rapp~4.Marinei, .. ,. '· Worried.~· Pentagon"· ,strategists 

' will, only ~alk about!it privately, · , but lone· or .the most' serious mill- : tary errors of any•'recent·war wa1 1 responsible for trapping the First 

f Marl,ne-Divislon and the two Sev-

'. enth . Infantry regiments · which · made their 'painful,; gallant '.llght 

out of'Hagaru. ' · · .~ ~· ~ . ' . 

The tragic fact ' is that -they never would haV. · been trapped 

but ~or three u¢orgivable·miUtary 

errors.· ~/ " · ::; .. 1 • 

·'If. The ' first' error ':was lack· of 

liaison •between-Lieut. Gen. Wal• 

ton Walker, · commander of the 

Eight!i 'Army:· andr Maj. Gen. Edward ,Almond,·; commander ·of the 

Tenth: Corps.',.• For soma strange 

reason, knpwn. only to MacArthur, 

these two .. generals had no battle 

communication wJth each other, 

but·had'.to talk·to each other by 

way , of'. 'l'okyo · some :,700 miles 

away. ·~·-, ' ~:: ·· .' 

' Second, both generals had their men racinr for the Manchu?ian 

border 'to see which could get 1 their first.' Reassured by'· MacArthur's" Intelligence that they' had • nothing to fear from the Chinese, 

i the troops fanned out, instead. of 

' driving forward in. a strong, com- ; pact spearhead.· Furthermore, the 

; Tenth· Corps under ,General ·Al· • mond, went racing ·off toward the 

north, Instead of stlcldn1 close to : the Eighth·Army. · ·,. · ·~< '·\ ' 

J1,F.i:ench bbassador ·Henri <Bon- . net,~.actin1':qn; IQ.truct'tonsi from 

I his' government,t warned'r. United I States" olBcials· 'againit::Otlii11 ad- . vance"before;'1f started.' Specifically, :he: :warndd that there.. were· 700 i mnes'.'of\'Chinese :border':toward 

which 1:; Mac.Aftbur. l' wa~ headed, ,alopgf?1hlc~.1\Jl.ie~~hlne~y- were conc.e.ntrated.":• .~<: \ \:•r·." 1 . ·· · 4,,~e .Bri~h·•l!o wlll'!led'''-alnst ;adva~ng ·!..into :. this ";.area, · ~d 

thei:e•lwarning1'. were relayed'>,to 

IMacArtbur by Washington~·· · : ••l.Furthermore,~~e' Joint ,Chiefs of 

Staff '.cable~!'a•:reminder,'to- Mac- ·~er'al~tmondt"had 

no lHlttle ~ communications with • GeneraJ.1.Walker.•·Ma~hur sent 

'backi'a ..:cui:t 'reply that· he 'knlM' 

1 }'/hat he ·was dojng. ~. · · ' · · : ·: Result· .was :\that · the Chinese 

wisely hit'1

at the vacuum between 

the <~~t1;1;':~;,f,nd .._th~t1,!!l\th Corps.,,.,.·)····,.:~· 1 • ,, 

, . ' 'During this cqnfusion, General 

Almond tried -to send his 'Marines 

to close the gap between him and 

the Eighth' :Army. ' But ·after a brief, 'bloody ·battle; they' were 

forced to. ~:)la~. ~t ~e.~~si~ Reservoir. • ~~ ·.d .,. · '·• ., . .. i. 

• Then for some·reason,'so far not 

e11plained,· the 'Marines··were allowed' t~ remahi at the• reservoir , for four days; giving tl!e Chinese .an 1 opportunity to ,. swarm - all I . ~11-nd them and cut o_f/ . .,escape. • · . NOTE-During this period, · MacArthur-had' time to· send five 

messages toiAmerlcaq -newspap~r.,s 

explaining •'why::'he. wasp1ot to 

blame in Korea •. · ' : .1 , .... '