Evening star., 1950-07-22
GIs Reveal How Roof Fell In
InHouse-to House 7oejon Fight
City Turned Into Miniature MdniIo';
Americans Trudge Miles to Escape

withdrawing Thursday afternoon,
had to fight their way back
through miles of roads command
ed by snipers armed with auto
matte weapons. One account said
the road was covered for 6 miles
out of Taejon. almost to the next
American positions.
American soldiers came out by
truck and by jeep. The wounded
were carried on tanks. Many
trudged on foot through the
mountains.
One convoy of about 20 trucks
and a number of jeeps slipped
out on side road and was pinned
down by small-farms fire. Others
drove through town at breakneck
speed with orders to stop for moth
ing, not even the wounded.
IT was in such a column that
Wilson Fielder of Time Magazine
was riding when he repeatedly was
struck by machine-gun fire and
fell from the vehicle.
The Communists tried to draw
their net as tightly as possible
around the provincial capital,
once prosperous city of 10000.
When their tanks crashed into
the center of town and raced past
the American command post, they
headed for crossroads to cut off
retreat. It was here that Mai.
Gen. William F. Dean-still miss
ing-waS seen directing bazooka
squad against the armored ve-
hicles.
Reds Set Up Road Blocks.
Other Communists set up road
blocks of machine guns. One of
the main roads out of town was
blocked by a burning American
ammunition truck. Another was
choked with a flanking column of
Red soldiers.
At the last minute one group
of American jeeps sped through
a railroad overpasS which then
was dynamited, blocking the road
and temporarily cutting off those
still in the town.
The roof fell in suddenly.
Soldiers describe it that way when
a battle on a perimeter some dis
tance away quickly moves like a
hungry monster and surrounds
you.
The enemy was everywhere. He
was sniping from shuttered houses
and he popped out of alleyways
with a gun in his hand. He was
in tanks that slipped by American
artillery and bazooka men and
crashed into town. .
Became House to- House Battle.
In the entrapment this turned
into house-to-house battling, per-
haps the most extensive battle of
this kind for American troops
since they took Manila, room by
room, in 1945. Nobody could keep
track Of the whole battle as it
moved through the dirt streets of
the burning town.
There probably is no complete
estimate yet of the total American
survivors. Early in the Ameri-
can campaign a battalion was cut
OF in open country in much the
same way. Most of it returned
maybe most of the 34th Regiment
will get back.
Taejon may stand out as a clas-
sic of this phase of the Korean
campaign. The ferocity of the
battle will make it live. But also.
Associated Press Correspondent
Left Erickson reported from 9th
Army headquarters that this
should be the last time the Amer
leans will have to withdraw be-
fore a numerically superior en-
emy who has run around their
flanks.
Town Not Defensible.
Gen. Macarthur has said Tae-
jon had no particular military
significance. The town itself was
not fully defensible because it
had lost itS Importance as an
American supply center and as
the temporary capital of the South
Korean government.
But the Taejon battle was part
of the American fight for time.
Its loss was anticipated. The
Americans defensively may be
better off in their new hillside
positions The question was: How
long Taejon could be held and
accordingly how long the Red ad-
vance could be delayed.
It lasted longer than many at
the front seemed to expect. And
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