Evening star., 1950-09-09

They have not been heard from
in the last "a hours.
SOUTHWESTERN FRONT.
On the Southwestern front a
full Red Korean regiment drove
outnumbered American troops off
Battle Mountain. miles west of
burned-out Hannah, in a see-saw
battle that ragged all today.
According to a dispatch from
Associated Press Correspondent
Stan Swinton the Reds at dusk
apparently held a firm hold on
the bloody, bald-topped peak
dominating the Southwestern
front.
United States 25th Division ar
tillery hurled an estimated 1000
shells in a futile effort to help
American troops stay on top.
Fourteen Allied planes raked the
peak with 500-pound bombs,
jellied gasoline fire bombs and
rockets.
The Communists grabbed the
hill in a predawn attack. They
moved up the precipitious slopes
under heavy mortar and artil-
lery barrage.
3 Battalions Thrown In.
The Reds threw all three bat
talions of their elite 14th Infan-
try Regiment into the assault.
They drove a crack Amer
lean battalion commanded by Maj
George H. Dechow, Madison, Wis.
and Washington. from the Shrap-
nel-littered peak, where the Yanks
had been dug in behind mines
and barbed wire.
The Americans counterattacked,
stormed up to the peak and then
were driven back by the Reds who
swarmed through stunted pine
trees below the bald top.
At nightfall the Reds had sue
ceeded in consolidating their po-
sition.
North Korean losses in once
again scaling Battle Mountain
were heavy. But their greatest
losses of the day occurred in fight
ing swirling near the mountain.
The United States 25th Infan-
try Division killed $500 Reds there.
That boosted Communist losses
on the southwestern front for the
week to well above $4,000 men
a division and a half-and raised
official estimates of Red losses on
all fronts to $1,000 troops in eight
days-about 18 per cent of their
10000 force.
NAKTONG RIVER FRONT.
American fighter -bombers, re-
Stunning near normal ground sup
port strikes after two rainy days,
drove Korean Reds from fox
holes in the Naktong bulge today,
according to dispatches from AS
sociated Press Correspondents
Don Huth and Left Erickson.
The f1ushed-out Reds had dug
in on a ridge opposite the center
of the United States I'd Division
front northwest of Yongsan. The
divisions north and south sectors
were comparatively quiet but were
troubled by infiltration attempts.
A regimental commander said
the Reds fled west toward the
Naktong river under a triple-blas
air strike. American pilots at
tackled with anti-personnel bombs
strafed and struck again with
jellied gasoline fire bombs.
The strike began about 2 pm
when the weather cleared for the
first time in So hours.
Artillery Speeds Reds.
The regimental commander said
the air strikes flushed out twice
as many Reds as I thought were
in there" The Reds then were
hurried along by American artil-
lery.
It was along these critical Sec
tors that 1t. Gen. Walton H
Walker disclosed that the Com
munists came close to succeeding
in their drive toward Pusan last
Sunday. PuSan is the all-im-
portant United Nations supply
port on the Korean peninsula S
southeast tip. It is only IS miles
from the extreme southern front
Gen. Walker, commander of the
United States 9th Army-includ-
ing all u. N. ground forces in
Korea, told correspondents that
the situation looked bad Sunday
his "own worst day." That was
during the Red offensive which
exploded on the southern front at
midnight, August 81.
| While heavy fighting progressed
on the Naktong front today. the
Communists farther north con-
tinued their pressure toward the
communications hub of Taegu--
in the United States 1st Cavalry
Division sector.
i Eight miles northwest of Taegu
a Red attack along the so-callee
Bowling Alley"-a paved high.
way-was reported contained.
The Communists appeared to bt
/ trying to drive a wedge between
the 1st Cavalry and the South
Koreans on the Americans right
| flank.
LANDING ON WEST COAST.
South Korean Marines landed
| todou on an island at the mouth