Evening star., 1950-08-04

IldAShNo thAou6h WIG otACCto Va
advised it received the picture
operating in Peiping and other
Francisco, spotted II armed Ko-
reans on a huge hill overlooking
Marine position. The Koreans
had two radios and they were
scattered in seven different posi-
tionS.
The Koreans may have been
observers detailed to watch a
main supply route. 1t is visible
from their hilltop position from
which flashing lights were OBJ
served at night.
A larger group of Marines ar
rived shortly at spots where Capt.
Houghton's patrol had sighted
the Koreans only to find they had
left.
o. H. P. King, another Associ-
ated Press correspondent. report
ed that Maj. Gen. John E.
Church said his oath Division men
oldest veterans of the Korean
war-would stand on the Naktong
River line.
Best Defense Position.
The line is the best defensive
position the Americans have
found. And the generals an
nouncement was the best news his
men have had after a dishearten-
ing series of Withdrawals.
I'VE have no place to go but
to the hills" Gen. Church said.
I'VE can do better here. So We'll
stay here"
Two North Korean Communist
patrols tried to cross the river
before daylight. American rifle
men fired on them and they dis
appeared.
In daylight a small group of
Communists moved to the rivers
west bank with carts. Air strikes
were called for.
AS the American planes swooped
in the Reds ran from the carts.
The airmen strafed the river
banks as we'll as the carts, and
some Communists out into
under the Strafing fire.
Eight Navy CorsairS bombed
and rocketed villages west of the
river. Smoke from the burning
villages columned into the sun
set.
South Koreans Fall Back.
While the battle ragged in the
south against the hinterland of
Pusan, South Korean troops pro-
tecting the northern flank pulled
back to tn evillage of Plan, some
13 miles from Hamchang. They
took up positions along the Max
tong's near side.
Red patrols probed without let
up at the South Korean lines and
kept American outposts farther
south busy along the river front.
United States 9th Army head
quarters in Korea said all Red
patrols that had managed to cross
the Naktong River in the initial
probing had been wiped out or
The first reported combat ef-
forts Of the newly arrived United
States Marines in Korea were
Straflng strikes by Leatherneck
carrier borne planes in support of
American ground troops in the
south around Wonbung.
Battle Shifted to Offensive.
A Tokyo headquarters spokes-
man said the battle now was
shifting from the defensive to
the offensive for the United Ma
tions troops.
On the east coast, naval units
pounded Communist troop con-
centrationS 10 miles north OF
Republican-held Yongdok, 80
miles north of Pusan. One United
Nations warship slipped near the
western shores of the peninsula
in the Yellow Sea to knock out
a gun position on Onjin PENN
sula, northwest of Seoul, the long
abandoned Southern capital.
Allied planes poured rockets,
bombs and machinegun bullets
into enemy troops wherever they
could find them. They machine
gunned and rocketed the far
south naval base of Mokpo and
the coastal cities of Sunchon and
Yosu.
1t. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer.
Far East Air Force commander,
said planes of his command
knocked out IL Red locomotives
and damaged seven others in
scattered raids.