Evening star., 1950-07-23
u. 5. Counfer-Driye
In Korea May Come
In Mid-FaII or Spring
CONTINUED From First Page.) )

mounted the same 75-millimeter
guns as the T-34s but the North
Korean tanks had better armor
and guns Of higher velocity.
There were a few Of the medi-
ums in Japan but they had not
been used by the occupation forces
in Japan and were not ready. One
reason that they had not been
used was that Japanese bridges
generally are too light to carry
their weight.
Bridges Are Problem.
Gen. Macarthur will face the
same bridge problem in Korea and
therefore considerable amount of
bridge building will be necessary.
Since there are very few engineer
ing units capable of such construc-
ton in the Far East at present the
build-up also will call for the
transfer of such organizations with
equipment from this country.
Some of these will be National
Guard units.
The super -bazookas, under op-
timum conditions, can get through
ii inches of armor compared with
only four inches for the older
2.36 inch bazooka which the
American and South Korean
forces had at the beginning. The
rocket launcher fires 3.5 inch
projectile with a head designed
to bore into arnor and then ex-
plode. Officials are satisfied with
its performance, which was under
going service tests at the start
of hostilities, and with the pro-
duction rate.
This new weapon emerged from
the drawing board stage about
three years ago. An increasing
number of them are being flown
to Korea where they are now
getting their service tests in
battle.
With these weapons, more land
mines also are headed for the
Korean front. They are used by
a retreating or holding force to
delay an ,enemy's advance and
since there have been few reports
that they have been used to any
great extent the spokesman was
questioned about this factor.
Two Reasons Given.
He explained that there are two
probable reasons for this lack of
the use of mines:
/. They are heavy, bulky OBJ
jectS which couldn't be flown into
Korea in large quantities and had
to move by sea transport.
2. A mine field must be pror
tected to some degree by the
troops it guards. Otherwise the
enemy steals out at night and
digs them up-and this is what
the North Koreans have done in
many instances, the spokesman
declared. This action indicates
that the Reds are trained
since the removal of mines is
delicate and dangerous task.
The next major holding point
and quite possibly the line in
tended as the final position be-
yond which there should be no
retreats along the ridges about
80 miles below the Kun River.
During the last week the Reds
punched throug the Kun River
defenses and surged forward and
took the temporary Southern
capital at Taejon.
An Army briefing officer said
yesterday that the loss of Taejon
was unfortunate but he would not |
call it a defeat.
ANY time we have to Withdraw
we don't like it, but as far as
Taejon is concerned, it was just |
another step in a delaying ac-
tion," he said.
Held Longer Than Expected.
Actually, the high military
spokesman said, the Americans
held on the Kun River line up to
a week longer than military plan
nerS had expected would be pos
sible.
The spokesman also emphasized
that at no time, from the hour
when the Communists jumped
over the 38th parallel to date, has
there been any split by the high
military planners here. Plans
have changed from time to time,
he said. because the Korean stu
alton and the original estimates
Of what could be done have
changed.
At the outset, there was agree
ment that naval and air support
would be sufficient but it soon be-
came obvious that this was not
enough and the decision was
made to send in a division from
the four in Japan under Gen
MacArthur's command.
This initial ground aid plan, like
the air-naval plan, had to be re-
vised. Elements of two other divi-