Milford chronicle., 1951-03-16
C0NFLICT I'M KOREA
On our soc. the War I'M kOrea

II
On our side, the war in Korea has be-
come 3. new kind of conflict. The classic goal
of warfare is to capture or destroy impOr
tant grOund-cities, terminals, industrial
districts supply dumps, and so reduce the
enemy's power to fight. In the initial stages
of the Korean war, when the UN forces
were opposed by the North Korean forces
only, this was our goal there to great extent.
But it is no longer. We are fighting the Chi
nese, but no one seriously envlslons driving
across the Manchurian border in an attempt
to capture Chinese land. And our planes are
not permitted to fight or bomb over Chinese
territory. Our current plan was clearly and
succinctly stated by General RidgWay, the
able JN ground commander in Korea. 1t IS
not to capture "real estate"-nOSt of which
is of small value now. 1t is, instead, to kill
as many Chinese soldiers as possible with
minimum punishment to ourselves. Ii we
can hit and hold our ground well and coed.
If that becomes too costly, the policy is to
move out, conserving our human resources,
and to hat again another day and in another
place. The fWe will stand here to the last
man" idea is out. Our own casualties IN
Korea have been very heaVy-they have
passed the $4,000 mark, the great majority
among the ground forces. In the early days
of the war the only troops available were Oc-
Cupation forces from Japan, many with little
or no experience in combat They took ter
rife losses. 1t was also necessary to commit
units piece-meal, in pitifully small detach-
ments, and this too swelled the grim toll of
killed, injured and missing in action. Many
of the replacementS and reinfOrcementS from
the United States were half-trained peace
time soldiers, and they also lost heavily. As
the casualty list shows, Korea is a far cry
from a police action to those involved in it.
1t is major war.
But our losses have diminished to a re-
markable degree in late months-due to the
RidgWay strategy, to the hard-Won battle
experience of the troops, and to the great
flood of improved equipment we have sent to
Korea. And the Chinese casualties are in-
credibly high. In its issue of March End, u.
S. News & World Report said that China's
best armies, tOtaling 900, 900 men, were NOV
ed to Manchuria for use in Korea, and that
about half that force has been committed
Of the last, one out of three has become a
casualty-for a total of $4,000. That means,
the magazine pointed out, that if the pres
ent casualty rate continues, China will have
lost two out of three men, tOtaling 100000,
of those she committed to Korea. And the
best observers believe that no nation, no mat
ter how vast her reserves of nanpOWer, can
go on indefinitely losing trained men at that
terrible rate. Moreover, American ground,
air and sea forces seem to have been remark
ably successful in preventing the movement
of adequate supplies to the Chinese Army in
Korea. Gasoline, transport, heavy ammuni-
tlOn and WeapOns-eVerythlng is short. We,
on the other hand have built up our tirepOwer
to an Overwhelming degree. We are staying
on in Korea, then, because we can infict
enormous losses on the enemy while taking
relatively small losses ourselves. Some top
military men believe that the Chinese-who
are said to be disappointed by the small
amount of aid given them by RUssia-Will
eventually pull out of Korea and let the war
die If that happens, it will be the first real
defeat world communism has had to take.
<Gg0NG
FOR Al STRONGER AMERICA
A unique contest ITO develop in young
people deeper devotion to America and a
greater understanding of the democratic
way of life" was announced recently in
Washington. The idea of the contesteis for
WoTnen's clubs throughout the country to
work with young people on community i'm
provement planning and projects, thus pre-
pairing youngsters for leadership and COM
munity service. Sponsored by the General
Federation of WOmen's Clubs in cOOnera-
tion with a store system, the contest, called
Build Freedom With Youth" should be a
positive contribution toward the strengthen
ing Of America. Helping our youth to un-
derstand the worth of democracy is vital to
the future of freedom everywhere Part of
the might Of Communist Russia lies in the
hremlins thorough system of youth indoc-
trlnatiOn Our children must not grow to
adultn0od indifferent to the system of gov
eTnment which guarantees their freedom Tt
IS significant that the same chain store COM
pany which is the eo-sponsor Of this pro-
gram ln youth education also sponsored a
General Federation Of WOmen's Clubs COM