Evening star., 1951-09-06
A Bigger Korean War

1t may be. as some people continue to insist
that the Communists are still anxious to work
out an armiStice with the United Nations in
Korea But the situation over there lends prac-
tically no support to such thesis. Instead, if
signs mean anything, there is every reason to
believe that the enemy may strike at any mo-
ment in way that could expand the war into
a war much bigger and more dangerous than the
one that has been fought thus far
To begin with the mere fact that the Com
muniStS have deliberately stalled the Kaesong
truce talks by inventing incidents" and accusing
the U. N of "provocations" is evidence of a bad
faith maneuver to keep those talks from getting
anywhere, at least for the time being. The
maneuver has been described by some observers
as having been ordered by the Kremlin to give
the Soviet delegation bargaining or bludgeon-
ing point at the current San Francisco Confer
ence. Whatever its purpose, however, the one
thing we can be sure of is that the enemy has
resorted to it with anything but honorable peace
making intentions in mind.
Further during the past two months, the
enemy has been building up his strength on
large scale. Indeed, according to General Ridg-
ways United Nations headquarters in Tokyo the
Chinese and North Korean Reds today have some
40 ref1tted and reSuppled divisions in the battle
front area, plus an additional 80 in reServe--a
total of about 900 men. In addition, confirm
ing earlier rurnors along the same line the U. N.
command has officially announced that these
troops are now backed up in Korea by large
numbers" of specialist and technical personnel
contributed by the Soviet satellite nations of
Europe, including East Germany" ny"-personnel
that may total upward of 5,000 More important
still, the Communists, besides adding to their
armor and artillery, have organized "puppet
air force" made up of over 1000 fighters, light
bomberS and planes designed for ground attack.
General Ridgway's headquarters has drawn
the obvious conclusion from all of these build-up
preparations: They strongly suggest the possi-
bility of forthcoming air and ground offensive
by the enemy"-perhaps the biggest and most
determined he has launched to date. But when
and if such an offensive comes. our American
and allied U. N. forces will be ready for it. At
any rate, General Van Fleet, commander of the
9th Army has emphasized that his troops have
not been idle during the past several weeks that
they have been undergoing intensive training,
that their morale is high, that their frepower
may we'll be deadler than ever, and that they
are prepared to smash whatever is thrown against
them. In fact, they have demonstrated as much
in their limited August operations that inflicted
at least $4,000 casualties on the Reds-a toll
heavy enough in General Van Fleets judgment,
to cast serious doubt on the enemy's ability to
attack in the near future on the key east central
and central fronts
Nevertheless, the signs in Korea still point
to the possibility, if not the probability that the
Communists may strike very soon with greater
force than ever before, and not merely with
heavy air support, but conceivably even with
volunteer" submarines. Such development
could change the whole nature of the war, COM
pelling the United Nations-as matter of mill
tary necessity and simple sanity-to put into
effect at least some of General MacArthurs
proposals, including particularly the proposal to
attack the privileged sanctuary" of Manchuria,
and possibly certain coastal areas of China proper
Whether the world is going to see this kind