Evening star., 1951-01-21
Confident Gen. Collins
Reports U. n. Forces
Are Ready for Enemy
By John A. Giles

Gen. j. Lawton Collins, exud-
ing confidence which has been
notably missing among top de-
fense officials since the Chinese
Communist attack in Korea. as
serted bluntly yesterday that "if
the enemy attacks in any strength
they will be severely punished"
now.
Without prior notice to news
men, Defense Secretary Marshall
brought the Army Chief of Staff
to the regular Pentagon brieflng
session 80 that you can hear
where he went. what he saw and
what his reactions were" during
a three-day visit to the Korean
battle front earlier last week.
Gen. Collins showed no hesi-
fancy in declaring:
"I found our troops in very
good shape: their morale was far
better than I expected it to be.
The Army has plenty Of
fight left in It,"
Change Called Fantastic"
1t was evident that the Defense
Department wanted this new. con-
fident note made known. A top
ranking officer, questioned pri-
vately about this after the brief
ing, commented that the change
in attitude during the past few
days had been fantastic"
Evidently contributing to the
new attitude were two signif1-
cant points made by Gen. Collins:
l. The enemy on the western
end of the front "has shown no
disposition in. the last week or
two or to push south from the
Han River"
- 2. A thorough study of the en-
tire eastern section of North Korea
by the Air Force Chief of Staff,
Gen. Vandenberg, made by air.
plane, helicopter and finally on a
personal trip with ground patrol
unit. showed no sign of enemv
forces in that Snow-clad country
side. Gen. Vandenberg made the
Far Eastern trip with Gen. Collins.
Silent on Macarthur Talks.
The two chiefs also conferred
at length with Gen. Macarthur in
Tokyo, but Gen. Collins made no
mention of those talks, confining
himself entirely to his visit to
the battle zone.
He said that while he was there
1--WE flew up to Yonju in South
Central Korea and Gen. Ridgway
(8th Army commander) gave
orders to fill the gaps where enemy
troops have been inf1ltrating be-
hind our lines to join guerilla
bands"
The general said that immedi-
ate results were not expected but
I'VE think we will be able to break
up the bands"
U. N. forces all along the front, |
he reported, presently are better
disposed to resist an attack" than
they have been for sometime.
Good for Tanks.
The western end of the front, |
In the area south of Seoul and
Suwon where the Reds have their
greatest concentration of forces,
is the best tank country in Korea
as long as the. ground remains
frozen, he said. He said that in
addition to the tanks, U. N. artil-
lery is ready to go to work.
Gen. Collins said.tnat Gen. VAN
denberg few in a plane to- the
dam area in Northern Korea and
covered most of the eastern area
while flying at very low altitude.
Gen. Vandenberg came back
from the flight and said he saw
no indication at all of any enemy
traffic having moved over the
roads during recent days. Then
the air chief got in a helicopter
and covered areas back of the
enemy lines at attitudes of only
a few hundred feet and, said Gen.
Collins, still couldn't find a sign
of the enemy" Gen. Vandenberg
then went out with a ground pa
troll to scout the area near the
U. N. lines and still found no
Communists.
He added. however, that the
area is wooded, making it a little
more difficult to observe troop
movements.
Gen. Collins said that he visited
all American troop areas, some