Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1951-03-09
Allied Troops
Smash Ahead
In BigPush
Thousands Slain In
Surprise Advance
Of U. N. Forces
BY oIen Clements

TOKYO, MARCH 9 (AP) -
United Nations troops harled back
vicious communist counterattacks
and ground steadily ahead today
along a 70-mile front in the third
day of their big new Korean Of
fensive.
Red casualties were heavy and
still rising.
Allied troops killed or wounded
1000 Reds in the first two days
of the great northward drive in
central Korea one of the big
gest Allied assaults of the war
The total does not include the
toll taken Thursday night when
Red counterattacks were crushed
Allied losses have not been an
nounced. They were said to be
relatively light.
The Reds smashed at five AL
lied divisions in their night time
effort to check the grinding UN
advance.
TOKYO, MARCH 6 = (AP)-
Allied troops smashed ahead in
Korea today along a 70-mile front
in the second day of their new
offensive.
It was one of the biggest United
Nations attacks of the war.
A u. S. Eighth Army briefing
officer said II, ,039 Chineses and
north Korean Reds were killed
or wounded Wednesday on the
opening day of the assault
The sudden U.N. push surprised
Reds on the western end of the
fighting front east of Seoul.
There the US. 25th Division
crossed the Han River with tanks
at three points. They inflicted s.
$50 Communist casualties.
Field dispatches said Allied
losses were amazingly low.
Front line officers said the
surprise attack caught the Reds
f1atfooted as they were preparing
an attack of their own
Allied warplanes bombed, STRAIT
ed and rocketed Communist
forces ahead of the advancing
United Nations ground troops. BY
noon Thursday, the US. Fifth Air
Force had hurled more than 800
sorties against the Reds in clear
weather.
Stiffest ground fighting was re-
ported near Hoengsong In the
middle of the central front. Brit
ish commonwealth troops there
ran into stubborn Chinese defense
of two hills.
At the eastern end of the line,
South Korean troops recovered
: from a setback of three miles in
east central Korea Wednesday
and have regained some of the
ground they lost to an estimated
1880 attacking North Koreans
On the western front, the u. S.
25th Division surged across the
Han River in assault boats and
planted three bridgeheads east
of Red-held Seoul.
The crossings ranged from IL
to IS miles east of Seoul, near
the point where the Pukhan
River from the north flows into
the great Han River.
Engineers who bridged the
s Han came under Red mortar fire
but Allied artillery gave them
cover. When the job was done, in
fantrylnen surged across the river
s and drove two to three miles
northward in pursuit of fleeing
Il Reds.
The Reds attempted no coun-
ter attack during the night. Op
Thursday morning the 25th Di-
vision troops jumped off again
to extend their triple bridgehead.
While the assault crossings were
under way, South Korean First
Division troops made fake cross
maneuver northwest of Seoul, APP
parently expecting the main AL
lied crossing there, the Reds
fought back with tank fire from
the north bank of the Han. The
diversion kept the Red tanks busy
in that sector while the 25th Di-
vision crossed the river east of
s. Seoul.
Seven American Divisions were
in the line on the Allied drive to
the north : the 25th, oath,
/ Seventh, First Cavalry. Third,
Second and the First Marines.
In addition, British. Turkish,
Greek, French, Australian, South
Korean and New Zealand troops
drove forward in the new push.
The shock of the Allied blow
numbered the Reds on the West
ern front and netted the Eighth
! Army its biggest one-day prisoner
bag in a long while 260. OF the
total. 213 were captured in the
25th Divisions across-the-Han
assault.
IN HOSPITAL
Miss Lucille Butcher. 81 South
( -..4r..1I TAxa4xxcs L1nc-