Evening star., 1952-11-13
South Koreans
Declare Reds
Fired Gas Shells
Americans Emphasize
Lack of Confirmation.
Begin Quick Inquiry
BY the Associated Press

CENTRAL FRONT. Korea. Fri
day, Nov. 14.-South Korean
troops, driven from Sniper Ridge
early today, charged that Chinese
Communist artillery fired gas
shells into their positions.
The report was without further
confirmation.
Members of a Korean company
on the ridge were quoted by a
Korean division headquarters as
saying that after the shells landed
they could not breath.
American officers with the
South Koreans began an immedi-
| ate investigation. They empha-
sized that there was no confirma-
tion and that the report should
be treated with extreme caution.
They pointed out there had
been numerous past instances in
the Korean war in which phos-
lphorous or smoke shells, or even
fumes from high explosive shells.
have been mistaken for gas by
soldiers.
Special Team Investigates.
A special team of United States
chemical warfare officers was or
dered to the front within an hour
to make technical investigation.
Survivors of the ridge action
were being rushed to a medical
center for examination and ques-
| tioning.
Screaming Chinese infantrymen
threw the allies from Pinpoint Hill
on Sniper Ridge in a furious night
battle at close quarters.
Elements of two Chinese Red
battalions, possibly 1000 men. over
ran the central front height for
the 14th time in a month of bat
tie, field dispatches said They
struck behind heavy artillery fire.
South Korean defenders once
more were pushed south to lower
heights on shell-torn Sniper Ridge.
Heavy fighting still was in progress
there.
Associated Press War Corre-
Ispondent John Randolph, on the
central front, said the Reds hit
allied positions on Pinpoint Hill
with 500 to $50 men at 11:lO pm.
Attack Made From Tunnels.
Five hours earlier Allied artil.
lery routed about 750 Reds adj
vancing on Sniper from the east.
+. Pifipoint is the Allies northern
most stgonghold on Sniper.
Republic of Korea infantrymen
had spent, the day mopping up
Red remnants after recapturing
the hill early Wednesday.
/ But they failed to dislodge Chi
nese entrenched on the Yoke, a
maze of tunnels and caves from
which the Communists struck in
last nights attack.
Earlier in the day, American
warplanes poured flaming jellied
gasoline, bombs and machine-gun
fire on entrenched Reds in the
Sniper Ridge-Triangle Hill area.
Patrol Skirmishes Elsewhere.
Elsewhere along the 155-mile
battleline. action today was con-
fined to patrol skirmishes.
The weather was the best today
in three days, but cloud cover
still shielded most of North Korea
from really effective air attacks.
Propeller-driven Mustangs and
Shooting Star jets bombed troop
concentrations in the Suan area.
Fighter bombers few close-sup-
port mission along the battlelines.
B-26 bombers reported destruc-
ton of 65 trucks on North Korean
roads last night.
Last night IL B-29 Superforts
dumped 100 tons of bombs on a
rail bridge at Pyongyang. the
North Korean capital. and on bar
racks and storage buildings near
Kunu, about SO miles north Of
Pyongyang on the east coast.
Winds approaching gale veloc-
ity grounded all Navy carrier
planes off the coast of Korea yes
terday. Heavy seas hampered
warships firing at coastal targets.