The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1953-02-12
HAL
BOYLE
SAYS

III =
NEW YORK R-America's mill
tary' leaders are more divided to-
day than they have been at any
time since the Civil War.
Thtere is war among American
generals over whether a general
war would follow in the Far East
if certain steps are taken to enc
the Korean stalemate.
Gen. James A. Van Fleet, retir,
ing Eighth Army commander, has
fueled the controversy anew by his
statement that an about Allied
offensive in Korea is certain Of
success. ....
It will serve to bolster the views
of Army leaders who long have
wanted just such an offensive, ad,
mirals who want a sea blockade
of Red China, and airmen who
yearn to bomb the enemy's Man,
churian supply bases.
What should be done in Korea?
The open split at high command
levels is reflected in threatened
rift among the u. N. Allies and
divided American public.
Who is right? The followers of
Gen. Douglas Macarthur, or those
who agree with Gen. Omar Nelson
Bradley that some proposed steps
to end the Korean War carry too
great a risk of plunging us in a
much vaster war with the wrong
people at the wrong time in the
wrong place?
Suppose the China coast is
blockaded, the Manchurian bases
bombed, and another great grind
ing "end-the-war" ground offensive
launched.
viii it end the war? Or will it
only draw into Korean another
million.man Chinese army, plus a
million-man Russian army sent in
by the Soviet government to pro-
tect its Siberian frontier from con-
tact with the West? Many people
overlook the fact that North Korea
borders Siberia as well as Man
churia.
Some American military leaders
believe Russia is bluffing and will
back down. Some feel that even
if Russia is prepared to march
her own troops into the Korean
conflict, now is the time to find
out.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have
held up till now to- the view that
no step risking extension of the
Korean action is worth taking.
The British, still Americas most
powerful ally, have chung steadily
to this position, too. They fear
any move that might provoke
third world war.
To them the situation in Korea
is only a limited war, one of
series Of border wars the empire
has fought for centuries. They
want to keep it limited. And they
feel tina America, as the new
world policeman, had better adjust
itself TO the thought that border
war is often preferable to the risk
of general war.
Border warfare is actually moth
ing new to the American Army. II
fought that type of action for a
century in its Indian skirmishes.
But to the American Army of
today, modelled on the bIitzkrieg
principle, the idea of a long border
war fought on static line is
anathema.
Ii believes in war of move
ment based on the -four Fs" it
stresses in training-."fin 'em, fix
'em, fight 'em and finish EN-"
The trouble is that mobility is
limited by the poor roads and
mountainous landscape of Korea.
To crash through the 2o-to-30-mile
deep defensive line the enemy is
reported to have built there viii
almost certainly REQUIRE heavy
casualties. And the South Korean
army Is not large enough yet to |
pay that price alone.
What is the answer in Korea?
It is the choice between continued
caution and gradually increasing |
pressure--or a gamble on a mas
sive knockout punch. that may end
the war. widen it, or plunge it |
deeper into stalemate.
The quandary Of the civilian Isl
which Of the generals is right?