CRUCIAL RATTLE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 241, 29 July 1950, Page 5

CRUCIAL RATTLE

NORTH FORCES ATTACK ALLIES HOLD FIRM (N.Z.P. A.—Copyright) (Rec. 10.50 a.m.) TOKIO, This Day. North Korean forces, estimated at 90,000 men, are attacking along the blazing Korean battlefront this morning (Saturday) in an effort to push the defenders back to the sea. Two American divisions and their South Korean allies are reported to be holding firm against the enemy’s assault. This battle, which is now building up to a climax, could result in the most important decision to date in the five-weeks-old war. One report from the front said that the North Koreans drove a wedge in American positions, between the American Ist Cavalry Division and the 25th Infantry Division, but there is no confirmation of this report. The North Koreans began their assault in the pre-dawn darkness yesterday. Their tank-led blows followed up incessant overnight artillery barrages, that pounded unceasingly at the American and South Korean lines. The Communist attack featured the same familiar tactics of infiltration and lunges) at soft points in the American lines, followed by the tremendous pressure of overwhelming numbers of infantry. The main force of the enemy assault is concentrated on the central front around Yongdong, 90 miles north-east of the vital allied' supply port of Pusan. Nox-th Korean columns made flanking attacks, south-east and northeast of Yongdong, which was recently abandoned by the Americans, who are now astride the railway road leading through Kunchon to Pusan. The American Ist Cavalry Division, south-east of Yongdong, bore the brunt of the enemy attack, and some of its units were forced to yield ground, in what General MacArthur called “a savage fight.” These units, however, were holding their positions last night.

Three North Korean Divisions are reported to be battering against the Ist Cavalry and 25th Infantry Division, in the central sector, and two other enemy divisions are reported to be on the flanks of the main North Korean battering-ram. North Tank Captured Triumphant South Koreans to-day captured a Russian tank on the Hamchang front, and brought its five begrimed crew back to headquarters as prisoners. The tankmen were all North Koreans. The tank, which was a T 34 medium type, was the spearhead of 10 which assaulted the‘Southern positions, when it was disabled. The South Koreans lured its frightened occupants out with an undertaking of good treatment. After the tank was baulked by a mined bridge, the South Koreans attacked it with a home-made “Holotov cocktail,” consisting of a bundle of grenades and dynamite. When this succeeded in only jolting the tank, the South Koreans peppered it with rounds from 37-millimetre-anti-tank guns and rockets from light bazookas. These only bounced off. This concentration of fire, however, so disconcerted the unhappy North Koreans inside that they tried to back up the tank and floundered off the road into a rice paddy, where they became stuck. The South Koreans then swarmed on to the tank and demanded that the crew come out. One South Korean officer finally fired through a hole in the turret, and then inserted his arm and made a handshaking gesture, while he persuaded the North Korean crew to surrender. At last the battered, bewildered occupants came out. They said they were forced into the war by the Communists.