Enemy’s Advance Across River

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26187, 10 August 1950, Page 5

Enemy’s Advance Across River

[From DENIS WARNER, Special N.Z.P.A. Correspondent in Korea, by arrangement with the Melbourne “Herald”] (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) TOKYO, August 8. From early on Saturday until Monday night North Korean patrols probed the strength and weaknesses of the American and South Korean forces along the Naktong river. For a time it seemed probable that the main effort to cross the river would be made against the battle-tired American 24th Division, but on Monday repeated patrol reports confirmed that the principal attack would be made along the main Seoul-Taegu line of advance, either on the Ist Cavalry or the South Korean front. On Monday afternoon and night the North Koreans massed four divisions on the west bank of the Naktong immediately north of Waegwan, and at dawn to-day (Tuesday) they attacked.

Because of delays in the arrival of air support called for at 6 a.m., a considerable force of North Koreans crossed the river before 8 a.m. when jets and Mustangs attacked and broke up enemy formations wading through the shallow waters of the Naktong.

Two enemy battalions got across unscathed in 45 minutes, and by the time American air power had become coordinated and effective an estimated four battalions plus two platoons had secured possession of a beachhead about two miles long and a mile and a half deep. They were still in possession of this position late on Tuesday. The South Koreans, planning heavy counter-attacks, closed their lines to the north to make additional troops available, and there is a reasonable chance that the North Korean force will be contained, but the night will also provide most useful cover for enemy reinforcements. The South Koreans, as the Northerners well know, are lamentably short of artillery and have no tanks. Thus they will be obliged to depend on the efficiency of their infantry. Build-up for Some Days The build-up of North Korean forces in the general area opposite the Ist Korean Division front went on for several days. Patrols reported as early as last Saturday that the 14th and 15th North Korean Divisions, both weakened by the engagement with the Southerners in the Hamchang area, had begun to assemble near Kumchon. Later they were joined by the full-strength 2nd and 3rd Divisions, but the actual direction of their attack remained concealed. Neither the Americans nor the South Koreans knew whether it would come against the 24th American Division. the Ist Cavalry Division, or the South Koreans. . , But bv midnight on Monday it became obvious that the Northerners intended to hurl their major force against the river somewhere north of Waegwan. A South Korean patrol went into Kumchon on Monday evening and returned with a breathless report of four enemy divisions and masses of equipment moving in a solid front towards the river. The South Korean alert went out hours before dawn, and infantrymen in their foxholes along the riverbank could hear the sound of trucks and tanks moving forward.

River Level Lowered About 5 a.m. the first Northerners came splashing across the river, which appeared to have lowered strangely in the hours between darkness and dawn. _ A colonel commanding a South Korean regiment on the northern flank said the Communists had dammed a major tributary, thus causing a startling fall in the depth of the main A dozen tanks lined the river as the infantry began crossing, firing over open sights among the South Koreans. South Korean artillery replied, but their four 105 mm. guns made little impression on the massing Northerners. After the first waves of enemy infantry had secured a beachhead, the tanks gave up the role of artillery and rolled into the stream. No one could say whether more than one got across —some reports said four —but at least one stuck in the sand and was a target for the air forces all day. Enemy Anti-aircraft Fire For the first time in weeks the Northerners protected their advance with ack-ack. Both 20 mm. and 40 mm. guns peppered the American and Australian strafing planes which swept endlessly down the river valley. Two hours of concentrated air attack caused heavy Communist losses in the river and on the long white stretches of sand through which the narrow stream flows, and put an end to the daylight crossing. . The aircraft thereupon .switched to targets on the riverbanks—and there were plenty. Heavily camouflaged among apple orchards and along roads leading to the river were 20 tanks. Some appeared to be a new type mounting twin guns in the turret. Along 3000 yards of the western bank and back for 15 miles to Kumchon, thousands of enemy infantry dug in against strafing, bombing, and occasionally napalm raids. At noon from a hill observation post on the river and about 2000 yards north of the foremost North Korean positions on the east bank I watched the battle. I went up the hill in awful heat with an American colonel. Together we lay in what shade and cover a newly planted pine tree could offer.

4000 Troops Across The North Koreans had taken two hills, one small and sparsely covered with trees on the edge of the river,'the second rising to about 1500 feet and with more trees. Deep into the valley south of the main ridge the South Korean infantry fought a machine-gun and small-arms battle with the Northerners.

Villagers fled from the tiny mudthatch hamlets of Opyongdong and Manjongdong as the Northerners advanced. They wandered with what possessions they were able to seize after a frenzied warning to join the fearful flood, now more than 2,000,000 strong, who have descended homeless and foodless into the narrow perimeter in the south-east. As they fled they passed South Korean reinforcements packed in trucks and headed for the front and the later afternoon counter-attack. But this was beyond our range of view. All we saw as the sun passed overhead were fires raging down the left bank from the air strikes, long stretches of sand sandwiching the clear, narrow water of the river, and aircraft wheeling, circling, diving, and firing over the whole area of enemy infiltration and preparation. The North Koreans got about 4000 men across the river early to-day and will take a lot of throwing back. If they consolidate their beachhead they will be in a position to seize the Taegu highways at Waegwan and both of which are only 12 air miles from Taegu.