U.N. DEFENCES HOLD FIRM

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26319, 13 January 1951, Page 7

U.N. DEFENCES HOLD FIRM

COMMUNIST ASSAULTS RESISTED TOKYO, Jan. 12. American, French, and Dutch troops yesterday held back the onslaught ot massed Chinese and North Koreans, who are trying to thrust down the centre of Korea. Men of a United Nations task force which badly thrust bacK into the communications town ot Wonju on Wednesday and then left the shattered town to defend snow-covered hill positions to the south, beat off attacks from three sides yesterday. Communists massed north and west of Wonju moved menacingly down the highways running into the key communications centre. Other Communists slipped past the eastern arm of the defence arc down a 10-mile wide corridor towards Tanyang, only eight miles from the vital bastion of Taegu. The front-line strength of the Communists now in action is unknown, but General MacArthur has estimated that 250,000 Chinese are poised on the 70-mile line extending from north of Wonju south-west through Osan, about 25 miles south of Seoul. The Communist drive down the mountainous spine of Korea is aimed at the main withdrawal route for the Bth Army. United States sth Air Force fighters yesterday claimed more than 1400 killed or wounded when they caught enemy troops in the open. The most successful strike was in the Suwon area where 100 aircraft killed or wounded about 1100 Communists.