U.S. Units Trapped

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 August 1950, Page 5

U.S. Units Trapped

TOKIO, This Day (Rec 1 p.m.).— United States marines and infantry last night fought their way slowly forward west of Masan in an attempt to reach the United States units trapped by flank attacks. The Northerners, dug in on commanding hill slopes above the G.l’s, poured in machine-gun and mortar fire on both the trapped units and the Americans trying to rescue them. The isolated Americans were cut off early when about 1000 Communists, hemmed in by the American advance westwards, swooped down on a road linking the forward units. Rescue Prevented In daylight the Koreans sniped at the Americans. After dark they attempted several times to break through the forward outposts, throwing incendiary grenades at vehicles before retreating in confusion. By nightfall the road to the forward position had still not been opened and the trapped men still had not been rescued. . Forward of the Communist roadblock, advance groups of the 35th Infantry Regiment were dug in along the east bank of the Nam river, just east of the road and rail centre of Chinju. . „ ~ , Further south elements of the r irst United States Marine Division halted their advance on Chinju from the Sachon area. The Americans claimed that they had destroyed, or at least crippled, a Communist force which had been assembling near Chinju and threatening to strike at Pusan. It was claimed that the Commun-

ists now fighting in the rear of the forward United States units would soon be either killed or captured or forced to attempt to withdraw back through the American lines because of lack of supply. Lull Indicated Apart from this behind-the-lines clearing up action, there were indications that there would be a lull for several days on the southern front. This was supported by a United States announcement that the objective of the push forward had been achieved. A staff officer said: “Our fight now is not to move any further forward in this sector, but to hold and consolidate what we have. This is not going to be easy. In fact, it may be even harder than the move forward itself.”