AMERICANS MAKE AMPHIBIOUS LANDING NORTH OF PUSAN, KOREA

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 July 1950, Page 5

AMERICANS MAKE AMPHIBIOUS LANDING NORTH OF PUSAN, KOREA

Relief For Hard-Pressed Troops Falling Back

TOKIO, July 19 (Recd. 7.5 p.m.)— United States troops made an amphibious landing at Pohang. 60 miles north of Pusan, yesterday. The landing was made in front of an enemy line in the area where North Korean guerrillas have been active, but not a shot was fired in opposition. The operation was intended to bring relief to the hardpressed depleted American forces.

The troops landed from a convoy protected by American war-1 ships covered by an air umbrella 'of British and United States fighters. Advance parties went into the invasion area one week before the landing and the site was carefully selected to ensure a minimum of opposition. No enemy ships or planes were lighted during the landing operation. Diversionary gunfire was reported distance up the coast by naval (units supporting the landing. The Americans very quickly moved Inland five to seven miles, building Up a strong force in front of the North Koreans’ advance in that sector. The commanding general told correspondents: “Our job is to kill North Korean troops until the United Nations has won victory in Korea!" An Associated Press correspondent Isays the landing was made with the careful planning and precision perfected during the Pacific war. Many of the officers served in amphibious campaigns against the Japanese. The seaborne movement gave the battered American and South Korean defenders a more balanced front behind which a build-up of men and materials could be made more safely It would also relieve other port and dock areas already overtaxed by a growing stockpile of American supplies arriving around the clock. Vessels standing offshore under haval protection, discharged their landing craft and little boats churned through calm water to the beach under a hot sun. , , The New York “Herald-Tribune s Correspondent said: “It w’as fortunate the landing was unopposed, for the scratch team hastily assembled by Rear-Admiral James Doyle was clearly in no condition for a sharply contested beachhead. Plans were necessarily haphazard. Only two of the ships assembled by Rear-Admiral Doyle were adequately prepared for amphibious landings. The others had to rely on untrained boat crews. Under the circumstances it was miraculous that all but a few units managed to rendezvous on Monday oft the Japanese coast and steam toward Korea. Surprised North Koreans TOKIO, July 19 (Rec. 6 pm).— Reuter’s correspondent at a forward American command post in Korea reports that he saw seven surprised and subdued North Korean prisoners led in by an American patrol they encountred along the road northwest of Taejon. Their surprise stemmed from the fact their commanding officer told them to keep going until they reached Taejon, which, according to him, was in North Korean hands. The prisoners said they were not professional soldiers. Thy had been rounded up and sent on a mission which landed them in American hands. One prisoner said he had no political interest in the war, and did not expect to do any fighting. He merely was going tc Taejon to do a job as instructed by the officers who drafted him.