BATTLE OF NAKTONG BULGE PROVES TWO IMPORTANT THINGS

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 August 1950, Page 5

BATTLE OF NAKTONG BULGE PROVES TWO IMPORTANT THINGS

This Is An Infantryman's War And The North Korean Is No Superman

TOKIO, Aug. 20 (Recd. 11pm).— The three-day Battle of the Naktong) Bulge—one of the first decisive United j Nations victories in Korea—has also' been the first engagement in whichl the Americans have beaten the North ] - Koreans on his own mountain ground. The Naktong bulge battle proves he thesis that this is an infantryman’s war. It has proved that the nly way to drive back the Commuists is to flush them out of the hills w the advance moves forward. U as disproved a growing belief that :e North Korean is almost a supertn hill fighter. Probably the most important single esult of the battle of Naktong bulge is the confidence gained by American

troops in the knowledge that they can ; go after and beat the Communists on j their own ground. i The victory came when infantry 11 and Marines together stormed the last I ridge overlooking the Naktong. Marine carrier-based Corsair planes had :! stra cd the ridge with rockets and .'canron before the assault. Hundreds of Communists died on the slopes of the ridge and hundreds more were 1 drowned or killed as they tried to I swim ac.yss the river. .[ The battle for the Naktong Bulge ■ was believed to have virtually eliminlated the North Korean 4th. division, [one of the Communists crack units, which had fought its way down from 1 the 38th. parallel.