North Koreans Attack 30-Mite American Line In Korea

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 September 1950, Page 5

North Koreans Attack 30-Mite American Line In Korea

TOKIO, Sept. 3 (Reed. 7.25 p.m.)—North Koreans attacked again on the south coast front just before dawn today, and exerting heavy pressure, penetrate' l Amerinnn 30-miln line nt several points. The Communists brought ui fresh reserves for the assault t( reinforce remnants of two clivi sions which had been fighting ir this area since Thursday night Tanks and Yak fighters supportec the Communist infantry. The mos't serious penetration was ii the northern sector near where thi Nam and Naktong Rivers meet. f two-hour artillery and mortar bar rage preceded the attack in the Ha man sector, where Communists infll trated behind th e town. The Americans are counter-attack ing all along the line this morning and the combined air forces are ou in record numbers. Yesterday the Americans battle' their way back into the blazing vil Lage of Yongsan after hand-to-han( fighting with Communist suicidi squads. The Communists occupie' Yongsan for a few hours on Frida; night in a furious drive across tin Naktong River, but American combaengineers brought them-to a halt in : small pass just east of the village The Communists were thrown bacl and American tanks rumbled inti Yongsan through streets littered witl dead Communists. The tanks roare' through a pall of smoke past heav; machine-guns on wheels abandonee by North Koreans. The tanks fanne' out north along the line of the roa( leading to Changnyong. Six hundred yards beyond Yongsai an American column ran into a Com munis't tank lying in k graveyard Letting the first American tanl through, the Communist tank scorec direct hits on the second before it was knocked out by American bazookt teams. With this threat eliminate' the American column, its flanks pro tected by infantry, rumbled througl dust to the north. South of Yongsan other America forces also consolidated themselvf and the village became the hard cor Of American resistance in the soutl ern sector of the 2nd Division’s fron' On the Masan front bitter fightin raged on the flanks of the hard press ed 25th United States infantry div! sion yesterday as five Communist r< giments attempted to batter their wa through to the city of Masan. In tn centre of the division’s line the An-

ericans counter-attacked on Friday night and retook what was left of the battered town of Haman and swept on to high ground about 1000yds to the west. Th e heaviest fighting raged on the flanks where the Communists attempted to get through on the two main roads converging on Masan. North of Haman a Communist column managed to get into the town of Komanni, where the ChungammlMasan road meets the northern end of the road to Haman. On the division's southern flunk Americans were also fighting desperately to hold the junction of the southern end of the Haman road. Fighting flared up again in the Chindongni area. A communique issued today says exceptionally high enemy casualties are reported by the United Nations forces in the south-west sector. Despite these losses the enemy made little or no gains. The communique added: "In other sectors of this area friendly forces regained approximately the positions held prior to Communist attacks on Friday. Further to the north, on the western front, the enemy is reported to be consolidating his positions. Friendly forces continue to advance against slight to heavy enemy resist, ance in the northern sectors of the front lines. Reports indicate that there has been a general enemy withdrawal in the north-eastern sector of from 500 to 1000 yards. ’ One Reuter correspondent says it is a paradox of the war in Korea that the smaller the Communists squeeze the United Nations bridgehead the harder they find it to attack, and the more difficult to feed their troops. The allies are now defending a square about 50 miles each way. The Communists, with long lines of communication, are under a tremendous nonstop pounding by United Nations airpower, and with their supporting industrial rear areas being wiped off the map, must live off the land as much as they can. The more concentrated they get the less easy is it for them to find enough food to go round. Air force planes, flying night and day, flew 717 sorties in 24 hours—a record. Troops, marshalling yards, bridges and convoys were attacked. Four United Nations planes were lost in the day’s operations.