BATTLE OF KOREA: Massive Envelopment

On the first day of the new Allied drive for the Yalu, Douglas MacArthur issued a confident communiqué: "The United Nations massive compression envelopment in North Korea against the new Red armies operating there is now approaching its decisive effort ... If successful, this should for all practical purposes end the war, restore peace and unity to Korea, enable the prompt withdrawal of United Nations military forces, and permit the complete assumption by Korea of full sovereignty and international equality. It is that for which we fight."

The occasion seemed important enough to merit another MacArthur visit to the front. On a bitterly cold but sunny morning, three hours after his divisions jumped off, MacArthur's Constellation, the SCAP, landed on Sinanju's bumpy airfield. Welcomed by a cluster of his top brass, the general climbed into a jeep and pulled the hood of his pile-lined parka over his head. In the back seat rode the Eighth Army's Lieut. General Walton Walker and I

Corps' Major General Frank Milburn. MacArthur asked Milburn how cold it was. "About 15°," the I Corps commander guessed.

The party visited I Corps headquarters, where MacArthur was briefed on tactical details of the offensive; he also toured I and IX Corps sectors and visited 24th Division headquarters.

To the 24th Division's Major General John Church, MacArthur said that he was recommending the 24th for a presidential citation, and added: "I have already promised wives and mothers that the boys of the 24th Division will be back by Christmas. Don't make me a liar. Get to the Yalu and I will relieve you."

Skipping lunch, MacArthur boarded the SCAP for an air reconnaissance along the border. The SCAP took MacArthur over the Communist stronghold at Sinuiju, the Suiho power site, and the whole length of the lower Yalu to Hyesanjin, where the 7th Division had reached the river. At Hyesanjin, the SCAP swooped down and waggled its wings in salute. Then it headed southeast for Tokyo.