WAR IN KOREA: Housewarming

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WAR IN KOREA Housewarming

General James A. Van Fleet reported last week that his Eighth Army was in top form and that it could stop and throw back any Communist offensive. His language was notably defensive. He did not say that his army could—or would—mount a major offensive of its own. In the field, the ground fighting was sharper than usual, but there was no sign of a major onslaught by either side. Mark Clark's air campaign, against a handful of North Korean targets, hammered ahead.

At Panmunjom, U.N. and Communist negotiators met for the first time in the durable wooden conference house built by the Reds. For the sixth straight week, the negotiators declared a recess. But there was no recess in bloodletting: latest Defense Department figures listed 116,655 U.S. casualties since the start of the war, including 20,506 battle deaths, 1,613 known captured, 9,441 missing.