Show New flew Laurels for a Great General I On a Brilliant Operation in Korea It looks now as if General MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthurs MacArthur's MacArthurs MacArthur's MacAr- MacAr thurs thur's great gamble for victory in Korea has succeeded Of course we still must add the if that this is true provided neither Soviet Russia nor Red China jump into the rapidly rapidly rapidly rap rap- idly waning Korean war with their own armed forces All AIl bets would be off under such circumstances But barring that eventuality a military military military mili mili- tary maneuver which General Carl Spaatz retired World War Var n IT air force leader described as a brilliant performance performance performance perform perform- ance has turned what only a few weeks ago looked uncomfortably like a United Nations defeat into very close to final victory The Korean capital city of Seoul which is the great transportation center of the country has been captured Street fighting continues in the city but MacArthur MacArthur MacArthur Mac- Mac Arthur has announced Seoul's liberation liberation liberation libera tion and for all effective purposes the Communists have lost control of this vital ital strategic center To the southward the hitting hard-hitting First U U. S. S cavalry division has exploded out of the old beachhead area driven completely through defending North Korean forces and raced more than a hundred miles north to link up with United Nations troops which landed at less than two weeks ago By that junction the bulk of the North Korean forces are bottled up in southwestern Korea cut off from their I bases of supply to the north With U. U N. N naval units firmly in control of Korean coastal waters these forces are arc doomed except for possible guerilla activity They can fight on for a time but sooner or later they must either die in futile warfare or surrender News stories say that more than reds are caught in this trap If that is true there cannot be many North Korean military units left outside the trap It is difficult to sec see how they can carry carryon on any very effective organized warfare in the area still sUll left in Communist Communist Communist hands north of the Seoul trap line That this run end-run was a magnificent gamble is attested by Harold Lavine Newsweek Ne correspondent who was the first newsman to land at He said the marines with whom he was didn't like the operation a bit The marines told me he wrote that General MacArthur himself in discussing the operation kept calling it a calculated risk It was a gamble But everything worked out just the way the general figured it would and the payoff was a tremendous one The marines ended up singing Macs Mac's praises And so we think should the American Ameri Ameri- can people and the United Nations It was a brilliant piece of work by a great general who doesn't need any new laurels on his brow but who has certainly certain certain- ly earned the right to put a few more of those fancy flowers on his military cap |