Show ECONOMIC highlights 0 the tragedy in korea has demonstrated 1 rated a fact that many of us including highly placed military men had tended to forget it ithac hat therease there ther eare are two kinds of war up to the time that north korea sent her troops pouring across I 1 the parallel we had bc apen en thinking in terms of the big intercontinental war this if it came was to be a on an un I 1 scale and of an unprecedented type it was to be a war of amazing machines which would wreak death and destruction or on a huge scale and at vast distances A button would be pushed and an atom bomb or a guided missile would be on its way toward the target it would be a war of science and techno lechno cology some thought it might be a war in chic a decision would te be without any ground action at all and without opposing coming face to face no one can say that mat these concepts are wrong they might hold true in that big war the I 1 world now fears but it clear that I 1 they do not apply in korea in korea we have a war in which the traditional relatively simple weapons are all important the man with the gun in his hand must do the fighting it is the most dif difficult ficula and dismal sort of war imaginable great troop movements ts of the type that fook I 1 place in europe in the last war are impossible everything is based upon the small unit the 1 battalion the company the platoon even the squad the importance of the individual soldier is supreme if one man falls fails disaster to many may follow in this the war is comparable to the jungle operations against the J japanese during the island hopping period that preceded the empires surrender we are fighting an enemy whose habits and thoughts are incomprehensible to the western mind the cruel fanaticism of the orient finds its perfect reflection in the korean soldier human life is worthless death but and incident no matter how many are killed more come on north krean casualties have been infinitely greater than ours but the offensives have been pushed in spite of them the koreans have proven them feives extraordinarily adept at infiltration and at guerilla activities this the first few week was one of the worst problems faced by the americans the enemy seemed to be everywhere and foe and friend looked alike the korean soldier accepts the greatest of hardships with apparent equanimity he has known little but privation all his life he can sleep anywhere A handfuls hand fulT of the coarsest food sustains him supply as we know it in the american america ca army is ni nt to him worst of all it is clear we have not planned for this war our eyes were whereon els formosi formosa iran europe even as our minds were considering the other kind of war and sc EG in every way we were completely surprised the lesson we have learned is a grim one we must be prepared for any kind of war and for war almost anywhere we have never faced a harder task |