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-Can't Hold Line At 38th-Must Continue« . . % % . ' . • - « ■ ..% \Maneuver—(Jin(Editor’s note: General Douglas MacArthur does not. foresee, 1 tinder present circumstances, an end to hostilities in Korea at the 38th parallel. The Supreme .Commander made this clear in a cabled interview with Hugh Baillie, president of the United Press.)By HUGH BAILLIE . .President of the United Press (World copyright)NEW YORK (UP)—General Douglas MacArthur said Thursday United Nations trobps must continue their war . of maneuver in Korea because. there are no natural defenses near the 38th parallel to hold against the Chinese Communists.He said the number of United Nations troops it would take to hold the parallel would be sufficient to drive the Chinese Communists back across the Yalu river boundary within Manchuria and to hold the line there. rTHE SUPREME COMMANDER told me this in response to j a single question. I asked him by cable, ‘How many troops would be required to hold the 38th parallel inviolate?” . tThe text of General Mac Arthur’s cable to Baillie follows: .“As I have on several occasions publicly pointed out conch- , tions .under which we are conducting military operations in * Korea do not favor engaging in positional warfare on any line ( across the peninsula. . V i“SPECIFICALLY WITH reference to the. 38th parallel there { are no natural defense features anywhere near its immediate i proximity. The terrain is such that to establish a conventional j defense system in reasonable depth would require such a sizeable force that if we had it'and could logistically maintain it We would 1 be able to drive the Chinese Communists back across; the Yalu, ( hold that river as our future main line* of defense and proceed to the accomplishment of our mission in the unification of Korea.“UNDER THE REALITIES existing however, we can. and j will, unless the situation is radically altered, continue' our cam-.; paign of maneuver as the best means to neutralize the military disadvantages under which we fight and keep the enemy engaged where it best serves our own military purposes. .“Such point of engagement will of necessity be a fluctuating variable dependent upon the shifting relative strengths of the forces committed and will constantly move up or down.“THE ? PROBLEM INVOLVED requires much more fundamental decisions than are within iny authority or responsibility to make as the military commander—decisions which must not ignore the heavy cost in Allied blood which a protracted and I indecisive campaign would entail.”
Newspaper Details
Pacific Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, Tôkyô, JP
Fri, Mar 16, 1951
Page 1
Full Page
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Darrell A.
USA 13 Oct 2023
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