STRATEGY: It Hurts

In spite of what General MacArthur called a “stalemate” in Korea (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), the Communists are being hurt more than the allies. In three days last week the allies claimed 20,000 enemy casualties. From Taipeh, Formosa, whose intelligence on the Chinese mainland has proved excellent, came a report that Mao Tse-tung had decided to send 150,000 men of his Second Field Army, plus 60,000 “irregulars,” to replace losses in Korea. Commanding the new troops was one of Red China’s top generals, Liu Po-cheng, famed as the “One-Eyed Dragon.”

The Pentagon estimated the proportion of Communist-to-U.N. casualties for the last six weeks at 20 to i. Said the Eighth Army’s Matt Ridgway: “The allied ground, sea, and air forces have let a lot of air out of the inflated balloon of the Chinese military establishments. Meanwhile, in the degree to which we deflate her military reputation, we influence the thinking of millions & millions of people in Asia. Eventually it must react on the political actions of their government. This would be of tremendous importance.”