Word: 2nd
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...Horseshoe. The same was true of Wonju, in the frigid uplands of central Korea. For 16 days, the U.S. 2nd Division (in which a French and a Dutch battalion had been incorporated) had held a horseshoe salient just south of the town, from which the allied force could rake it with artillery. Early last week, Eighth Army Headquarters announced that the salient was being given up in order to shorten and straighten the allied line. The withdrawal was carried out under artillery and air protection which prevented enemy interference...
Trappers Trapped. Three North Korean divisions - the 2nd, 9th and 31st -had moved around the right flank of the Wonju salient and were trying desperately last week to encircle the 2nd Division. Yongwol, a tungsten-mining town on the headwaters of the Han, changed hands even oftener than Wonju, and was razed by allied planes dropping napalm. R.O.K. units reported themselves "locked in combat" with the North Koreans, and 10,000 U.S. troops rushed to the scene. Finally, instead of trapping the Americans, the North Koreans were trapped themselves. Allied infantry, tanks, artillery and planes began chopping them down...
This week the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, which had taken the worst beating of any U.S. division in Red China's November offensive, had its third commander in six weeks. The new boss: Major General Clark Ruffner, 48, former chief of staff to the X Corps' Major General Edward Almond...
...December Major General Laurence Keiser, who had commanded the 2nd Division since its arrival in Korea last summer, was relieved of his command. The official reason was that Keiser had pneumonia. Keiser was replaced by red-faced, outspoken Major General Robert B. ("Uncle Bob") McClure, a top staff man in the Pacific war who had once remarked that the "smell of a dead Jap is perfume to my nostrils...
Last week Eighth Army headquarters announced that General McClure had been relieved. One of General Ruffner's first orders directed the 2nd Division's officers to shave their beards. Three weeks ago McClure had ordered them to grow beards. His idea was to make identification at night easier. Explained a division spokesman: "Under the McClure scheme, some sections were to grow chin-whiskers, Some the Lincoln style, and headquarters men full beards. I rather think it was a morale gesture, toogiving the men something to talk about...