CDKW00272 - Early Reports from the Ground

Through this summary from the Canadian Liaison Mission in January 1951, Ottawa received their first accounts of the war on the ground, and it appears very bloody. According to conversations with General George Stratemeyer of the US Air Force, it was estimated that UN Forces were killing three or four thousand Korean and Chinese communists per day, and Stratemeyer’s aide conveyed “a very graphic account of napalm attacks which he had personally made, ten days ago.” Furthermore, Stratemeyer’s account of the front, especially the aerial front, blows past the 38th parallel and suggested fighting at least to the Yalu River on Chinese borders. However, the Canadian Liaison Mission in Japan did not take this suggestion very seriously. Despite these reports, the Mission tentatively encouraged the RCAF to reach out to the USAF and consider sending a squadron to train on American-style equipment, which the Canadians were planning to change over to in the near future.