A new strategy for Korea?

A few months after the Korean Armistice Agreement (27 July 1953), which put an end to the Korean War and established the actual border at the 38th parallel, the Philippines Armed Forces Journal reprinted an article from Military Review by Brigadier General Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall, an important journalist appointed chief combat historian of the U.S. Army during WWII and the Korean War.

The strongly anti-communist article took up against Communist China, seen as the primary and real enemy (at least in the Korean War), not the Soviet Union. For Marshall, the Chinese knew what was at stake: they had a clear strategy, having constantly outmatched the US-lead coalition. The Chinese knew their objective was not the prevention of killing, but victory, and Marshall believed the US had conformed with a stalemate without ever committing enough resources. Marshall advocated for “a new era of firmness” and enough budget to prepare for the next communist aggression in Asia.

The reprint also included several pictures of the Filipino troops, fighting, praying, and enjoying the visit of Filipino stars such as Pablo Virtuoso, Cora Madrid, and Rumelia Flores, thanks to which we can imagine how their life was during the armistice negotiations.

“A new strategy for Korea”, Philippines Armed Forces Journal, Vol. 6, num. 6, November 1953, pp. 5-11. In Open Access Repository @ UPD.

Burdett, Thomas F.  “Marshall, Samuel Lyman Atwood”, Handbook of Texas Online, accessed October 24, 2022, 

Deocampo, Nick. 2017. Film: American Influences on Philippine Cinema. Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Jordan, Kelly C (2002). "Right for the Wrong Reasons: S. L. A. Marshall and the Ratio of Fire in Korea". Military History. 66 (1): 135–162.