War: Doomed City

There were 300,000 people in Pyongyang (an equal number had gone north with the Communists in October). When it became known last week that the Allies would not defend the city, refugees began streaming south. To prevent them from blocking troop movements on the roads, the Allies barred two Army bridges across the Taedong River. But some refugees climbed down a levee in the shadow of a quiet Buddhist temple, and crawled across a shattered old vehicular bridge. Others waded across. They were pitiful reflections of defeat—wretched, fear-stricken and numbed with cold.

Dull explosions rocked the city as Allied commanders blew up...

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