BATTLE OF KOREA: Victory for the Bootleggers

G.I.s of the U.S. 45th Infantry Division had an apt nickname for the ROK outfit that relieved them in the line last month: "Van Fleet's Bootleg Division." Bootleg it was, for while Washington had dithered, trying to make up its mind to expand the South Korean army from ten to twelve divisions, doughty General James A. Van Fleet had quietly fleshed out about nine new ROK battalions by rounding up every Korean draftee he could lay his hands on. To blood his raw battalions, Van Fleet fed them one by one into front-line ROK divisions; meanwhile, he levied on HQ...

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