795.00/9–2950: Telegram
The Secretary of Defense (Marshall) to the Commander in Chief, Far East (MacArthur)
flash
JCS 92985. From JCS to personal for Genl of the Army Douglas MacArthur, SecDef sends. For his eyes only. Reference present report of supposed announcement by Eighth Army that ROK Divisions would halt on 38th parallel for regrouping: We want you to feel unhampered tactically and strategically to proceed north of 38th parallel. Announcement above referred to may precipitate embarrassment in UN where evident desire is not to be confronted with necessity of a vote on passage of 38th parallel, rather to find you have found it militarily necessary to do so.1
- On September 29, the JCS, after clearance on the highest governmental level, approved General MacArthur’s plan—submitted on the preceding day—for military operations north of the 38th parallel. The plan called for an attack by the 8th Army along the western coastal corridor to capture Pyongyang and for amphibious landings by the Xth Corps at Wonsan on the east coast of North Korea. (Record of the Actions Taken by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Relative to the United Nations Operations in Korea From 25 June 1950 to 11 April 1951 Prepared by Them for the Senate Armed Forces [sic] and Foreign Relations Committees. Dated 30 April 1951 (Secret) p. 44.)↩