CHINESE LOSS AND GAIN ENERAL VAN FLEET'S spirited pursuit of
the broken Chinese armies is gradually being slowed down, partly by resistance from their North Korean allies. Fairly large numbers of prisoners have been taken, but they can be counted, it seems, in thousands rather than in tens of thousands, and though the Chinese forces who launched their last offensive are demoralised and in confusion, they have not been altogether liquidated. There are also considerable bodies of fresh troops who may be committed against the Eighth Army, which is now well north of the 38th Parallel along the whole of its front. When an army is defeated its administration always breaks down to a certain extent, but the testimony of prisoners (of whom a high pro- portion have no idea what the war is about) indicates that the Chinese supply position is completely chaotic in some sectors. It is impossible to resist the belief that only a remarkable mixture of stupidity and conceit at the highest level in Peking can explain China's continued pursuit of A policy of intervention in Korea. She has already sacrificed many hundreds of thousands of her soldiers in an adventure which (it must now be plain to her) can only bring her further and even heavier losses. Mao Tse-tung may well be reluctant to face the domestic problems of resettling the surviving veterans of so disastrous a campaign in a country where, partly as a result of the war, discontent is breeding more and more repression (and, of course, vice versa). But the only sane course open to him is—and has been for some time—to withdraw his " volunteers " from Korea. In some situa- tions there is a lot to be said for not knowing when you are beaten ; but this is not one of them.
