 From Korea, to Germany, from Alaska, to Puerto Rico, all over the world, the men and women of your army are on the alert to defend our nation, you, the American people against aggression. This is The Big Picture. Welcome to The Big Picture, presented by your United States Army. I'm Captain Carl Zimmerman. Today, The Big Picture tells the story of the Army combat team. What happens in one day of war? Fighting in Korea over mountainous country, often in freezing weather, against an enemy far superior in numbers demanded a new combat technique. Well, today The Big Picture shows you how the army met that demand, fighting as a team using firepower against manpower. One more day of war, and the news is lost in a two-line communique from the battlefront. But behind this colorless report is the story of the world's greatest fighting team, the American Army combat team, a tough and mobile assault force which can hit anywhere, anytime. This day of war has not been won by the infantrymen alone, fighting his way across the nameless mountains of Korea, nor by the strategists behind him. For today, America's military answer to war is firepower, teamwork and mobility, a shattering land, sea and air combat machine geared and equipped to do any size job in the shortest time and with the fewest casualties possible. Guns of all caliber laying down a hail of fire. American armies commit vast manpower resources to battle and rely on man's expendability. The American Army fights a war of firepower instead of manpower. Providing that firepower, backed by the finest weapons in the world, is the Army combat team, a combined assault force which relies on the sheer weight of its steel and explosives for its maximum effectiveness. The 8th Army in Korea, called the greatest army the world has ever known, earned that honor fighting the firepower and combat team technique. The Korea, with its snow, mountains, cold and many military problems, has evolved a new concept for waging war. That concept is to have the best weapons providing the biggest volume of firepower and to keep the fighting units flexible and mobile enough to be used quickly and effectively. The combined weapons of the United States Army are superior to those of any other army in the world, the M1 Garand Rifle, basic weapon of the infantrymen. The Browning Automatic Rifle ripping off 500 rounds a minute and providing accurate fire against enemy soldiers. Rocket launchers, better known as bazookas, capable of punching a hole through 9 inches of steel and blasting fortifications, gun emplacements and tanks. Machine guns, the backbone of infantry firepower, light and heavy, able to deliver large volumes of continuous fire. Mortars work horse of the front line, ready to lob shells up and over the enemy's defenses. And the miracle weapon of them all, the rick coil-less rifle, an easy firing weapon packing the punch of an artillery piece. These are the weapons which give the army command of the battlefield. Weapons unequaled in the world for firepower, mobility and accuracy. And backing the infantrymen and those weapons is the rest of the combat team, tanks, artillery and planes of the Air Force. Patrols are set out to find the enemy as preparations for combat begin. Command posts make their reports, enemy bunkers are sighted and the patrol leader refers their position to the artillery. Head is shattered as salvo after salvo saturates the enemy position. From somewhere in the air, the sound of a lone plane is heard and the waiting infantrymen on the ground know that a last minute air reconnaissance is being made. These army observers take to the air in small aircraft to spot targets for artillery and obtain information about the enemy. Carrying no armament of any kind, these grasshoppers daily penetrate far behind enemy lines, gathering intelligence reports. The attack hour approaches and the combat team readies itself. Ton after ton of high explosive pours into the enemy as round after round is fed into the guns. Engines roar into action, drowning out the whine of artillery shells overhead and together the armored infantry unit moves out. The tanks and the infantrymen fight together as a team, making up for each other's shortcomings. Protecting the men on foot, the tanks probe and patrol ahead, ready to defend the team of soldiers at its side. At the same time, the ground troops protect their tank from enemy fire and assist it by directing its gunfire to strategic areas. A telephone connected to the back of the tank welds the separate members into a fighting team. By fire and movement, our army advances. Tanks and machine gun crews lay down a blanket of fire to keep the enemy pinned down, the attacking force pushes forward, killing and routing the enemy and knocking out emplacements. If enemy resistance cannot be broken by the soldier on foot, the tank is there to move ahead and blast the objective with its heavier firepower. Aiding the infantrymen in his dangerous mission are the mortars and the artillery, which bring down a curtain of death just in front of the advancing troops. Directed by their own forward observers, the artillery and mortar units inch their fire slowly forward, wiping out opposition from the path of the tanks and the infantry. As the front line men advance, so the gunners adjust their sights and continue to pour out the bombardment. Supply roads are blocked and reinforcements are sealed off. When difficult terrain makes it impossible for our tanks to fulfill their task and the enemy cannot be flushed from his positions, teamwork in combat again answers the emergency. The word is passed back for tactical air support. Awaiting their call to action are the F-51s and jets, which carry the firepower technique into the air and support the ground forces with pinpoint bombing. Integrated with the ground tank infantry artillery team, these planes add to the combined firepower. They are armed with 650 caliber machine guns and 10 5-inch rockets. The planes also carry napalm and demolition bombs. The pilots receive their final instructions and get up to the minute information on the latest tactical situation. Then the pilots join the combat team. The planes take off for the combat zone to do from the air what cannot be done from the ground. Mustang fighters, veterans of World War II, are still preferred for cover by ground forces because they can remain over the lines longer than the faster jets. With speed and accuracy, they dive on the targets, strafing the enemy, bombing and burning him out. Communication devices, pilots can soften up the enemy within yards of their infantry buddies. One of these devices is the air ground liaison team. Talking directly to the pilots by radio from a jeep, a ground observer helps the planes pinpoint the target. Hand in hand, the ground and air units join in combined attack using teamwork to keep the assault rolling. More than ever before, the Army is today using the air to link its fighting units. The role of the helicopter in combat has far outgrown the expectations of the strategists who first used it and more and more these copters are being used for battle missions. Reinforcements rush to weak points in the line. The wounded are speedily carried to medical aid strapped to the sides of the helicopter. To the men on the line, these copters have become messengers of life or death. Rushing ammunition to cut off units, evacuating the wounded and carrying the fight across impassable terrain, the helicopter strengthened the lifeblood of the fighting man. Assault teams fully armed for battle can hop from mountain to mountain preparing the way for the troops that follow. In warfare today, mobility of firepower is the key to victory. Recognizing this important factor, the Army has made the regimental unit its core in combat. To act quickly in battle, the Army has given the regimental unit its own command and the necessary firepower backing to do any job. These regimental combat teams assigned their own tank and artillery forces have become the backbone of America's fighting army. Instead of an unwieldy army organized for action at divisional or core level, America's fighting force is now split into fast-moving, highly mobile attack teams of regimental strength which have their own supporting artillery and heavy weapons units. In General Ridgway's own words, the new tactical trend is this. We are not interested in real estate. We are interested only in inflicting maximum casualties on the enemy with minimum losses to ourselves. To do this, we must wage a war of maneuver, slashing at the enemy when he withdraws and fighting delaying actions when he attacks. Doing this job is the armored task force team. It's a technical job taking all the resources of science and industry to meet its demands. Observation of the enemy is no longer a soldier looking through field glasses. It's a mathematical process run by soldier scientists. Delicate instruments which see the flash of enemy guns and give their location in terms of a compass reading, making it a matter of seconds before an artillery gun pounds the target into silence or microphones used as listening posts. Cables lead from each microphone and the press of a button gives the army a battery of ears. From the recording of the sound impulses, calculations are made which give the range and direction of the enemy artillery. And in the world of weather, the radioson, an instrument which continuously transmits humidity and pressure readings, is carried aloft by hydrogen-filled balloons. Technicians on the ground listen in to the weather above and forecasts are made. Radar is used to search out enemy mortar shells. When a shell is spotted, it is tracked by radar and its arc of flight revealed. Plotting backwards, a specialist traced the original path of the shell back to the enemy mortar and another target is ready to be destroyed. This is science behind the combat team. Science is also used by the signal corps fighting its war of communication in the thick of combat, stringing telephone lines, snapping battle orders over spluttering hand radios, acting as the army's nerve system, linking the individual efforts into a master plan. However hard they're going, the long tentacles of communication are stretched out. If ground obstacles get too tough for the pole climbers, they lay the wire by plane. If it can't be done the modern way, then they will do it the old way. Sturdy, sure-footed mules often replace the jeep in the rugged country of Korea. Using everything they can, signal corps linemen get the job done. Communication with forward areas not yet linked by permanent lines is effectively established by the use of the pigeon service. In unique situations, pigeons are used on infantry and tank patrols into enemy territory when radio silence must be maintained or when foot messengers would be exposed to heavy enemy fire. Forward command posts also use pigeon carriers to send messages back to corps headquarters. When released, the bird circles high to get its bearings and then sets its course straight for its home loft at corps headquarters. It's another part of the teamwork in combat. The information gets through and a new fire mission begins. Making the advance possible too is the Army Engineer Corps, the builders and wreckers who drill and blast a path through the mountains, boats and bridges. The Army construction workers do their part to keep the fighting machine rolling smoothly, searching for mines and removing their sting. Combat engineers must devise field expedients like the construction of this aerial tramway to conquer the mountains of Korea. Using local labor, a half inch steel cable is hauled to the upper terminus more than 2,000 feet away. At the hilltop, deep holes are drilled into solid rock to provide firm anchorage for the tracked cable. A winch on a two and one half ton truck is used to put the required tension on the cable spanning the gulf. Again improvising, engineers modify a rear wheel of a three quarter ton truck to allow the vehicle's engine to serve as motive power for the traction cables which will raise and lower the sky car. Test runs are carried out and communication is established between the terminals. Then supplies are loaded on the tramway for the first trip along its 2,000 foot cable up to the 500 foot summit. By such methods as these, the transportation time for a difficult journey is reduced from hours to a smooth glide of several minutes. The engineers fulfill another vital function. Further strengthening the combat team, the Army has its airborne assault force, a rugged fighting unit in itself equipped with artillery and heavy weapons. Held in the rear for special assignments, it can hurtle from out of the sky a complete regiment fully armed for combat. Before the paratroopers join the battle, there is equipment to be checked and prepared for the drop. Shoots must be examined and folded with precision. Artillery and other heavy weapons must be lashed to their landing boards. Huge C-119 transports wait to take on their cargo. The equipment they carry is heavy and space counts. Special rollers make it easy to load the heavy equipment onto the waiting planes. And the men are given a final briefing before takeoff. Flashes from the pilot signaling the drop zone has been reached and one by one the men hit the silk followed by their weapons. In three and a half seconds the full load of heavy weapons is out of the plane and quartermaster airborne soldiers jump out after them. After the drop it takes three minutes to unlash a jeep and drive it away and the 105 millimeter howitzer is ready for action in 20 minutes. More and more men arrive quickly reforming and taking up the attack. In this way the Army continues its fight, circumventing fixed enemy defenses and severe natural obstacles. By using parachute drops fighting units cut off from the main fighting body can be kept fully supplied with food and weapons. The airborne combat team is a strong right arm that can stretch anywhere to deliver its Sunday punch. This is teamwork paying off. The Army of today fighting a war of mobility, speed and effectiveness packing more firepower than any other nation in the world. Exchanging fire for flesh. The United States Army Combat Team. That's your Army in action today fighting with firepower and teamwork. Now we'd like you to meet Lieutenant Colonel Robert B. Pridgen of Henderson, North Carolina. Colonel Pridgen recently returned from Korea where he served as a battalion commander for 13 months with the 17th Infantry Regiment of the Army's 7th Division. Colonel Pridgen, you can tell how our Army put this firepower and teamwork into action in Korea. Yes, I sure can call. We have the finest combat team in the world. It really makes our soldiers have confidence in the Army to look around them as they move into the attack, see tanks, infantry, everything we have moving right along with them. Let's talk about our weapons. How did ours compare with the enemies? Well, our weapons are far superior to anything that the enemy has shown us to date. They are faster, they're more easily operated, more easily transportable, more mobile. In fact, that weapon is far superior to anything that the enemy has used. Army aviation over there in Korea, this helicopter and the small plane, they were part of the combat team too, weren't they? Well, yes. Helicopter is really a step in the right direction, I think. We used it in Korea, in my unit primarily, for evacuation. A man may be seriously wounded on a hill. If we had to use a normal litters to take him down, it would take him out of hours. By calling for a helicopter, he's evacuated to safety and to an aid station or hospital in a matter of minutes. Also, they occasionally bring up mail and hot rations to the troops on top of those hills. Certainly, the helicopter was an important part of our combat team in Korea, wasn't it? Yes, I saw that helicopter. I didn't have any experience with it. It's very good. It will transport a squad with equipment to the top of those hills. Whereas, if the squad had to walk, it would take six to ten hours. They can now get that amount of minutes. It takes a good deal of time to get up to the top of the hill over there, doesn't it? Especially when you have to fight your way up. We always call it time. Well, now, let's talk about the methods of fighting. How do our methods compare with the enemy's? Well, the enemy normally attacked at night. He attacked in waves, utilizing masses of troops. The first wave would be armed only with hand grenades. They'd come running up the hill, throwing grenades, screaming, blowing bugles, beating drums. Anything to try and put fear in our people, in the dark, and make them run. They ran right into our machine guns with just to get mowed down, keep coming. It's quite a contrast. We have a good deal more respect for the individual soldier, haven't we, and that's why we use this firepower. That's true. We utilize our firepower a lot of times in place of personnel. Well, all in all, Colonel, how would you say this combat team worked out in Korea? To a great advantage, Carl, due to the nature of the terrain in Korea, we could more effectively employ our weapons and personnel by breaking the units down to smaller combat teams and trying to employ them in a great voice. Thank you, Colonel. You've given us a good picture of how we put this teamwork and firepower onto the battlefield. That's the way we fight in the combat team. Units working together, welding their firepower into a great fighting machine that is your army today. Thank you, Colonel Bridgen, for being with us. Next week on Our Big Picture, we'll tell you about the Army's citizen soldier. We'll talk about the information and education program. We'll point out how this soldier of ours has become the best informed, the best educated soldier in the world today. This is Captain Carl Zimmerman inviting you to be with us then.