Formation of Second Front during Fatherland Liberation War

 Pyongyang, July 15 (KCNA) -- The formation of the powerful second front behind the enemy lines by combined units of the Korean People's Army during the Fatherland Liberation War was something unprecedented in the world history of wars.
It was common sense widely acknowledged at the time that the second front was feasible only when the main front was in a stable state. There were precedents for individual units or guerrilla units fighting to disperse the enemy's forces through the struggle behind the enemy, but there was no precedent for the formation and military activities of the second front behind the enemy lines by combined units of the regular army under the unified command of the Supreme Headquarters.
At that time, the western and eastern sectors of the front, where the main forces of the 8th and 10th corps of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces had been concentrated, were mostly rugged mountainous areas, and an intermediate zone was created between them.
The attacking enemy forces, advancing mainly along wide roads, had no support on their flanks. Furthermore, inter-unit unified command and cooperative operation were impossible.  That was the fatal weak point.
President Kim Il Sung convened an operational meeting of the Supreme Headquarters of the KPA in September 1950 and advanced the strategic and tactical policy of forming the powerful second front behind the enemy lines for a radical turn in the future progress of the war.
According to the President's operational plan, the second front was formed behind the enemy lines by some combined units of the main KPA forces which had been retreating organizationally from the Rakdong River front with the Second Corps as its pivot.
The second front units conducted harassing and striking operations behind the enemy lines in contact with the people's guerrilla army in the mountainous areas of Kangwon Province, South Phyongan Province and Hwanghae Province (then). In a short span of time, they built guerrilla bases in the rear of the enemy, annihilated enemy troops through surprise attacks and dealt telling blows to the enemy in their strategic and operational depth across the area of thousands of square kilometers.
Entering the third stage of the Fatherland Liberation War, the second front units waged a more vigorous struggle behind the enemy lines. During the first-round operation, they conducted more than 200 large battles to deter 100 000 enemy troops from advancing to the front line.
Until mid-December 1950, they killed and captured more than 31 200 enemy troops, liberated the enemy-occupied areas of nearly 30 000 square kilometers, smashed the enemy's attempt at intermediate defence and made a great contribution to driving the aggressors out to the area south of the 38th Parallel. -0-