Once the battle lines had settled down to a impasse that neither side was prepared to spend the casualties that it would take to break, it resembled the First World War - the line did not move much over the final two years. Both sides tacitly agreed to limit the war to the Korean theater - Chinese air bases remained off-limits, the Communists refrained from attacking bases in Japan, or the sea traffic between Japan and Korea. Small topographical features would change hands, if the attackers felt like paying the price for it. The Chinese dug themselves out of sight, in contrast to the UN lines which were plainly visible (the US owned the air, so camouflage would have been a waste of effort). In this WW1 situation, the basically WW1 weapons proved themselves once again (in some cases the exact same guns). The M1
Carbine attracted considerable criticism; users felt that its M2 mechanism made it less reliable, and the cartridge was felt to lack stopping power.