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yrt.3g;.lt;£5$msmmmPM.|||iii0 * # « « • I Iw-y, .%•v ://••'.'.v.y,/.*mall-o utbattle?f rl -mW' '$$■y\ y.tt:A’■ * '.*/ * v r.A'v.vy.:••» »•••-••••• ■■••«••«•■••••••■•—UPI PhotoTraveling to meet the enemyAs truck carrying refugees, left, flees south toward Hue along Highway in Quang Tri, S. Vietnam, a military personnel carrier, with government troops, moves north to meet advancing Communist offensive Monday. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu said today that the North Vietnamese had thrown at least 54,000 troops into their six-day-old offensive.'We must hold three cities'Hue:By BARNEY SEIBERTUnited Press InternationalTran Van Don, then chairman of South Vietnam’s Senate Defense Committee and a former general, once remarked, “There are three cities we must hold—Saigon, Da Nang and Hue.“Saigon must be held because it is the capital and largest city; Da Nang because it is the second largest city and greatest port; Hue because of its emotional hold on the Vietnamese people.”The importance of Hue—Vietnam’s old imperial capital —was demonstrated by the fanatical month-long strugglefor the city by the Communists during the 1968 Tet offensive.Now the city is threatenedonce more.South Vietnam’s two northernmost provinces have other significance to the Communists —they regard them as an integral part of NorthVietnam.The Norih Vietnamese consider the people of Quang Tri Province—now almost completely under Communist control as a result of the currentoffensive—and Thua ThienProvince—of which Hue is the capital—as Tonkinese; northerners.North Vietnam has recruited members of its ruling Lao Dong party in only three provinces— and two of them are the northernmost provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien. It has left the recruiting in the other 41 provinces of South Vietnam to the political arm of the Viet Cong.In the current offensive, theancient key to IndochinaCommunists may be faced with their own dilemma. In the history of their Chinese-style guerrilla warfare their, tactic has been to hold onlythose areas easily held; the mountains, the jungles, the swamps, making lightning incursions into the open plainsand cities and towns.The area of the current offensive does not conform to that easily held blueprint. It is flat, relatively open coastal plain, carved into rice paddies, and low hills, barren or covered by scrub trees and not easily camouflaged against air attack. In such terrain in the past the Communists usually have withdrawn after simply demonstrating they could with impunity strike whenever they wished, thus destroying public confidence in government forces.Douglas Pike, the U.S. State Department’s Southeast Asia expert, once said, however, “When something is easily taken, there is a temptation to try to hold it.”Thus far, the North Vietnamese advance has been easy and if Hue falls, there maybe an overwhelming temptation to try to hold it.And if Hue falls, the South Vietnamese may be pushed out of Thua Thien Province and the next logical strong defense line is the Hai Van pass area, barely 10 miles north of Da Nang. Then two of the three vital cities would be menaced.South Vietnam’s greatest problem in defending the . threatened northern provinces is finding the necessary manpower. Withdrawal of nearlyhalf a million allied troops inb a r e 1 y 2*2 y e a r s hasstripped South Vietnam of itsmobile reserves. A year or soago, the Communist offensive in the north could have been met by an airborne division, a Marine division, the equiva-'Wallafterrlent of a division of crack Rangers. Now most of (hose units are engaged elsewhere.The ease of the North Vietnamese army advance at least in part was due to that troop shortage. The forts along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) were defended by the newest, greenest ARVNslams(South Vietnamese) Division, the 3rd Infantry, created only last year. A contributing factor undoubtedly was the superiority of Soviet built artillery pieces over the U.S. made howitzers supplied to the ARVN, which first became apparent during last winter’s Laos invasion.shutholiday visitBERLIN (UPI)—The Berlin wall dividing a city and a nation shuts again today. An estimated 500,000 West Berliners streamed through the brick and concrete political barrier during the Easter holiday to reunite with their families in East Berlin,The East Germans have promised to repeat their “goodwill gesture” and reopen the wall for the Pentecost holiday May 17-24.The eight-day Easter holiday visiting period marked the first time West Berliners were permitted through the wall into East Berlin since 1966. II was the first time westerners were permitted to visit other East German cities since 1952.“Now I am looking forward to the Pentecost holiday when I will be able to see my son again” said an East Berlin mother as the boy prepared to return to West Berlin.Tlus visit was our firstreunion in six years. It was wonderful to see my boy again, but so painful to separate once more, she said.East and West Berliners expressed hope they soon would be able to see each other regularly after the signing of the Big Four ambassadors’ agreement to reduce tension in the divided city.The agreement, readied by the ambassadors last September, would give West Germans the right to visit the East a total of 30 days a year.But the Russians have said they will not sign the agreement until the nonaggression pacts with Poland and the Soviet Union are ratified by the West German parliament, where they face bitter opposition.Many cried as they said goodbye in the shadow of the wall. Parents parted from children, brothers from sis-/t e r s , grandparents from grandchildren they had seenfor the first time.Some were bitter.“We live only a few miles apart in the same city and are supposed to thank the government because our relations are allowed over here,” an East Bei lin man said.In Bonn, meanwhile, State Secretary Michael Kohl of the East German foreign ministry and West German State Secretary Egon Bahr met today in a continuing effort to reach agreement on a general East - West German traffic accord.Kohl told newsmen before entering the chancellory, where the two-day talks were being heid, that East Germany’s unilateral “gesture of goodwill” in allowing the Easter and Pentecost visits would become “permanent” following the implementation of the Big Four ambassadors’ agreement on Berlin.SAIGON (UPI) - President Nguyen Van Thieu said tonight t h e North Vietnamese had thrown at least 54.-000 men ipto their six-day-old offensive in the northern part of South Vietnam and that the fate of the country was at stake. He appealed for more U.S. aid.The offensive threatens the city of Quang Tri from three sides and today the Communist began closing in on the ancient city of Hue, 32 miles to the south, attacking bases only 15 miles from the city that is swollen with 30,000 refugees.U.S. fighter-bombers hit nine radar sites and missile bases just north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and B52s hit south of the border. The United States ordered another squadron of B52s to Asia to help combat the North Vietnamese invasion, but so far the offensive has not been checked.Thieu, in a 15-minute radio and television address to the nation, said he had asked the United States “to give us maximum fire support” to defend against the invaders. The United States already was rushing a fourth carrier and a guided missile cruiser infrom Japan.“This is a decisive fight which will decide whether our country will survive or not,” Thieu said. He said the Communists had been preparing for the move for a long time and “this is what they have been calling their general offensive.”Thieu said the North Vietnamese were capable of sending even more troops into the south across the DMZ and from Lao6 and warned “they may go as far as using their air power.”Thieu said the Communists timed the invasion to coincide with the American elections in hopes they would force the Nixon administration to withdraw economic and military support. He said he had issued orders banning any disparaging reports on the fighting and called on the armed forces to rise to new heights against the enemy.Thieu said the North Vietnamese were planting the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) flag as they moved south but “nobody can deny that it is indeed the regular army of North Viet-na.m that is invading us.UPI correspondent Stewart Kellerman reported from Hue that the Communists briefly cut n o r t h-south Highway 1—the Quang Tri supply lifeline from the south—and launched a series of attacks on three sides of Hue.He said the Communists surrounded a relief column southwest of Hue, bombarded the former U.S. 101st Airborne Division base at Camp Eagle just southeast of the city at dusk and fought a skirmish with government troops 15 miles northwest of Hue.On Tuesday the Communists captured artillery base Anne, 18 miles northwest of the city which is 400 miles north of Saigon. Intelligence sources said a North Vietnamese regiment had been spotted only 12 miles from Hue—the farthest south any major Communist unit has bee”: sighted since the offensive began six days ago. Hue is 40 miles south of the DMZ.Fi ’ld reports said a Communist force of unknown sizeattacked South Vietnamese militiamen guarding a bridgeon Highway 1 and held it for%/an hour before traffic was restored on the vital asphalt link a 600-man South Vietnamese battalion had been called up to try to reopen theroad.The highway, which runs along the entire east coast of South Vietnam, was cut between Quang Tri and Hue. 32 miles farther down the road. Quang Tri is 18 miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and the Communists have seized the northernmost 10 miles of the country since the beginning of their five-day offensive southward.The U.S. command said in a delayed report that a UH1 Huey helicopter with four men aboard disappeared near Quang Tri Monday and was believed to have crashed. The crew was missing.It brought to 13 the numberof U.S. aircraft—helicopter and fixedwing—downed in the Quant Tri fighting, with at least 25 American crewmen killed or missing.North Vietnamese forces also besieged Firebase Bas-togne 15 miles southwest of Hue with artillery and ground assaults. Firebase Anne overrun and Tuesday, Bastogne were the major defenses of Hue, South Vietnam’s third largest city.Communist forces prevented a South Vietnamese relief column from reachingBastogne Tuesday.Kellerman reported from Hue, 32 miles south of Quang Tri, that four hours of good weather permitted U.S. planes to make 217 raids Tuesday but the heavy clouds and rain closed back in today.The U.S. command in Sai-g o n said that “several”Americans have been killedor wounded during the six-day Communist offensive in the Quang Tri province, but said no details would be made available until after next of kin were notified.So far U.S. officials have acknowledged that six American aircraft were shot down, claiming three wounded and 12 missing. However, military sources said other American casualties have occurred, including among the estimated 65 U.S. advisers in Quang Tri and in unreported downings of U.S. aircraft.The U.S. command said that Air Force and Navy fighterbombers carried out 10 “protective reaction” strikes against Communist positions in North Vietnam in the past 24 hours — bringing to 18 the number of such actions in the past three days. Most of thestrikes were at the surface-to-air missile (SAMi sites that have been firing on U.S. warplanes in the area.The command said four of the sites hit were “probably destroyed” while results were unknown in the other six.Although 34 waves of B52s have hit at suspected NorthVietnamese positions inQuang Tri since the offensive began last Thursday, the heavy missile fire has forced U.S. officers to cancel raids in some areas, military sources said. The B52s are the most susceptible American war planes to the missiles since they normally fly at between 30,000 and 40.000 feet and the SAMs can hit targets up to 60,000 feet above the earth.Kellerman said Communist troops surrounded a South Vietnamese tank squadron and infantry battalion—about 1,200 men—southwest of Hue. The group had formed a relief column to try to get through to Firebase Bastogne, which has been under heavy bombarmdent since the Communist offensive began six days ago.The relief column, which had circled around Bastogne to the southwest, was cut off about three miles southwest of the base. U.S. Cobra helicopter gunships were called in to help the column, Kellerman reported.The Communist forces have swept 10 miles into South Vietnam since crossing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Vietnam over the weekend. Tn a major action Tuesday, they breached a main defense line by crossing the Cua Viet river in three places and moving in force toward Quang Tri, which is some 20 miles south of the DMZ.The area commander, Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Lam, told UPI correspondent Kim Wil-lenson at Da Nang that the river crossing bv two Communist tank battalions was fought by two battalions of South Vietnamese militia and a company of armored personnel carriers.The battle went on for 11 hours, he said, before South Vietnamese troops pulled back.Lam said that despite the river crossing five miles east of the river town of Dong Ha. the town itself will hold. “We are strong enough to destroy anv attack,” he told Willen-r wson.In neighboring Cambodia, the high command in Phnom Penh reported harassing fire with automatic weapons and mortars on the southern outskirts of the capital.Few GIs involvedSAIGON (UPI)—About 95,-000 U.S. troops remain inSouth Vietnam, down from a high of 543,400 three years ago.At the height of the American involvement here in April, 1968, there were 112 ground combat battalions operating throughout live country. Today (here are onlyseven.Three of these battalions belong to the 1st Air CavalryDivision and are deployed to protect the huge U.S. military complex at Bien Hoa and Long Birh cn the northeastern outskirts of Saigon.The fourth 1st Air CavalryBattalion—about 800 men—isengaged in defending American facilities at Cam Ranh Bay, 185 miles northeast of here.Three battalions of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade guard U.S. military installations at Da Nang, 370 mites north of Saigon and 100 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).Also at Da Nang, there are three squadrons — about 60 planes—of U.S. Air Force F4 Phantoms and a number of other smaller American Air un:ts. Two squadrons of A37sare based ^4 Bien Hoa.*
Newspaper Details
Ontario Daily Report
Ontario, California, US
Wed, Apr 05, 1972
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Gerald F.
NA, 25 Apr 2018
Other Publications Near Ontario, California
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Ontario Daily Report
