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One Marine Officer Says 4IWishHim Luck’ In Noting McNamara WallAn AP News AnalysisBy ROBERT D. OHM AN Associated Press WriterK-DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) —A barrier ol barbed wire and electronic eyes and ears along the northern rim of South Vietnam—how effective would it be against North Vietnamese infiltrating forces?The evidence here is that U.S. Marines dug in and patroling south of the demilitarized zone which divides the two Vietnams already are keeping out any major Communist force.Ihe chief infiltration route is not through the demilitarized zone, but over the old Ho CM Minh Trail. This runs around Scuth Vietnam’s northwestern corner and southward through neighboring Laos and Cambodia. It has branches that cut into South Vietnam at points along the way. To be effective, such a wall as announced by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in Washington Thursday would have to run not only along the rugged mountain terrain of the northern rim, but also more than 100 miles south along the border of Laos.Military men here are maintaining public silence on McNamara’s announcement But one Marine commander commented: “I wish him a lot of luck.1' The first, relatively easy, step in “McNamara’s Wall”—as it is being called here—has been taken. Between April 12 and June 24, U.S. Marine and South Vietnamese engineers scraped out a 600-yard wido clearing from the Leatherneck artillery base at Gio Linh west to the Marine strongpoint at Con Thicn, a distance of seven miles roughly paralleling the DMZ.The Vietnamese army cleared aornc areas in the five miles between Glo Linh and the sea but the terrain there is mostly said and salt flats anyway.There has been no evidence that this defensive strip has been greatly effective to date.When work first began on that aeven-mile stretch in April, many U.S. Marino commanders were critical. They said such a line would lock a large force of men into defensive positions and deny them the mobility that has been the keystone in the allied campaign against North Viet-n a m e s e and Viet Cong units. The seven-mile zone was completed at a cost to the Marines of about 200 dead and 1,000wounded in mortar and artillery barrages and security sweeps. And the seven miles between Gio Linh and Con Thicn is by far the easiest step along the border. There, the terrain is a aeries of rolling, shrub-eovered hills.Less than a mile west of Con Thicn, however, the foothills of the mountain range edge up to the coastal plains and growThe Marines used between one and two battalions to provide security during the clearing of the first seven miles of the wall. An even larger security force probably would be needed if the wall is extendedinto the mountains, where the North Vietnamese could choose about any hilltop they wanted as a blocking or ambush point.To avoid the mountains, the barrier could be cut south through the Gam Lo and Quang Tri river valleys but that would be giving the enemy more than 300 square milas of South Vietnamese territory plus control of dominant high ground.If a barrier could be completed and properly manned along the 40 miles between North and South Vietnam, it undoubtedly would stifle any major infiltration. Radar and electronic devices plus barbed wire and mines could detect and stall enemy units until defense force could be deployed to meet them.It is questionable, however, if North Vietnam has been able to develop any high rate of infiltration through the DMZ.North Vietnam attempted to slip its 324B Division across the DMZ into South Vietnam in July, 1966, but it was caught and driven back by U.S. Marines during Operation Hastings. As fighting continued, the Marines shifted their entire 3rd Division north, establishing strong points near Khe Sanh, Cam Lo, Dong Ha, Con Thien and Gio Linh.Hundreds of Leatherneck patrols filter through the moun. tains and valleys day and night to report on any infiltration.Although no breakdown was available here on the estimated number of North Vietnamese infiltrators using the various routes, the Ho Chi Minh Trail is still considered to be the number one highway for North Vietnamese soldiers going south.McNamara told his Washington news conference the electronic detection system would be installed late this year or early next year. Hie did not make dear, however, if he was talking about installation just along the seven-mile section already completed or if he was talking about completion of a strip along the remaining rugged 30 miles to Laos.Experts in Washington indicated the barrier would be an early warning system rather than a solid obstacle, McNamara was purposely vague in discussing the plans.South Vietnam's President-Elect Nguyen Van Thieu stressed in an interview just after McNamara’s announcement that the barrier would be only in South Vietnamese territory, “not across the border of Laos.”“I don’t believe that the Laotian government will alllow it, unless they change their policies,” Thieu said.“We already have a barrier between Gio linh and Con Thien and now we would like to extend it to the west to make it better,”Solon Wants N. C. County Declared Disaster AreaWASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Roy A. Taylor, D-N.C., and the Farmers Home Administration have asked Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman to declare Haywood County a disaster area.This would entitle county’s farmers to low - cost loans through the FHA.Taylor said in a letter to Freeman that Haywood farmers have been hard-Mt by excessive rain this year.He estimated $750,000 worth of trellis tomatoes have been lost, along with 25,000 tons of hay and 15 per cent of the county’s tobacco crop. He also said early spring freezes ruined 40 per cent of the apple crop.We wish ALL of youcould have shared our fashion showing for our doctors' wives Friday!
Newspaper Details
Danville Register
Danville, Virginia, US
Sun, Sep 10, 1967
Page 60
Full Page
Clipped by
Gerald F.
NA, 16 Apr 2018
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