The War: As TheNorth Sees it

THE WAR

Never has the war situation been so favorable.

—North Vietnamese Military Boss Vo Nguyen Giap

General Giap does not, of course, necessarily believe that, but it is his job to deliver an occasional pep talk to his troops. In a long, rambling report issued from Hanoi last week, he claimed that U.S. forces are suffering “resounding blows,” “annihilation” and “heavy defeat.” Ho, hum. But Giap did say some things from which Hanoi watchers drew a few interesting conclusions. When all the boasting and saber rattling were cleared away, they agreed that his speech showed that the North Vietnamese military command is:

¶ Determined to avoid main-force encounters with U.S. troops in South Viet Nam except in the northernmost I Corps, which can be supplied directly across the Demilitarized Zone.

¶ Intent on stepping up regional, smaller unit offensive actions, even though that is a marked regression from last summer’s regiment-sized attacks.

¶Convinced its campaign in the northern province has pinned down enough U.S. forces to cause a stalemate there, thus preventing more U.S. troops from entering the fight in other areas.

¶Certain that whoever is elected President of the U.S. in 1968, President Johnson or a Republican, the U.S. will step up its military effort in Viet Nam. ^ Willing to continue going it alone unless the North is invaded, which would, said Giap, “cause grave unforeseen consequences”—by which he means, as well as a warning to the U.S., the unpalatable fact that Chinese troops might enter North Vietnamese territory.

Confrontation of Sorts. Giap’s main claim to fame is that he led the forces that defeated the French at Dienbienphu, but he is well aware that he is up against a very different enemy now. Even as his speech was beamed southward by Hanoi, the North Vietnamese homeland felt the full impact of U.S. airpower. The bombing of the North has become so intense in the days before the monsoon hits in full force that the number of prohibited targets in North Viet Nam has been falling almost as fast as the torrents of bombs.

Striking at both dawn and dusk, Intruder bombers from the U.S.S. Constellation dug huge craters in the runway of the previously untouched MIG airbase at Cat Bi, four miles southwest of Haiphong, and set fire to its fuel supply. Hitting at two more new targets, Skyhawks and Crusaders from the carriers Intrepid and Oriskany blasted the Lach Tray and Thuong Ly shipyards, which are located within about 1.7 miles from the center of Haiphong. Though Haiphong’s piers have been avoided for fear of provoking a confrontation with the Soviet Union, a confrontation of sorts took place when U.S. Navy flyers for the first time hammered the military compound in Haiphong’s southern suburbs at which Soviet helicopters and missiles are assembled after being unloaded at the port. There were almost certainly Soviet technicians working at the compound.

Last week’s raids left only five major targets of military value still unscathed. They were the Gia Lam airbase near Hanoi; the Phuc Yen airbase, 15 miles northeast of the capital; the railway terminal and power plant in Lao Cai, a North Vietnamese town that sits directly on the Chinese border; the piers at the auxiliary port of Hon Gai; and, of course, the docks at Haiphong. But unless the U.S.’s new choke-and-destroy air strategy is suddenly curtailed, all those objectives, except perhaps the Haiphong docks, are soon likely to feel the blast of U.S. air strikes.

As U.S. airpower attempted to choke off the flow of Soviet and Chinese weaponry into Viet Nam, U.S. troops of the 9th Infantry Division turned up dramatic evidence that war materiel is still finding its way South. Tracking suspicious footprints in the thick jungle of Phouc Tuy province, some 30 miles east of Saigon, a 20-man patrol discovered a tunnel so recently deserted that a candle was still flickering inside. From a maze of interlocking tunnels and chambers, the troops toted out a huge cache of ammunition and at least 675 weapons, including Chinese-made recoilless rifles and brand-new Soviet AK-47 assault rifles. U.S. intelligence experts believe that the cache was a resupply depot for the 274th North Vietnamese Regiment, which has been operating in the area.

Puff to the Rescue. Just below the DMZ, the U.S. Marines at Con Thien came under heavy attack again. First, the shells began falling on the camp. Then, under cover of a heavy 400-shell barrage, 900 North Vietnamese regulars made a pre-dawn assault on Con Thien in an attempt to overrun the embattled Marines. Lobbing smoke and tear-gas grenades, the North Vietnamese reached the southwest perimeter of the base before they were pinned down by withering counterfire from the Marines. To the Marines’ assistance came Puff-the-Magic-Dragon gunships, their fast-firing miniguns raking the attackers. U.S. fighter-bombers and Marine artillery also laid down a practically solid curtain of fire around Con Thien. By midmorning, their attack broken by the massive firepower, the North Vietnamese gathered up their dead and wounded and retreated. The Marines counted their own casualties: 23 killed, 36 wounded.