Viet - Measuring An 'Invasion'

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363-04849.pdf
Digital Object Identifier
363-04849
Title
Viet - Measuring An 'Invasion'
Description
Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the potential infiltration of the South Vietnamese Army by North Vietnam, page 2
Transcript
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- Page 1
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South Vietnamese woman captured by army and accused of carrying food to Viet Cong.
Herald Tribune photos by BEVERLY DEEPE
VIET-MEASURING AN INVASION'
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
1ST DIVISION AREA, South Viet Nam.
A serious question regarding the credibility of an
American military announcement playing down North
Vietnamese troop infiltration south of the 17th parallel
has been raised by South Vietnamese generals.
The official American statement minimizing reports of
Infiltration has been sharply contradicted by South Viet-
namese officers in the mountainous, two-province area
bordering both Laos and Communist North Viet Nam where
the infiltration has been concentrated.
On July 14, a top United States military spokesman
at a specially convened press conference handed reporters.
a prepared statement-which at least had been checked by
the American Embassy-which said "there are no indica-
tions of the presence of any PAVN (People's Army of North
Viet Nam) units on South Vietnamese soil."
Only the day before, Premier Nguyen Khanh, in an
exclusive interview, had described infiltration from the
north as "overt invasion" and explained, "Before, we
had the problem of infiltration and subversion. Now we
have whole units coming in from North Viet Nam."
The North Vietnamese prisoners Gen. Khanh reported
taking-the first ones captured in the war, he said-looked
like concrete proof of Hanoi's involvement in the guerrilla
movement in the South.
THE QUESTIONS
But the U. S. military statement-followed two days
later by a similar one from Defense Secretary Robert S.
McNamara in Washington-raised a question which is
troubling many observers here: On what evidence was it
based? Was it an example of "managed news"?
If, for example, Washington acknowledged that Hanol
was escalating the five-year-old war against South Viet
Nam, would the United States be forced to retaliate against
North Viet Nam, as Johnson administration officials
threatened last month?
Or did the American statement reflect a more cautious
and less emotional analysis than the publicly expressed
views of Premier Khanh and his generals? Gen. Khanh
called last week end for direct attacks on North Viet Nam.
On-the-spot investigation in the 1st Division area,
comprising South Viet Nam's two northernmost provinces,
disclosed that before the U. S. military statement on July 14
and the Washington statement on July 16, no American
official had interviewed any of the North Vietnamese
prisoners seized by South Vietnamese government forces
during the previous eight days.
In fact, American field officers conceded they did not
Confusion and frustration have been the
hallmarks of the war in South Viet Nam-
and especially of the United States' role in
the conflict. In the last few months, the Ad-
ministration.has. attempted. to. clarify.its
position, but to little effect. At one point,
Washington seemed to be urging stronger
military action, now the Vietnamese are cry-
ing for an expanded war-and the U. S. is
cautious. Westerday it was reliably reported
in high Washington circles that important
news will be coming from Saigon in the next
day or two. This news, it was said, would
6provide indicators as to the future course of
the anti-Communist war effort.
even know how many North Vietnamese prisoners had
been captured. (A Vietnamese intelligence report listed
three; this correspondent saw two.)
Since American officials had not interviewed the North
Vietnamese prisoners and hence had no independent source
of judgment, they were forced to rely primarily on prisoner
interrogation reports prepared by Vietnamese military of-
ficers. These "initial" reports, averaging four pages per
prisoner, dealt primarily with immediate tactical infor-
mation.
U. S. military officials demonstrated a selective cred-
ibility by accepting one part of one report as accurate-
namely that two Russian helicopters had ferried troops from
North Viet Nam into Laos and that these troops had then
marched across the border into South Viet Nam-while
other sections of the interrogation reports were discounted
as lacking substantiation.
During a three-day visit to the 1st Division area, this
reporter interviewed one North Vietnamese prisoner for
three hours and discussed with the division commander,
Brig. Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi, and his intelligence staff the
testimony of the prisoners. These staff officers openly crit-
icized American officialdom for "being too slow and stick-
ing too close to form."
"The Americans weren't even interested in these pris-
oners," Gen. Thi exploded. "None of the American advisers
here speak Vietnamese, but the American consul (in Hue)
does. He wouldn't even condenscend to come here to in-
terview them."
American officers in the northern provinces, conceding
that Americans had not interviewed the prisoners, replied,
"We've never had a policy of interviewing prisoners. We're
not running this war." Presumably, no orders from Saigon
or Washington have reversed this policy, although Ameri-
can advisers actively participate in other areas of the war
effort. The American advisers in the field also called Gen.
Thi "a sensationalist and publicity hound."
This correspondent read the interrogation report on
prisoner Le Phan Hung, a 24-year-old peasant born south
of Hanoi. He was listed as a private first class who had
entered the North Vietnamese Army in May, 1963, was
sent to a training center for three months and then went
to join Company 6, Battalion 7, Division 325, stationed in
Nghe An, North Viet Nam, 220 miles south of Hanoi.
Excerpts from the report say the prisoner "underwent
further training for six months on 81-mm. mortars and...
then received orders to go to South Viet Nam to destroy the
control of the enemy over the population. He was well fed
over the five days in preparation for the trip south and was
promoted to private first class.
"In May, 1964, he received the order to start the trip
with his whole company. Other companies have not started
the trip yet, but they may perhaps go later. This com-
pany is composed of draftees of 90 fighting men.... In
addition to this company there is another company of 90
men which came south with his.
They were taken to the airfield of Dong Hoi
and boarded a helicopter painted black. The helicopter car-
ried 20 passengers. There were two helicopters ard each
helicopter made five trips. Each trip took 40 minutes. At
about 2 o'clock in the afternoon all 180 had been trans-
ferred. The helicopter landed in the jungle in Laos. Loca-
tion unknown.
During a three-hour interview with this reporter, the
prisoner confirmed and expanded on the report.
Several sections of it were accepted by high-ranking
American officials in Saigon and in the northern provinces:
first that the prisoner was bona fide; second that he flew
to Laos in a Russian helicopter.
They also accepted that the prisoner was a private-
and that rank would indicate combat troops rather than
Mr. McNamara's description of "cadre of individuals."
Cadres generally mean military officers, political commissars
or military specialists.
THE CONTRADICTION
The U. S. military statement and the McNamara press.
conference sharply contradict several fundamental parts
of the report.
The prisoner said he lame to South Viet Nam with his
own 90-man company and another unit of the same size.
But the U. S. military statement said the infiltrators
Ce "dispatched in small groups to South Viet Nam where
they reportedly were to combine with existing local units
to form new companies and battalions." Mr. McNamara
indicated at his Washington press conference that he knew
of no instances of infiltration of organized North Viet-
namese units into
the South Vietnamese war.
The prisoner's interrogation report did not say whether
the entire 90-man company was composed of personnel
born in North Viet Nam. However, the U. S. military state-
ment said they were trained in "mixed packets," indicating
that
some were born in North Viet Nam and some in South
Viet Nam.
The prisoner told this correspondent all 90 men in his
company spoke in North Vietnamese dialect.
The prisoner identified himself with 6th Company of
the 7th Battalion of the 325th Division of the People's
Army of Viet Nam. The report listed names of its officer
in the north and said he moved into South Viet Nam with
the company he trained with.
The U. S. military statement explained that low-
ranking infiltrators "continue to identify themselves with
their unit in North Viet Nam" and this "occasionally
gives rise to false initial impressions that regular PAVN
units have infiltrated into South Viet Nam."
The U. S. military statement also said, "As far as can
be determined, all former members of PAVN units and
groups of men drawn from PAVN units sever connections
with their former units once they have infiltrated into
South Viet Nam. Thus it can be said with a fair degree of
probability that there are no members of PAVN in the
northern areas of South Viet Nam-for that matter, any-
where in South Viet Nam."
American intelligence procedures demand at least
two pieces of evidence-such as a prisoner report and a
document before confirming the existence of a unit.
Date
1964, Jul. 26
Subject
Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Campaigns--Intellegence; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam (Democratic Republic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Campaigns--Vietnam (Democratic Republic)
Location
1st Division Area, South Vietnam
Coordinates
16.4637; 107.5909
Container
B4, F6
Format
newspaper clippings
Collection Number
MS 363
Collection Title
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
Creator
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Copyright Information
These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
Publisher
Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
Language
English