Base Security Was Criticized

derivative filename/jpeg

363-04736.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04736

Title

Base Security Was Criticized

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about concern over 'inadequate defensive measures' at the BiÃªn HÃ²a air base following Viá»‡t Cá»™ng shelling, pages 1 and 12

Date

1964, Nov. 2

Subject

BiÃªn HÃ²a (Vietnam); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Guerilla Warfare, Máº·t tráºn dÃ¢n tá»™c giáº£i phÃ³ng miá»n nam Viá»‡t Nam; Guerrilla warfare; Security systems

Location

BiÃªn HÃ²a, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.9574; 106.8427

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

extracted text

Base Security
Was
Criticized
a
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent

BIEN HOA, S. Viet Nam.,
U. S. officers yesterday criticized inadequate defense
measures for Bien Hoa air base, following a destructive
20-minute Communist Viet Cong mortar shelling shortly
after midnight Saturday. They were disturbed by the
seeming impossibility of eliminating future attacks.
One battalion of Vietnamese troops responsible for
securing the base's perimeter was 20 per cent under
strength, two U. S. officers advising base security said. One
said he had recommended that mortars for counter-firing
be added for security, but these were never received.
The Viet Cong are believed to have crept to within
two miles of the base to launch their fire. They apparently
escaped without serious losses.
The officers said the 21 damaged B-57 jet fighterbombers were parked too close together on the runway and
were not protected by the usual sandbagged revetments.
The officers did not criticize their Vietnamese counterparts. Neither did Gen. William C. Westmoreland, u. s.
commander, who came here with Ambassador Maxwell D.
Taylor and Maj. Gen. Nguyen Khanh, Vietnamese commander in chief, to inspect the damage.
"A lot of energy had gone into securing the air base,
but obviously these measures were not fully successful," ,
'9:en. Westmoreland said. But he "was not, under any /
\

More on BASE SECURITY-P 12

______,-

•J FELT THIS WOULD COME . . . AND IT HAS'
See Beverly Deepe's eye-witness interv\ew on Page 12.

Hase ecuriiy f?,v
Was Criticized
(Continued from page one)

circumstances, critical of the base commander or the
Vietnamese armed forces" assigned to guard the base, he
said.
Reliable sources in Saigon said an official report made
for the U. S. Air Force a year ago stated that the eight
major air installations in Viet Nam were vulnerable to
Viet Cong mortaring, but "nothing was ever done about it."
Observers have long considered the Viet Cong capaole
of overrunning provincial capitals and major installations.
But it was felt they would do so only when political and
psychological impact was needed in their campaign to
effect a U.S. withdrawal, turning Viet Nam first neutralist
and then Communist.
The Bien Hoa base, 15 miles from Saigon and surrounded by thick jungle, was on special alert because of the
National Day observance of the first anniversary of the
overthrow of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime. The , Viet Cong
were expected to "celeb ·ate" the occasion with attacks and
displays of terrorism.
Gen. Westmoreland said the base was protected by an
arc of Vietnamese government artillery fire, which he
described as more effective than mortars. He said the artillery counter-fired at the Viet Cong 10 minutes after the
attack began a few minutes after midnight Saturday.
Asked if one battalion was enough for security on the
perimeter of the base, he replied that one patrol was in the
area near the Viet Cong mortar squads and fired 60-mm
mortars at them.
He also said one Vietnamese marine battalion and one
Vietnamese airborne battalion were in Bien Hoa in res~i;ve.
But when asR.ed why it took seven hours for the ti10
battal ons to counter-attack, Gen. Westmorelan~ repliecl:
"It was a question of communications and location of
minefields."
The mortars used by the Viet Cong-perhaps U. S.made-have a range of two miles.
The only thing that can stop a mortar attack is more
men or a counter-mo1•tar attack," one of the U. S. security
advisers said. "Even then there's no total defense against
it. It's a lethal and accurate weapon if used by expertsand the Viet Cong are experts.''
The adviser said the 20 per cent underst!'ength battalion outside the air base was made up of regional forces
-provincial troops paid and trained less than the regular
army.
"We needed counter-mortar fire ," he said . "But even
then we could shoot only in the general direction but not
accurately. And even if we had a division of troops in those
hills-even a division of American Marines-still we could
not guarantee it would stop mortar attacks .
"A static position is always vulnerable to mortars and
there's so much territory out there it would take an army
to cover it all."
He pointed out that the perimeter around the base is
10 miles and that patrolling for a two-mile radius beyond
that would be necessary to protect against future mortar
attacks.
There appeared to be an exceptionally complex chain
o! responsibility for security of the base, which is operated by the Vietnamese High Command and used by both
Viet Nam and the U. S. The Vietnamese Air Force was
responsible for on-base security, assisted by U. S. Army
advisers . This on-base security consisted of Vietnamese
Air Force enlisted men, plus U. S. enlisted men around U.- S.
aircraft, Gen. Westmoreland said.
Ho,,·ever, outside the base and aro und its p rimeter
security was delegated to the region force battalion responsible to the chief of the province- who is both civiliar
and military head of the Vietnamese subdivision. The
chief is assisted by U. S. advisers.
Gen. Westmoreland said the ammunition used by th1
Viet Cong probably was from old American supplies lef1
over from the French Indochinese War 10 years ago or frorr
the Korean War .
0

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