Hanoi Set for Long War

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363-04764.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04764

Title

Hanoi Set for Long War

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about Hanoi's strategy to drag out the Vietnam War and refuse negotiation, page unknown

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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

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Hanoi Set for Long War
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
The Communist regime in
Hanoi is preparing for a long,
hard war against the South
Vietnamese. and American
troops.
Political specialists study-
ing the North Viet Nam
regime and visitors from the
capital have made this judg-
ment. The experts have re-
ported to the free world
capitals, including Washing-
ton, that hopes of any kind
of negotiations with Hanoi
are virtually non-existent.
The North Vietnamese
regime remains firm in this
decision and is planning for
the possible evacuation of
Hanoi, according to reliable
sources. Members of the
International Control Com-
mission (India, Canada, Po-
land) have been warned that
when ordered they must be
prepared to evacuate Hanoi.
They have been told that
preparations for them to live
and function outside the
capital city already have been
made, but they have not been
told of the new locations.
SHIFT
Months ago the Hanoi radio.
announced that the seat of the
North Vietnamese government
might be moved to Hoa Binh,
a province 45 miles west of
Hanoi in the mountainous
highlands. The announcement
was interpreted in Saigon as
being a "decoy."
Some sources estimate 25 to
50 per cent of the staffs, files
and equipment of the munici-
pal offices of Hanoi already
have been evacuated. But the
central government still ap
pears to be operating from
Hanoi.
These sources said if the
Communist military effort in
the South crumbled, the North
would have no alternative but
to pull back and wait for sev-
eral years.
"Maybe the Hanoi regime
is over-estimating its strength
in the South-but so far that
disillusionment has not come
and that's what keeps them
going," one reliable source ex-
plained.
"The best way to bring this
disillusionment is to defeat the
Communists in the South. But,
so far, the stress in Hanoi is
on a long, drawn-out war," the
source added.
These sources believe that,
contrary to recent press re-
ports from Washington, there
is no evidence the North Viet-
namese leadership is split in
its decision to continue the
war in South Viet Nam.
These sources said any pre-
vious differences between pro-
Moscow and pro-Peking fac-
tions in Hanoi seem to have
been overcome and that the
leadership was united.
They said the confidence of
the North Vietnamese regime
in ultimate victory is based on
two factors: encouragement
by anti-Vietnamese demon-
strations in America and other
parts of the world, and reli-
ance on the ability of Com-
munist troops and anti-gov-
ernment agents in South Viet
Nam to match the American
military build-up.
"While Hanoi is get
ting claustrophobia," another
source said, "the morale of
the North Vietnamese, espe-
cially the youth, appears to be
good. It will take something
more than creeping bombing
around the capital to shake it.
The North Vietnamese say,
'The more the Americans keep
coming, dig deeper the grave'
it is said with a sort of
swing to it. The Hanoi regime
thinks it is doing wonderfully
well in the South and claims
to have wiped out many
American battalions.
"And when there are stories
of anti-Viet Nam demonstra-
tions and troubles in America
the regime says the great
American people are gaining
solidarity against the Ameri-
can government. They made a
big fuss about the self-burn-
ings in front of the Pentagon
and the United Nations."
The city of Hanoi is pic-
tured as bleak and desolate,
but still far from starvation.
Hanoi officials claim there
was a good rice crop this year
and so far rice and vegetables
have kept coming into Hanoi
from the surrounding coun-
tryside. The Chinese Commu-
nists are also believed to be
sending rice flour into North
Viet Nam.
alerts for the soldiers, but not
for the people.
"You see billboards on the
street corners showing Ameri-
can planes shot down. Once
in a while the newspapers
carry photographs of Ameri-
can pilots. On Sundays, you
can see office workers rein-
forcing the river banks, dig-
ging more shelters or under-
ground gasoline dumps.
"You see all sorts of mili-
tary posters and some of the
troops bicycle through town.
The regime is more organized
Sources here say the Amer-
and the people are more con-
ican bombings are thought to
trolled now. The feeling
have affected either the pro-
seems to be if they stop fight-
duction or the distribution of ing now, the Americans will
textile goods from Nam Dinh
throughout the country, since
the cloth ration, which had
always been low, has again
been reduced.
"In the free world a simi-
lar siege would be inflation-
ary, but not in Hanoi," one
source explained. "There is
no fluctuation of prices be-
cause of the strict rationing.
But there's nothing except
rice and vegetables to buy."
There has been a noticeable
increase in three-ton Soviet
trucks on the streets of Hanoi,
the source noted, but no in-
crease in bicycles, buses or
official cars.
"The Hanoi regime is doing
everything it can to main-
tain a militant spirit among
the people," one source ex-
plained. "There are plenty of
trenches and occasional air
take over."
Other sources said the evac-
uation of persons from the
Hanoi area has stopped; in
fact, some of the school chil-
Hanoi.
dren have again returned to
"This evacuation business
is finished," one source ex-
plained. "No one talks about
it anymore-there's no place
to go."
The North Vietnamese gov-
ernment has offered to build
bomb shelters for foreign em-
bassy staffs and members of
the International Control
Commission at a cost of
$4,000, one source reported
and added:
"They aren't worth that
much money-they aren't
substantial enough to save
anyone-but the foreigners
had one built anyway."

Date

1965, Dec. 12

Subject

Vietnam (Democratic Repubic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Campaigns--Vietnam (Democratic Republic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Peace; Vietnam--Foreign relations--United States; Strategy

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

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