Article about the North Vietnamese government preparing for a long war

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derivative filename/jpeg

363-06301 to 363-06307.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-06301 to 363-06307

Title

Article about the North Vietnamese government preparing for a long war

Description

Original title: "Hanoi", Keever's title: "'The More Americans Keep Coming, The Deeper the Grave,': Hanoi Prepares for Long War", Article about the North Vietnamese government preparing for a long war as U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam

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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

Deepe Hanoi--page 1 November 16, 1965 SAIGON--The Communist regime in Hanoi is preparing for a long, hard war against the Saigon government and American combat troops. Both political specialists watching the North Vietnam regime and recent visitors from Hanoi have come up with this same judgment. Specialists in Hanoi Affairs have reported to major free world capitals, including Washington, that hopes for overt negotiations--or even behind-the-scene discussions--with Hanoi are virtually non-existent. The North Vietnamese regime has been made this decision even as [deletion: the] it plans for the possible evacuation of Hanoi city, according to reliable sources. Members of the International Control Commission (India, Canada, Poland) have been warned that upon orders from the North Vietnamese government they must be prepared to evacuate Hanoi. The officials have been told that the government has already made preparations for them to live and function outside the capital city, but they have not been told of their new locations. Deepe Hanoi--page 2 Several months ago radio Hanoi announced that the seat of government of the North Vietnamese regime might be moved from Hanoi to Hoa Binh, [XXXX indicating deletion] a province situated 45 miles west of Hanoi in the mountainous highlands. But this official announcement was interpreted in Saigon as being a “decoy”. Other sources, however, estimate 25-50 per cent of the staffs, files and equipment of the municipal offices of Hanoi city have already been evacuated. The central government still appears to be operating from Hanoi, the souces said. These sources said that if the Communist military effort crumbled now in the South, then the North would have no alternative but to pull back and wait for several years. “Maybe the Hanoi regime is overestimating their strength in the South--but so far that disillusionment has not come and that’s what keeps them going,” [insertion: one reliable source explained]. “The best way to bring this disillusionment is for a defeat of the Communists in the South. But, so far, the stress in Hanoi is on a long, drawn-out war.” Deepe Hanoi--page 3 These sources believe that, contrary to recent press reports from Washington, there is no evidence of a split in the North Vietnamese leadership concerning the general policy of continuing the war in South Viet Nam. These sources said that any previous differences between pro-Moscow and pro-Peking wings of the Hanoi leadership seem now to be overcome and that the leadership is united in their attempts to save the North rather than split on whether or not to negotiate. These sources said that the confidence of the North Vietnamese regime in their ultimate victory is based on two factors: encouragement by anti-Vietnamese demonstrations and manifestations in America and other parts of the world, and reliance that the Communist fighters and political subversives [insertion: in South Vietnam] will be able to match the American military build-up. Saigonese have expected [insertion: that] the Communists, while maintaining their military aggressiveness, would attempt to forment political turmoil in South Vietnam and other countries. Deepe Hanoi--page 4 “While Hanoi is getting claustrophobia,” according to one reliable source, “the morale of the North Vietnamese especially the youth appears to be good. It will take something more than creeping bombing around the capital to shake it. They continuously say ‘the more the Americans keep coming, the dig deeper the grave’--it is said with a sort of [deletion: seving] swing to it. ‘The Hanoi regime think they’re doing wonderfully well in the South and say they have wiped out many American battalions. And, then when there’s stories of anti-Vietnam demonstrations and troubles in America they keep saying that the great American people are gaining solidarity against the American government. They made a big fuss about the self-burnings in front of the Pentagon and the United Nations.” Deepe Hanoi--page 5 The city of Hanoi is pictured as “bleak and desolate,” but still far from starvation. The Hanoi officials claim there was a good rice crop this year and so far rice and vegetables keep coming into Hanoi from the surrounding countryside. The Chinese Communists are also believed to be importing rice flour into North Vietnam and the people are baking an unusual amount of bread. The sources said the American bombings are believed to have affected either the production or the distribution of textile goods from Nam Dinh throughout the country, since the cloth ration, which had always been low, has [deletion: dropped] again been reduced. “In the free world a similar siege would be inflationary, but not in Hanoi,” one source explained. “There is no fluctuations of prices because of the strict rationing. But there’s nothing except rice and vegetables to buy.” The sources said there had been a noticeable increase in three-ton Soviet trucks on the streets of Hanoi, but no increase in bicycles, busses, or official cars. “Every night in Hanoi these trucks start moving in and out,” one source explained. Deepe Hanoi--page 6 “The Hanoi regime is doing everything it can to maintain a militant spirit among their people,” one source explained. “There are plenty of trenches and occasional air alerts for the soldiers, but not for the people. You see billboards on the street corners showing American planes shot down. Once in awhile [deletion: they show] the newspapers carry photographs of American pilots. On Sundays, you can see officeworkers reinforcing the river banks, digging more shelters or underground gasoline dumps. You see all sorts of military posters and some of their troops bicycle through town. The regime is more organized and the people are more controlled now; organizationally they are more disciplined and the feeling seems to be if they stop fighting now, the Americans will take over.” Other sources said that the evacuation of persons out of the Hanoi area has stopped; in fact, some of the school children have again returned to Hanoi. “This evacuation business is finished,” one source explained. “No one talks about it anymore--there’s no place to go.” One source explained “there are plenty of trenches and bomb shelters in Hanoi. The North Vietnamese government has offered to build bomb shelters for foreign embassy staffs and members of the International Control Commission--but at a cost of US $4000. “They aren’t worth that much money--they aren’t substantial enough to save anyone--but the foreigners had one built anyway.” Deepe Hanoi--page 7 The source explained that the Hanoi regime is concentrating on camouflage. He said only the garbage trucks that circulate around the city are not camouflaged. Some North Vietnamese carry tree branches on their bicycles and some schoolchildren carry a camouflage branch on their briefcases. “Hanoi is a deadly serious city that never laughs,” one source explained.

Date

1965, Nov. 16

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Attrition (Military science); United States. Army; United States--Armed Forces--Mobilization; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội; Vietnam (Republic). Quân lực

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B187, F6

Format

dispatches

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

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