The Red Noose Around Saigon

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363-04818.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04818

Title

The Red Noose Around Saigon

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the Communist encirclement attempts around Saigon

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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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- Page 1
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The Red Noose
Around Saigon
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
A Communist military
stranglehold is tightening
around this capital city, while
Viet Cong political agents are
establishing subversive civil-
ian administrative councils in
the villages on Saigon's out-
skirts, intelligence officials re-
port.
Military intelligence officials
say the equivalent of a bat-
talion of Viet Cong already
have penetrated the city limits
of Saigon. Organized as sui-
cide squads, murder teams
and sabotage units, they are
ready to strike as soon as
orders are received from the
Communist command.
Outside Saigon, the Viet
Cong have established a double
ring of regular forces, under
two regimental commands. One
command, called the Capital
Regiment Headquarters, and
comprising three regular light
battalions, is known to operate
close to Saigon, within Gia
Dinh Province. The second,
comprising four regular light
battalions, operates in a larger
circle surrounding the other's
area of responsibility. An
eighth battalion is now being
trained and will bring the
Capital Regiment up to full
four-battalion strength.
Intelligence officials say the
Communists late last year
established the two regimental
co-ordinating commands, at
Cholon and Gia Dinh.
On Dec. 13, 1965, at a special
meeting, Viet Cong leaders for
the capital region established
and named the Capital Regi-
ment Headquarters. The name
of the second regiment is un-
known.
The Capital Regiment Head-
quarters has under its control
only three "light" battalions:
the 3d Battalion northeast of
Saigon, the 4th Battalion
southeast of Saigon, the 6th
Battalion southeast of Saigon.
The 5th Battalion is expected
to complete its training next
month, and is to be assigned
northwest of Saigon, the in-
telligence officials say.
HARD CORE
The seven battalions con-
trolled by the two regimental
headquarters each have four
companies, of roughly 150
men each, or roughly 600 men
per battalion. The battalions
are numerically stronger than
the average South Vietnamese
Army battalion.
These Viet Cong are con-
sidered hard-core regulars, re-
cruited in thei local villages
and provinces. They operate
in addition to local village and
regional guerrillas-part-time
farmers and part-time fighters.
The officials said councils
have already been set up to
govern the villages once the
Communists seize power with-
in South Viet Nam.
Australian troops cracked the
main base area of the Viet
Cong's Saigon - Cholon - Gia
Dinh committee. They killed
151 Communists, captured 97,
and carried off tons of docu-
ments and weapons, which
were hidden in a complex
honeycomb of tunnels, cement
blockhouses and underground
defenses.
While the allied forces dis-
rupted the headquarters, the
Viet Cong are expected to
move back into the Ho Bo
woods area.
Last week the noose around
Saigon grew tighter. Within
a 20-hour period on Jan. 16,
in the province of Gia Dinh,
which surrounds Saigon, an
unknown number of Viet Cong
poured small-arms fire into a
village 10 miles southwest of
Saigon.
Six hours later, a Viet Cong
company six miles southwest
of Saigon fired mortars at a
Vietnamese airborne battalion
which was assigned to protect
one of the largest military oil
depots and American am-
munition bases in the capital,
area.
The next day, the Viet Cong
attacked the Thu Duc In-
fantry and Armored School,
which is between Saigon and
the Bien Hoa air base. At
Bien Hoa, only 12 minutes
drive from Saigon, is more
than a division of American
combat forces.
The Capital Military Region
covers Saigon and its Chinese
twin-city of Cholon (popula-
tion: 1,641,000)-a total of 30
square miles-plus Gia Dinh
Province, which contains 77
square miles.
MORE ATTACKS
American military com-
manders have classified Gia
Dinh Province as pacified, but
the number of Viet Cong
armed attacks have been ris-
ing steadily. District head-
quarters barely out of range
of the neon lights of Saigon
are consistently hit with mor-
tar fire. Almost nightly now,
diners at Saigon rooftop res-
taurants witness flare drops
and jet strafing runs.
"Almost
every night
drop flares right at the end
of the big runway," an Amer-
ican airman at Saigon's Tan
Son Nhut airport said.
we
"We've got battalions of
Viet Cong right around this
air base. We have fire fights
three times a week at the
bomb dump right on the edge
of the runway. Nobody goes
down by that bomb dump un-
less he has to. American crew
chiefs have to guard all
night their individual aircraft
parked down near there-but
they know they're just sitting
ducks," he said.
American pilots often land
at night at Tan Son Nhut
without any lights on their
planes because they feel they
are less conspicuous targets.
North Vietnamese refugees Intelligence officials say the
who watched the Communists Viet Cong commander of the
defeat the French during the Saigon area uses the alias of
Indochinese war 12 years ago Muoi Tri, which means Spirit
recalled that the Communists No. 10. Formerly a member of
had established similar admin- the gangster pirate Binx
istrative councils in Hanoi in Xuyen group, he was captured
1951-three years before the by the French during the
Communist party took over the Indochinese War, and was
government of North Viet sent to North Viet Nam when
Nam. In 1951, these adminis- the country was divided by
trative councils had mapped the 1954 Geneva Agreements.
out and organized the Com- These officials say the Viet
munist party policy on the
most detailed problems of
governing the city of Hanoi-
including the disposal of gar-
bage and sewage.
Cong specialist on commando
attacks within Saigon is
named Cao Pha, which means
Superman. He also fought in
North Viet Nam during the
French Indochinese War.
The Viet Cong specialist on
sabotage is named Hai Den,
which means Black No. 2.
Other officials say the Viet
Cong are recruiting guerrillas
from within the city of Saigon
and its predominantly Chinese
twin city of Cholon, as well
The Saigon murder teams
as from the villages on the operate under the command
outskirts of Saigon-which the of La Van Lien, which is a
American-backed Vietnamese Chinese name. This specialist
government officially describes in assassinations by pistol
as "pacified."
gained fame in Saigon for
Included in the recruitment killing the French official in
of guerrillas are Vietnamese- charge of security throughout
born Chinese, who are now Indochina during the Indo-
working on the side of the chinese War. He, too, was sent
Viet Cong. Some Chinese Com- to North Viet Nam after the
munist influence is considered 1954 Geneva Agreement. The
to have penetrated the politi- Vietnamese government
cal atmosphere of Cholon, a recently put a 1 million piastre
city of roughly a half-million (U. S. $10,000) price on his
people.
head. The Viet Cong political
During a seven-day, 8,000- adviser to the Saigon area
man operation ending Jan. 15, operates under the alias of
American paratroopers and Chin Dung (Courage No. 9).
has

Date

1966, Jan. 30

Subject

Saigon (Vietnam); Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Siege warfare

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