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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07608 to 363-07615.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07608 to 363-07615
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Title
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Article about Communist units stationed 45 miles North of Saigon
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Description
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Original title: "airborne", Keever's title: "North Vietnam troops operate 40 miles from Saigon", article about Communist units being 45 miles North of Saigon, for the New York Herald Tribune
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AI Usage Disclosure
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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.
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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deepe
airborne--page 1
march 21, 1966
SAIGON-Intelligence sources have confirmed that Communist
are
units, the majority of which are North Vietnamese troops,
roving about only forty miles north of thex this crisis-ridden
capital city.
Two separate piece of evidence-either prisoner interrogation
and a decut God document or two documents--are required before
American and Vietnamese intelligence sources are able to confirm
their information. In this case captured documents and a wounded
400-MA
Naxtax prisoner who reported ninety per cent of his battalion
to be North Vietnamese soldiers confirmed the evidence, which is
indicates a likelihood of stiff fighting in the future
on the outskirts of Saigon..
(More)
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deepe
airborne-page 2
March 21, 1966
The confirmation is viewed as significant since this was the
first firm, official evidence that North Vietnamese troops had moved
so far south-and so close to the capital of Saigon.
IN WHICH
The official evidence was gathered following a dramatic iz victory
the U. S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade killed 303 of the Communist
troops only forty miles north-northeast of Saigon mamm last
week on March 17th. American airborne casualties were light. Two
American troops were seriously wounded by a "short" artillery round
and numerous others were suffered superficial wounds from the
Elmerican
fragmentation of bombs dropped during the airstrikes, according to
military
Americans involved in the battle.
suppressed
however, did not release this information,
Official sees sources,
(More)
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deepe
airborne-page 3
March 21, 1966
Other evidence gathered from the battle was:
1. The Communist commanders issued some of their instructions
to their troops in English--and "their English was excellent," according
to intelligence sources. This was presumably done to confuse the
American troops Vietnamese government troops who might be
monitoring their radio-casts.
Communist
2. The attacking units of t at least two-and possibly
three-battalions were mixed between Southern-born local
Viet Cong troops
"hard-core" troops and "imported"
North Vietnamese soldiers, who were in the majority.
WORN BY
Some of the units were dressed in fatigues with hard,
S
others were dressed in khakis and common black- pajama wear of the
local peasants.
Numbers of the dead Communist troops wore American-made
canteens and pistol belts. While the majority of the captured weapons
were Communist bloc, including Chinese Communist, Czeck and Russian
items,
several of the lethal machineguns were American-made of
World War II vintage.
(More)
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deepe
airborne- page 4
This has created the suspicion among some of the American
troops that American-made weapons and military equipment issued to
Western allies or former allies is being blackmarketed and sold to the
Communist side to be used against them. In the past, American
troops have picked up a number of M-16 rifles and submachine guns--
without serial numbers-which would not have been issued to oither
Vietnamese or American troops in this theatre.
"We've given so much hardware to so many countries, including
China in the past, that it's hard to tell where this American
equipment is coming
from," one American soldier ex
explained.
(More)
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- Page 5
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deepe
airborne page 5
3. A number of the dead Communist troops card carried
Communist-issued passes for the soldiers to take leave in Saigon
or in the Bien Hoa, a small town 18 miles from Saigon where a
major American-protected airbase is situated.
4.
Captured documents also included Communist o plans to
attack "at all cost" and over-run an American brigade headquarters,
plus several other American-held Insion protected installations.
One of these installations was Phuoc
miles north of Saigon,
which is the home of the First Brigade, Tirs U. S. Army First
35
Infantry Division. Even the division headquarters of that unit,
situated only
30
miles from Saigon, has received Communist mortar
fire for harrassment purposes.
(More)
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deepe
airborne-6
that
5. Intelligence sources also report an increasing flow of
.75 mm. pack artillery is being brought into South Vietnam by
the Communists. This lethal weapon has a range of three to foun
miles, which indicates that the Communists from a long distance o
pound important airfields, installations and the city of Saigon
if they choose.
The two or three attacking battalions were part of
Viet Cong Regiment C91, according to these sources.
This regiment,
reinforced with two heavy weapons compared companies,
called U-1 and U-2, carried the designation of a South
but
local Southern main-line unit, which contained a mao majority
of North Vietnamese troops.
Three other Viet Cong regiments are known to operate
in this same general area. These are the Dong Ngai Regiment (named
Regiment
-Regiment
after a local river), Q761 and 0763. These regiments,
operating at least forty miles north of Saigon, are in addition
to the eight battalions of Viet Cong known to operati operate
in the ii immediate vicinity of Saigon.
(More)
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deepe
airborne--page 7
One wounded Viet Cong prisoner told the American airborne
too troops that on March 16th the American units walked
teen ch
right passed a tunnel in which 400 of the Communist soldiers were
huddled. That night the American unit set up a defensive perimeter,
with airborne troops sleeping in their foxholes. At 4 a.m., the
Communist prisoner said his unit, plus another one cap "completely
surrounded" the Americans.
Three hours later, at 7 a.m.,
the Communists shot down an incoming American resupply helicopter and
then attacked the American troops still sitting in their foxholes.
The battle raged for five hours, as American artillery
and airstrikes rushed to the support of the Ameri an ground troops.
the fighting was so
While no repeat no hand-to-hand combat ensued,
close that the Americans and Communists were tossing hand grenades
at each other twenty five feet apart.
"If the Communists had
waited an hour
each of our three
Gp companies would have separated and started walking through the
jungle," one American airborne trooper explained.
"We wouldn't have
been in defensive positions--we'd have been torn to shreds."
As the American troops advanced after the battle, they found
* a Communist combat hamlet, deformed by complete with several
kilometers of trench-lines and tunnels all around it.
(More)
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deepe
airborne-page 8
"The Commies had their own little village in the jury
jungle, with their wives, pigs, chickens and plenty of rice
to stay alive," one airborne soldier explained.
"It was hidden
under a dense canopy of jungle and even our aerial recon photos
didn't show that it was there. "
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Date
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1966, Mar. 21
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B188, F3
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Format
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dispatches
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Collector
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
