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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04617 to 363-04624.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04617 to 363-04624
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Title
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Article about Hanoi withdrawing troops from South Vietnam
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Description
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Original title: "withdraw", Keever's title: "Hanoi's Troop Withdrawl to Base Area Brings lull in Military Actions." Article draft about the effects and potential reasons behind Hanoi's troop withdrawl from South Vietnam. Written for the Christian Science Monitor
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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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2020 086
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withdraw 1 (normass/deope)
SAIGON, JULY 16-In a potentil potentially major development,
Hanoi has withdrawn an estimated one-quarter to one-third of its
North Vietnamese main--force troops from South Vietnam, informed sources
report.
Using the arithmetic of official American military estimates, the
North Vietnamese troops, once considered to number 80,000 in the South,
has been reduced in mumber by between th twenty thousand to twenty seven
thousand. The balance in the South would vary between 53,000 60,000.
Those forced mar
ima moving across South Vietnam's
border lines have reportedly taken up their traditional baco sanotuarios in
Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. This is considered here to mean they could
be ordered bad for battles in the South-ovon in the capital of Saigon--
on short notice. The troop withdrawl is from the South is considered at
least in part a factor contributing to the current-throo-wooks a lull
in military actions, reductions in casualties
and palo prolonged yet during 1968.
-the most pronounced
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withdraw 2 (nomass/deepe)
The significance of pulling the North Vietnamese troops across the
boundary border-lines of the South into nearby base areas is open to
specula tion horo.
1. Is this annona the unen unannounced, tacit Communist
military do-osonlation of the war which American negotiators in Paris have
been asking for in return for stopping the bombing "and other actos of war"
against North Vietnam? The North Vietnamese der delegation in Paris has
repeatedly said Hanoi would not repeat not reciprocate, but the American
delegation has urged a taoit, unofficial de de-escalation.
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2020 886
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withdraw 3 (normass/deepe)
In short, is this a move towards peace? Is this a strategic and
facilitate progress et
permanent military withdrawal
to got the P preliminary Paris peace talks ?
2. Or, is the withdrawal a traditional tactical military
convenience,
or nebo nocossity, of à vory temporary duration, so that
North Vietnamese troops can rest, re-group, roindoctrinate and reinforce
as they have many times in the past to ocoape the increasingly massive
fighter strikes, the increasing number
pressure of American airst
of B-52 raids and the mobility of niite hundreds of h mall-unit and
long-range patrols?
In short, is this a strictly military move for military advantages
loading, not towards peace, but towards even more bitter and bioday
bloody fighting?
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2050 006
withdraw 4 (normass/deepe)
+
3. Or does the withdrawal mean both, but in varying time frames?
Hanoi using applying the classical carrot-and-stick tactic, deliberately
de-escalation in July to inti entice American concessions in Paris and
an endtin end to the bombing of the North, while simultaneously proparing
for a major offensive in August?
Is
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Officially, American and senior American and Vietnamese officers
in Saigon but not necessarily in the field commands believe the Communists
are winding up for a monsterous military offensive.
But, other Allied sources note that the highest Viet Cong
political and military command-called COSVN, or Central Off Offive
Office for South Vietnam-has held in early July and a high-level
session, of several days duration, thought to be discussing and
deciding major polit policy actions for the future. Currently,
around Saigon
subordinate commande Gorm Viet Cong military commands immediately
a joint meeting
subordina te to COSVN are holding meetings ins
xogiam near the Cambodian border, intelligence sources report.
COSVN runs the Communist side of the war in the southern one-third of
South Vietnam, while the a North Vietnamese command runs the war in the
Northern two-thirds of the repuc South.
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6
withdraw (normass/deepo)
Intelligence sources admit that to date the Allied commond here are
still in the dark about any major policy docision COSVN may have made.
They expect it will take days, if not wooks, for the COSVN decisions
and orders to percolate down to their subordinate echelons and have them
prepared to implement the decision.
the time a
Gonerally,
time-lag of several months passes before the Allied command can capturedt
documents or prisoners, or welcome a defector, who would confirm the
scorets of such a high-level soo
session.
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withdraw
น
(normass/deepo)
Southern-born
For several wooks now, field commandors around Saigon have been
saying they did not foresee a major Communist offensive around the capital
ar during July; they noted that Communist main Vlot
Viet Cong units, mixed with some Northerners, were withdrawing from the
immediate Saigon perimeter into "intermediate base areas," half way between
Cambodia and the capital capitol.
Currently, American field commanders around Saigon and informod
Vietnamese sources-boliove no major Viet Cong offensive is in the wind
anywhere in the country during the two remaining wooks of July. Small-scale
SOLATED BAS
terrorism, minor soir soir skirmishes, and sporadic rocket fire into the
urban centers are still a possibility.
The now target date for any major Communist offensive is pretty well
accepted to be in August, considered by some to coincide and designed
to influence the American Republic and Democratic conventions next month.
There is considorable debate among the American community here whether a
major Communist thrust-either with big-unit formations or high pa paychological
impact aegi actions, such as rocketing would benefit a soft-line American
Presidential candidate, or a hard-liner, and how it may affect the
drafting of the party platforms on the Vietnam issue. Some Vietnamese sources
believe the Communists may use August 19th as a pivot date for an offensive to
mark the 23 twenty third anniversary of their "general uprising" in which
power was seized and taken into the hands of the population from the
defeated Japanese of occupation forces here at the end of World War II.
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withdraw (normass/deepe)
The general mood here is that the Communists still can and inevitably
will pull something in August, with American sources speaking more arou
about a "goneral offensive" involving big-unit actions, but with Vietnamese
talking more about a "general uprising" involving high-level political
INTENSC
EcoNu
actions but low-level, guerrilla-styled military actions in the urban centers.
(Hank: tomorrow I'm going on press trip, returning in the evening.
Regards Bov).
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Date
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1968, Jul. 16
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Strategy; Tactics; 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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B10, F38
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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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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
