Article about the use of non-lethal gas in Vietnam

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derivative filename/jpeg

363-07437 to 363-07445.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-07437 to 363-07445

Title

Article about the use of non-lethal gas in Vietnam

Description

Original title: "faas", Keever's title "Exclusive: First Viet Gas Story Surprises Guerrillas - and a Photographer", Article draft about the use of non-lethal gas to smoke out Việt Cộng tunnels in Vietnam, for the New York Herald Tribune

AI Usage Disclosure

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 faas--2--precede In this operation, government tanks, planes, junks and ground troops attempted to rout the Viet Cong from their stronghold series of tunnels, entrenchments and underground airraid shelters. The operational summary reads: Throughout the afternoon Skyraiders hit the hills and surrounding area but the ground units were not able to take their objectives. Seven assaults against the hills were repulsed by the Viet Cong. Later, it was found that the hills were honeycombed with caves and tunnels leading from foxholds [deletion: the] to the back of the slopes. Defensive fire from these dug-in positions included sixty mm. mortars and 57 mm. recoilless rifles. During the night, the bulk of the Viet Cong were believed to have moved across the river…” [XXXX indicating deletion] During the operation, gas was used, but it was “not effective because the Viet Cong had moved out,” American military spokesman said. Final results: 88 Viet Cong killed, with reports by the Viet Cong villagers that about 60 additional bodies were taken across the river; 6 Viet Cong captured, 10 suspects, 2 .30 calibre machineguns, [deletion: mot] stocks of Viet Cong ammunition. Government casualties: 7 killed, 16 wounded--including two American advisors. In another case, a Vietnamese tank company and two ground battalions planned to use [deletion: gas] the non-lethal gas in an assault on a similar assault on Viet Cong fixed frontline positions. Associated PRess photographer Horst Faas was on that operation--which provided the last necessary evidence for him and Associated Press writer Peter Arnett to write their controversial story. Faas’ view: it’s better to have a tummy ache than to be dead. This is the story of that operation. deepe faas--2 In an interview with New York Herald Tribune, Horst Faas, a 32-year-old German who survived the bombing of Berlin when he was 10, then worked as photographer in Congo, Algeria for 18 months before coming to Vietnam 18 months ago, gave a play-by-play of the operation. The story explains why the Vietnamese and American officers wanted to use gas, what the war in Viet Nam is like--and how Horst Faas covers the war. This is Faas account of the operation which lead to the famous story about the use of non-lethal gas in Viet Nam: “Last Friday (March 19th) I went on a routine operation,” the roly-poly photographer explained. “I was trying to get back to Saigon [deletion: afterwards], but it was nighttime and I couldn’t drive. So, I stayed overnight with a Vietnamese tank unit outside of Saigon. We got up at four in the morning (Saturday), the tanks were running around and I was introduced to the tank commander. He knew me from coup detats in Saigon and he knew the Associated Press. The tank commander said I could go on his operation. So the tanks started rumbling towards Saigon--14 APC’s (armored personnel carriers, which are ligher than tanks). “I thought we were going on a coup. But our tanks couldn’t go through Saigon; we stopped on the road and a truck came from Saigon and distributed gas maks. I asked how many masks. The Tank commander said 51 for 116 troops. deepe faas--3 “‘I will give the others towels,’ the tank commander explained. I asked him if he was going to make a coup. He said no they were going on an operation. I still thought it was a political operation though. But then we skirted Saigon and headed out to Viet Cong country towards the Cambodian border. The Vietnamese commander [deletion: said] told me he might use gas and asked where was my gasmask. i said i didn’t have one. ‘I don’t have one for you’, the tank commander said. ‘I don’t even have enough for my troops. the (American information office should equip you with gas masks,’ he said, jokingly. Then two battalions of troops assembled with the tanks and one of these battalions also had gasmasks and I saw them putting these gas masks on. The American advisor said these were infantry troops sitting in Tayninh (province on Cambodian border and Viet Cong stronghold) but only a few of the Vietnamese officers ahd ever seen gasmasks before. [XXXX indicating deletion] It took sometimes for the Vietnamese to get their masks on and the American advisors were worried these troops might also get sick from the gas. The tank commander said he’d give masks to his gunner, driver, the American advisor and maybe to the rifleman--then he would close the turret of the tank and make the charge. The other fellows [deletion: without masks] would have to go without masks. So the troops ran into the village and bought towels--for 20 piastres each--(thirty u.s. cents) and these towels were made in Red China. deepe faas--5 This Viet Cong fortification goes on for miles from the Cambodian border almost to outside of Saigon--and in this fortification are Viet Cong combat villages and everything you can imagine. Intelligence people say its the permanent headquarters for a 500-man Viet Cong battalion and the headquarters for the Viet Cong Saigon-Cholon committee and also the regional headquarters for Viet Cong troops. All these people live [deletion: their] with their families. They’ve built airraid shelters so hard that the tanks can’t crack them by running over them. It’s like a big underground mine. Every family has its own airraid shelter and they survive artillery. So the government has tried to catch [XXXX indicating deletion] the Viet Cong and in many assault cases the Viet Cong stood and fought off government troops. I myself was in this same area on New Years night, 1963, and the 32nd (government) Ranger battalion was caught in this entrenchment--but bombs and rockets wouldn’t even knock out the Viet Cong. All the time we were under Viet Cong fire [XXXX indicating deletion] andpinned down for seven hours when we tried to assault this position. It’s like a World War I frontline with trenches connected to foxholes with tunnel exits. We were supported by planes and artillery, but everytime the bombs hit the Viet Cong simply went underground. Finally the infantry took the Viet Cong positions, but the Viet Cong made an orderly retreat--and the government had 60-70 casualties… deepe faas--6 So we discussed this all night and of course the Vietnamese wanted to use gas--the idea was to encircle the Viet Cong, make them stand and fight and then we would use gas to take over these positions--So at four the next morning, I was sitting on the carrier and we were moving in a long convoy towards the Viet Cong positions. But one truck overturned on a bridge--it was a provisional bridge replacing one the Viet Cong had blown up. When the truck overturned, the American advisor was serious wounded with brain concussion. The whole convoy was stopped for 45 minutes to take care of this accident--so we were one hour late in getting to the Viet Cong target. Unfortunately, the airstrikes were on time--and so there was a one hour gap between the airstrikes and our arrival at the target. We saw the results of the air bombardment--when we got to the target--but there were no Viet Cong. So the Vietnamese commanders could not use gas without a real target… Throughout this operation we were always under sniper fire from automatic rifles--from the moment the operation started. This is the worst sniping area in Viet Nam. The snipers pop out of tunnels all along--the troops know this--and keep moving. The snipers pop up out of a hole--but when the government troops get there it’s only a foxhole--the Viet Cong goes out the tunneled [deletion: in] exit in the rear. So all day the snipers were moving around us--the last sniper fire was on the main highway at the end of the operation--the snipers followed us through a rubber plantation and we took two casualties even on the main highway. deepe faas--7 For the assault on those V.C. positons, I hopped off the tanks--it was very bumpy and made me black-and-blue, and it’s too shaky for good photographs. Besides all the trees are like fruit trees, but they are V.C. mines instead of fruit--so when there’s a [deletion: carier] assault through the jungle, you have to drive in this undergrowth with mines going off in the trees all around you, and road mines going off underneath you. I went with the infantry instead of the tanks. In areas like this, gas is justified--area assault looks good in the movies, but we lose too many men--the Viet Cong have been dug in [XXXX indicating deletion] here for years. On the first assault, the Viet Cong did not resist--so we sat down and re-organized our movements, and immediately the sniper fire started. So we [XXXX indicating deletion] started moving. [deletion: The] But first we had to take out the Viet Cong [deletion: had] grenades in the trees above us and within the first hour two government troops fell in spike traps. One spike went through the troopers heel, through the ankle and up to the kneecap--it was very long and sharp. So, we saw no enemy and gave up the plan of using gas. The most amazing thing is this big bombardment of air and artillery didn’t cause a single Viet Cong casualty. Hundreds of Viet Cong wives and kids came out--but there wasn’t a single civilian casualty. They simply went into their airraid shelters--and the ground was like cement. The Viet Cong are like moles--gas would have gone into these tunnels and gotten these people out. deepe faas--8 The trouble is women and kids come out of the tunnels, but the snipers stayed in. When we sat down for lunch in the headquarters company--which was surrounded by four other companies--we came under sniper fire…but the sniper ran away. The government troops ran after him--but it was like trying to catch a cat--ten minutes later he came up again. The government troops got mad…we couldn’t send government troops into the tunnels because they are mined at the exit point. We were doing this all day and it was highly frustrating…One funny thing happened though. There were three snipers in [deletion: the tunnel] [XXXX indicating deletion] at one tunnel entrance--one must have been shot because we heard him fiddling with his gun. Five government troops ran for the sniper--he tried to fire but his gun jammed and the other two snipers pulled him down the tunnel and got away. But they dropped their three weapons. One was a Russian MOS-44, the second was a French MAS-36 and third was a brand-new U.S. greasgun that wasn’t even scratched. It was the greasegun that wouldn’t fire properly…the American advisor said the greasegun was always a bad weapon--but he was happy this time that it was bad. The government troops were very happy they got the three weapons. deepe faas--9 Another strange thing was American helicopters were flying [XXXX indicating deletion] above us--the Viet Cong would fire at the helicopters instead of at us. So the helicopter would drop smoke--and we were afraid they would fire at us. That’s the most frightening thing--we all jumped into the Viet Cong holes--it made me feel like a Viet Cong when the helicopter flew over. These holes are very deep--about ten feet deep and they can hold four or five people in them. The government made several more charges against these Viet Cong areas--but it [insertion: [illegible]] was the same thing. The Viet Cong women and kids came out, but the Viet Cong rr troops had left--except for the snipers who were always there…the sniper fire was always with us, but the Viet Cong never presented themselves as a target, so we never used gas. The Vietnamese commander didn’t want to use gas just against snipers or women and kids. or to use it for their own safety. We went through open areas where the Viet Cong could have hit us--but we didn’t want to use gas just to protect ourselves. The commanders wanted a target [XXXX indicating deletion] [illegible] the Viet Cong had left. It was the Vietnamese ground commander that gave the specific order of when gas was to be used--he would have relayed it to his vietname liaison officer in the helicopter above us. The Vietnamese tank commander said he specifically was in charge of giving the order--but he didn’t have the opportunity. deepe faas--10 I understand that when this tear-gas stuff was used in Binh Dinh (a northern province), the government rroops ran away. Gas is a humane weapon. From a military standpoint, you prevent casualties. The Viet Cong are sitting in their holes and you have to drop thousands of bombs to get them out…they have formidable tunnel networks…You try to find the Viet Cong, to destroy the enemy and fight him--you either have to kill, wound or make him inactive--so if you make him inactive with gas it’s better. It’s much better to have a tummy ache than to be dead or wounded by mortar. In Binh Gia, we [insertion: [illegible]] had a terrific defeat (in late December) because there were 1000 Viet Cong mixed in with 6000 friendly villagers and the decision was made not to bomb the village. We got defeated as a consequence--the Viet Cong use the civilian population as a human shield. There’s no such thing as a clean war and gas does not main you for life like mortar does. The medics tell us that gas is a weapon that’s good to be used when guerrillas mingle [insertion: [illegible]] the friendly population. I know bombs very well. I was ten years old [deletion: in Berlin during World War II--and for two years the planes came every day]. I was in Berlin at the end of the war and for two years they bombed every day.” -30-

Date

1965, Mar. 26

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Faas, Horst, 1933-2012; Tunnel warfare; Tunnels; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Chemical warfare; Gases, Asphyxiating and poisonous--War use; Chemical agents (Munitions)

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B4, F10

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