MORE U.S. TROOPS FOR VIETNAM

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31000, 4 March 1966, Page 13

MORE U.S. TROOPS FOR VIETNAM

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 3. The Defence Secretary. Mr Robert S. McNamara, walks into a senatorial storm over Vietnam today, prepared to defend an authorised increase of another 20,000 men in United States fighting forces there, says the Associated Press.

A new total of 215,000 men, released at a press conference, is already more than the figure mentioned previously by the administration. Mr McNamara was expected to be called upon to support VicePresident Hubert Humphrey’s assertion last night that the “tide has begun to turn in our favour,” in the effort to halt Viet Cong aggression and bolster the South Vietnamese economy.

One of the pressing questions at a closed meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee appeared likely to revolve around why, with 215,000 Americans already committed to the struggle, the Communists are still able to call the tune on the escalation of hostilities. Mr McNamara told a news conference yesterday that if need be, the American man-

power commitment in Vietnam could be boosted to 350,000 without ordering reservists to active duty. He said that although there are now about 30,000 United States servicemen in Southeast Asia, American fighting forces are “fully capable of meeting our commitments" around the world. 21 Battalions Mr McNamara said the United States had the capability of sending another 21 battalions to South Vietnam by July if they were required, but he did not think this would be necessary. He indicated the limited nature of the present buildup by saying President Johnson had met all current troop requests submitted by General William Westmoreland, the United States commander in Vietnam. Mr McNamara called the press conference specifically to deny press stories that the United States was overextended because of the Vietnam war and did not have the trained manpower to meet other emergencies around the globe. Mr Humphrey told an American Legion dinner last

night that President Johnson is following a middle course between quitting South Vietnam and resorting to "massive escalation and violence” to win.

He emphasised that the President is unwilling at this point to recognise the Viet Cong as a "separate entity”— as Senator Robert F. Kennedy proposed—at any negotiations that may materialise. Mr McNamara said United States forces in South-east Asia represented only about 10 per cent of the three million men on active military duty. Moreover, the over-all total did not include the organised reserve of about one million men and other manpower reserves. He said the United States could undertake a major military operation in Vietnam without invoking the emergency measures used during the Korean war and in the Berlin crisis of 1961. No Measures Compared with those crises, Vietnam had not resulted in mobilisation and no war-time measures such as wage and price controls had been imposed. “In this respect, the Southeast Asia effort is unique in our military history,” he said. Illustrating the growth of United States military strength, he said the number of army combat manoeuvre battalions will have increased from 141 in 1961 to 192 by June of this year. Similar increases had occurred throughout all the armed services. Much Ammunition He said that the build-up of ammunition in South Vietnam had reached a point where the United States could count on having available there 1.7 million bombs annually, 4.8 million 2.75 in rockets, 88 million rounds of air-to-ground fire, 1000 million rounds of small arms ammunition, 16 million grenades, and 11 million mortar and artillery rounds. The consumption this month of air delivered munitions alone would be running at about two and a half times the average monthly rate in the three years of the Korean war, “and we are prepared to support even higher rates in the months ahead.” Of tactical air power, Mr McNamara said the United States had a total of about 4700 aircraft, and only a small fraction of these had been committed to South-east Asia so far. In an emergency, 2300 tactical fighter and attack planes could be deployed into combat there within 90 days, in addition to those now in South-east Asia, Korea, and Europe.