HAIPHONG BOMBINGS First Less Severe Than Reported

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 14

HAIPHONG BOMBINGS First Less Severe Than Reported

t.V.Z. Press Association—Copyright >

WASHINGTON, July 10

The key North Vietnamese oil depot near Haiphong was hit much less severely than the the United States Government claimed after the first United States bombing strike there on June 29, it was learned today, the Associated Press reported.

Defence Department sources said a study of postattack reconnaissance photographs showed the Haiphong complex suffered between 40 and 50 per cent destruction, rather than the 80 per cent claimed by the Secretary of Defence, Mr McNamara, on the basis of preliminary pilot reports. Sources said Mr McNamara was going on the basis of the best information available at the time. Heavy smoke obscured the target area immediately after the attack, hampering reconnaissance. The lower-than-announced destruction in that first raid is what prompted a second strike on the Haiphong oil depot this week. Pumping Stations

Navy planes, was reported to have knocked out two important pumping stations, as well as more oil tanks. The U.S. Air Force attack on oil stores close to Hanoi on June 29 was much more effective, sources said. No percentage damage was claimed for the Hanoi target at the time. Sources said the Hanoi oil storage facilities were badly enough hammered so that “we don't need to go back there now.” One estimate placed the destruction there about 95 per cent. The Haiphong depot was calculated to represent about 40 per cent of North Vietnam's oil storage capacity while that near Hanoi was estimated to hold more than 20 per cent. The bombing accuracy of both forces was described as superlative. Accuracy was estimated to be between 200 and 300 feet of the pinpoint targets.

That second strike, also by