Tension in Indo-China

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32819, 20 January 1972, Page 11

Tension in Indo-China

(N.Z.PA.-Reuter—Copyright)

SAIGON, January 19.

The most intensive heavybomber raids since April were reported by the United States Command in Saigon today as the Americans prepared to combat a strong offensive in South Vietnam by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese. American troops went on practice alerts and the United States Navy increased its air strength in the Gulf of Tonkin as North Vietnamese reinforcements moved down the Ho Chi Minh trail.

American 852 aircraft have dropped 900 tons of bombs in 60 hours on suspected Communist troop concentrations in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.

Other 852 raids were made on North Vietnamese Army supply dumps north of the abandoned former United States Marine fortress of Khe Sanh, just south of the Demilitarised Zone, and extended into the southern half of the buffer zone, and the air attacks on the Ho Chi Minh trail continued. American troops at Pleiku underwent their second alert in four nights last night in an effort to improve reaction time in case of a Communist attack.

Allied intelligence, citing increased Viet Cong terrorist incidents in and round' Saigon and other parts of South Vietnam has predicted a Communist offensive in the next few weeks. South Korean troops began an attack on January 3 in an attempt to blunt the offensive. The Koreans, who have suffered 21 killed and 42 wounded, have captured documents said to show conclusively that a largescale offensive is to be made by the Communists. The nuclear-powered American aircraft-carrier Enterprise returned to the Tonkin Gulf today and immediately joined the air campaign against the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In Phnom Penh, the Cambodian High Command said today that two or three more regiments of North Vietnamese had moved down the Ho Chi Minh Trail into Cambodia, bringing the number of enemy troops in the country to between 65,000 and 70,000.

The command said the Communists had been avoiding a battle with Cambodian forces.

In Vientiane, informed sources said today that Laotian Government troops had recaptured important positions overrun by North Vietnamese forces on Skyline Ridge, overlooking the Meo

guerrilla base of Long Cheng. The North Vietnamese hold the eastern edge of the ridge in a mountain range bordering Long Cheng.

Two North Vietnamese MiG 21 jet fighters fired missiles at two American Phantom jets over Laos yesterday. When challenged, the North Vietnamese aircraft fled back to North Vietnam.

The MiG fighters fired three air-to-air missiles at the American jets, which went into tight diving turns and evaded them.