SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1$67
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5,1967 TUE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE THREE
ics
Vietnam: Communists Resume Guerrilla
Tact
EDITOR'S NOTE: How has the
increase in American firepower and
troop strength affected the stance
of the Communist enemy in Viet-
nam? What does the enemy strate-
gy seem to be? Peter Arnett, AP
correspondent who won the Pulit-
zer Prize for, his dispatches from
Vietnam, produced this analysis aft-
er visiting key areas of the coun-
try and talking to senior officials.
By PETER ARNETT
SAIGON (k?) - Overwhelming
firepower and endless allied in-
fantry campaigning have forced
the Vietnamese Communists into
a hitter reappraisal of war
strategy.
They cannot expect another
Dien Bien Phu, the successful
battle that clinched victory against
the French in 1954.
The Communist "war of move-
ment" that evolved from the guer-
rilla actions of the early 1960's has
been stopped short by massed
allied forces.
U.S. military strategists and war
analysts see that as the recent
pattern.
But simply, the Communists are
hurting and are seeking ways to
ease the pain. But they are far
from giving up the fight, Gen.
William C. Westmoreland and his
field commanders acknowledge.
The Communist cure appears to
be a return, in part, to the suc-
cessful days of guerrilla warfare.
The Communist hierarchy de-
parted from the guerrilla phase in
mid-1965 when it was decided to
slug it out toe to toe with the new-
ly arriving American troops.
To build up their battalions and
regiments, the Communists bled
hamlet a n d village guerrilla
groups. The war erupted into vi-
cious fighting. American dead rose
to as many as 240 in one week
during the Ia Drang Valley battles
of November 1965.
North Vietnamese regiments!
streamed from Laos and Cambo-
dia, and through the demilitarized
zone. The bloody battles of 1966
left more than 5,000 American
dead, but the Communist momen-
tum was stopped.
The war now has taken on a
seemingly bland appearance. The
last major battles were fought
during Operation Attleboro in
Communist War Zone C northwest
of Saigon in November.
What are the Communist tactics
now?
"They're digging in," asserts
Maj. Gen. William E. DePuy of
the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, as
relentless an antagonist as any
commander in the country.
DePuy believes his division has
driven the enemy main-force regi-
ments out of their enclaves around
Binh Duong Province north ofl
Saigon, once the hammerhead ofI
the Communist push against Sai-
gon.
Hiding in the jungled foothills
of Lam Dong and Quang Duc
provinces, DePuy says, their units
"are digging in for their survival,
digging in below the seven-foot
mark. They know that unless they
dig deep we can get them with
B52s."
DePuy believes the Communists
face major problems with their
guerrillas. This is supported by re-
ports in North Vietnamese news-
papers.
By bleeding guerrilla units in
1966 to stock up the main-force
battalions the Viet Cong risked
losing control of the third of Viet-
nam's population they are credited
with controlling. As it was, fleeing
refugees and the forcible resettle-
ment of population from the Iron
Triangle, Zone C, and the moun-
tain valleys of Binh Duong Prov-
ince drained the Communists of
a million possible supporters in ing main forces into hidden re-
1966. doubts and jungle sanctuaries.
The more vigorously the allied They argue that the hidden bat-
units push, the fewer people the talions and regiments will be free
Communists will have to recruit as to move out and strike when they
guerrillas. feel they have the advantage, and
DePuy claims that the Commun- then melt back into their hideouts
ists planned to recruit - --a guerrilla warfare on a huge
fssplne torcut 6,000 guer- scale
rillas in his operational region in The attrition forced by the guer-
1966 and got only 600. A similar rillas would be sufficient to keep
situation exists in other areas the main allied forces occupied,
where U.S. forces are deploye they argue.j
.yd There are some truths in those
To retain control over the pop- arguments. Although there havej
ulation, the Communists may be been no major battles so far in
forced to break down some of 1967, U.S. combat losses have been
their main-force battalions into much higher than a year ago. In
guerrilla groups and infiltrate January last year, 173 U.S. troops
them back into hamlets and vil- were killed, in January this year
lages. DePuy sees this -as a re- 465. Thousands of American troops
versal of Communist strategy, and could die in Vietnam in 1967 even
potentially disastrous for them. without major battles.
Other analysts, however, see There seems little doubt enemy
realistic Communist thinking be- morale has been badly shaken by
hind the current strategy of mov- firepower. One million rounds of
allied artillery are hammering at
enemy positions each month, plus
tremendous air raids, mortarings
and offshore bombardments from
U.S. 7th Fleet destroyers.
The Communists possibly see
guerrilla warfare, fought at the
hamlet level, as the best way to
avoid this avalanche.
What does Westmoreland intend
to do about the enemy military
posture?
"More of the same," the U.S.
commander says. He wants more
American troops spread over more
of the countryside, with increasing
firepower. Westmoreland argued
that with more troops he can
force the enemy into mountain
redoubts and across the borders
into Cambodia and Laos, bottle
them up permanently, and go
about the job of cleaning up the
guerrillas.
Although guerrillas in allied-
occupied regions are on the run,
the Mekong River delta is still
flooded with them.
Only a few battalions of Ameri-
cans are so far in the delta. The
Vietnamese high command would
like to see two divisions of Ameri-
cans there.
Routing the guerrilla infrastruc-
ture will pose difficult problems
but the allied command is not
overly worried about the prospect.
The actions of the enemy in
recent weeks, the documents cap-
tured and the propaganda stream-
ing from Hanoi to the Communist
soldiers in South Vietnam indicate
that the Communists believe the
attempt to defeat Americans in
battle has failed.
This is reassuring to the allied
commanders. The problems now
are to .seek out the enemy, keep
him on the run and suffer as few
casualties as possible in doing it.
Report
Hanoi
Demands
IN PEKING:
Liu Humiliated by Red Guards
To Demonstrate Mao's Power
C omplete
Halt to Boll
See No Repl
tTo John son
Statement
U.S. Advisor Says
Peace Probes Now
At 'Delicate Phase'
By JACK BELL
WASHINGTON (M) - A hig
government source reported yes.
terday Hanoi is sticking to de-
mands for a permanent halt i
North Vietnam bombings 'despite
President Johnson's offer to "g
more than halfway" to end the
war.
This source said so far there
had been no indications in subse-
quent delicate diplomatic prob-
ings of any Communist response
to Johnson's Thursday news con-
ference statement that the United
States recognizes both sides wil
have to make "certain conces-
sions" to get peace.
He did not foreclose, however
the possibility that secret talks
kmay yet bring some kind of re-
sponse that could be pursued to-
ward an ultimate break in Hanoi's
interansigence.
Meanwhile, an Indian news
agency said Saturday night North
Vietnam is "understood to have
broadly indicated to India through
the latter's mission in Hanoi that
if the United States were to un-
conditionally stop the bombing of
North Vietnam some response
would follow."
It commented: "There is a feel-
ing of disappointment in respon-
sible quarters here that the U.S.
administration has not reacted to
the North Vietnamese gesture."
Presidential adviser Walt W.
Rostow also spoke yesterday of
"an extremely interesting and
delicate phase" of diplomatic
peace probes in the wake of John-
son's latest statement.
Rostow added it is not clear to
him whether this effort to deter-
mine whether Hanoi is seriously
interested in peace talks "might
turn out to be a negotiating pro-
cess."
But like the other source Ros-
tow said nothing has happened
yet to warrant belief that Hanoi
is making a serious effort to start
negotiations.
Administration officials believe
that North Vietnam is hurting
sorely from the air attacks and
from military defeats in South
Vietnam. Although they have no
evidence yet to support it, they
predict the turmoil in Communist
China soon may affect Hanoi's
supply line.
In the face of these conditions,
they say that in third-party con-
versations up to now the Hanoi
regime has given no sign it is
backing away from its position
that there must be an uncondi-
tional and permanent end to the
bombing before it will even con-
sider going to the negotiation
table. This is a rather recent stiff-
ening of the line for the North
Vietnamese took in August 1965
when they spoke only of a suspen-
sion of the bombing.
Neither have they given any
hints thus far of making what
Johnson called "a really serious
effort" toward negotiations by
offering anything in return for a
TOKYO (A) - Mao Tse-tung's
Red Guards have submitted Presi-
dent Liu Shao-chi and his wife to
humiliation in Peking, forcing him
to recite from the book of Mao's
thoughts while standing on a table
in a government park. The de-
velopment, as reported by Peking
D oubt alks 'all posters, suggested Mao held
the upper hand, at least in the
capital.
To Aid W ar At the same time, Chinese Com-
munist news media reported Mao
met a visiting Albanian delegation.:
etlen}puresumably in Peking. A Yugoslav-
Selem e dispatch said photographs of Mao
showed him looking well.
Kosygin oDics Whereabouts a Mystery
K i To Discuss The exact whereabouts of both
East-West Relations Mao and Liu had been a mystery
On Trade in London to the outside world for months.
Liu had been reported to have
MOSCOW (P)-Some diplomats set up anti-Mao headquarters at
Shihkiachwang, about 190 miles
here view prospects for any Viet-I south of Peking. There had been
nam breakthrough as dim during other reports that he was under
Premier Alexei N. Kosygin's visit virtual house arrest in Peking.
to Britain tomorrow, despite some The wall posters and the reports}
London optimism. on the Albanian functions in-
Thd lomts h igdicated both Mao and Liu may be
These diplomats have higher in the capital now.
hopes that Kosygin's visit will de- ineaalynow.
velop further East-West trade, cJapan ese anystssaid the ac
velo futhe Eat-Wst rad, !count of the humiliation of Liu
European detente and progress on make it appear that his days are
disarmament questions. numbered as China's president, a
But they paint a rather gloomy post Mao is seeking to regain after
picture of the prospects for any losing it in 1958.
spectacular breakthrough toward Firmly Entrenched
a Vietnam peace. But this would not necessarily
Soviet Preoccupation mean the end of the anti-Mao
Part of the reason is the current movement across the nation, for
Soviet preoccupation with rela- many of Liu's proponents are be-
tions with Communist China and lieved still firmly entrenched.
The Peking correspondent for
West Germany, which could pre- the Yugoslav news agency Tan-
jug said the fact that Mao turned
out for the Albanians indicated his
leading role in Chinese events was
indisputable. y
In another development, For-
eign Minister Chen Yi was report-
ed by the official New China News
Agency in a Peking dispatch to
have told a Ceylonese reception in
Peking that the power struggle
now under way was a safeguard
against war with the United
States.
'U.S. Imperialism'
The agency quoted him as say-
ing: "Vietnam is at present the
focal point of the struggle against
U.S. imperialism."
Mao's supporters claimed mean-
while, that they had seized con-
trol of Taiyuan, capital of Shansi
Province, and that a revolutionary
committee had been set up Jan. 28.
Earlier, Radio Peking indicated
reported seizures by Maoist groups
in Shanghai and Taiyuan were
shaky. Pro-Mao propaganda out-
lets repeated urgent calls to form
a "great alliance" and warned of
the possibility of a great split in
the movement if the Mao camp
didn't get rid of its erroneous at-
titude and dissension.
Liu supporters, on the other
hand, were reported holding out
and waging resistance in several
provincial areas.
Kremlin Threatens Chinese
For Harassing of Diplomats
MOSCOW ()-Asserting Soviet
patience was wearing thin, the
Kremlin fired off its second pro-
test in a week to Communist China
yesterday, demanding a halt to
demonstrations and harassment
of diplomats at the Soviet Em-
bassy in Peking. It threatened to
take steps to safeguard Soviet cit-
izens and interests in China.
Diplomats in Moscow speculated
the Kremlin might be preparing
some kind of new move since
Peking had ignored previous pro-
tests over the past nine days of
anti-Soviet demonstrations in the
Chinese capital. The diplomats
said the Soviet Union might recall
WHILE NO HEADWAY on the diplomatic front has been made known, the Viet
with fierce fighting on the ground and in the air.
-Associated Press
nam war continues r
Bombing Raids North of Hanves
0l
SAIGON, South Vietnam (P)-
U.S. B52 jets blasted three times'
yesterday at enemy holdings in
the Quang Ngai sector, on the
coast 320 miles northeast of Sai-
gon, after Communist troops had
inflicted heavy casualties on an
11-man Marine patrol south- of
Quang Ngai.
The. quick blows by the eight-
engine Stratofortresses came as
briefing officers disclosed fresh
American fighter-bomber strikes
north of Hanoi and Haiphong.
These were executed through in-
tense flak Friday after two weeks
of bad weather that limited raids
largely to North Vietnam's sea
front and southern panhandle.
While short, scattered engage-
ments marked ground fighting,
smoke poured up from explosions
and fires, believed touched off by
Viet Cong saboteurs, at the U.S.
Army's sprawling Long Binh
munitions depot, 14 miles north of
Saigon. Spokesmen said two Amer-
icans had been injured.
Destroy Quarters
The U.S. Command also re-
ported that a Viet Cong demoli-
tion charge, set off in the night,
had destroyed the quarters of an
American military police company
at Phan Rang, on the coast 170
miles east of Saigon. Of 22 MPs
in the barracks at the time, it
said, 9 were wounded.
Saigon briefing officers said the
rainy season weather improved
enough in spots over North Viet-
nam Friday to let pilots pick their
way to four important targets.
Four flights of U.S. Air Force
Thunderchiefs - totaling a dozen
or more planes - hit the Thai
Nguyen railroad yard, 35 miles
north of Hanoi, and inflicted
heavy damage. Twenty boxcars
were destroyed. Tracks were ripped
up inside the yard and both ends
were blocked.
Four other F105 flights rained
750-pounds bombs on railroad
traks and antiaircraft sites near
Saturday that North Vietnam's
armed forces shot down four
planes, two of the unmanned
reconnaissance type, and captured
"a number of American" pilots.
There was no confirmation in
Saigon.
Though grund fighting in South
Vietnam was limited, field reports
told of action in which nearly 100
of the enemy were killed. U.S.
Marines repo
reans 27, Sor
South Viet:
quarters repo
ever, in one
antrarramptc
)rted 29, South
uth Vietnamese
nam's military h
'rted a setback,1
of the govern
T Qidi thro
elude new Soviet initiatives on
Vietnam at this time.
Riotous week-long Chinese dem-
onstrations at the Soviet Embassy
in Peking, and Chinese charges of
Ko- alleged police beatings of Chinese
34- students and diplomats here ap-
head- pear to be moving the two coun-
how- tries toward a break in relations.
ment At the same time East European
mili
India Faces Starvation
Despite Food from U.S.
its diplomats and close down the
embassy temporarily.
At the same time the Foreign
Ministry announced that 200
wives and children of Soviet of-
ficials and teachers of the Soviet
school in Peking were being sum-
moned home. Forty of them re-
turned to Moscow yesterday.
Continue Demonstrations
A Tass, Soviet news agency dis-
patch from Peking said pro-Mao
Tse-Tung Red Guards continued
their demonstrations outside the
Soviet Embassy.
The Soviet protest was sent off
against a background of official
feuding in Moscow between the
Chinese Embassy and the Soviet
Foreign Ministry.
The crucial part of the protest
said :
"The government of the People's
Republic of China bears the entire
responsibility for possible con-
sequences of the actions of lawless-
ness against the Soviet Embassy
and the citizens of the U.S.S.R.
on the territory of the People's
Republic of China."
Urgent Measures
The note demanded that the
Chinese "take the most urgent
measures to insuree the complete
safety of Soviet Embassy officials'
and their families" and insisted
on strict punishment of Chinese
responsible for the demonstrations.
It called the continuous dem-
onstrations "unprecedented in the
history of diplomatic relations."
Zamyatin said, the Soviet Union
"will do everything possible to
normalize and develop relations
with China."
engagements. is aa nree mi-n
tia platoons suffered heavy casu-
alties in an attack by the Viet
Cong at a point in the Mekong
River delta 108 miles southwest
of Saigon.
World News Roundup
By The Associated Press !
VATICAN CITY-Pope Paul VI
was reported yesterday to have
asked older cardinals working at
the Vatican to resign their posts
so he could modernize the Curia.
The Pope was said to have sug-
gested that all cardinals over 75
consider quitting their Curia posts
to make way for younger pre-
lates. But he was reported to
have encountered stiff resistance
to his announced intention to re-
form the Curia in line with rec-
ommendations of the Vatican
Ecumenical Council and make it
more international.
WASHINGTON -- Proposed ad-
ditional federal standards to con-
trol air pollution from new motor
vehicles were announced last night
by Secretary of Welfare John W.
Gardner.
The new standards are aimed at
evaporation fumes from fuel tanks
and carburetors. They would apply
to all new gasoline-powered auto-
mobiles and light trucks sold in
this country beginning with the
model year 1969.
WASHINGTON - President
Johnson will send Congress a
special message tomorrow asking
for a new "safe streets and crime
control law."
The White House announced
yesterday the President's plans to
submit the document, promised
in his State of the Union address.
Some of the major items which
Johnson has said will be encom-
passed in the proposed law are:
-Contributions meeting 60 per
cent of the cost of introducing the
latest pplice equipment ,and tech-
niques.
-Federal payment of 50 per
cent of the cost of building crime
laboratories and police academies.
Johnson also will ask for "strict
controls on the sale of firearms,"
and new antidelinquency pro-
grams.
foreign ministers are due to meet
[n East Berlin tomorrow to dis-
cuss relations between the East
bloc and West Germany.
Anxious for Settlement
The Soviet Union is described
as anxious for a Vietnam peace
settlement but unwilling to rush
Hanoi to the conference 'table.
Hanoi is reported apprehensive
about losing ground at new peace
talks. Some diplomats here express
the belief the Russians want to
avoid the risk of pushing Hanoi
to the conference table and later
accepting blame for possible Hanoi
disappointments.
The Soviet Union has stated re-
peatedly it would not call for a
new Geneva conference on Viet-
nam unless Hanoi asked for one.
They have given this reply to the
British when asked to call such a
conference. Britain and the So-
viet Union are cocharimen of the
conference.
British spokesmen have voiced
optimism on Vietnam peace pros-
pects before meetings between
leading British and Soviet officials.
NEW DELHI tP')-Indian offi-
cials have breathed a sigh of re-
lief at President Johnson's an-
nouncement of continued food aid,
but at the same time an unrelent-
ing drought is heightening the
danger of eventual starvation and
deaths.
No sign of relief has appeared,
and India's winter is beginning to
give way to what will be scorching
dry days ahead, without any of
the usual winter rains.
Reports from some hard-hit
areas say that if rain does not fall
in the next two weeks there will
be no chance of sowing the sum-
mer crop, the country's major one.
Drought last fall ruined the lesser
winter crop.
The Bihar Relief Committee re-
ported yesterday that people in
some hill regions of that drought-
stricken state are living on roots
and grass.
A report in Saturday's Times of
India from Patna, Bihar's capital,
said wells have begun drying up in
about 24,000 villages of south Bi-
har, which cover a population of
12 million people. The report said
the water table is "fast receding"
and government relief crews are
attempting to dig deeper wells as
rapidly as possible.
Light army drilling rigs have
been placed at the state's disposal.
The United Nations and many
foreign church relief organizations
have rushed drilling rigs, food dis-
tribution units, clothing and other
aids to Bihar.
A Roman Catholic relief worker
coming to New Delhi from Bihar-
said the incidence of death in
Bihar was increasing but it was
difficult to say starvation deaths
were occurring. He said at this
point there is a fine line between
hungry people dying of disease,
with its weakened bodies, and
actual starvation.
THE VALENTINE
THAT WILL LAST
FOREVER
..
Give her a monogrammed
CIRCLE PIN
U'! i1
Michigan Union and Michigan League
ann ounce
OPEN PETITIONING
11
I
11
I II U- - -- - - - ___ mA ___ - . U U U ~ 4' 11