PAGE EIGHT.
THE 311CHIGAN DAILY
JANUARY 8, 1967
PAGE EIGHT TIlE MICHIGAN DAILY JANUARY R.. iQ~i
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GUERRILLA WARFARE:
FILMS
YitnmeeCi gins
VitnameseCivilians Subjected to Cong 'Georgy Girl' Entertaining,
Tactics of Terrorization by Assassination Enjoyable in Spite of Itself
n... nr~r. nn A ,,rne
EDITOR'S NOTE: International
attention has focused recently on
reports of civiliandeaths in North
Viet Nam due to U.S. bombings.
Less attention is given to the
deaths of civilians in South Viet
Nam due to Viet Cong terror tac-
tics. Here is a summary of that sit-
uation.
SAIGON WP)-Americans call it
terror. The Viet Cong call it war.
Regardless of the name, it means
death.
Communist guerrillas range all
over South Vietnam from the de- i that the Viet Cong during the last , not tabulated from July 1 intoI
militarized zone to the Mekong
River delta. They kidnap, torture,
maim and kill. They use bullets,
bombs and knives.
Some of the victims were
American servicemen asleep in
billets. Others were Vietnamese
government officials or employes.
Many were rice farmers,, house-
wives, children or other civilians.
National police statistics show
three years have assassinated
roughly 2,100 civilians because
they were connected with the gov-
ernment or were too close to the
terrorists' targets. The assassina-
tions show a steady increase-
from 479 in 1964 to 608 in 1965
to an estimated 1,000 last year.
Exact figures for 1966 are not
available. The reporting system
was changed and statistics were
First Marines in Mekong Delta
Face Token Enemy Resistance
EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press
Pulitzer prize-winning correspond-
ent Peter Arnett accompanied the
first U.S. Marines to hit the beaches
of Viet Nam's Mekong Delta-long
a Viet Cong stronghold.
By PETER ARNETT
T H A N H PHU PENINSULA,
South -Vietnam (AP) - Eight-inch
shells thudded into the surf and
beach and the dawn came up like
thunder as U.S. Marines waded
ashore on white beach in the
Mekong Delta-heartland of the
Viet Cong for 20 years.
It was the first nass American'
penetration into the guerrilla
stronghold, where the Viet Cong
have stored arms, trained recruits.
and hid near the beaches to rest
from the war.
The object of the early morning
attack Friday was a strip of sand
streaked with driftwood at the
southern tip of Vietnam's most
densely populated province, Kien
Hoa, 55 miles south of Saigon.
Cong Avoid Marines
The enemy was presumed to
have had an ikling of the assult,
and few Viet Cong were to be
found at the beach. Only several
sniper rounds defiantly whipped
in as the troops waded ashore.
The enemy obviously was not in-
terested in tangling with the Mar-
ines just jet.
The multi-battalion force en-
gaged in the delta landings, code
named Deckhouse Five, assembled
last weekend aboard a 12-ship
Navy task force off the coastal
GM Calls Back New Models
ToR lace Steering Defects
DETROIT ()-Collapsible steer- "particularly when the vehicle is
ing columns, much heralded as being parked or being turned at
safety devices, were in the spot- slow speeds."
light yesterday because of faulty The firm said that of the 269,2001
installation as General Motors cars involved, 89,950 are Chevrolet
Corp. recalled 269,200 new cars. Chevellesand El Caminos, 76,103
The largest of the nation's four are Pontiac Tempests, 56,441 are
auto makers said the steering Oldsmobil F85's and 46,749 are
shafts in the company's smaller Buick Specials.
model 1967 cars will be replaced Larger models built by GM have
because they may snap.s
Eight such failures have been steering shafts that, although of
repotedso ar-ive n Pnticsa safety variety, are of different
reported so far-five in Pontiacs, design and are installed in an-
two in Chevrolets and one in aederwan-
Buick-all at lowv speeds while other way.
parking or turning, GM said. Owners Notified
Experimental Shaft Owners of the suspect cars are
The steering shafts are the new, being told by certified mail of the
impact-absorbing columns de- possibility of a steering failure.
signed to collapse under extreme They are urged to get their car to
pressure, such as that from a col- a GM dealer promptly for re-
lision throwing the driver against placement of the shaft, GM said.
the steering wheel. GM President James M. Roche
The defect is in the way " the said that when the faults were
shaft was installed, not in the first found in the Pontiacs in De-
design of it, the company said. cember, "we recalled the cars we
The faulty installation resulted thought might possibly be af-
in misalignment of the shaft, pla- fected.
cing too much strain on it during "We have now decided to make
certain maneuvers of the car, GM sure and to change the steering
saidi. shaft in the affected 1967 models
The stress, although not notice- produced," he said in a prepared
able to the driver, may cause the statement.
shaft to break, the firm said.
Defect At Low Speeds +
The fault was first discovered
In December and the firm began
recalling Pontiac Tempests Dec.
19. A GM announcement at the
time said the shaft could break
resort of Vung Tau, 40 miles
southeast of Saigon, waiting for
the weather to clear.
Twice the invasion was post-
poned because of hazardous sea
conditions, particiularly for the
Vietnamese marines, who had to
clamber over the sides of their
assault transports, scramble down
nets and into landing craft.
Eventually, the order was given
for the U.S. Marines to go in first.
Gray mist swirled around spade-
shaped American landing ships at
Task Force 76 launced its oblong,
32-ton, water-tight steel amtrak
troop-carriers into the water like
fish laying eggs,
Landing Commences
Amtrak 01 plummeted like a
submarine as it left mother ship
Coconino County, an LST that
harbored eight of the steel mon-
sters in its stomach. Barrages of
artillery and rocket fire from the
7th Fleet heavy cruiser Canberra
and the medium rocket Ship St.
Francis River had already softened
the beach.
Lt. Stanley Cottle spearheaded
the assault, aiming his amtrak
directly at White Beach, 1,100
yards in front. It was the first
official American military thrust
into the delta, home of five mil-
lion people and an estimated 100,
000 Viet Cong.
Fires burned across the southern
part of the peninsula as artillery
and aircraft hammered suspected
Viet Cong structures.
commander of B Company.
Gen. William C. Westmoreland,
comander of U.S. forces in Viet-
nam, told newsmen aboard the
Iwo Jima that the Marine assault
was the first commitment of
Amercan troops to the delta. I
Challenging Terrain
Mangrove swamps, infested with
centipedes and mosquitoes, edged
the beach where the Marines
landed. Villages lay derelict and
farmlands were overgrown.
The enemy thus far proved not
to be the Viet Cong, but the delta
itself. Within minutes after com-
ing ashore, eight of the 10 am-
traks that moved into the swamps
were mired. Other vehicles cross-
ing the beach later in the day
suffered the same fate.
October. National police recorded
253 civilian deaths from Jan. 1
through June.
Reports Incomplete
U.S. sources say the number of
incidents increased with the Sept.
11 national elections. From Oct.
8 to Dec. 31 when statistics again
were tabulated 521 civilians were
reported slain by guerrillas.
Murder for Examples
"On Dec. 20, a Viet Cong pla-
toon infiltrated a hamlet in
Quang Tin Province, kidnapped
a Hoi Chanh, forcibly carried him
to another hamlet and shot him
as an example for all the others,"
the report says.
"In Hoa Da district in Binh
Thuan Province, a Viet Cong
guerrilla squad on Dec. 10 herded
the local inhabitants together for
a propaganda lecture and then
deliberately executed one of the
group."
Those acts are not limited to the
countryside where the government
can't keep troops all the time.
They sometimes happen in the
heart of Saigon. A restaurant
bombing in 1965 killed 42.
Attack Servicemen
The Communist program is to
"fight the enemy, wear him down,
annihilate him" by executing
"deep thrusts into the enemy's
rear.'' They consider this to in-
clude such targets as government,
billets in Saigon. During 1966,
they made four major raids on
the living quarters of servicemen.
Vietnamese civilians often take
the brunt of the attacks.
There is no official comment,
but one American source in Sai-
gon, when asked to compare Viet
Cong attacks in the south withl
North Vietnamese claims thatl
American bombs have killed civil-f
ians in Hanoi, said:
"We use the most sophisticated
electronic measures known to
keep from killing civilians with
our bombs. Our gear cross-check
and double-check everything an
airplane does up north.
Indescriminant Attacks
"Here in the south, Charlie-theI
Viet Cong-is out to get any and
all he can, without regard to po-
litical affiliation, nationality or
anything else. The point is to
prove to the people that CharlieI
can call his shots without any re-
gard to the thousands of govern-
ment soldiers.
"Any figures you get won't take
into consideration the tons of
groceries that never got to
market."
The source pointed out a reportj
on a terrorist the government said
was captured last January.
When police presented the man
at a news conference, he was asked
if he would have felt remorse
about hurting or killing the
children.
"No, I wouldn't feel any re-
morse," he answered. "This we
cannot help."
a litte credit, let us say ne has
nicely synthesized the styles of
other directors. He has done al
good job of adopting the New
British Cinema look (which was,
in turn, a poor adaptation of the
French New Wave). The film has
some of the mood of "The Knack,"
but, regretably, doesn't match up
to Lester at his best moments. On
the other hand, it matches up to
Richardson's work and avoids
Richardson's pseudo-filmic "inno-
vations."
The film rests on two charac-
ters, Georgy and Jos. Georgy, the
sentimental and square protagon-
ist, is played by plain-faced Lynn
Redgrave (with looks, but not
talent, which are antithetical to
her sister, Vanessa's). She is a
virgin in every respect, a situa-
tion which sometimes evokes
sympathy, sometimes not (de-
pending on the viewer).
Lynn Redgrave does a lot of
running (another popular modern
motif), usually from herself,
sometimes from Jos (Alan Bates),
from "Zorba the Greek." Bates is
given a much better role here
and emerges as an important ac-
tor. There was a great danger in
By RtICHAHD AYERS creating this role because it so
Georgy Girl" (playing at the closely resembles characters from
GForum) Gis e lein stthe "The Knack" and "Morgan." But,
Vth Forum) is enjoyable, in spite partly because of the perennial
of itself. I say in spite of itself attractiveness of this type and
because the director, Silvio Nariz- partly because of the things that
zano, has engaged in some shame- have been added (or modified),
it works. Every movement Bates
less borrowing of tricks and style makes is another tribute to free-
from other directors (even to the dom. It is this insistence on free-
point of having harpsichord music dom that makes him seem irre-
a la Tom Jones). But, to give him sponsible to his elders and also
hurts his contemporaries. He is
the hero of our fantasies and of
this generation's self-image. He,
too, is either loved or hated de-
pending on the disposition of the'
viewer.
Sometimes the stereotypes, es-
pecially those including James
Mason and Charlott Rampling, get
so corny as to convince you that
the director is putting you on, and
I think he is. That abysmal theme
song (blasting all over CK
Country this minute) is certainly~
a put-on. But I think the stereo-
type action can be enjoyable if
you suspend your disbelief-and
some of your taste.
"Georgy Girl," as this evalua-
tion has pointed out, leaves one
with ambiguous feelings-but the
film isn't really important enough
to warrant the trouble of trying
to resolve this ambiguity. When
the cartoon is over and the theme
song comes up and you see
Georgy running down the street,
you can -say to yourself "Ah, an-
other free-wheeling romp through
zestful England." And that's what
it is, a good one.
annoUflCeS
the opening of
PETITIONING
for
GENERAL CO-CHAIRMEN
LABOR DAY
WEEKEND
-this new social weekend will be
III
OPEN 8
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A.M. -~ iI {
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presented for
the first time
ff n l 1 r MmlbL L 0
'IL MIDNIGHT
over the Labor Day holiday in
September of 1967
-petitions available at the Stu-
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DURING BOOK RUSH
of the
Michigan Union
on
Monday, January 9, 1967
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