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Thieu's Laos Invaders Stalled, B-52s Hit Jungles

From Wire Dispatches

SAIGON - B-52s yesterday
devastated jungle land around a
base established earlier by
invading South Vietnamese
forces in Laos. They were
forced to abandon it after a
rout at the hands of 3,000
North Vietnamese troops, as
Saigon's U.S. inspired offensive
against the Ho Chi Minh trail
fell more than a week behind
schedule. DRV (Democratic
Republic of Vietnam)
reinforcements were reported
massing for a counteroffensive
and a major battle shaped up.

The South Vietnamese
objective to seize Sepone, a
major Laotian point on the Ho
Chi Minh trail 27 miles inside
that country, was still
unthreatened, though Western
military sources claimed the
over-all offensive had stopped
40 per cent of the flow of
materials moving over the
elusive supply network daily.

All Not Well

The main body of invading
South Vietnamese was stalled 15
miles inside Laos. For five days
since the incursion from northwest
South Vietnam, the Saigon forces
have been unable to penetrate DRV
resistance and shut down the
supply lines to the South.

In Washington, a Pentagon
spokesman, Jerry W. Friedham
called the abandonment of the Laos
outpost was a "setback" for the
South Vietnamese forces, but he
hedged on the fact that the
offensive had fallen behind
schedule, explaining: "The
operation continues! The disruption
of the trail and capture of supplies
continues. The war continues. We
are at a point in this operation
where it is rather hard to say it's on
schedule every hour of every day."

The conclusion that all was not
well, following the news of a
bloody rout handed Saigon's forces
by the DRV, was furthered by
reports from Khe Sanh of a visit by
Sir Robert Thompson, the British
counterinsurgency expert who
advises Nixon. Khe Sanh, formerly
a major Marine outpost in northern
South Vietnam, is now the
headquarters of a 9,000 man U.S.
force supporting the South
Vietnamese invasion group.

Thompson has been considered
an influence on Nixon's strategy of
Vietnamization, especially that
aspect of it which seeks to undercut
popular support for the NFL and
the Pathet Lao by means of
widespread devastation, defoliation
and "urbanization", which calls for
the destruction of rural population
centers. The aim is to relocate
people from the countryside in
detention camps nearer secured
areas, where they might be more
disposed to depend upon Saigon,
for assistance and political
organization.

South Vietnamese Were Routed In Laos.

Laotian Invasion Slowed In Shaded Area.

Military sources said repeated
waves of Air Force B-52
stratofortresses, the most deadly
weapon in the U.S. aerial arsenal,
dropped their 25-ton loads in and
around Landing Zone Ranger, a
South Vietnamese outpost five
miles inside Laos. It had been
abandoned after a four-day siege by
3,000 North Vietnamese regulars.

There were conflicting reports
on the battle for the outpost. South
Vietnamese spokesmen, whose
claims draw increasing scrutiny
from observers here everyday, said
the invaders killed 639 North
Vietnamese and hailed the slaughter
as "a victory." But U.S. military
sources, whose word is not much
better, said the 500-man South
Vietnamese force which had been
stalled at the base lost 300 men
killed, wounded or missing. The
NFL radio said simply "the base
was wiped out."

Survivors withdrew Sunday to
another base a mile from Landing
Zone Ranger where they joined
other South Vietnamese troops and
dug in for another anticipated
attack by the DRV divisions
massing nearby.

Helicopters Lost

Western military sources in
Vientiane, the capital of Laos, said
major North Vietnamese infantry
and support units were moving into
the area on the South Vietnamese
incursion from North Vietnam and
bases to the south for a major
attempt to break through Saigon's
lines and launch their expected
counteroffensive.

Reports last weekend said
12,000 North Vietnamese were
surrounding the South's invasion
force. The Vientiane sources, either
embassy officials or CIA operatives,
said all indications from U.S.
reconnaissance operations were that
the North Vietnamese have decided
against shifting the Ho Chi Minh
trail westward out of range of the
South Vietnamese.

Two more American helicopters
were shot down over Laos Monday
and four crewmen were listed as
missing. Since last week 15 U.S.
helicopters have been brought
down by determined DRV ground
interceptors. 14 Americans were
dead and 27 wounded or missing.
Nine other helicopters were shot
down on support flights inside
South Vietnam.

South Vietnamese headquarters
said almost 2000 North
Vietnamese have died since the
Laotian incursion began last week.
500 of that number were wiped out
from the air. Saigon issued no
figures on the number of civilian
casualties, but observers speculated
that many would die in this latest
escalation.

The drive to take Sepone, which
Nguyen Van Thieu said would take
place by February 15, was believed
to be one of the subjects discussed
in Saigon yesterday by the South
Vietnamese president. Ambassador
Elisworth Bunker and General
Creighton Abrams, who
masterminded the whole Laotian
operation. It was claimed earlier
that the South Vietnamese military
had formulated the idea, but this
fraud was exposed by U.S.
newsmen.

In late January, Nixon was given
a list of ten possible contingency
plans to implement as a part of his
Vietnamization strategy. The
scenario for the Laotian invasion,
considered by Washington observers
to be among "the starchiest", was
Nixon's choice.

Nixon's Changed Strategy

Since the initiation of the plan,
Nixon has promised no limitation
on U.S. bombing in Indochina, left
open the possibility of U.S. support
for a South Vietnamese invasion of
North Vietnam, and said he would
make no concessions at the Paris
peace talks, where reports indicate
that negotiations have in large
measure fallen apart.

President Thieu has also alluded
lately to the chance of a Saigon
invasion of the North, while Nixon
would only rule out the use of
nuclear weapons. The feeling in
Washington has been increasingly
that Nixon's aim lately changed
from one of steady withdrawal to
that of military victory and
entrenchment of the Thieu-Ky
regime.