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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.