WITHDRAWAL BY VIETMINH

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27040, 15 May 1953, Page 9

WITHDRAWAL BY VIETMINH

Base Established On Siamese Border

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, May 14. The Communist Vitminh forces have established a base on the' Siamese border and have not abandoned the invasion of Laos, according to Denis Warner, a special correspondent of the "Telegraph," writing from Bangkok. Warner says the base is believed to be immediately south of Paksane, on the Mekong river. “The Vietminh have, in effect, established control of a smaU area in Siam opposite Paksane. Several thousand pro-Vietmnih young men are known to have crossed the river at this point and joined up with the Communist irregulars in Laos.” Warner says one military observer claims it is misleading to describe the current Vietminh manoeuvres as a “withdrawal.” Apart from those units which must be heavily reinforced and re-equipped, the Vietminh forces have temporarily broken up into small groups. These are better able to defy French air attacks and maintain themselves during the wet season, Warner says.

A Saigon message says French paratroopers wiped out an enemy company In an air-supported drive into Communist positions near the French stronghold on the Plain of Jars, in Laos.

A French High Command spokesman said two companies of paratroopers drove 15 miles- into “no-man’s-land" to attack Vietminh positions southwest of the French defences on the plain. ■ . In their first sorties from the heavilyarmed French defences the paratroopers annihilated a company of the Vietminh 304th Division. The French force withdrew without being pursued by the rebels, and suffered only very light losses.