FRENCH SORTIE SUCCEEDS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27307, 25 March 1954, Page 11

FRENCH SORTIE SUCCEEDS

Sharp Battle At Dien Bien Phu (Rep. 8 p.m.) SAIGON, March 24. Tank-supported French and Vietnam troops killed 175 Vietminh rebels in a hand-to-hand battle that ended the lull in ground fighting at Dien Bien Phu, the French High Command reported last night. The troops struck out of the besieged fortress as the result of reports that the rebels were starving and might have to make a final assault within the next 48 hours. The sortie was against a Vietminh company dug in along a four-mile i oad to the southern outpost of the fortress, the only outside strongpoint in the area still held by the French. As tanks rolled over their positions the rebel troops jumped from the trenches to flee and were cut down by machine-gun fire. French and Laotian troops repulsed an attempt by several hundred Vietminh rebels to cut through the main north-south highway in Laos and reach the Siamese frontier. The swift move by French forces caused heavy casualties and drove the rebels back into the mountains. French Union troops routed two Vietminh rebel battalions totalling 1600 men in a violent battle in southern Annam on Monday, it was officially announced in Saigon today. The rebel battalions had been making important movements on the mountain plateau of southern Annam. A strong French force sent to investigate suffered some losses. The Vietminh left 33 dead, 32 wounded, and three prisoners behind them, but their casualties were thought to have been much higher.

The announcement added that the rebel battalions attacked the French Union forces early on Monday. Within a few hours the rebels ha/i been put to flight to the north and eastwards. The French forces were pursuing them.