HEAVY FIGHTING CONTINUES

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30808, 21 July 1965, Page 17

HEAVY FIGHTING CONTINUES

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SAIGON, July 20. Fierce fighting was still raging today around Bu Dop special forces camp, 85 miles north of Saigon, eight hours after the Viet Cong assaulted the outpost.

First reports had said the guerrillas were retreating after failing to - overrun the camp at Bu Dop. a small town surrounded by jungle and rubber plantations. But a United States military spokesman said later that the last report received from the garrison said the north wall of the camp was under attack. United States aircraft pounded guerrilla positions outside the camp incessantly throughout the night and morning. One medical evacuation helicopter managed to land in the camp in a hail of fire and bring out some wounded Americans. NO FIGURES The spokesman said the camp was manned by about 300 government territorial troops and six American special forces advisers. He said the defenders were believed to have suffered heavy casualties, but figures were not available; nor were government plans for Bu Dop’s relief or reinforcement disclosed, in line with a new policy about releasing military information There was no immediate

indication of the size of the Viet Cong force, but it \appeared to be large. The United States Coast Guard committed its first vessels to the Vietnamese war today with the arrival at the port of Da Nang of eight armed cutters to patrol coastal waters. The arrival of the eight 82ft, steel-hulled craft meant that all five of the American armed forces—the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines and the Coast Guard —have now been committed. The Coast Guard mission will be to help block infiltration of Viet Cong men and arms in South Vietnam.