Viet Cong Blow Up 1 m Gallons Of Fuel

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30822, 6 August 1965, Page 11

Viet Cong Blow Up 1 m Gallons Of Fuel

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright I

SAIGON, August 5. I Viet Cong commandos blasted their way into a ■ fuel storage complex near Da Nang air base today and I destroyed a million gallons of jet fuel. I The fuel was destined for bombing missions against the ■ Communists.

In spite of the loss, it did not appear likely American jets at Da Nang would want for fuel immediately. The air base, 10 miles away, has large fuel dumps. The attackers struck before dawn, less than 24 hours after four U.S. Air Force Thunderchiefs bombed railway waggons in North Vietnam only 30 miles from China. Closest To China It was the closest attack to the Chinese border in nearly six months of almost daily raids. A Government outpost set up to protect the fuel storage facility was overrun and suffered heavy casualties in a 45-minute attack that opened with a mortar barrage. The complex is about two miles from positions held by

s xeral hundred U.S. Marines. But the attack was outside the Marines’ defence zone and they were not ordered into action. However, U.S. Marine artillery as well as gunfire from an American Navy vessel were called on to bombard suspected Viet Cong positions, military sources said. An eye-witness said the guerrillas attacked the main outpost and began mortar shelling the fuel complex at the same time. After the outpost was overrun, they blew their way through the main gate and used plastic charges and white phosphorus rocket shells to set the tanks afire. Taylor Reports In Washington, General Maxwell D. Taylor turns in his final Ambassadorial accounting today to a top-rank-ing panel at the White House, the Associated Press reported. President Johnson had a two-hour briefing with General Taylor late yesterday. Mr Johnson said he was so impressed by the retiring Ambassador’s knowledge from his year in Saigon that he called a number of Administration policy-makers to today’s session. The President also announced he had asked General Taylor to be a senior adviser to the President on military and diplomatic matters and had named him to the intelligence board which supervises U.S. intelligence activities. The one-time army chief, aged 63, was chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff when Mr Johnson sent him to South Vietnam. The Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, the Secretary of Defence, Mr Robert S. Me-

.Namara, the U.N. Ambassai dor, Mr Arthur J. Goldberg, ■ Mr Henry Cabot Lodge, Geni eral Taylor’s successor in the Saigon post, and other senior ■ diplomatic, military and intelligence officers were called in for General Taylor’s rel port. General Taylor told reporters after seeing Mr Johnson, 1 “The future is certainly far i more hopeful than it was a ■ year ago.” He said he left South Vietnam last week “feeling far ■ from discouraged, although 1 recognise the serious problems we have—problems that are military, civilian and international in character.”