Scorched-Earth Plan Adopted By U.S.

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30952, 7 January 1966, Page 9

Scorched-Earth Plan Adopted By U.S.

<NZ. Press Association —Copyright) SAIGON, January 6. To break the back of the Viet Cong, United States and Allied forces are adopting a programme of destroying houses and crops in areas which feed and shield the Communist forces, the Associated Press reports.

For years, Americans refused to participate in “scorched earth” efforts, leaving them to the Vietnamese. Now Americans are directly involved.

They are trying to protect innocent people, the agency said.

The broad-based programme includes the establishment of free-bombing zones in Viet Cong regions, killing rice crops in enemy areas, and burning other crops and homes.

The rich, intensely-cultivat-ed flat lands south of the Vaico Oriental river west of Saigon are prime “scorched earth” targets. American paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade began operating there last week-end. No Homes Left

They iaid their base camp among the blackened frames of burned houses. Within two miles of the paratroopers’ camp, not a house was left standing. Constant pounding by artillery and planes had reduced every building to rubble.

The paratroopers’ mission was to move out farther, round up all the people they could find, evacuate them north of the river to resettlement camps, and burn and destroy everything eatablfe and livable. Patrols waded in neck-deep canals slicing through the caneflelds, crept stealthily down high dikes, and pushed through thick brush.

Every house they encoun- ■ tered they burned to the ground. Most were of thatch but some were large with heavy wooden frames and neat gardens. Every cooking utensil was smashed, every banana tree severed, every mattress slashed. On the first day, the men of C Company found more than 60 Vietnamese women and children weeping as they lay in trenches around their devastated homes.

These people were sent in helicopters to Bao Trai district, north of the river, and resettled.

Their menfolk stayed hidden in the canefields and the canals, sniping at the searching paratroopers and mining the trails. The province chief had told the Americans that every man south of the river was a Viet Cong. “They must be either shooting or digging all the time,” said one paratrooper as he picked his way from one covered bunker to the next. These bunkers, some built years ago, others fresh, were in strategic positions around every home and canal. The Viet Cong had not chosen to defend them with any show of determination.

The American paratroopers are remaining in the area, enlarging the “scorched earth” zone. They know that the Viet Cong will rebuild the razed homes when they leave, make new earthenware pots, and breed new chickens.

Captain Henry Tucker said: “Maybe if we can keep them busy rebuilding their houses and replanting the crops, they’ll have no time for shooting.”