Clash With Camouflaged North Vietnamese

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 15

Clash With Camouflaged North Vietnamese

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, September 16. A United States Marine reconnaissance team clashed yesterday with a camouflaged North Vietnamese company, United States military headquarters said today.

Headquarters said the clash, just south of the demilitarised zone, was the first contact with the enemy for the Ist Battalion, 26th Regiment, which cam z ashore yesterday.

Further south, a 730-man force from the Philippines—the fifth outside nation to back South Vietnam’s stand against the Viet Cong with troops—came ashore today at Cam Ranh Bay, 180 miles north-east of Saigon. The contingent of engineers, infantrymen and doctors, the first of 2000 Philippine volunteers, headed for duty near the Cambodian border. Marines Not Opposed The more than 1200 United States Marines were unopposed as they landed and began sweeping the rice paddies and marshlands in the northern part of Quang Tri province.

A United States spokesman said the enemy troops, camouflaged with grass tied to their uniforms, were spotted as they moved down a trail. The spokesman said the enemy engaged in a brief but fierce fight five miles north of Dong Ha. He reported three enemy troops killed. Marine

casualties were moderate, he said. Camp Shelled In other action last night Communist forces lobbed about 40 rounds of 81 mm. mortar fire into a United States Army Special Forces camp about 70 miles northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border. Air strikes drove the Communists off, and there was no report of American casualties. The United States 7th Fleet destroyer Stormer fired more than 200 five-inch shells against Communist infiltration and storage areas about 345 miles north of Saigon. A spotter plane later reported nine structures destroyed and 19 damaged. South Vietnamese troops

reported killing 18 Viet Cong and capturing a quantity of weapons, medicine and documents yesterday 130 miles south-west of Saigon. In Fort Thompson, South

Dakota, yesterday, the United States Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, said the United States must act with firmness in the Vietnam war “without

sliding down the slippery slope to a greater confrontation.”

Mr Rusk spoke at dedication ceremonies at the Big Bend dam, the last of a chain of six large dams authorised

for the Missouri river. He said the role of the

United States in Vietnam did not mean America had been appointed “policeman of the world.” “But our role does mean

we have a substantial part to play in building the peace,” he said.