'Bomb Carpet’ Urged

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31206, 2 November 1966, Page 17

' Bomb Carpet’ Urged

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyrights SAIGON, Nov. 1. It may take a carpet of bombs to close the demilitarised zone as an infiltration channel to South Vietnam, some high-ranking American military officers think, according to the Associated Press. Proponents of the measure envisage massive flights of 852 bombers—capable of near-pinpoint accuracy—to blast the theoretically neutral zone into a wasteland where no North Vietnamese soldier could move undetected. Such a project would involve destruction over an area of at least 100 and possibly 300 square miles. The zone is about 50 miles lon-; and six miles wide, bisected by the river boundary between North and South Vietnam. Top officers say at least the western two-thirds of the zone’s south side must be levelled to be effective, and that if infiltration continues, the remainder should be bombed. Started On July 30 The United States started bombing the zone on July 30, explaining that continued Communist infiltration forced its hand. Since then there have been almost 20 raids by 852 s and missions by smaller planes on

predetermined targets, believed to be Communist supply points, bivouac points and troop concentrations.

They lacked the systematic destructive design now being proposed. A series of United States efforts has failed to halt the flow of North Vietnamese soldiers across the zone into the South.

The South Vietnamese first utilised about 1000 troops for the job. The United States added a special forces camp later, then in mid-1966 United States Marines ran a major operation in the area, killing more than 700 Communists. Finally the United States stationed troops just south of the zone and began limited bombing. 5000 Deployed

The deployment of Marines and South Vietnamese—almost 5000 men—to stop the movement from the North is an unnecessary drain in the eyes of some military men. Carpet bombing is a way to stop this drain, they assert. The ideal solution, some officers contend, is to destroy dense jungle growth on the western end of the zone to permit close observation and then reduce troop strength in the area to around 2000 American, South Vietnamese, Australian and South Korean forces.

The smaller contingent of troops would be more mobile than under the present deployment practices where units are assigned to physically block favourite Communist infiltration routes.

Aeroplanes using visual and electronic detection methods would watch for any enemy attempt to move across the cleared zone. Chemical defoliation efforts have yielded only limited success. Defoliants sprayed from aeroplanes simply are unable to penetrate to all levels of growth.