MINING OF RIVERS IN N. VIETNAM

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 17

MINING OF RIVERS IN N. VIETNAM

Escalation Of War Denied By U.S.

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright)

The United States has begun dropping mines into North Vietnamese rivers but the Defence Department in Washington today denied that this was an escalation of the Vietnam war, says the “New York Times. A terse announcement from the American command in Saigon this morning said that a limited number of air-delivered non-floating” mines had been placed in rivers in the south part of North Vietnam.

These mines, the announcement indicated, are designed to stop the movement of sampans and junks. “This action poses no danger to deep-water maritime traffic,” the command asserted.

Presumably nonfloating mines are being utilised because they will not be carried down the rivers into the Gulf of Tonkin, where they might collide with ocean-going freighters. But if the freighters attempted to move into estuaries to discharge their cargoes, they could be blown up.' However, a military spokesman said that the United States did not intend to mine the mouths of rivers or harbours adjacent to key deepwater ports such as Haiphong, Honggai and Campha. Most other ports are not capable of receiving oceangoing vessels. The spokesman said the mining began this morning. He declined to say how many mines had been dropped nor would he indicate whether Air Force or Navy planes had been used. Not Authorised Advocates of a tougher American war policy have urged for many months that Haiphong be mined to prevent its use by Soviet, Chinese and other vessels carrying war material. President Johnson has still not authorised such measures, diplomats said, for fear of creating a grave diplomatic crisis. Ships of Great Britain and other allies of the United States call regularly at Haiphong to deliver all types of cargo. Counter Move In explaining today’s action, the American command said it had been undertaken “to counter” increased North Vietnamese “use of waterborne logistic craft to infiltrate men and supplies into South Vietnam.” Naval spokesmen suggested that the mines dropped this

morning were of the type that rested on the bottom of a body of water. They are detonated in one of three ways—by the noise of a passing ship’s machinery, by the waves it creates, or by the magnetic attraction of its steel hull. Stepped Up The spokesmen said that it would be extremely difficult to air-drop with precision the type of mines that ride beneath the surface on a cable anchored to the bottom. The move was the third announced in four days to step up pressure on North Vietnam’s supply routes, said Reuter. It was announced yesterday that ships had begun shelling inland targets for the first time; and last week big American guns fired across the demilitarised zone for the first time. No Spiral In Washington, United States Administration spokesmen asserted that the American naval bombardment of North Vietnamese supply

SAIGON, February 27.

routes and depots likewise represented no step-up in the war against the Hanoi regime, the “New York Times” news service said. These spokesmen also saw no significant upward spiral of military action in the air strikes last week in which American planes bombed power plants in the HanoiHaiphong area for the first time in several months, or in the artillery attacks across the demilitarised zone. Another Step A Pentagon spokesman called the sowing of the mines simply another step to shut off the flow of Communist men and material headed for South Vietnam. He said the action had been taken because the North Vietnamese had begun increasingly to use rivers in the drive to infiltrate and conquer the south. The Communists have been mining South Vietnam’s rivers—with limited success —for months. Protest Expected The latest United States step was expected to draw protest from North Vietnam. Hanoi already has protested to the International Control Commission over the shelling of North Vietnam by United States warships and over the long-range artillery firing across the demilitarised zone.