Journalists Saw Hospital Hit

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31461, 30 August 1967, Page 15

Journalists Saw Hospital Hit

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW YORK, August 29. An American correspondent in Hanoi reported yesterday that about 150 foreign diplomats and journalists watched the bombing last week of a hospital in a residential area in which a doctor and an assistant were killed and several nurses injured.

David Schoenbrunn,, a former correspondent of the Columbia Broadcasting System (C. 8.5. and now a reporter for the Long Island, New York, newspaper “Newsday,” said the United States bombing had caused “much suffering and enormous difficulties in maintaining the life of the city.” But at the same time it was stiffening the North Vietnamese will to resist, he commented.

The bombing attack he described occurred on August 22, he said, and there was also damage to the central cathedral and pagoda. The North Vietnamese news agency reported at the time “savage” strikes on hospitals, factories and heavilypopulated streets in the 'centre of the city.

In Washington a Pentagon spokesman reiterated that United States pilots were “as selective as humanly possible” in hitting targets near civilian centres like Hanoi. Civilian enterprises were not given as targets, he said, though the Pentagon had never claimed that civilian areas were not inadvertantly hit at times. According to the Associated Press, Schoenbrunn wrote in a copyright article from Hanoi: “Officials frankly admit grave problems requiring a huge effort to survive, but they also insist that the bombing has yielded them major political, psychological and social gains, creating a hardline unity in the civilian population. Hanoi Hawks “The result of the Intensified bombing has been to strengthen considerably hardliners—Hanoi hawks, who outnumber doves in angry re. action to the bombing. It has become very difficult to try to discuss possibilities for peace. “Every time the question of considerations for peace negotions is raised, officials reply: ‘As soon as America recognises our independence and withdraws foreign forces from ' our country, there can be : peace. Not before.’ ” Five Alerts Daily Schoenbrunn, who is 52, ari rived in Hanoi last week, i Since then, he wrote, there - had been an average of five ■ air raid alerts daily, and the s Government claimed more than 100 civilians had been

killed or wounded in the heaviest raids of the war, from August 21 to August 23. He said he saw at least 10 bodies pulled from the rubble of a block of shops and apartments on Hue street, in the centre of Hanoi, a few blocks from a hotel where foreigners are quartered. His article continued:

“Some 150 foreign diplomats, delegations and journalists witnessed the scene on Tuesday (August 22) when

a 500-kilo .bomb hit the heart of the residential section. Extensive damage was done to an eye-ear-throat clinic,-with one doctor and one medical aide killed and several nurses injured. “There was also damage to the central cathedral and Pagoda. The heaviest destruc-

tion came on Wednesday in Gia Lam township and the region just across the Red river from an already badly-hit Long Bien bridge. “The bridge will be out a long time. It was a miracle that the central electric station was not hit in the centre, despite tremendous bomb damage all around. “Grave Problems”

“Three ferry-boats crisscross the river constantly to maintain the traffic of food for the city, but there’s no doubt that the bombing is causing grave problems.” Schoenbrunn wrote that Hanoi workers and functionaries began their day with calisthenics from 4.30 to 5 o’clock, then breakfasted and began work at 6 o’clock, so that they could get started before the bombings begin. They took a midday break, then worked until twilight—an average of 18 hours a day. While admitting heavy losses, the article continued, Government officials insisted that the balance sheet was highly positive. The entire population of to million was virtually functioning as a national militia trained for all-out resistance, prepared for an eventuality, warned by radio to be ready fbr invasion by two million United States soldiers.

Every adult man and woman had a weapon. Serving girls at the hotel exchanged trays for rifles within minutes after the sounding of an alert Schoenbrunn reported.