VIETNAM FORCE

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31501, 16 October 1967, Page 24

VIETNAM FORCE

More Troops May Go (N Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Oct. 15. New Zealand will probably increase its 360-man military force in South Vietnam with additional ground troops before the end of this year—but the increase will be modest, says the Press Association's Parliamentary reporter. He writes:— The Government is expected either to commit a halfsquadron of the highly-trained Special Air Service Ist Ranger Squadron from Papakura or to transfer a second rifle company from New Zealand's infantry battalion in Malaysia. SEVERAL PLANS The Government has no more than half-a-dozen options for boosting V-Force and of this total only half could be put into effect immediately. There are no plans to introduce conscription gnd little likelihood of any non-regular units of the Combat Brigade Group—which constitutes part of New Zealand’s 13,000-strong field force—being mobilised. BORNEO ROLE If a Special Air Service detachment is sent to Vietnam, it would be the first time the unit had been in a war theatre since confrontation, when it worked on the Borneo border between Malaysia and Indonesia. Australian special air service units are already active in South Vietnam. A New Zealand unit would probably work in conjunction with New Zealand’s infantry company. The reasons why the Government might send a second infantry company to Vietnam hinge mainly on the fact that the two companies would operate more efficiently. While one company was out in the field, the other would rest. REPLACEMENT One problem over sending a second infantry company from Malaysia to Vietnam stems from its replacement. New Zealand is duty bound to maintain a battalion in the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve in Malaysia until the Commonwealth Brigade is disbanded under Britain’s plans to run down its military forces in the area. Enough Regular Army troops could probably be “scraped together” to bolster the battalion, and keep it at its two-company level, even when replacements were taken for the companies operating in Vietnam. The possibility of boosting V-Force by Naval or Air Force contributions is slight NO DECISION No final decision had yet been made by Cabinet on any change in the shape or size of forces in South Vietnam or in South-East Asia, the Minister of Defence (Mr Thomson), said in Stratford yesterday.