TANKS LEAD ATTACK ON U.S. OUTPOST

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31598, 8 February 1968, Page 11

TANKS LEAD ATTACK ON U.S. OUTPOST

(N.Z.P.A.-Reutcr —Copyright)

SAIGON, February 7.

Waves of North Vietnamese troops, brandishing flame-throwers and spearheaded by heavy Soviet T-34 tanks, charged up a mountain slope today to attack a lonely United States outpost near the besieged marine base at Khe Sanh.

The battle for the strategic Lang Vei camp for the Special Forces, only two miles from the Laotian border, was still raging nine hours after it began, but an American spokesman in Saigon said artillery and bazooka fire from tbe outpost’s defenders had set four tanks ablaze and United States jet bombers had knocked out a fifth.

It was the first time heavy tanks had been used against allied troops in the Vietnam war, acording to a South Vietnamese spokesman. The tanks had rumbled across the Laotian border to lead the Communist attack, and were backed up by artillery fire from inside Laos.

Lang Vei is believed to be defended by about 500 United States Green Beret Special troops and a number of Montagnard tribesmen trained by the Americans as auxiliary fighting units.

The mission of the base is to gather intelligence reports and detect Communist infiltration.

First reports of the battle spoke of the Green Berets fighting for their lives from their bunkers, but a United States military spokesman said later that although some North Vietnamese attackers did break through the camp's barbed wire perimeter, they were killed before they reached the bunkers. Reports of the battle are still coming in, and there has been no word yet about the number of American or Communist casualties. American jet aircraft were rushed in to blast the invaders, and the United States Marines’ base at Khe Sanh, five miles away, directed heavy artillery fire in a tight ring around Lang Vei. The North Vietnamese attack came after a blistering mortar and artillery barrage late last night. Shells crashed into the camp from the surrounding hills, where it is believed between 20,000 and 40,000 Communist troops are poised for an all-vut assault on United States positions near the Demilitarised Zone. Lang Vei is the last American outpost between the vast Communist staging areas in Laos and the Khe Sanh base. “Baby Monster” United Press International says the T-34 tank was designed in 1940 by Russian

military scientists for use against Germany. It weighs about 26 tons, has a low silhouette, is sometimes called the “Baby Monster” because of its much larger successors and, according to United States officers, it could easily have been rumbled up the trail from Laos during the night, camouflaged to guard against American air attacks by day. The United States has used tanks in South Vietnam for a long time, chiefly to smash Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces harassing highway traffic. The only tank earlier reported in Communist hands in South Vietnam was an American-built light model given to the South Vietnamese and captured by the Viet Cong in 1965. Saigon Quieter On the tenth day of the Viet Cong offensive throughout South Vietnam, United States spokesmen reported that although some 900 guerrillas were still in action in Siagon, the capital was enjoying its quietest spell since the Viet Cong legions poured into the nation's main centres.

About 400 members of tbe Viet Cong were reported fighting, still as a unit, near the Saigon race track, and much smaller groups retained their grip on small pockets of resistance mainly barricaded streets and houses—in other sections of the city. In Hue, the former im-

perial capital 400 miles northeast of Saigon, United States Marines extended their clearing drive to the south of the Perfume River. On the north side, South Vietnamese troops, although outnumbered, wiped out the remaining guerrillas cornered in the walled citadel. Casualties Allied spokesmen said the Battle of the Cities so far had cost the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regular troops 22,748 killed and 4914 suspects captured.

They listed 1768 allied troops killed, including 614 Americans, and 7658 wounded, among them 3408 United States troops. The number of American civilians killed was given as 17, with eight wounded. An unspecified number were reported as missing. American aircraft raiding North Vietnam yesterday shot down their second MiG fighter in two days, the spokesmen said. This was the 107th Communist jet aircraft des-

troyed in the air war over North Vietnam.

Soviet Assurance

It is reported from London that the Soviet Union has given North Vietnam fresh assurance that it would not allow an American victory in Vietnam.

The Soviet Prime Minister (Mr Alexei Kosygin) met the North Vietnamese special envoy (Nguyen Tho Chan) in Moscow yesterday, and diplomatic sources say the Soviet leader later gave no indication that Moscow was ready to initiate early peace talks. In fact, the envoy from Hanoi asked for more Soviet arms and other aid and received a pledge of continued Russian support. In Copenhagen, the new Danish Prime Minister (Mr Hilmar Baunsgaard) offered Denmark’s help towards ending the war in Vietnam, but, he said, the United States should stop bombing North Vietnam as a first step toward possible peace talks. Mr Baunsgaard, who heads a Centre-right coalition Government, called on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to “work out an active policy for the relaxation of international tensions."