Fresh Battles Rage In South Vietnam

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31771, 30 August 1968, Page 12

Fresh Battles Rage In South Vietnam

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright)

SAIGON, August 29.

New battles raged throughout South Vietnam today, and the United States military command reported heavy Communist shell barrages on military posts and towns up and down the country.

Fresh fighting was also reported in the far north and northwest.

Three United States helicopters were shot down in combat.

The heaviest battle was only 32 miles north-west of Saigon, where jets and artillery rained fire on a hapless Communist battalion brought to bay by troopers of the 101st Air Cavalry Division.

In a running battle through marshes, jungles and flooded paddies, the Viet Cong battalion of perhaps 300 men lost 103 killed, 22 captured, and one defector.

By noon today the remnants of the Communist force had given up the uneven fight, though field reports said jets and helicopter gunships were still drawing some sporadic fire. The battle in the north-west infiltration corridor above Saigon was one of the heavi-! est of the last 10 days, and it cost the Americans 161 killed and 25 wounded. There w r as also a flurry of! actions round the Due Lap; special forces camp on the; lower reaches of the Central

Highlands along the Cambodian border. In thesame area, where some 800 North Vietnamese regulars died in savage assaults last week, South Vietnamese forces yesterday killed 58 enemy soldiers. An American patrol out to recover an observation helicopter shot down in the same general area ran into a North Vietnamese unit. A pitched battle broke out in the jungle and 10 North Vietnamese were killed. One American died and nine were wounded. South Vietnamese headquarters reported that ele-

•ments of two divisions have now been identified in the : Due Lap area. The massing of troops Indi- ■ cated that the Communist ■ command had possibly in- ■ tended a thrust at the highland city of Ban Me Thuot to coincide with a similar thrust at Saigon.