Trail Bombed Heavily

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31828, 5 November 1968, Page 17

Trail Bombed Heavily

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, November 4. The United States Navy has announced a new massive sea offensive aimed at strangling Communist supply lines leading from Cambodia into South Vietnam’s fertile Mekong Delta, the Associated Press reported.

At the same time, the United States Command yesterday stepped up its air attacks over Laos, pounding North Vietnamese troop and supply columns moving down the Ho Chi Minh trail into South Vietnam.

Navy planes flying off three 7th Fleet carriers south of Da Nang, joined the stepped-up campaign over Laos after President Johnson ordered a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam on Friday. Meanwhile, the United States Command announced last night that “United States elements and activities in the Northern First Corps area received no incoming (artillery shells) yesterday (Saturday) or today (Sunday).” In announcing the new heavy interdiction campaign in the delta, a spokesman said it was a milestone in that it marked a shift in strategy to “where we will now utilise all of our three major operating forces in one operation.” “We are talking interdiction of movement of supplies and equipment of the enemy in the delta,” the spokesman said. "The key word is interdiction. We’re not talking body count. We’re not out to kill great numbers of Viet Cong.”

The new campaign began on October 18, but an announcement was withheld until today for security reasons.

United Press International reported from Saigon that two of the three United States aircraft carriers which had been used in air raids against North Vietnam may now be withdrawn from the war zone,

informed military sources said today. The carriers steamed out of waters off North Vietnam last Friday when the United States stopped bombarding North Vietnam and were assigned to targets in South Vietnam.

But qualified military informants said that there were not enough objectives in South Vietnam to justify use of all three carriers. The three carriers the Constellation, Intrepid and Coral Sea launched only five missions against Communist targets in South Vietnam yesterday, an indication that there is little need for an air armada of such size. Withdrawal of two carriers would mean about 10,000 Americans moved out of the war zone. Each carrier has about 5000 men, including about 250 pilots.