New offensive in Cambodia

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32665, 22 July 1971, Page 1

New offensive in Cambodia

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SAIGON, July 21. With support from United States helicopter gunships and 852 bombers, 10,000 South Vietnamese troops pushed forward in a new offensive in Eastern Cambodia today designed to prevent the North Vietnamese from disrupting the National Assembly elections in South Vietnam next month, the Associated Press reported.

The task force encountered no immediate resistance. 852 bombing raids preceded the drive.

The commander of the operation, Lieutenant-General Ngyen Van Minh, said he hoped to smash the North Vietnamese 7th Division, numbering 4000 men, which has long operated across the border from the Tay Ninh province of South Vietnam.

“Our mission is to cut off North Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam, to prevent the enemy from sabotaging the elections,” said Minh. ‘"We must provide security for the election campaign.” The legislative elections are due to be held on August 29 and the Presidential election on October 3. Minh said his forces are operating about 20 miles inside Cambodia. The 10,000 troops involved were already positioned at bases inside Cambodia, but he sent in a 200-vehicle armoured column to reinforce them.

Minh is also saturating the area with fire from 66 artillery pieces, including 105 mm. and 155 mm. guns. It is the largest operation launched by Minh since he took command last February of the 3rd Military Region, the 11 privinces round Saigon, He had been criticised recently for allowing the North Vietnamese to push his troops into a defensive posture along Highway 7. Minh called off a 3000-man strike in the Parrot’s Beak sector of Cambodia—6o miles south-west of the new operational area—earlier this month after it encountered virtually no enemy resistance. The battlefield lull persisted ■ in South Vietnam.