North troops now 37m. from Saigon

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32885, 7 April 1972, Page 1

North troops now 37m. from Saigon

w.z.p.A.-neut«r—comrriflhei SAIGON, April 6. North Vietnam’s offensive swept to within 37 miles of Saigon today as an advance battalion of Communist troops blocked the main road running north from the capital to the Cambodian border.

Two Hanoi regiments— an estimated 4000 men —backed by tanks, pushed across the border yesterday. Bitter fighting was reported around the rubber plantation town of Loe Ninh, 70 miles north of Saigon.

With the exact strength of the North Vietnamese in Binh Long province not known, the threat to the capital was still unclear.

In northern Quang Tri province South Vietnamese tanks duelled with Communist artillery today at Dong Ha and Government forces set up a new defence line west of the key outpost in. an effort to hold back the North Vietnamese invaders. Military officials said that the tanks and guns fought a two-hour battle across the Cam Lo River, which borders on the northern outskirts of Dong Ha. The guns fell silent after allied jet fighterbombers were called into action. Dong Ha, South Vietnam’s northernmost town, has been under Communist pressure since the North Vietnamese offensive began a week ago. Despite shelling it still is held by the South Vietnamese. It sits astride the key Highway No. 1, which winds down South Vietnam’s eastern coast. 852 attacks 852 s continued to pound Communist positions. They flew nine missions late yesterday and early today, one of them 18 miles north-west of Quang Tri, despite reports that the Communists have moved Soviet-built surface-

.to-air missiles south of the Demilitarised Zone. The eight-engine 852 s are vulnerable to the missiles since they fly at between 30,000 ft and 40,000 ft while the missiles have a range of 60,000 ft. The United States command in Saigon said that its "jets also made four “pro- > tective reaction” strikes into f North Vietnam to hit anti- . aircraft and missile sites. L MiGs reported > , -X It brought to 20 the number of such strikes in four days and 124 so far this year . —three more than were car- : tied out in all of 1971. , For the first time in the ; war, Soviet-built North • Vietnamese MiGs were re- ; ported in South Vietnam to- ; day. The MiGs buzzed Government troops in Quang Tri province near Dong Ha but ffid not fire. The United States Navy dedined comment on reports that the Seventh Fleet’s "amphibious ready group”—a ’ seaborne force of 1500 ' United States Marines—was , with the fleet off the South ' Vietnamese coast ready to go . ashore if the offensive ' threatens the lives of the 95,000 American troops still in Vietnam. [ No Americans r Americans were not invol- • ved in the ground fighting > when Nghia, 21 miles northt west of Saigon, was attacked > by a dozen Communist spai pers last night and this mom- • ing.