Rockets halt U.S. airlift briefly

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33786, 7 March 1975, Page 13

Rockets halt U.S. airlift briefly

Zealand Press Association —Copyright) PHNOM PENH. March 6, The United States resumed its huge airlift of food, fuel, and ammunition today after rebel rockets forced a brief halt in supply flights to the besieged Cambodian capital. United States officials suspended the civilian-piloted, round-the-1 clock airlift for four hours this morning in the face of intense insurgent I shelling against Phnom Penh’s lifeline. Pochentong Airport.

The planes were put on astandby basis while we I assessed the situation,” a! United States Embassy spokesman in Saigon said today. “The first flight of the day now has left.” Shrapnel from a rebel rocket ripped into a World Airways DCB jet unloading rice at Pochentong yesterday, knocking out the aircraft’s hydraulic system. The crew managed to fly the aircraft back to Saigon without casualties,. In Washington, a senior American official expressed | hopes of keeping “the airlift going for at least a few more days,” despite the fierce rebel shelling. Military analysts believe that Phnom Penh would fall to the Communist-led Khmer Rouge guerrillas within weeks if the United Sfates stops the airlift. The United States Defence Secretary (Mr James Schlesinger) said that the United. States would have to reassess! its emergency airlift of military supplies into Cambodia i if the Cambodian Government was unable to provide adequate protection for the Phnom Penh airport, thej “New York Times” reported. Mr Schlesigner said it was; “incumbent” on the Cambbodian Government “to pro-: vide reasonable security fori the Pochentong airport." If Cambodian Government forces are unable to provide such 'security, he said, “we will have to consider our policies in that context.” Privately, officials were expressing dismay and discouragement at the unwillingness or inability of the Cambodian Government troops toi

force insurgent forces out of artillery or rocket range of I the airport. Their attitude was that if the Cambodian forces were unable to take that basic military' step, then there was little hope for the survival of the Cambodian Government through emergency military aid from the: United States. Publicity, Mr Schelsinger continued to describe the! Cambodian situation as i “grim but not hopeless” — ithe same assessment he offered a Congressional com-

mittee last week. Privately, however, there was growing pessimism in Administration quarters that Government forces would be able to hold the Cambodian capital against the encircling insurgent troops. United States officials said the Government had a series of contingency plans for moving the estimated 400 Americans, including 200 Embassy staff, in the city. Some of the plans involve the use of American ground troops and air strikes in case the rebels capture Phnom Penh before the United States citizens can be moved. United States sources in Washington have said they' hope any evacuation of Phnom Penh can be achieved during a cease-fire negotiated with the rebels.