Sunday, June 4, 1972
Red Antitank Missile Worries Allies
CHON THANH, Vietnam (UPI) --A Soviet-made wire-guided antitank missile used for the first time in the current Communist offensive may force revision of traditional armored unit tactics in the Vietnam war, American advisers said Friday.The missiles scored a direct hit on the tactical operations center of the South Vietnamese fortress at Tan Canh, resulting in the overrunning of that central highlands bastion in April.Last month the North Vietnamese brought their wire-guided missiles into the fighting for An Loc. Ten of them were fired at one South Vietnamese armored unit, resulting in the loss of three armored personnel carriers and a tank, a U.S. adviser said.Traditionally, the main dangers to Allied armored units in the Indochina conflict have been land mines and the Communists' B40 rocket grenade launcher.For a tank to be knocked out by a mine, the vehicle must run over it.To knock out a tank with a rocket grenade, the gunner must be within 100 yards of it.The newly-introduced missile is thought to have an effective range of more than a mile.A standard tank tactic of the Indochina war is to establish night defensive positions by moving the armored vehicles into a tight circular formation known as "moving the wagons in a circle." All the South Vietnamese armored vehicles destroyed in the fighting near An Loc were in static defensive positions.It is not known whether the new missiles are effective against moving vehicles. So far, none are known to have been used in that fashion. The missile is thought to be similar to the U.S. "Tow" wire-guided antitank missile, with somewhat less range. It is believed to be fired by a crew of no more than two men from a tripod.The missile, judging by recovered fragments, is about four inches in diameter and carries a "shaped charge" warhead for penetration of tank armor."It moves very slowly, makes a lot of noise and shows a lot of fire train. It is easy for a man to get out of the way of one of them but hard for a tank, particularly if the tank is stopped," an American adviser said.The Communists apparently are conserving the missiles for use against armor. When tanks were pulled back from the area where the missiles were being used south of An Loc, the South Vietnamese left behind a truck.The Communists fired one missile at it, missed, and have ignored it since then."Red Antitank Missile Worries Allies", by (UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Sunday, June 4, l972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.