Wednesday, June 7, 1972

Deserter's Info Defeats N. Viets

SAIGON (UPI) --North Vietnamese troops retreated from embattled Phu My district capital on South Vietnam's central coast Monday, and a U.S. adviser claimed "quite a victory" for government soldiers.

Military sources said the greatest credit for the victory went to a double deserter who carried detailed plans for last Friday's Communist assault to South Vietnamese officers at Phu My, 280 miles north of Saigon.

The man had deserted from South Vietnam's army in April and was impressed into the Viet Cong, the sources said.

He then deserted from the Communists and fled to Phu My with full plans for the North Vietnamese attack.

"It was quite a victory," said Col. Phillip Kaplan, senior U.S. adviser to the South Vietnamese 22nd Inf. Div.

"They've withdrawn and pulled back. But they're still out there. I'll tell you, we're going to win this one."

Kaplan gave credit to the double defector for the victory, which resulted in an estimated 300 Communists killed, mostly by U.S. air strikes, with relatively light government casualties of 16 killed and 17 wounded.

Allied officers said the victory also saw a number of the small villages around Phu My destroyed by air and artillery raids during the three days of fighting. There was no estimate of civilian casualties but Kaplan said he saw "thousands" fleeing the battle area.

American aircraft carrying the war to North Vietnam reportedly destroyed two more railway bridges on the China-Hanoi line, the U.S. command said Monday.

The strikes on the Trai Hut and Dong Khai bridges were made with electronically-guided "smart bombs" dropped Sunday by U.S. F4 Phantom jets. The command said the bridges were about 55 miles from China and 85 miles northwest of Hanoi.

The North Vietnamese hit back at the 260 planes and dozen warships that bombarded the Communist nation Sunday. They scored a near-miss on the U.S. guided missile destroyer Joseph Strauss as two 130mm artillery shells exploded under the ship, causing "moderate shock damage," American officers said.

There were no injuries in the incident and the Strauss was able to continue its shelling missions after minor repairs, spokesmen said.

Radio Hanoi claimed that ground gunners shot down an American jet bomber Sunday 20 miles northwest of Hanoi, but the U.S. command had no comment and reported no downed aircraft.

At least seven planes and helicopters were shot down or hit by Communist fire in South Vietnam, field reports said.

Five of the incidents took place around Phu My. The only casualties reported came in the crash of a U.S. Marine Phantom in which both crewmen died.

The Communists also sank two 35-foot South Vietnamese landing craft in a river 48 miles northwest of Saigon, military sources said.






"Deserter's Info Defeats N. Viets", by (UPI) published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Wednesday, June 7, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.
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