Sunday, May 14, 1972
Bomb N. Viet Rails
SAIGON (AP) --U.S. bombers have knocked out a key railroad bridge and cut Hanoi's northeast rail line with China, pilots said Friday. Informants said North Vietnam's entire rail system is being heavily bombed.American bombers were reported to be carrying out President Nixon's orders to choke off war materials coming into North Vietnam from both China and the Soviet Union in a massive air and sea campaign that includes the mining of Haiphong harbor."They (the bombers) have been working on the rail lines," said one source.North Vietnam has two rail lines connecting with China. The other is the northwest system, but the northeast line is considered more important.It is believed, however, the U.S. bombers will have to strike almost daily to keep the lines cut because North Vietnam likely will attempt to repair them as fast as they are hit.An estimated 300,000 North Vietnamese laborers were mobilized during the 1965-68 bombing campaign to repair track so trains could begin running shortly after U.S. raids. Also the Chinese stationed some 50,000 railroad troops in North Vietnam to keep the system running during the 1965-1968 period.In ground action, undeterred by the war's heaviest concentration of B52 bombers, North Vietnamese troops and tanks smashed into An Loc Friday after withstanding saturation strikes by 70 Strato-fortresses that rained over 1,700 tons of explosives on them.The U.S. Command reported that one American adviser was killed, a second wounded and two Air Force planes shot down with two crewmen missing in the latest action around An Loc and Chon Thanh, a district capital 15 miles farther south on Highway 13. An Loc is 60 miles north of Saigon.The command also reported that a third aircraft, an Army OH6 light observation helicopter, was shot down Friday morning about 12 miles north of Kontum City in the central highlands. One crewman was wounded.The command said the latest air losses raised to 78 the total number of U.S. aircraft reported lost to all causes in Indochina since the start of the North Vietnamese offensive March 30. These include 40 planes and 38 helicopters. Total U.S. casualties reported by the command in the air losses are 64 Americans killed, 70 missing and 20 wounded.From Hue, the key Communist target on the northern front, there was another day of relatively light action. Since the fall of Quang Tri, both sides in that region have been regrouping and positioning for the assault expected on the old imperial capital.In Hue itself, which was clogged with refugees, disorganized troops and some chaos after the retreat from Quang Tri, five execution stakes were erected as a grim warning to looters and deserters.As a possible indication of the spreading threat around Hue, South Vietnamese Air Force planes were reported to have knocked out three Communist mortar emplacements Friday nine kilometers south of the city. Spokesmen said seven enemy were killed and three ammunition dumps were knocked out.To the south in the central highlands, Communist tanks were said to have been spotted for the first time in Pleiku Province. Crewmen of South Vietnamese observation aircraft said they saw four tanks moving about 20 kilometers northwest of Pleiku City. Air strikes were called in and one tank was reported knocked out while the other three got away."Bomb N. Viet Rails", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Sunday, May 14, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.