Saturday, May 27, 1972
Air Strikes Stymie Red Arms
WASHINGTON (AP) --A State Department spokesman said Thursday that U.S. air strikes have had a substantial effect on the ability of China to deliver military supplies to North Vietnam for the Communist offensive in the south.Press officer Charles W. Bray III said this suggests there has been a substantial backup of railroad cars in China, but he declined to confirm estimates there may be as many as 1,000 freight cars delayed.At the same time Bray left open the possibility of disagreement between the Soviet Union and Communist China on the use of Chinese ports to divert shipborne cargoes which, until the mining of Tonkin Gulf ports, carried 90 per cent of the war supplies for North Vietnam.Bray said that there was "nothing I would characterize as definitive" in the reports of cleavage between Moscow and Peking over ship diversions.But the spokesman said "We have no evidence that ships destined for North Vietnamese ports have diverted to Chinese ports for the trans-shipment of cargoes into North Vietnam."It stands to reason that the only possible way to ship additional quantities of military supplies is by land and the bulk goes by rail from China."In response to questions Bray said, "We have no evidence there has been any agreement between those two countries" for the trans-shipment of cargoes by rail to Vietnam.He noted that much of the heavy equipment bound for the Hanoi war machine has been shipped by rail. He said the size of the cranes in Haiphong harbor, for example, is limited and they are not able to handle the big Soviet-built T54 tanks now being used in the southern offensive.Heavy antiaircraft armaments have also gone by rail in the past, but photo reconnaissance has shown the deck cargoes of ships which had been entering Haiphong to include trucks, jeeps and personnel carriers. There have been no ships in or out of Haiphong or other North Vietnamese ports since the mining operation began this month, Bray said, nor has there been any incidents involving the explosion of any of the U.S. mines."Air Strikes Stymie Red Arms", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Sunday, May 27, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.