Monday, May 29, 1972
U.S. Jets Wreck Vital Rail Bridge
SAIGON (AP & UPI) --A flight of F4 Phantom jets dropping laser-guided "smart bombs" destroyed the major railroad bridge linking Hanoi's northeast rail line with China, the U.S. 7th Air Force announced Saturday."This highly effective strike puts a dent in the capability of the enemy to move supplies south in support of the Communist invasion forces," declared an Air Force spokesman.He said the raid, only 20 miles from the Chinese border, was carried out Thursday.The Air Force said the 2,000 pound laser-guided bombs caved in six of the 11 spans of the Lang Giai railroad bridge.The 1,500-foot-long 18-foot-wide trestle was supported by reinforced concrete piers and abutments. The spans were dropped from 100-foot high piers, the Air Force said. It distributed reconnaissance photographs of the destroyed bridge.Lt. Col. Richard Hilton, commander of the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron who led the raid, said "We really wanted that bridge.""The pilots hit the target with exceptional accuracy," he added. "If Lang Giai had been a bullfight, I would award our air crews both ears and the tail."The F4 Phantoms encountered three MIGs, but the enemy interceptors did not attack the American planes, the pilots said.The North Vietnamese claimed they shot down a U.S. plane Friday over Yen Bai Province, 75 miles northwest of Hanoi. The U.S. command, following its regular procedure, had no comment on the Communist claim.The command also announced that Navy pilots Friday struck at two bridges within 15 miles of the port city of Haiphong. The bombers missed one bridge but knocked holes in the road on its approaches. Damage to the other span was unknown.In a delayed report, spokesmen said a North Vietnamese pilot bailed out of his plane near Haiphong last Tuesday when he spotted U.S. Navy planes, although the Americans never fired at shot at the subsonic MIG17 fighter.Spokesmen said two F8 "Crusader" fighters from the aircraft carrier Hancock spotted the MIG 22 miles southwest of Haiphong.The Americans closed in on the Soviet-built plane, but the MIG pilot bailed out and his plane crashed before the U.S. pilots could fire at him, spokesmen said.In ground action, North Vietnamese troops and tanks wove through South Vietnamese defense and invaded the northern section of the city of Kontum, 260 miles north of Saigon, military spokesmen said Saturday.U.S. helicopters, gunplanes and ground troops knocked out eight more Communist tanks for a two-day total of 18 tank "kills," spokesmen said. But heavy fighting raged inside the city and at least one major government military camp.The Communists, believed to number about 5,000 men, isolated three South Vietnamese regiments defending the town. UPI reporter Matt Franjola reported from Kontum that the situation "looks pretty grim."Franjola said 19 waves of B52 bombers, scores of tactical air strikes and heavy groundfire was costing the Communists heavy casualties. Communist soldiers also were taking a heavy toll of Kontum's defenders with small arms, rockets, mortars, and artillery, he said.The North Vietnamese took over half a major military compound at Kontum's northern edge just after dawn Saturday under cover of a 500-round mortar barrage that blew up the ammunition dump.Near South Vietnam's former imperial capital city of Hue, Communist troops launched four attacks against the northern defense lines, but were beaten back by government marines, spokesmen said.The Saigon high command said 153 North Vietnamese were killed, and put marine losses at four dead and 12 wounded."U.S. Jets Wreck Vital Rail Bridge", by (AP & UPI), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Monday, May 29, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.