Wednesday, May 31, 1972
Over Half a Million Under Red Control as Drive Continues
SAIGON (AP) --More than half a million South Vietnamese people have come under control of the Communists as Hanoi's general offensive begins its third month, and official sources say damage to the Saigon government's pacification program has been disastrous in some areas.Official figures as of April 30 revealed that 564,000 persons -about three per cent of the total population of 18.9 million -were under Communist control.This was a drastic reversal of what had been a steadily improving situation for the Saigon government in the countryside. In February the number of people under Viet Cong control was estimated at 6,000.Officials estimate that about 40 per cent of South Vietnam has been affected in some way by the offensive. The rest, including most major population centers, is relatively untouched."There are a lot of serious wounds, but most of the body hasn't been hurt seriously," said one. "There is no way at this time to say pacification has been set back a year, two years, or for any period."The Communist command's biggest drive since the 1968 Tet offensive has forced the South Vietnamese to relinquish 14 of the country's 272 districts. Half of these were in Quang Tri, the county's northernmost province; which was lost in early May.The new figures were produced in a monthly report of the hamlet evaluation system, the rating process used by U.S. and South Vietnamese officials to evaluate government security in the countryside.The government figures as of April 30, made available Sunday, showed that the percentage of people living under government security dropped form 94.4 to 89.8 in the first month of the North Vietnamese drive, with those living in contested areas rising from 4.4 to 7.1 per cent.Although massive attacks and major battles below the Demilitarized Zone, in the central highlands and around An Loc attract most of the attention, the Communists have inflicted severe damage on the pacification program by terrorism and attacks on territorial militia troops which provide local security.Reaching its highest levels since Tet 1968, terrorism in April resulted in 631 persons killed, 1,162 wounded and 2,196 abducted.Most of the latter, sources said, were young people conscripted as Viet Cong soldiers or to work as laborers or porters.Since the upsurge began in early March, casualties include 106 village and hamlet officials killed, 44 wounded and 46 kidnapped.Nearly 200 village and district police stations have been overrun, destroyed or damaged by Viet Cong raiders, with 150 policemen killed, nearly 500 wounded and nearly 900 missing, sources said.The raiders have captured about 3,000 police weapons."Over Half Million Under Red Control As Drive Continues", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Wednesday, May 31, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.