Monday, April 3, 1972
Reds Rip Through Viet Line, Push To Quang Tri Outskirts
SAIGON (AP) --Troops of four North Vietnamese divisions spearheaded by large columns of tanks smashed through South Vietnam's northernmost defense line Friday and sent government forces reeling toward Quang Tri.Dong Ha, eastern anchor of the defense line, was overrun in the eight-mile enemy advance. That is the distance between Dong Ha and Quang Tri, first major objective of the northern offensive. The enemy is now at its outskirts.Two bases southwest of Quang Tri were abandoned under heavy North Vietnamese shell fire, amounting to 10,000 rounds in the past two days of the renewed enemy offensive.The United States threw the bulk of its air and naval power into the battle in efforts to avert the fall of Quang Tri, 19 miles below the demilitarized zone.AP correspondent Holger Jensen reported from Hue that U.S. planes and helicopter gunships bombed and rocketed North Vietnamese tanks on two sides of Quang Tri.At least 11 tanks were reported knocked out and two U.S. aircraft were lost. In a dramatic air to ground battle with the tanks, two crewmen of a rocket-firing Cobra gunship died after knocking out three tanks.About 150 air strikes were reported around Quang Tri.U.S. 7th Fleet destroyers poured 10,000 rounds of gunfire into the Dong Ha area alone after South Vietnamese troops fell back.The retreating South Vietnamese troops blew up a bridge on Highway 1 halfway between Dong Ha and Quang Tri in hopes of slowing the North Vietnamese advance.The U. S. Command said several 7th Fleet destroyers were attacked by shore batteries but none was damaged.Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Bowen, senior U.S. adviser to the South Vietnamese, told Jensen that Quang Tri is threatened by the equivalent of four North Vietnamese divisions, about 40,000 men, who outnumber government forces 3 to 1.He said large enemy units were north and west of the provincial capital but smaller elements of up to 100 men were all around it.Some U.S. and South Vietnamese officials have said that capture of Quang Tri is possibly a part of a grandiose plan to annex South Vietnam's two northernmost provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien, which includes Hue. The old imperial capital, Hue, is 35 miles south of Quang Tri.Most of the tanks have been sighted north of Quang Tri but several amphibious tanks were spotted in the rolling sand dunes southeast of the provincial capital.The Quang Tri combat base 2 1/2 miles northwest of Quang Tri, came under heavy shelling for the second consecutive day as did Fire Base Anne and Pedro 8 and 10 miles southwest of Quang Tri.The latter two were abandoned and the defenders pulled back to other undisclosed positions because of the heavy shell fire.Quang Tri itself was being subjected to sporadic shell fire.Enemy gunners also set up antiaircraft machine-gun sites on either side of Highway 1 south of Quang Tri and all approaching American helicopters were taking hits.Two trucks filled with refugees streaming southward along Highway 1 hit enemy road mines and at least 30 persons were reported killed."Reds Rip Through Viet Line, Push to Quang Tri Outskirts", by (AP) published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Sunday, April 30, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European ad Pacific Stars and Stripes.