South Vietnamese Town Overrun
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ATTACK BY MIG'S ON U.S. WARSHIPS IN THE GULF OF TONKIN REPORTED; SOUTH VIETNAMESE TOWN OVERRUN Report Is Preliminary The command emphasized A1'1t 2 0 197Z that its announcement on the Continued From Page 1, Col. 8 MIG attacks was preliminary and "subject to modification:' frigates, has both surface-to- air missiles for antiaircraft pur- NORTH IS HIT AGAIN It said that preliminary re- poses and rapid-ffiring 3-inch ports indicated that one of the and 5-inch guns. American ships was damaged It is one of a flotilla off more and added that four United than 20 destroyers, guided-mis- Enemy Said to Lose States crewmen were reported sile frigates and cruisers that wounded. has been engaged in shelling The command said that the targets northand south of the One Plane and Two demilitarized zone since the attack by at least three MIG's North Vietnamese offensive be- Patrol Boats came at about 5 P.M. yesterday gan 3 weeks ago. when an unspecified number Information Limited of ships of the United States NYTimes The command's announce- By CRAIG R. WHITNEY Seventh Fleet were bombard- ment gave no further details scaeas. to The ,New York Timex ing shore targets in the pan- on the report of the incident SAIGON, South Vietnam, handle. and said there were none avail- Thursday, April 20 — The The command said that one able at the time the statement United States command an- of the ships, the guided missile was given to correspondents, frigate Sterett, started firing shortly after 2 A.M. today. nounced that American war- at "Additional details will be re- ships bombarding the coast of "several high-speed surface leased when available." North Vietnam yesterday came contacts" shown on the vessel's The ships have been coming • under attack by MIG fighter radar. It said the contacts under attack from North Viet- planes and patrol boats in the "posed a threat to U.S. ships. namese shore batteries almost Gulf of Tonkin. daily. One, the destroyer Bu- One MIG Reported Down chanan, was reported hit by a The command said that, ac- "Preliminary reports indicate round from North Vietnamese cording to first reports from one MIG aircraft was destroyed shore batteries on Monday. On& the American ships one MIG and two enemy surface craft sailor was killed and seven was shot down and two of the were believed sunk by fire were wounded. attacking boats were believed Another guided-missile frig- from the Sterett," the an- ate, the Worden, was operating sunk. At least three North nouncement said. "These re- in the northern port of the Gulf Vietnamese MIG's were said to ports indicate some damage to of Tonkin during the air raids have attacked the ships, which one U.S. ship, not the Sterett. over Haiphong early Sunday were reported firing at targets Four U.S. Navy men were re- and was damaged by an ex- in the southern panhandle ported wounded." plosion. The Pentagon suggest- ed the next day that it might area of North Vietnam, 20 to This was believed to be the have been caused by enemy 30 miles north of the demili- first time in the war that North fire from North Vietnamese tor- tarized zone. Vietnamese MIG's had attacked pedo boats in the same area, The reported air-sea action American naval ships in the but yesterday the United States came as the United States com- command here said that exam- Gulf of Tonkin. ination of "ordinance frag- mand resumed the strategic The Sterett, one of the Bel- ments" on the ship, which has bombing campaign against knap class of guided-missile been towed to the naval base North Vietnam with more than at Subic Bay in the Philippines, 125 strikes, all in the southern Continued on Page 20, Column I indicated it was "inadvertently panhandle below the 20th Par- struck by antiradiation missiles allel, according to informed of- launched from friendly air- craft." ficers. The resumption followed Antiradiation missiles are de- two days in which only a hand- signed to home in on enemy ful of bombing missions were radar installations. flown in North Vietnam. I Official Silence Maintained missions over Haiphong Sun- The United States command day. • has maintained official silence Any hope on the part of the about both the air strikes and United States Administration the let-up in them during the that the let-up in bombing raids NORTH two days that followed the over North Vietnam would VIETNAM weekend bombing of the Hanoi bring about a reduction in the 610 and Haiphong areas. Officers intensity of the current enemy close to the planning say the offensive in the south appears of let-up was decided on to give to have been dashed by events Tonkin. the Nixon Administration time of the last three days, with to assess the effects on the fresh attacks in two provinces North Vietnamese Government on the central coast of South and on public and political Vietnam and Continued pressure opinion. on Quangtri Province in the Since the weekend strikes, north and Binhlong Province informed officers said, no raids close to Saigon. Topyri;nlit\_... ■ Chonthai;b have been flown as far north The weather over North Viet- as Hanoi or Haiphong. BINHOUONG(3--:" nam Monday and Tuesday was PROY • They reported that the tar- described by officers in Danang L5iiche SOUTH gets for the increased number as "clear," so the halt was I VIETNAM of raids in the panhandle area certainly not a result of the yesterday were "logistical" in weather, as was the case at the nature. In the previous raids, beginning of the North Viet- beginning April 6, these in- namese offensive. cluded petroleum storage areas, roads, bridges and airfields. Missions Near Peak American planes have also The reinforced group of about been hitting surface-to-air mis- 700 Air Force and Navy fighter-, sile sites and antiaircraft artil- bombers and more than 100 lery positions just north of the B-52's flew a near-record level demilitarized zone, to eliminate of missions Monday and Tues- the threat they pose to Ameri- day in support of Government can and South Vietnamese air- troops fighting in the South, planes flying bombing missions and air operations along the in support of Saigon's troops Ho Chi Minh Trail network in below the zone. Laos have been cut by about B-52 Bombers Involved two-thirds of their previous The raids over Haiphong and levels of several hundred strikes the earlier strikes below the a day. Saudi 20th Parallel last week involved The Command's announce- ment on the Worden incident Chino B-52 bombers of the Strategic said: SCa Air Command as well as roOter smaller fighter-bombers, which "Although details have not flew 275 sorties in the North been finally confirmed, in the Vietnamese panhandle fro professional judgment of Navy April 9 to 15. officials who have examined The New York Times/April 20, 1972 The number of B-52 raids has fragments found on the Wor- U.S. warships were reportedly attacked by MIG's and not been disclosed, although in- den, it now seems mostl likely formed officials have said that that two antiradiation missiles patrol boats near buffer zone (1). U.S. jets resumed were either inadvertently heavy raids on North Vietnam's panhandle (2). Fighting 18 of the eight-engine bombers participated in the predawn launched by friendly aircraft flared near Quangtri (3), and Hoaian (4) was overrun or malfunctioned upon launch by foe. On front north of Saigon, Laikhe (5) came under and homed on radar emissions attack. hi Cambodia, enemy units cut key Route 1 (6). from the Worden, exploding close to the ship. One man was killed and nine others were injured, only one seriously, and the superstructure of the ship was penetrated by numerous small fragments." The statement said further, "the Worden was hit at 3:35 AM., 16 April (Vietnam time) while on station in the northern Gulf of Tonkin for air-sea res- cue purposes, supporting United , States aircraft conducting raids over North Vietnam. At the Arne Worden. was hit, both at- tack and support aircraft were In the vicinity of the ship. Since high-speed North Vietnamese surface craft were also present in the vicinity of U.S.S. Worden, it was necessary to await an , examination of the fragments to rule out the possibility of hostile origin." .