Evening star., 1954-04-16

1eCAAdUiC SOuTCeS SdlQ feDel
Gen. Vo Nguyen Clap had
>~~
Col. De Costries Therot to Resign Is
Confirmed. Pooe A-3
rushed up at least 10000 fresh
regulars to bolster his badly bat
tered force in the low hills en-
circling the fortified plain and
along its fringes.
With these reinforcements
and requirements for the thou
sands killed by murderous
French fire in the last five weeks
came 5000 or more youthful
rebels just out of training
camps.
French Badly Outnumbered.
1t appeared certain here the
Wet Mimi in their next all-out
assault would outnumber the de-
tenders at least or 8 to /.
But the rebels, a French high
command spokesman Speculated
might not rush down on the
fortress in force again until next
week. He thought they might
hold off until "just before the
Geneva conference" hoping that
a spectacular attack would i'm
press the big-power diplomats
meeting April 26 to explore the
possibility of ending the Indo-
China war by negotiations.
The Communicated reinforce.
ments went into forward
trenches to relieve units of the
four divisions which have spear
headed the hard fighting around
the fortress since the first Wet
Mimi push March 13.
The veterans fell back a short
distance. presumably to rest up
for the next anticipated massive
Charge.
French Attack with Bayonets.
The Stoutly defended French |
Notifications faced more critical
moments today as the garrison
force tried to drive out Wet Mini
troops entrfnched on the North
ern section of the main Dien
Blen Phu airStrip. The French,
lunglng at the infiltrated units
with bayonets, grenades and ma
chine-guns, routed them yester-
day from about half the trenches
they had dug and blasted with
high explosives on the pocked
field.
But the rebels still clung to
dugouts only 2,400 feet from the
heart of the French baStion.
These split the east-to-west net
work of defense communications
on the north and posed the most
serious threat to the fortified
plain since the Wet Mimi first
struck.
The foothold on the airstrip
was won this week after Wet
MIMI night raiders blasted crat-
ers with nitroglycerine. Rebel
troops then rushed in and fur
1ously hacked out a system of
connecting trenches.
The Wet Mimi also kept up
their steady digging around the
outskirts of the Dien Bien Phu
plain today, relentleSsly pushing
their web of trenches and fox
holes closer to the French
barbed-wire barricades.
Wet Mimi Forces Massed.
Clap was believed to have
rounded up his reinforcementS
by beating the jungles through
out Indo-China. Apparently ne
even drew on the regulars, who
have been tanning out in re-
peated scattered attacks against
the French and their Wet Ma
meSe allies in the vital Red
River delta, about $50 miles to
the east.
The French gave no informa-
tion on the numbers of de-
tenders they still have at Dien
Bien Phu after the five weeks
of pounding. The high COM
mand here said only that none
of the fortress six main defense
positions had suffered any food
or ammunition shortages.
All supplies and reinforce
ments for the garrison of several
thousand men must be para
chuted in. The remote fortress
is completely surrounded by the
enemy, and constant artillery
bombardment makes it's two air.
strips unusable, even for re-
moval of wounded.
Rain and mist in recent days
have curtailed the fighters.
bombers and transports which
the United States has supplied