Evening star., 1954-04-26
| Planes Furnished
By U. 5. Smash at
Wet Mini Troops
BY the Associofed Press

HANOI, 1ndo-C China, April 26.
French fighters and bombers
with newly arrived American
supplied Corsairs in action for
the first time-today laid down
the heaviest air strikes Of the
entire Indo-C Chinese war against
Communicated Wet Mini troops
threatening to smash into the
French Union fortress at Dien
Bien Phu.
The French high command,
announcing this tonight, did not
disclose the number of sorties
but said they were far in excess
of the previous one days record
of 1876 missions early this year.
The warplanes dropped hundreds
of tons of 500. 1000 and 1000
pound bombs on rebel troops
concentrated in the hills sur
rounding the fortress.
Entertainments Hit.
Wet Mini entrenched along
the fringes of the bastion also
were heavily hit by bombers and
for hours were peppered with
thousands of machine gun bull
lets from low flying fighter
planes.
The tightly packed French
Union defenders. driven into a
cluster of fortificationss less than
mile and a quarter across.
were in an extremely serious
but not desperate" position. the
French reported last night. To-
day they said the situation was
unchanged"
The rebels leveled their heav-
lest mortar and artillery fire on
the northwestern corner of the
shrunken Dien Bien Phu re-
doubt. The fortress new defense
line in that sector was about
800 feet due south of the rebel
trenches. The French said the
attackers had not been able to
breach the defenders line last
night, and were still 600 yards
from Brig. Gen. Christian de
Castries' command headquarters.
Peiping Claims Gains.
(Peiping Radio broadcast a
report from the Communist
Wet Nam News Agency saying
that the rebels had captured
the last French post west of
Diem Bien Phu's main airstrip
and had occupied "two-thirds
of the aerdrome." The other
airstrip, south of the main
fortification. has been in rebel.
hands for weeks.)
A Wet Mimi broadcast heard in
Hanoi claimed that the opposing
forces would be face to face
very soon" in a death struggle
The threat appeared to back up
belief the rebels Communist
leaders were preparing to throw
everything into one more at
tempt to wipe out Diem Bien
Phu. This would give the Reds
resounding propaganda victory
to back up their claims at Ge-
neva, where an attempt may be
made to negotiate an Indo-
China settlement.
French planes nosed through
mist and rain to parachute more
ammunition, food and medical
supplies to the shrunken target
area at Dien Bien Phu. The
fortress. under siege for 158 days,
has been supplied entirely by
air. The French now hold only
one-third of the area they con-
trolled when open fighting broke
out there March 13.
Crossroads Bombed.
Bombers and fighters supplied
by the United States struck new
blows at the rebel attackers
despite unsettled monsoon
weather. They plastered the
crossroads village of Giao, q
miles northeast of Dien Bien
Phu, yesterday to damage the
supply line from China, but
coolies swarmed in to make
quick road repairs.
The United States Air Forces
first long-distance emergency
airlift to rush in French para
troopers from France wound up
Saturday without mishap. The
operation-"Bali High"-was be-
lieved to have brought in about
1.400 reinforcements. The air.
lift will continue into May with
an undiSclosed number of French
troops still to be brought in.
1t. Gen. John w. ODaniel
new chief of the United States
military aid mission in Indo-
China. arrived in Hanoi today
from Saigon to discuss the
critical situation in North Indo-
China. He went into immediate
conference with Gen. Rene Co.