Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-04

delta-2,000 square miles OF
rich riceland and 212 million
Wet Namese, most of them Ro-
man Catholics-into rebel hands.
Three battalions of Wet Mimi
rebels swept down from adjacent
limestone hills in an attack on
columns of French Union troops
moving up the road to Hanoi.
The French said they inflicted
heavy losses on the rebels in
savage fighting before breaking
off the encounter.
Phu Ly, a town OF 5000 on
route No. /, is 35 miles south Of
the delta war capital of Hanoi.
It was a key point for the mill
tary evacuation Of two other
major French posts-Nam Dinh
and Mini Binh-which began
last Tuesday.
Needs to Shorten Lines.
Gen. Raoul Salan, acting COM
mander of French forces here,
said the evacuation of the south
western portion Of the delta
was dictated by the urgent need
to shorten his lines against the
possibility of attack.
With abandonment Of Phu Ly,
the EVACUATED area now includes
all the delta south of q wavering
line just north of Phu Ly and
east to the seacoast.
The Phu Ly garrison was COM
manded by Col. Paul Felicien
Fidele Vanuxem, one Of the al
most legendary military figures
of Indo- China.
One of the late Marshal Jean
Delattre De TasSigny's close col
laborators. he headed q mobile
group Of Muong tribesmen which
stopped the Wet Mimi at the
gates Of Hanoi in 1851. The So
year-old paratrooper organized
and carried out the mass evacua-
ton of the southwestern delta.
The evacuation Of Phu Ly was
preceded by Withdrawals yester-
day from two small posts six
miles southeast. They were
Binh Yen and Point 73, each
normally manned by between
100 and $50 men.
These three towns together
formed a unilateral triangle
Joined by highways 20 miles long
on each side. While they existed,
they barred Communist Gen. Vo
Nguyen Chaps access to the Red
River valley from the southwest.
Ammunition Destroyed
Phu Ly was the headquarters
for mobile groups which famed
out in this triangle keeping the
Wet Mimi from reaching the
vital waterway.
The Wet Mimi maintained two
regular divisions in the cave
pocked and virtually inaccessible
limestone slopes dominating Phu
Ly.
The French ordered destruc-
ton of all munitions stocks
which could not be moved from
Phu Ly. A bridge across the Day
River south of Phu Ly was blown
up after French tanks, armored
cars and Wet Namese troops de-
Tended it from attack.
Phu Ly Is mostly a village of
straw matched huts but it is
also a silk spinning and coffee
plantation center.
A French high command bat
tie communique earlier today
said 100 French fighters and 20
bombers were headed for the
battle area-called "Patte dole"
or "Goose's Foot" - with $50
tons of bombs aboard. At least
one Red battalion was encircled
and at least so rebels killed in
the course of the fighting, a
communique claimed at one
point.
The French high command
said evacuation authorities had
successfully moved 10000 civil
ians from the Roman Catholic
diocese of Plat Diem to Hal
phong port on the China Sea.
Meanwhile, the new Wet Ma
mese premier, Ngo Dinh Diem,
warned in Saigon that the
French withdrawal would cause
grave political consequences"
Gen. Salan defended the
French policy at a Saigon news
conference. He claimed the
operation permits the French
~ A.