U.S. Aides See Situation
In Cambodia Deteriorating

Enemy Forces Exerting Heavy Pressure
and Discontent Increases in Capital
—Economy Reported ‘Devastated’

By TERENCE SMITH

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, April 8—The military, political and economic situation in Cambodia has been deteriorating over the last two months, according to knowledgeable sources within the Administration.

The Communist forces operating in Cambodia are on the offensive, student and intellectual groups in Pnompenh are calling for political reforms, and the economy, as one analyst here put it, is “devastated” as a result of the expanded fighting.

In normal circumstances these developments would be the subject of high-level concern here. But they have been obscured by the controversy generated by the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos and the subsequent enemy assaults in the northern part of South Vietnam.

For example, an event that three months ago provoked a bitter national debate over the American combat role in Cam-

bodia went relatively unnoticed when it was repeated late last month.

On March 25, Communist troops retook the entrance to the strategic Pich Nil pass on Route 4, cutting off the flow of supplies between Kompong Som, the nation's only deep-water port, and Pnompenh.

When that same point was seized by the enemy at the turn of the year, two American helicopter carriers were stationed off the Cambodia coast. Helicopter gunships and jet fighter-bombers provided close air support for the force of 13,000 South Vietnamese and Cambodian troops that eventually retook the pass on Jan. 24.

The direct involvement of American aircraft generated a furor in Congress, but the debate was overshadowed by the operation in Laos, which began Feb. 8.

Pentagon sources said that

Continued on Page 5, Column 1

no decision had been made on
whether to provide American
air support for the Cambodian
force that is now trying to clear
the pass and reopen Route 4.

To the east of Pnompenh,
along the South Vietnamese
border, a Saigon Government
force of 17,000 men has been
fighting to take Communist
supply bases since Feb. 4. Had
it not been for the invasion of
Laos, this second operation
would probably have dominated
the headlines from Indochina
in February and March.

Military sources here report
that the South Vietnamese have

The New York Times

April 9, 1971

Pnompenh's road to sea
is again cut at Pich Nil
pass (1). Enemy in South
Vietnam continued to hit
Fire Base 6 and other
artillery outposts (2).

met uncommonly sharp enemy
resistance since the start of the
operation. Instead of melting
away in the face of an advancing
force, as they customarily
do, the enemy troops have
elected to stand and fight in
order to protect their bases.

As a result, casualties have
been high on both sides and
few supplies have been captured or destroyed by the South Vietnamese.

Saigon contends that its
forces have killed more than
4,200 enemy soldiers since the
start of the operation, but
knowledgeable military sources
here said that this figure appeared to have been substantially inflated, presumably to make up for the failure to uncover large stocks of supplies.

Georg Gerster/Rapho Guillumette

am Railway there. By June,
mines to the Indian Ocean.

and having normal, friendly relations with the Government of China fits in with that plan."

## COPPER REFORM BILL IS APPROVED IN CHILE

Special to The New York Times

SANTIAGO, Chile April 8— The constitutional reform that President Salvador Allende Gossens has proposed to nationalize the copper industry was passed by the Chamber of Deputies with small but significant modifications.

The reform bill now goes back to the Senate, which had approved the measure earlier. If the Senate approves the changes, the first round of legislative approval could be completed next week.

Then, after 60 days, the two houses would vote on the bill in joint session.

The Chamber of Deputies, where Christian Democrats joined the Government's Popular Unity coalition in approving the bill, eliminated a reference

Hanoi exploiting ‘failure’ in Laos

From Derek Wilson
Saigon, April 7

Heavy fighting between Hanoi and Saigon forces in Cambodia, accompanied by continuing North Vietnamese pressure in the central highlands of South Vietnam, and increased terrorism in the north of the country, seems to substantiate the opinion of one senior officer here that "Hanoi is trying to prove something".

Hostilities that erupted in South Vietnam and Cambodia after the end of the Laos campaign a fortnight ago have been intensifying. The prevalent view in Saigon is that Hanoi must be bent on trying to underline and exploit what it sees as the "failure" of South Vietnamese forces in Laos, and "expose" Vietnamization.

With few exceptions, the communist attacks have been against the South Vietnamese Army and population, in the northern half of the country. This appearance of a restricted offensive can hardly be convenient for President Nixon, who is due to announce another stage of the American withdrawal, partly on the ground that the

weakened communist forces are now controllable by the South Vietnamese.

In Cambodia, large-scale fighting broke out yesterday not far from the South Vietnamese border near the town of Snoul, destroyed by the Americans last year. No details were available except that South Vietnamese armoured units and infantry ran into large North Vietnamese forces, which apparently were mauled by air strikes and artillery, allegedly losing about 260 dead. Government losses were put at two killed and 50 wounded.

In the central highlands, fighting, and mutual shelling and bombing continued round the South Vietnamese artillery positions of "Six" and "Lonely". In the far north, the communists attacked Saigon Marines only three miles from the town and base at Quang Tri on the flat coastal plain—the nearest to the sea they have attacked in the area since the present fighting began. Bombs and shells drove them back.

The region that has witnessed the sharpest rise in terrorism is

Quang Nam province, containing the large American base at Da Nang. United States Marine strength in the province has recently been cut drastically.

This is where more than 200 "refugees" or "relocated" peasants were killed or wounded last week at the town of Duc Duc. The latest incident was small but typical: the Vietcong fired three B-40 rocket grenades at a civilian bus. One person was killed, another injured, and the bus destroyed. As everywhere, such terrorism is aimed at intimidating the population into submission.

Yesterday saw a second South Vietnamese commando raid into Laos against "an enemy combat base of regimental size", according to a spokesman in Saigon. It appeared as ineffectual as the first, and was perhaps again mounted for publicity reasons.

The commandos were said to have found the bodies of 15 soldiers killed by air strikes and to have "destroyed" 17 rifles, three guns, nine tons of rice and food, and "10 houses". They suffered no casualties.

PRESSURE BY FOE
RISES IN CAMBODIA

Last 6 Weeks Show Step-up
in Attacks on Saigon Units

By IVER PETERSO
Special to The New York Times

SAIGON, South Vietnam, April 12—Enemy forces in Cambodia are increasing their pressure on the 22,000 South Vietnamese troops there, while the Government forces still search for the momentum they lost seven weeks ago when their commander, Lieut. Gen. Do Cao Tri, was killed.

An American military source here said today that the number of enemy shellings and attacks on South Vietnamese positions in eastern Cambodia has increased over the last six weeks to "what we consider to be a

The New York Times April 13, 1971

Saigon force is deployed
along Route 7. Enemy is
to north (black arrows).

high level of activity." One American intelligence officer said that the enemy launched 68 artillery and ground attacks against South Vietnamese Army units in Cambodia last week, compared with fewer than 50 the week before and even fewer in previous weeks.

Most of the attacks were mortar and rocket barrages, the officer said. He added that the enemy was using much more rocket and mortar ammunition than last month despite the recent South Vietnamese operation against the Ho Chi Minh Trail network that was supposed to choke off the flow of enemy supplies to the south.

The intelligence officer said he did not know whether the rockets and mortar equipment had come from existing enemy stockpiles or had recently arrived by way of the trail.

Force Along Route

The main line of the Cambodian operation is drawn along Route 7 between Kompong Cham and the South Vietnamese border, where approximately 7,000 South Vietnamese combat troops along the road face as many as 12,000 North Vietnamese soldiers in the forest and plantation areas north of the road.

Except for a few forays north of the road, notably against the fringes of the enemy-held Chup rubber plantation, the Saigon forces have not changed their position since Feb. 23, when General Tri was killed in a helicopter crash.

The general, when he commanded the tactical zone of Military Region III, from which all South Vietnamese troops in Cambodia are drawn, directed the operation across the border with a flamboyant and individualistic style that left few guidelines or plans for his successor, Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Minh, to follow.

South Vietnamese officers on General Minh's staff have refused to discuss the Cambodian front during their command's indecision over its next moves.

Foe at Plantation

The American operations officer, who is familiar with the South Vietnamese army's activities in Cambodia, said he did not, for example, know why the Government troops had not yet seriously attacked the Chup plantation just north of Route 7, where the North Vietnamese Ninth Division is believed to be stationed.

Saigon's forces in Cambodia are in a period of refitting and repair, the officer said. He said he imagined General Minh had "an ace up his sleeve, but he's not letting anyone know what it is."

Part of the army's indecisiveness in Cambodia is the result of a reorganization of the various task force commands following General Tri's death, another informed American officer said today. While General Tri had personally excercised command of each of eight separate task forces in Cambodia, the officer pointed out, General Minh has turned over their command to two division commanders whose units make up part of the 22,000-man force in Cambodia.

APR 12 1971

W.P.

Helicopters
Resupply
Firebase 6

From News Dispatches

Nearly a dozen U.S. helicopters broke through a ring of North Vietnamese fire yesterday to resupply Firebase 6, a frontier South Vietnamese artillery outpost under siege for 12 days.

The rest of the resupply mission, involving about 20 helicopters, was called back after one helicopter was shot down. Its four-man crew was rescued.

U.S. B-52 Stratofortresses pounded North Vietnamese positions around Firebase 6 for the fifth consecutive day. Two waves of the bombers unloaded 180 tons of explosives within less than two miles of the base, located about 300 miles north of Saigon near the border juncture of Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam.

Eyewitnesses at the government command post at Tancanh, a few miles southeast of Firebase 6, saw dust and smoke rise from the area around the hilltop base most of the day as big U.S. 175mm and eight-inch guns fired hundreds of shells into the hillside.

Six U.S. helicopters yesterday morning attempted to fly badly-needed rations and water into the beleaguered outpost.

See INDOCHINA, A13, Col. 1

INDOCHINA, From A1

They were forced back by heavy small arms fire, but the leading helicopter managed to drop some of its load as it passed over the base at more than 60 miles an hour.

During the afternoon, 10 U.S. helicopters left the compound at Tancanh laden with supplies but flew into concentrated antiaircraft fire.

Eight to 10 helicopters got through, but the others were called back after the one helicopter was shot down halfway through the mission. Maj. William E. Adams, 31, Craig, Colo., was commander of the downed helicopter.

The crew was picked up uninjured within minutes.

Three American helicopters have been shot down and two more have received heavy battle damage in the area around Firebase 6 in the past two weeks.

South Vietnamese pilots flying Skyraiders were called in to assist in the bombardment of Communist positions around Firebase 6.

Skyraiders are propeller-driven planes, favored for use in situations where slow flying aircraft can bomb more easily than fast flying jets.

Military sources said the Skyraiders bombed and strafed North Vietnamese trenches only 500 yards from the firebase perimeter. The sources said the base was running short of ammunition and unless supplies were sent in soon, it was unlikely that the garrison would be able to hold out much longer.

A South Vietnamese spokesman in Pleiku said heavy fighting flared Saturday about a mile northeast of the beleaguered outpost between two government and North Vietnamese battalions. The spokesman said 53 North Vietnamese troops were killed in the fighting. He described government casualties as light.

In Cambodia, more than 245 U.S. helicopter sorties were flown against suspected North Vietnamese positions Saturday.

In Phnom Penh, a government spokesman said North Vietnamese gunners kept up their bombardment overnight on Cambodian troops trying to open Highway 4 to the seaport of Kompong Som.

One Cambodian soldier was killed and five wounded by rockets, rifle rounds and mortars fired into the Pich Nil pass and high mountain defile at Stung Chrap, about 62 miles southwest of Phnom Penh.

[AP quoted an interview published in Stokholm in which Pathet Lao leader, Prince Souvanouvong said U.S. prisoners of war, including downed pilots, would be released immediately "if the United States ceases its bombings and other interventions in Laotian affairs."

[A reporter from the trade unionist paper Aftonbladet was admitted to the prince's headquarters in mountainous northern Laos. The reporter quoted the prince as saying:

"[Captured] U.S. pilots are humanely treated although they have perpetrated untold crimes against the Laotian people, including indiscriminate bombings of hospitals, schools and homes with women and children.")

Cambodian Troops Battle

To Keep Key Highway Pass

SAIGON, April 20 (AP) — Cambodian forces were reported battling today to turn back enemy forces attacking their position at a key pass on the highway linking the capital of Phnom Penh with the sea.

Latest reports indicated the Cambodians were still holding Pich Nil Pass, 63 miles southwest of Phnom Penh on Highway 4, more than a day after the enemy attack began.

In a related development, U.S. B-52 bombers, flying more than 50 missions throughout Indochina in the past two days, attacked enemy positions north of Highway 7 that runs across part of Cambodia north of Phnom Penh from the South Vietnamese border.

There were scattered reports of ground action today in South Vietnam and Laos.

The U.S. and South Vietnamese operation in the Ashau Valley bordering Laos moved into its second week, but there still were no reports of significant contact with the enemy. Spokesmen for the South Vietnamese command

continued to refuse comment on the operation.

## Critical Colonel

## Transferred in Vietnam

PLEIKI, South Vietnam, April 20 (UPI) — The U.S. commander who criticized the South Vietnamese operation in Laos and who was called on the carpet by his superiors for allowing television filming of American helicopters dropping napalm has been relieved of his command and transferred to another area, military sources said today.

The officer, Lt. Col. Frank O. Miller of Maitland, Fla., was commander of the 52d Combat Aviation Battalion.

Military sources said there were other factors involved in the transfer. They did not elaborate.

Miller also often called for nuclear bombing of North Vietnam's Haiphong harbor in meetings with newsmen.

## Miss Webb's Body

## Found, Cambodians Say

PHNOM PENH, April 20 (UPI) — A body believed to be that of Catherine M. “Kate”

Webb, United Press International bureau manager in Phnom Penh, has been found in a battle area in southwestern Cambodia where she disappeared April 7.

Miss Webb, 28, and five other persons listed as missing at the same time were covering a battle on Highway 4 about 55 miles southwest of Phnom Penh.

Cambodian troops found several bodies in the area last Friday, including that of a Caucasian woman. A Cambodian army officer, Capt. Ouk Chan, who said he once met Miss Webb, identified the remains.

The body bore a single bullet wound in the chest, he said, and it was cremated on the spot in accordance with Cambodian military procedure.

terious."

Mr. Ford had accused the Pentagon of playing a numbers game on casualty figures "for political purpose."

The Congressman erred, the Pentagon spokesman said, by taking end-of-year troop strengths and dividing them into the total number of non-combat dcaths for the year. This would be correct if the number of troops had remained the same throughout each year. In fact, the spokesman said, it was increasing in the earlier years and was later declining.

To be correct, the spokesman continued, one must take the strengths at the end of each month and divide that figure into the number of noncombat deaths. By adding these monthly figures, the cumulative annual rates per thousand can be calculated.

The Pentagon spokesman said that noncombat casualties per thousand had not declined, and had even risen slightly, for the

troop strength, whereas combat deaths vary according to troop activity.

As the war has slowed down, Americans in Vietnam have had more leisure. That means more football, construction projects, swimming, drinking and sightseeing. "And everyone knows that during holiday activities accidental deaths go up," the spokesman said.

He insisted that the breakdown of noncombat deaths showed no evidence of a dramatic increase attributable to drugs or so-called fraggings, attacks by soldiers on one another or their officers with hand grenades.

The largest single cause was listed as aircraft crashes, which accounted for 28 per cent of the total noncombat deaths over a five-year period, followed by 22 per cent in "other accidents," 9 per cent drowned or suffocated, 8 per cent killed in vehicle crashes, 8 per cent accidental homicide, and the

APR 29 1971

W.P.

Reds Attack
Highway 4
In Cambodia

Associated Press

SAIGON, April 28 (AP)—Enemy attacks slacked off in South Vietnam today after four days of shelling, but the North Vietnamese struck again along Cambodia's highway to the sea.

The U.S. Command did not issue its usual morning communique, saying it had no significant action to report. But U.S. officers anticipated another stepup this weekend to mark May Day, a traditional Communist holiday.

Cambodian troops were locked in heavy fighting Highway 4 and U.S. fighter-bombers flew to their support, informed sources reported.

The fighting raged along the highway and in the flanking jungles about 55 miles southwest of Phnom Penh, the capital.

Lt. Col. Am Rong, Cambodian high command spokesman, reported Vietcong and North Vietnamese attacked in force before dawn against Cambodians in jungles more than a mile off the highway and fighting was hand to hand.

Am Rong claimed 57 enemy soldiers were killed in the jungle fighting. He gave Cambodian casualties as 12 killed and 51 wounded.

In South Vietnam, B-52 bombers hit North Vietnamese positions in the Ashau Valley and North Vietnam's supply routes and troops in Laos and Cambodia.

Allied officers said there was still heavy truck movement in the Laos panhandle but it had slackened somewhat in recent days because of rains. The rains foreshadowed the monsoon, which is expected to start in southern Laos next week and continue for five or six months.

Saigon Reports New Clash in Cambodia

SAIGON, South Vietnam, May 6 (AP) - South Vietnamese troops, led by tanks and under cover of air and artillery strikes, reported fighting about 400 North Vietnamese today near the town of Snuol, a few miles inside Cambodia.

The South Vietnamese command here said that 72 North Vietnamese had been killed. South Vietnamese casualties were put at one dead and six wounded.

Yesterday the South Vietnamese Air Force reportedly struck a North Vietnamese troop concentration 15 miles from the Cambodian border and 100 miles northwest of Saigon.

A South Vietnamese military spokesman, Lieut. Col. Do Viet, said Vietnamese F-5 Freedom Fighter jets attacked the North Vietnamese for four hours yesterday afternoon and that air spotters afterward counted five dead.

In another action, United States helicpter gunships killed five enemy soldiers in an area 52 miles southeast of Pnom-

penh, Cambodia, the United States Command said.

United States helicopters are lending heavy support to the 22,000 South Vietnamese troops still in Cambodia, flying more than 30 support missions yesterday.

In Saigon, the United States Command released its weekly casualty summary and reported 65 American combat deaths for last week, the highest in five weeks.

The total, however, included 21 who had been listed as missing, but who are now known to be dead. Similarly, the summary also included nine men previously listed as wounded.

## 13 Were Lost In Laos

Of the 21 whose classification has changed from missing to dead, 13 were reported shot

down in air operations over Laos.

The summary listed 592 United States troops wounded in action during the seven days ended at midnight Saturday. This topped the previous week's total of 518 wounded and was the highest in that category since October.

The latest totals raised to 45,087 the number of Americans killed in action since Jan. 1, 1961, and brought the number of wounded in that decade to 298,881.

Twenty other Americans died last week as result of accidents, illness and other nonhostile causes to bring the war total in that classification to 9,506. There are also 1,490 Americans currently listed as missing, captured and interned.

South Vietnamese headquarters reported 492 Government troops killed and 1,102 wounded last week, compared with 305 killed and with 305 killed and 838 wounded the previous week.

The official count of South Vietnamese killed since Jan. 1, 1960, is now 126,491, and the wounded total 273,927.

The allied commands reported 1,657 North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops killed last week, the lowest for a week since January.

The total of enemy soldiers killed since Jan. 1, 1961, is now 739,897, according to the United States summary.

The New York Times

May 7, 1971

18,000 S. Viets Stalled in Cambodia

By Peter Osnos

Washington Post Foreign Service

SAIGON, May 10 — The South Vietnamese drive into Eastern Cambodia, now more than three months old, is still stalled far short of the ambitious goals that were set out for it when the operation began.

The main combat units of a force numbering 18,000, according to the South Vietnamese command, are situated along Highway 7 west of Kompong Cham where they have been since early March.

These troops move no more than two or three

miles from their base camps and their activities were described by one U.S. military source today, in a derisive tone as "local road security." and limited reconnaissance."

Meanwhile, U.S. Military sources said, a fresh enemy troops and supplies are being brought into the Communist staging areas north of the highway that were to have been the objectives of the Cambodian drive.

Some of these reinforcements are believed to be in and around the massive Chup rubber plantation, an important enemy stronghold that was the scene of heavy

fighting at the start of the operation.

Chup has long been abandoned by the South Vietnamese except, U.S. sources said, for forays into the southeast corner of the plantation. None of the other Communist sanctuaries has been seriously challenged since the South Vietnamese pulled back Feb. 26 from Chhlong on Highway 75.

The scale of the fighting has dropped markedly according to South Vietnamese casualty figures. For the period of March 9 to April 13, 2,243 enemy were re-

ported killed, along with 155 South Vietnamese.

For the period of April 14 up to today, the enemy killed is placed at 749 and South Vietnamese dead at 66. U.S. military sources confirmed there had been few significant engagements in recent weeks.

A month ago, however, these sources had predicted some concerted South Vietnamese action. Gen. Nguyen Van Minh, commander of the operation, had "an ace up his sleeve," one officer said.

See DRIVE, A16, Col. 1

Executive board would abide by Hoffa's wishes. No one here believed dissident members had the strength to influence the selection of the next president of the Teamsters.

In Chicago, U.S. District Judge Richard B. Austin denied a request by Hoffa that he be allowed to serve concurrently his eight-year term for jury tampering and five-year sentence for pension fund fraud. Word of the decision reached the union's executive board only minutes before it recessed this afternoon.

In denying the request, Austin said the U.S. Parole Board is the proper body to consider the time when Hoffa should be released, not the court.

The Parole Board on March 31 rejected Hoffa's

re-election.”

Veteran Teamsters officials discounted weekend reports that Western Teamsters are forming a rump group to fight Hoffa's re-election if he runs from

Chicago stung Matula.

"Poor Jimmy," he said, shaking his head. "The judge wouldn't give him a break. Seems like nobody will give him a break. Poor guy."

compared to the long and loud lobbying that preceded the March vote. Both Speaker Carl Albert and Republican Leader Gerald R. Ford said they would support the attempt to rescue the SST, but both left the impression that

1,000,000 DODGE DAKOTA
OWNERS GOTTA BE RICH

MORE PEOPLE DRIVE

DRIVE, From A1

Today, the officer, whose
job it is to monitor the Cam-
bodian drive, said, "Yes,
Gen. Minh had some plaps
... but the best laid plans of
mice and men go astray."
He did not elaborate.

Minh took over the Cam-
bodian operation after the
accidental death Feb. 23 of
Gen. Do Cao Tri, the dash-
ing commander who envi-
sioned the drive as an all
South Vietnamese sweep
through the old Communist

border sanctuaries into ene-
my-held areas as far north
as Kratie.

The aim of the thrust was
to cripple enemy supply
lines into the Saigon region,
the Mekong delta and west-
ward into Cambodia, much
the same reason given for
last year's Cambodian drive.

The area of the activity
was also roughly the same
as it was in May and June of
1970, although it was ini-
tially shifted northwards to
Chhlong and remains as far
west as Kompong Cham,
about 40 miles from the
South Vietnamese border.

When the campaign
slowed after Tri's death,
U.S. and South Vietnamese
militarymen said a time of
readjustment was necessary
in any change of command
during a major operation.
Senior military analysts now
acknowledge that time has
passed.

"It just hasn't worked out
the way it was supposed to,"
said one ranking U.S. offi-
cial.

At briefings one month
ago and two months ago,
U.S. Military sources said
the South Vietnamese were
being "refitted and reorgan-
ized". The reorganization of
the task forces has now
been completed, with the ad-
dition of a new force of
3,500 men.

Vorster's problem is that prolonged and serious confrontation would destroy utterly the "morality" and image of the bantustans as embodying the natural aspirations of the African people. If the bantustan policy does not work, then Vorster is left without a race policy.

It is not only the Transkei that has started to flex its muscles: so have three other bantustans—the Zulu, Machanganan and Lebowa Territorial Authorities which do not yet have legislative assemblies.

And the effect of Matanzima's actions is only just beginning to be felt. Once Chief Gatsha Buthelezi, chief executive officer of the Zulu Territorial Authority, hits his stride he may

Inevitably, if relations between Vorster's government and the bantustans deteriorate, white South Africans will take another look at this "laboratory-controlled experiment."

Withdrawal of their support, because they fear the clamor of eight potentially independent black states within their borders, would mean the collapse of the entire policy of separate racial development.

Vorster's only recourse then would be to return to

The South Vietnamese supplied total of 18,000 men in the operation is 5,000 less than the maximum of 23,000 committed at the start.

Defense Secretary Melvyn Laird noted at the time that there were more South Vietnamese facing more enemy troops in Cambodia than there were in the newly begun invasion of Laos and Communist supply lines there.

U.S. sources said today that enemy strength was still around 25,000 men of the North Vietnamese 5th, 7th and 9th Divisions.

The sources said that since the operation—known officially as Toan Thang—1/71 began, there have been no indications of division-size enemy elements moving back into South Vietnam from Cambodia.

Another American, a senior civilian with a military background, said the drive has had the positive effect of tying up major portions of three enemy divisions for most of the dry season, now coming to a close.

Throughout Toan Thang 1/71, the South Vietnamese have shared air activity with American units to a far greater extent than they did in the Laotian campaign. Nevertheless, a U.S. spokesman said that some 23,000 helicopter sorties had been flown in support of the operation, with 19 choppers lost.

U.S. B-52s have hit targets in Cambodia 67 days since Toan Thang began.

Two-Pronged Saigon Drive
In E. Cambodia Launched

SAIGON, May 14 (AP)—
Thousands of South Vietnam-
ese troops have launched a
new two-pronged drive in east-
ern Cambodia with the full
range of U.S. air support, field
reports said today.

Field commanders said the
objective of the operation is to
disrupt a complex of "Commu-
nist command and control fa-
cilities, headquarters and
training areas" used to carry
out operations in South Viet-
nam's Haughia and Long an
provinces to the west of Sai-
gon. There has been a sharp
increase of enemy activity
there.

The drive was launched
Tuesday, but details were not
reported until today for secu-
rity reasons.

The 5,000 South Vietnamese
troops committed to the offen-
sive had been in a defensive
posture for the past month, re-
fitting and reorganizing, offi-
cers reported.

The operation has resulted
in only light and scattered
contacts thus far, with 14
enemy troops reported killed.
One South Vietnamese sol-
dier has been killed and eight
were wounded, according to
communiques from Saigon
headquarters.

The sweep centers along a
25-mile stretch from the Cam-
bodian town of Kandol Chrum
on Highway 7 southward to
Kompong Trach, an area
about 100 miles northwest of
Saigon.

Meanwhile, military sources
reported that North Vietnam-
ese engineers are trying to

build a major new infiltration
route from Laos into South
Vietnam. But, these sources
added, heavy U.S. air raids ap-
pear to have stalled the proj-
ect.

The road, running east from
the frontier just north of Khe
Sanh, apparently was begun
after U.S. and South Vietnam-
ese forces pulled out of the
area in March at the end of
the 45-day Laotian invasion.

One U.S. officer who has
been the construction called it
"an autobahn." Officials are
uncertain whether it is just a
supply road or is intended to
move heavy artillery to within
range of allied base camps.

Since it was first spotted
from the air in early April,
U.S. planes have hammered it
with saturation air attacks
that included some 40 B52
strikes in 33 days plus numer-
ous fighter-bomber attacks.

In the air war last night,
two U.S. F-105 fighter-bombers
carried out the 37th so-called
protective reaction strike this
year against antiaircraft bat-
teries in North Vietnam near
the Mugia Pass. The U.S. Com-
mand said the F-105s fired two
missiles at North Vietnamese
surface-to-air sites 75 and 82
miles northwest of the demili-
tarized zone with unknown re-
sults.

MAY 15 1971

MAY 15 1971

C.V.P.
W.P.

Camhada
Elit
WI

Camhada
* allied Mil Ope
Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Sad as it is, it is probably true that far too many
of the technical advances of our civilization are
"spin-offs" of weaponry. Man's martial impulse, it
appears, somehow sparks greater energies than
man's longing for peaceful progress and justice. It
is, however, equally and even more sadly true that
the martial impulse keeps destroying the cultural
advances of civilization. The energy is horribly
wasted. Even the best of "spin-offs" are of no avail.
The martially inspired tourist jets may, if ever it
is all over there, take more people faster to
Angkor Wat, that great, ancient temple complex in
Cambodia. But now we learn that the war has
severely damaged this masterpiece.

Last summer when the 12th century temples
were occupied by Vietcong and North Vietnam
troops, the Secretary General of the United Nations,
Mr. U Thant, appealed to all parties in Cambodia

to spare what he called "one of the most sacred
and renowned religious and cultural monuments
of man." We have no particular reason to doubt
that this was the intention on all sides. Yet, three
months ago the martial impulse got the better of
a Cambodian artillery commander. For reasons not
yet clear, he fired a 105-mm. howitzer barrage at
the south side of Angkor Wat, killed 10 of the
peasants who had sought refuge in the temples,
destroyed a part of one of the gates, damaged a
fresco depicting the story of Khmer or Cambodian
Empire and hit a nearby pagoda. This tragic acci-
dent of war was kept secret until two French arche-
ologists, who are members of a group that had
been allowed to continue their restoration work,
reported it to the National Museum in Phnom Penh.

What is there to say? We can only register our
dismay. Angkor Wat is not only a Cambodian monu-
ment, it is an ornament to civilization everywhere.

# Angkor Wat hit

By the Associated Press

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The Cambodian Army apparently plans no disciplinary action against a captain who ordered an artillery barrage that did severe damage to Angkor Wat, Cambodia's national treasure.

The huge 12th century temple was shelled three months ago, authoritative sources said, but the government kept the incident secret.

Angkor, the ancient Khmer capital in the northwest, was occupied by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers last June. Government forces were ordered not to attack for fear that fighting would damage the ruins, which include the temple of Angkor Wat and the adjacent Angkor Thom.

The shelling killed or wounded about 10 peasant refugees in a nearby pagoda and heavily damaged the south side of Angkor Wat.

## De-segregation

Dr. Hall gave an example, something which had just occurred.

The black ombudsman reported that black students who had been elected to school offices or were key members of sports teams were concerned that they might be transferred to other schools under the 1971-72 assignment procedure.

"I decided to stop that worry right away," said the superintendent. "The ombudsman was told to pass the word that such students would not be transferred."

* A human-relations project was developed by the social-studies supervisor, using consultants from the Behavioral Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Black and white teachers are selected from each school for personal "encounters." Then they go back to their schools and communicate what they have learned about one another.

* At the elementary level, 150 principals have group sessions with un-

INDOCHINA, From A1

It was built in the 12th Century by the Khmer King Suryavarman II, and abandoned in the 15th Century. Its stone frescoes, are considered among the world's outstanding examples of bas-relief art.

Details of the damage are known because two Frenchmen from the Conservation d'Angkor, a society that has worked to preserve the temples, are allowed to continue to stay in the ruins.

Informed sources said the barrage was ordered by a battery commander without permission from higher authority.

The sources reported the officer was transferred to another unit but was not punished, apparently because the high command believed that punishing him would damage morale in the army.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Command in Saigon reported B-52 bombers were sent to blast the Ho Chi Minh Trail in eastern Laos yesterday as North Vietnam was reported preparing the supply route for the coming rainy season.

Normally, supplies move slowly in the rain and mud of the monsoon season, expected to begin next week. But the enemy was reported trying to

make the trail and all-weather route.

Scores of B-52 bombers—some of them diverted from raids on Cambodia—gave the 300-mile trail network a working over. They were joined by U.S. tactical bombers from

bases in Thailand and two aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

While the air effort centered in Laos, ground fighting in South Vietnam lapsed into another of its periodic lulls.

Both the U.S. and South Vi-

etnamese commands reported only minor skirmishes. Battle activity dropped to one of its lowest levels this year.

In Phnom Penh, former Foreign Minister Yem Sambaur was elected president of Cambodia's National Assembly.

7½ mph and 10 mph, and filmed the results for a screening yesterday before the Senate Commerce Committee.

At 7½ mph the car — which Douglas Taylor, working alone for four hours with a quarter-inch electric drill, had fitted out, suffered no damage.

Bob Burchette—The Washington Post

that was rammed into a
Senate Office Building.

that to business relations," but
that this could not deter him.

Last October, almost simultaneously, Ford and American Motors expressed interest in the Taylor units. Chrysler and GM followed. Now, Paul Taylor testified, Ford has installed a set on a special safety car that suffered zero