# Foe Again Shells Laotian Base;
Aide Fears It May Be Overrun

VIENTIANE, Laos, Jan. 3 (Reuters)—The large American-supported guerrilla base at Long Tieng came under renewed shelling from North Vietnamese forces today, and a Government spokesman here said it was in danger of being overrun.

Heavy enemy artillery attacks since last Friday have destroyed the base's ammunition dump, the spokesman said. He reported that all infantry troops had been moved out of the installation and deployed in nearby villages and on high ground around the base.

More than 30,000 civilians have already been evacuated from Long Tieng since the North Vietnamese overran the neighboring Plaine des Jarres two weeks ago.

With the increasing enemy pressure, big American aircraft have found it extremely difficult to land there, since the Communists are able to fire on the runway, which has been damaged but is still usable.

Meanwhile, North Vietnamese troops remained in control of the strategic Boloven plateau in southern Laos and were reported pushing toward the town of Pakse on the Me-kong River.

A Government spokesman said that five North Vietnamese battalions supported by tanks had occupied Paksong after Government forces abandoned the town seven days ago.

## U.S. Patrol Ambushed

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Tuesday, Jan. 31 (AP) — North Vietnamese troops jumped a 25-man United States infantry patrol in jungles 40 miles northeast of Saigon yesterday and shot down three medical evacuation helicopters marked with red crosses trying to lift out the wounded. An observation helicopter also was shot down.

The New York Times/Jan. 4, 1972

Enemy troops maintained pressure on Long Tieng (1). Others reportedly pushed toward Pakse (2).

The United States command said one American was killed and 14 were wounded in the action, the biggest involving American ground troops in more than a month. The attack came after threats by the Communist command to retaliate for United States air strikes against North Vietnam last week.

The command also announced that an Air Force F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber was lost over northern Laos last Friday and that the two crewmen were missing. The jetwen down one day after the United States ended five days of heavy raids over North Vietnam.

Meanwhile, reports from Cambodia said that American and South Vietnamese aircraft mounted heavy raids on marshlands 18 miles southeast of Pnompenh, the capital, after North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers made harassing attacks on a nearby village Sunday.

GUN SITE IN NORTH
ATTACKED BY JET

Antiaircraft Position Target
in First Such Raid Since
Strikes of Last Week

By IVER PETERSON

Special to The New York Times

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Jan. 5—An American jet escorting B-52's on a raid over the Ho Chi Minh supply trail in Laos darted over neighboring North Vietnam today for a “protection reaction” strike on an antiaircraft position, the United States command reported.

It was the first American air attack in North Vietnam since five days of intensive raids against North Vietnamese anti-aircraft sites, airfields and supply depots ended last Thursday.

The command said that today's attack apparently destroyed the radar-guided anti-aircraft site, 10 miles north of the Bankarai Pass, in the southern part of North Vietnam.

This is the area that was hardest hit during the five days of raids. The command has since said that poor weather restricted the effectiveness of that bombing.

Today's raid was staged by an Air Force F-16s, a plane that is used to escort B-52 bombers over the trail. The command reported only "hospitality actions" by the antiaircraft

Continued on Page 8, Column 4

# U.S. Jet Raids Antiaircraft Site in North

Continued From Page 1, Col. 2

site. This is believed to mean that the site's radar guidance system had begun to track one of the several American planes on the bombing mission.

The F-105 fired one missile at the site. No damage was caused to any of the American planes during the incident, the command said.

In 1971, American planes conducted 108 "protective reactions" against North Vietnamese gun and missile sites that threatened United States bombers and reconnaissance planes. The five days of raids were also considered a protective reaction attack by the United States command.

The command disclosed today that since those raids North Vietnamese MIG jets have been observed by American pilots along the northern Laotian border, but that none have challenged American planes in the area.

The North Vietnamese jets appear to be patrolling the border area and are possibly practicing interception techniques that could be used against United States planes, an American officer said.

On Dec. 18, a MIG shot down an American F-4 Phantom over northern Laos with a missile.

## DMZ Sites Bombed

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Jan. 5 (Reuters) — United States B-52's bombed what were believed to be North Vietnamese troop concentrations and bunker complexes along the demilitarized zone today following reports of stepped-up enemy activity in the area.

An American spokesman said

two missions were flown against targets near Khesanh in the northwestern corner of South Vietnam and inside the six-mile-wide buffer strip straddling the border between the two Vietnams.

## Laotian Positions Attacked

VIENTIANE, Laos, Jan. 5 (UPI)—Communist troops were reported attacking Government positions today along Route 13 about 55 miles north of here. The attacks followed fighting yesterday 115 miles to the north in which a key road bridge was destroyed near the besieged Laotian guerrilla base at Long Tieng.

## Change in Strategy Reported

SAIGON, Thursday, Jan. 5 (AP)—The South Vietnamese Government, in a major shift of military strategy, is abandoning major bases in Cambodia in favor of a powerful air mobile strike force, official sources said today.

The New York Times/Jan. 6, 1972

It was learned that the joint general staff has approved formation of a special 15,000-man task force including elite rangers, two helicopter wings and two armored cavalry regiments.

This force will be assigned to the Third Military Region, which includes the capital of Saigon and 11 surrounding provinces. Sources said the more than 10,000 South Vietnamese troops now in eastern Cambodia would gradually pull out of bases along Highways 1 and 7.

Entire 2,400-Man Cambodian Brigade Flees Posts and Deserts

TAYNINH, Vietnam, Jan. 12 (UPI)—A unit of the Cambodian Army has been disbanded by common consent of its 2,400 officers and men—all of whom deserted their post in a Cambodian rubber plantation, changed to civilian clothes and scattered into South Vietnam.

Some have been spotted in Cambodian Army trucks heading south for the Mekong delta, apparently with the intention of blending in with the large number of Cambodians there.

The men of the 22d Brigade fled their posts at Krek and abandoned many of their weapons when the South Vietnamese Army pulled out of Cambodia over the last few days.

"The commandant told us we were not strong enough to fight," said a member of the

22d at Tayninh, a South Vietnamese provincial capital 50 miles northwest of Saigon. "He said we should all leave Krek. So we did."

Wore Civilian Clothes

Some of the brigade put on civilian clothes, the better to blend with those civilians who, fearing retaliation by the Vietcong, also fled.

The fleeing troops kept a few American M16 rifles but the more than 200 Cambodian soldiers who reached Tayninh had only four such weapons among them.

Some soldiers kept their military clothing, but in a separate bundle that presumably could be disposed of easily in case of a Vietcong challenge.

"I think most of the Cambodians want to return to Cam-

bodia," said Nguyen Van Kiet, information officer for Tayninh Province. Mr. Kiet has allowed scores of the refugees and deserters to camp in his office courtyard for the last two nights.

"What they are doing is coming out of Cambodia, then going farther south to re-enter the country," he said. "Most of them say they are going back to Pnompenh.

"This is very, very bad for the Cambodian Army."

Politics Involved

The only Cambodian troops left on the northeastern front are a handful stationed around the last South Vietnamese base left there, said another officer.

For the most part the South Vietnamese refused to discuss the Cambodian retreat, and to

a man would not criticize the Cambodians.

"There is a lot of politics involved here," said one officer at the South Vietnamese Army's forward headquarters here. "I just can't talk about it at all."

In front of Mr. Kiet's office, naked children bathed in a fountain, while a mother dipped out one handful of rice from a pitifully small plastic bag.

The handful of rice was lunch for at least 15 people.

"I don't know when and I don't know how, but I will go back to Pnompenh," said one deserter. "I will never go back to Krek again."

Headquarters Denies Report

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Thursday, Jan. 13 (UPI)—Officers at the Cambodian 22d Brigade headquarters here

denied reports from Saigon that their unit had been disbanded following the withdrawal from Krek. But the officers did say the men were scattered and that some apparently had not left the Krek area.

Plans already have been made to send the troops to training camps in South Vietnam, one of the officers said.

JAN 14 1972

W.P.

## Enemy Hits Hard Again In Vietnam

SAIGON, Jan. 13 (AP)—Enemy ground forces struck hard at South Vietnamese outposts to day in the third day of intensified fighting, and mortar shells hit two U.S. positons at Danang.

The South Vietnamese command reported 26 more enemy attacks in the past 24 hours, making a three-day total of 86.

This is the highest level of enemy action since last October.

Some South Vietnamese officials believe a major enemy offensive may come soon to coincide with the Tet lunar new year Feb. 15. The attacks could come in the Central Highlands or in the northwest, where North Vietnamese buildups have been reported.

The U.S. Command said the enemy loosed two mortar attacks against troops of the 196th Infantry Brigade and the 11th Combat Aviation Group helicopter base, both on the outskirts of Danang. Eleven mortar shells hit the two units, but the command reported no casualties or damage.

In the air war, two Air Force F-105 fighter-bombers flying escort for B-52 bombers on raids against North Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos fired three air-to-ground missiles at a surface-to-air missile battery about 40 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone.

The North Vietnamese got off the first shot, but there was no damage to the American planes. Results of the American counterattack were unknown, the command added.

Cambodia's high command said Cambodian and South Vietnamese forces had begun a joint operation about 40 miles southwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.

The communiqué gave no further details, but did say a separate joint operation south of Highway 1 in Cambodia was continuing.

The U.S. Command reported five Americans were killed in action and 47 wounded last week. The total is about the average for the past three months. Eleven Americans died from nonhostile causes.

The South Vietnamese command said 221 government troops were killed and 497 wounded last week. The allied commands reported 803 enemy killed.

[Thailand announced it will sign a treaty next week establishing joint patrols with Cambodia along their 350-mile border. Each country will also be given the right to pursue terrorists "within a specified distance" across the border, a Thai spokesman in Bangkok said.]

Cambodian world appeal to
save Angkor temples

Phnom Penh, Feb 3.—Cambodia today appealed to international opinion to help to save the ancient temple complex of Angkor. It has been occupied by the communists since soon after the Indo-China war spread to Cambodia two years ago.

Mr Long Boret, the Minister of Information, said in his appeal that the 200 temples in delicately carved stone a thousand years old, were in grave danger because of damage and deterioration. The appeal was made in consequence of the reported arrest of 40 Cambodian archaeological workers by communist troops and Cambodian rebels who are using Angkor as a military base.

Maintenance of the miles of priceless masonry, under the direction of M Bernard Groslier, a French expert, working with the

consent of both sides, came to a halt at the end of last month.

Since then, according to the Cambodian military command, 40 maintenance workers have been abducted, several hundred of the 1,100 men working on the site have fled, and M Groslier has been barred entry.

The Minister said: "The Government and people of Cambodia will hold them (the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong) responsible for all the damage caused to the monument of Angkor and for the very grave dangers which will result from the stoppage of conservation work and the protection of the temples.

"In view of this grave menace of destruction of the Angkor monuments becoming more real from day to day, we reiterate our anguished appeal to international opinion to help to prevent this destruction by every means."

Cambodia
Posts Hit
By Enemy

From News Dispatches

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 7—
North Vietnamese and Viet-
cong troops maintained at-
tacks today on Cambodian po-
sitions less than two miles
from Angkor Wat and Angkor
Thom, sites of ancient temple
ruins.

A spokesman for the Cam-
bodian high command in
Phnom Penh reported one
Cambodian soldier killed and
10 others wounded at a for-
ward post on the outskirts of
Siem Reap, a former tourist
center three miles from the
ruins which are Cambodia's
most precious art treasures.

The Cambodians hold Siem
Reap; the enemy has been in-
control of the temple ruins
since June 1970. The area is
145 miles northwest of Phnom
Penh, Cambodia's capital.

The spokesman said allied
warplanes managed to beat
back the enemy force after a
two-hour battle. Earlier,
enemy gunners fired two re-
coilless cannon shells into the
town.

Siem Reap has been under
pressure for two weeks and
the Cambodian government
claimed yesterday that enemy
soldiers had killed about 20
Cambodian civilians who
were arrested in a park sur-
rounding Angkor Wat.

In South Vietnam, the Viet-
cong fired rockets into the
Central Highlands town of
Kontum today in the first
shelling of the provincial cap-
ital since the current Commu-
nist buildup which allied intel-
ligence had said would be a
prelude to an offensive this
month.

Two rockets exploded near
the province headquarters, kill-
ing one Vietnamese and
wounding three others, field
reports said.

Kontum, a town of 30,000
population 260 miles north of
Saigon, has been widely men-
tioned by allied officers as the
most likely target of the antic-
ipated Communist offensive.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Com-
mand announced today that
the U.S. Army troop strength
in Vietnam dropped to below
100,000 last week for the first
time in at least six years. The
latest troop reductions low-
ered the strength of the Army
from 102,300 to 99,700.

ATTACK ON TEMPLES
HINTED BY CAMBODIA

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Feb. 10 (AP)—The Cambodian Government announced today that it reserved the right to attack enemy troops occupying Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, two of Asia's most precious monuments.

Communist-led forces have occupied the temples for the last 21 months. Cambodian troops have been forbidden to fire on them for fear of damaging the temples.

A communiqué issued after an emergency Cabinet meeting did not speak of armed action in direct terms. It referred instead to the right to evoke Article 4 of the Hague Convention, which permits attacks on art treasures in cases of military necessity.

Concern has risen in Cambodia because the enemy recently ordered out an international team working to keep the temples from deteriorating.

# Breakdown of Truce at Angkor Imperils Cambodian Temples

By TERENCE SMITH
Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11—

The fragile truce that has protected the historic Cambodian ruins of Angkor for 20 months has broken down in recent weeks, and officials here fear that heavy and destructive fighting may soon develop in the area.

Those fears were heightened yesterday when the Cambodian Government announced that military action might be necessary to retake the great complex of temples. Elements of four Cambodian brigades have been moved to the area in the last month.

The temples, which were built at the ancient royal capital between the 9th and 12th centuries, were seized by North Vietnamese troops in June 1970.

After some initial fighting, both sides observed a de facto cease-fire in the area and little damage has reportedly been done to the intricately carved but decaying monuments.

The truce collapsed last November and December, when internal fighting reportedly broke out between the North Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge—the Cambodian Communist guerrilla organization—over control of the temple area. Refugees from the area reported that 15 North Vietnamese soldiers had been killed in one battle.

The refugees said that the fighting was a result of Khmer Rouge accusations that the North Vietnamese had been pillaging priceless statuary from the temples, which Cambodians consider the symbol of their culture.

The collapse of the cease-fire also brought to an end the unique private arrangement under which the French curator of the monuments was permitted to cross into enemy-held territory to carry on preservation work.

On Jan. 20, according to reports that have been confirmed by the Cambodian Government, the North Vietnamese suddenly

expelled the archeologist, Bernard-Philippe Groslier, and his 300 Cambodian workmen. Twenty of the workers were said to have been slain by the North Vietnamese in apparent retaliation for the soldiers killed in the earlier fighting with the Khmer Rouge.

The North Vietnamese also reportedly seized all the curator's working materials and tore down the blue United Nations signs designating the temples as cultural properties to be protected under the 1959 Hague Convention, which provides for the preservation of artisitic treasures during wartime.

The 45-year-old Mr. Groslier, who, like his father before him, has devoted his life to the monuments, is reported to be unhurt and staying in Siemreap, the provincial capital, three miles from the Angkor complex. Siemreap is still held by the Government.

In the last 10 days, however, the North Vietnamese have begun shelling the Siemreap airport and the defense perimeter around the town. Blashes have been reported by the Cambodian command at outposts two miles from the temples.

The Government troops have been under orders to hold their fire unless attacked, but Agence France-Presse reported today that a 6,000-man Cambodian force had begun operations or three sides of the temple complex.

On Wednesday the Cambodian Cabinet reviewed the situation in a special session and decided that despite its desire to avoid damaging the temples, military action might have to be taken. The meeting was reported by the official Cambodian news agency, which noted that the Hague Convention permits an attack on cultural properties in cases of "severe military necessity."

Long Boret, the Cambodian Information Minister, was quoted as explaining that the Cabinet's decision was not a de-

The New York Times/Feb. 12, 1972

cision to retake the temples but more a "warning to the North Vietnamese."

The intensified fighting has stimulated reports in the Cambodian press that the former head of state, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who has been in exile in Peking since his over throw in 1970, was planning to set up a government in the temple complex. The reports are regarded as far-fetched by United States officials.

The greatest danger to the temples in the event of full-scale fighting would come from artillery and air bombardment. The American fighter pilots who periodically provide close air support for Cambodian troops are under standing instructions to avoid the temple area.

INTENSE BOMBING
CONTINUED BY U.S.
IN SOUTH VIETNAM

One of Heaviest Campaigns
of War Seeks to Avert
Any Tet Offensive

TROOPS ON 'GRAY ALERT'

But Enemy Attacks Decline
Throughout the Country
for 3d Day in Row

By CRAIG R. WHITNEY

Special to The New York Times

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Monday, Feb. 14—One of the heaviest American bombing campaigns of the war was concentrated over the weekend on base areas and infiltration trails west of the Central Highlands city of Kontum. Enemy attacks throughout South Vietnam declined yesterday for the third consecutive day.

The United States command announced that B-52 bombers flew 19 missions in the 24 hours ending yesterday at noon, the largest number for a 24-hour period since it began keeping such records in June, 1968.

Seventeen more B-52 missions were flown between noon yesterday and 6 A.M. Saigon time today, the command announced.

All but two of the missions flown in the 24 hours before noon yesterday were in Kontum Province. The missions usually consist of three B-52's

The United States was making secret peace offers to Hanoi as far back as 1965, and new details of these talks have come to light. Article on Page 3.

but some in this period were carried out by single planes.

There also were 162 strikes by Air Force and Navy fighter-bombers. The bombing was

concentrated against what American intelligence officials call North Vietnamese Army. Base Area 609 and surrounding staging areas and infiltration routes. The base area is in the region where South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia come together.

Intelligence reports of an imminent major enemy offensive by elements of three regiments and a North Vietnamese division against Kontum have been

Continued on Page 2, Column 5

U.S. RENEWS RAIDS
AFTER CEASE-FIRE

Heavy Attacks Are Designed
to Thwart an Offensive

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Feb. 15 (AP)—United States B-52 bombers resumed their attacks in South Vietnam today shortly after the end of a 24-hour allied cease-fire for Tet, the Lunar New Year.

According to the United States command, the Intensive air campaign, which went into its seventh day, is designed to thwart enemy buildups and prevent ground offensives that could endanger withdrawing American troops.

The strikes also appear designed to ease the task of the South Vietnamese Army which has neither the resources nor

The New York Times/Feb. 16, 1972

Bombing was resumed in
Central Highlands area
(cross) and in frontier
regions to the north.

the manpower to search out
enemy forces in the jungled
areas of the borders with Laos
and Cambodia.

The United States Command refused to confirm or deny that B-52 bombers recently ordered to Guam from the United States were flying missions over South Vietnam. It said only that air operations "could include B-52's from Guam."

It was reported elsewhere,
however, that B-52's began fly-
ing missions from Guam yester-
dav.

The 24-hour cease-fire proclaimed by South Vietnam and the United States ended at 6 P.M. today, Saigon time, (5 A.M., New York time). It coincided with part of the four-day truce announced by the Communists, beginning at 1 A.M. yesterday and ending at 1 A.M. Friday.

The allies refused to partici-
pate in the enemy's 96-hour
truce on the ground that enemy
troops would use the period to
move in men and supplies for
an attack on South Vietnam.

The United States and South
Vietnamese commands charged
that enemy forces had violated
the allies' 24-hour truce 33
times. These were small attacks
and all but two were aimed at
South Vietnamese positions.

Some Casualties Reported

Eighteen of the violations, the commands asserted, resulted in casualties. Eight South Vietnamese were reported killed and 21 wounded. Total enemy losses in the period were not reported.

The two incidents aimed at
American troops did not cause
any casualties, the command
said, but one enemy soldier
was reported killed.

The United States Command,
meanwhile, announced a reduc-
tion of 4,580 troops in South
Vietnam, the largest since No-
vember. It involves 50 Army
units and two Air Force squad-
rons.

The Army units are small
support companies and detach-
ments, while the Air Force
squadrons are a transport unit
and a psychological warfare
unit.

The command's latest report
lists 131,200 Americans in
South Vietnam. President Nixon
has ordered the total cut to
69,000 by May 1.

Angkor Clashes Said to Grow

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Feb. 15 (Agence France-Presse) — Clashes between Cambodian and enemy troops near the ancient temple complex of Angkor have grown in violence and frequency in the last two days, informed sources said today.

A 4,000-strong enemy force dug into heavily wooded areas west and south of the perimeter wall surrounding the Buddhist shrines are holding off Government units based in the town of Seim Riep, they said.

So far, neither side has used
heavy weapons and clashes
have been confined to auto-
matic gunfire, the sources said,
but fears for the safety of the
temples are growing daily.

Laotian Setback Reported

VIENTIANE, Laos, Feb. 15 (Agence France-Presse) — Two battalions of Government troops attacking enemy positions around the town of Pakse in southern Laos have been forced to retreat after a counteroffensive, a military source said here today.

On Saturday, the Govern-
ment forces recaptured a post
at Ban Nhik, miles east of
Pakse, but they had to retreat
after only a few hours.

# War Among the Ruins

Cambodian Government forces have launched operations outside the ancient ruins of Angkor, apparently intent on trying to drive out Communist troops who have occupied that treasured national symbol since June 1970.

Official sources in Pnompenh have placed blame on the Communists for the breakdown in a twenty-month truce which has largely spared Angkor from the ravages of the spreading Indochina conflict. They report that there has been fighting inside the ruins between North Vietnamese troops and Cambodian Communists over the alleged theft of priceless statuary by the Vietnamese; that a French archeologist who had been permitted to carry on his efforts to preserve the crumbling temples at Angkor has been abruptly ousted, his material seized and some of his workers killed; that Communist forces have shelled nearby Government positions from sanctuaries inside the temple area.

If accurately reported, these events are deplorable. But they do not justify a military counter-offensive against Angkor that could severely damage or even destroy large sections of this priceless Cambodian heritage. After a series of defeats, the Lon Nol Government may be tempted to seek a desperately needed military victory at Angkor where the Communist garrison has recently been sharply reduced to provide troops for other fronts. But victory won't come cheap for the regime—or for the world—if in the fighting one of man's greatest monuments is destroyed.

U.S. SAYS PLANES
HIT TWO CONVOYS

Heavy Air-Raids Continue
Within South Vietnam

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Feb. 18 (AP) — The United States command reported today that its fighter-bombers smashed at two enemy convoys in the Central Highlands in the course of nearly 150 raids on enemy targets in South Vietnam.

Most of its strikes were
in the northwest quadrant of
the country, ranging from Khe-
sanh near the Laotian border
to the Ashau Valley, a major
enemy staging area about 60
miles to the south.

In the ground war, mean-
while, there was a slight in-
crease in the number of clashes
around the country after the
Vietcong's 96-hour cease-fire
for Tet, the Lunar New Year,
expired at 1 A.M.

While the intensified air
campaign continued, the United
States aircraft carrier Coral
Sea was pulled off station off
the Vietnamese coast for what
was described as an overdue
port leave. Her departure left
the carriers Constellation and

The New York Times/Feb. 19, 1972

Enemy convoys near Kon-
tum (1) were among tar-
gets of U.S. jets. Laotian
drive was reported near
Plaine des Jarres (2). A
temple was seized in
the Angkor complex (3).

Hancock in the area to par-
ticipate in the air campaign.

Military sources said they
did not believe the absence of
the Coral Sea would reduce the
number of air strikes signifi-
cantly.

148 Strikes Reported

The United States command
said Air Force and Navy fight-
er-bombers flew 138 strikes and
B-52's 10 in South Vietnam
yesterday and early today.

In the Central Highlands, ac-
cording to military spokesmen,
United States planes destroyed
10 enemy trucks, 30 supply car-
rying bicycles and other equip-
ment in their attacks on the
enemy convoys. The attacks
came west of Kontum, just in-
side the border with Cambodia
and Laos.

The United States command,
which had announced the loss
of three planes in 29 hours of
attacks on North Vietnam end-
ed yesterday, issued a delayed
report on four other aircraft
losses during the period from
Feb. 4 through yesterday.

An Air Force spotter plane
was reported downed yesterday
in Cambodia about 30 miles
north of Prompenh. The three
other losses were attributed to
operational causes and not to
enemy action.

Offensive in Laos

VIETIANE, Laos, Feb. 18
(UPI) — Laotian Government
troops, with United States air
support, have launched an of-
fensive in Northern Loas against
forces occupying the Plaine des
Jarres, the acting Defense Min-
ister, Prince Sisuok Na Cham-
passack, announced today.

He said at a news conference
that the operation started a
week ago and was aimed at
slowing the enemy offensive
against the Government's key
defense base of Long Tieng in
north-central Laos about 80
miles northeast of Vientiane.

The plain has been occupied
by enemy forces since
December.

Angkor Gain Reported

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Feb.
18 (Agence France-Presse) —
Cambodian troops were re-
ported today to have captured
a temple in the western sector
of the Angkor complex follow-
ing 48 hours of bitter fighting.

The Government troops were
said to have taken the Neam
Rup Temple, beside the Bayon
Temple on the Angkor Thom
site.

Cambodians Report
Sharp Fight in Area
Of Angkor Temples

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Tuesday, Feb. 22 (UPI)—Fierce day-long fighting erupted within three miles of Angkor yesterday and Cambodian troops seized an important trench line during heavy hand-to-hand combat, the Cambodian command said today.

The command's spokesman, Maj. Chhang Song, said the battle cost the Government 11 killed and 37 wounded. He said enemy casualties were not known.

The temple fighting, 150 miles northwest of Pnompenh, was the sharpest since elements of six Government brigades started to encircle the temple complex Jan. 29.

Simultaneous heavy attacks were reported against four positions just south of the isolated northern province capital of Kompong Thom.

The command said that the fighting in both areas flared before dawn and that it was still going on at dusk.

Some 75-mm. recoilless-rifle fire hit Kompong Thom, some 75 miles north of Pnompenh, and the city was cut off to all but air resupply units.

The Communists have held the historic monuments since June, 1970.

The Government operational commander, Maj. Gen. Sar Hor, said, "We are not attacking Angkor." We are here to pre-empt anything the Communists want to do." Cambodian T-28 bombers were said to have been called in to strafe suspected enemy mortar positions.

## Enemy Raids In S. Vietnam Kill Nineteen

From News Dispatches

SAIGON, Feb. 23—Commun- it-and-run variety, and about tacks against government troops across South Vietnam and shelled the big U.S. Army Support Command in the cen- tral coastal city of Quinhon, wounding four Americans, military authorities reported today.

Most of the attacks ap- peared to be of the small-scale hit-and-run variety, and about half of them were by rockets and mortars without direct contract. This has been the pat- tern since the latest surge of enemy activity began last Sat- urday.

Incomplete reports said 19 South Vietnamese were killed and 76 wounded in the 24-hour reporting period ending at 6 a.m. today. The Saigon com- mand claimed 158 North Viet- namese and Viet Cong killed in scattered fighting.

Air Force 4-F Phantoms bombed antiaircraft sites in- side North Vietnam in the 63d "protection reaction" strike over the border this year.

In Cambodia, Communist- led troops in motorboats were caught in the open in the Bas- sac River, a favorite supply route into South Vietnam, and his by government airstrikes, the Pnom Penh military command said. Seventeen of the enemy were reported killed.

North Vietnamese forces lost 23 killed in an attack on a government position at Phou Sa, Laos, 18 miles north of the royal Laotian capital of Luang Prabang, the government re- ported.

### Miners Rescued

OVIEDO, Spain, Feb. 23— Twenty-seven miners buried under a rockside in a pit here were rescued yesterday un- hurt. Rescue workers dug through the rock and into the afternoon to free the men, some of whom had been miss- ing for more than 24 hours.

FEB 24 1972

W.P.