S. Vietnamese
Launch Drive
In Cambodia

SAIGON, Feb. 28 (AP)—
South Vietnamese forces
launched a third operation
into Cambodia yesterday amid
another surge in fighting that
killed or wounded nearly 200
enemy and South Vietnamese
troops, the Saigon command
announced today.

A communique claimed 136
North Vietnamese and Viet-
cong killed in nine engage-
ments, while South Vietnam-
ese casualties were 20 killed
and 37 wounded.

The new operation into
Cambodia was about 130 miles
northeast of Saigon. Spokesmen
described the operation as a "re-
connaissance in force" by
1,000 to 1,500 men to check in-
filtration into South Vietnam.
Six enemy had been reported
killed so far, and there have
been no South Vietnamese
casualties, the Saigon com-
mand said.

Two other operations total-
ing 5,000 men are under way
in Cambodia 150 and 225 miles
farther south, aimed at block-
ing infiltration toward Saigon
and into the western
ekong Delta.

One of them produced the
first major fighting inside
Cambodia in several weeks,
north of the Saigon-Phnom
Penh highway, when a South
Vietnamese task force ran into
heavy enemy fire. Fifty-two
North Vietnamese and Viet-
cong were reported killed in
the clash 12 miles from the
Vietnam border, along with 16
South Vietnamese killed and
nine wounded.

U.S. fighter-bombers and
helicopter gunships supported
the South Vietnamese.

In the northern part of the
country, government forces
claimed 52. North Vietnamese
and Vietcong killed in three
engagements south of Hue and
Danang. They said one South
Vietnamese was killed and 14
where wounded.

Strike

##ard Nixon

There in the lovely resort city of Shanghai, immortalized by Marco Polo, is apparently spellbound by the misty mountains that might be the subject of an early Ming

cent was so touched that, point-blank to Premier Chou En-lai, he looks like a postcard." Chou En-lai, blankly, perhaps having already postcards. By Sunday it was, where Chou toured the President an exhibition of assorted art merchandise. The products included grinding machines, spinners and other industrial

 apparatus. The President, however, was not soophilic of ivory. Like a pinning the Lord's Prayer, it was a verse by Mao Tse-tung entitled "The Plum Blossom." Mr. Nixon, object through a magnifying glass: "art is my weakness."

TO do more sightseeing than Mrs. Nixon gamely visited farms, the Peking zoo, where she air of panda bears with a here". Hugh Sidey of Life magazine her statement, which was disingenuous by the White House. Mrs. Nixon went to see the Peking Hotel, and the sights

she saw. Mrs. Nixon went to see the Peking Hotel, and the sights uplifted her to new ambitions. Did the President returned to the White House to tell the newsmen with her, have a reunion at the White House, the new China hands. "I'll do and we'll have Chinese food."

home aboard the President's Nixon said that the trip to Shanghai given her "wonderful things had been especially en-Chou En-lai. "He's a real man" said. "He's a man who knows, has a delightful sense of some fun moments".

Washington Post

L. GRAHAM, 1915-1963

# Saigon Reports Another Thrust In Cambodia to Block Infiltration

The New York Times/Feb. 29, 1972

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Feb. 28 (AP)—The South Vietnamese command announced today the beginning of its third thrust into Cambodia this month to block the infiltration of enemy soldiers into South Vietnam.

Nearly 1,500 infantry, ranger, militia and armored troops began yesterday what the command described as a reconnaissance in force in an area 130 miles northeast of Saigon.

Six enemy soldiers have been reported killed so far, the command said, and there have been no South Vietnamese casualties.

The two other drives, involving a total of 5,000 men, were under way farther south. One was begun Feb. 1 west of here, the other last Thursday from the southwestern corner of South Vietnam.

The South Vietnamese command reported nine battles with the enemy yesterday in eastern Cambodia and in South Vietnam.

## Losses Listed

In one, described as the heaviest reported inside Cambodia in weeks, 53 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers were said to have been killed seven miles northeast of Svayrieng, in the Parrot's Beak section. Sixteen South Vietnamese soldiers were reported killed and nine wounded in the fight, which began when a South Vietnamese task force, led by an armored column, ran into heavy enemy fire.

The South Vietnamese command said that the nine battles had cost the enemy a total of 136 soldiers killed, while South Vietnamese forces lost 20 killed and 37 wounded.

Meanwhile, units of the United States First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) reported two clashes with enemy soldiers only 30 miles northeast of here. Nine enemy soldiers were reported killed, and the Americans were said to have suffered no casualties.

The United States command

reported that North Vietnamese antiaircraft fired three missiles at an Air Force F-4 fighter-bomber in southern Laos as the planes were flying missions against the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The planes, which were not hit, did not fire back, a spokesman added, because the launching site was not spotted.

Two Americans were reported wounded when their Army OH-6 helicopter was shot down on a reconnaissance mission 21 miles northwest of Saigon.

In another development, the United States command reported that American troop strength in South Vietnam dropped by 3,000 last week, to 124,100. President Nixon has ordered the troop strength cut to 69,000 by May 1.

## 5 Killed, Cambodia Says

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Feb. 28 (AP) — The Cambodian command reported today that five soldiers were killed and 17 wounded in renewed fighting on an island in the Mekong River about 80 miles northeast of Pnompenh, the capital.

GIRL, 18, RECOUNTS
ULSTER KILLINGS

Tells Londonderry Inquiry
2 Slain Were Innocent

Special to The New York Times

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, Feb. 28 — A teen-age girl testified today at the inquiry into last month's Londonderry killings that an innocent youth had died in her arms and that a man near her had been shot dead while waving a white handkerchief.

The girl, Geraldine Richmond, 18 years old, said that at the time she was in a crowd fleeing from armored cars. She was testifying at the sixth day of an inquiry at Coleraine by Lord Widgery, the Lord Chief Justice of England, into the killing of 13 persons by British soldiers in Londonderry on Jan. 31.

Opened Fire Immediately

Miss Richmond said that soldiers had jumped from the armored cars and immediately opened fire, hitting Hugh Gilmore, who was running beside her. She managed to help the youth over a barricade and he collapsed in her arms, she said.

"I open his shirt and he had a small entrance wound and a large exit wound," she said. "He died with his head in my lap." Beside her, Miss Richmond said, was Barney McGuigan.

Intent on helping the Gilmore youth, she said, Mr. McGuigan stood up and waved a white handkerchief.

"He took four paces out and he got shot," she said. "He just turned and was shot in the head. He died, before he fell to the ground."

Nailbomb Possession Denied

In other testimony, witnesses rejected an army claim that one of those killed, Gerald Donaghy, had had nail bombs in his pockets.

Hugh Young, a passenger in

Associated Press

troopers carrying the coffin
one of seven persons killed
in Aldershot. Two Irish con-
case. Police said a nation-
be connected with the case.

ies on Ulster

tion of the Catholic minority,
not religious persecution.

The Nixon Administration's
view is scheduled to be pre-
sented tomorrow by Martin J.
Hillenbrand the Assistant So-

Saigon Force Opens Campaign in Eastern Cambodia

The New York Times/March 11, 1972

South Vietnamese drive is indicated by arrow.

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Saturday, March 11 (AP)—A South Vietnamese armored force of about 5,000 troops and 100 vehicles swept into eastern Cambodia yesterday in an attempt to prevent enemy attacks on the approaches to Saigon. It was the first major drive into eastern Cambodia since Nov. 22.

An adviser to the South Vietnamese troops said: “We’re going to destroy any bases found in the area of our advance. This is an operation designed to pre-empt the enemy attacks. Instead of waiting for them to attack, we are attacking.”

Reports from the field say that the size of the force could increase to 20,000 men by next week as the offensive developed.

No major contact with the

enemy has yet been reported in the drive, which is north of the Saigon-to-Pnompenh highway, 6 to 10 miles inside

Cambodia and 75 to 100 miles northwest of Saigon.

The South Vietnamese command reported a major clash in a smaller drive that has been under way 25 miles farther southwest since Feb. 1.

The command said that 35 enemy soldiers were killed with the help of air and artillery strikes. South Vietnamese losses were given as two killed and eight wounded.

The only American role in the new South Vietnamese drive is air support with B-52 bombers and tactical fighter-bombers, United States advisers reported. The B-52 raids were said to have prepared the way for the new offensive, west of Tayninh, a provincial capital.

In ground action reportedly involving American soldiers, a reconnaissance patrol from the Third Brigade, First Cavalry Division, fought briefly with enemy forces 32 miles north-east of Saigon. The United States command said that one American was wounded and that enemy losses were unknown.

In the air war, the United States command today reported three more “protective reaction” strikes inside North Vietnam. The raids were made Thursday, yesterday and early today by Navy and Air Force jets.

Today was 11th straight day of attacks on antiaircraft, missile and radar sites in the north. This was greatest number of consecutive days of such strikes since the 1968 bombing halt. None of the United States planes was damaged and the results of the retaliatory attacks were not known.

The South Vietnamese command said that 23 enemy soldiers were killed in an am-bush followed by artillery strikes a mile northwest of the base at Benhet in the Central Highlands.

A source in the field said that the enemy soldiers that were killed had been from the 52nd Regiment of North Vietnam's 320th Division. He said that this indicated the enemy had moved elements of another regiment into the Central Highlands.