# Saigon Force Moves Into Position Near Blocked Highway in Cambodia

From News Dispatches

SAIGON, Jan. 11—South Vietnamese forces today moved into position to join Cambodian troops who have been blocked for nearly a month in an effort to clear Highway 4, Cambodia's lifeline to the oil refinery port of Kompong Som.

A Reuter report said that advance parties of a South Vietnamese task force had landed at Kompong Som, formerly Sihanoukville, which is about 130 miles south of the capital, Phnom Penh.

UPI said that a South Vietnamese advance force of about 400 soldiers and engineers had moved south along Highway 4 to where the Cambodian troops are stalled.

Another South Vietnamese force of about 2,000 troops, was operating in the Parrot's Beak area of Cambodia, about 10 miles from the border with Vietnam, in an effort to clear Highway 1, which links Phnom Penh and Saigon.

In South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military headquarters reported brisk fighting in Tayninh Province, 58 miles northwest of Saigon and close to the Cambodian border, where South Vietnamese paratroopers reported killing 20 North Vietnamese. Losses to the Saigon forces were reported at 10 paratroopers killed and seven wounded.

The U.S. Military Command today reported that 51 Americans were killed or wounded last week by booby traps and blamed the increase on carelessness as the war moved to a halt.

The command also reported two Americans killed today when a U.S. Army helicopter was shot down by enemy ground fire in the central highlands. In addition, six U.S.

soldiers were wounded in a five-minute clash, in the central highlands, near Ankhe.

Meanwhile, military spokesman said that the number of uniformed Americans in Vietnam had dropped 3,300 during the first week of 1971, to a total of 332,500 by Jan. 7.

An American economist said that retail prices in South Vietnam had increased by just under 30 per cent last year, a promising cut in the inflation rate. The economist, Charles Cooper, chief economist at the U.S. Mission in Saigon, said that inflation had run at about 40 per cent for much of the year, until the partial devaluation and other economic re-

forms introduced in early October.

## Cambodian Troops Training in Indonesia

DJAKARTA, Jan. 11 (AP)—Cambodian soldiers are undergoing training in Indonesia but their number is a military secret, Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik said today.

Informed sources said U.S. military advisers also were in the area giving training in the use of the M-16 rifle, but it could not be immediately confirmed if the Americans were helping with the Cambodian training.

ments were reported today
moving southward along Route
4 from Pnompenh and north-
ward up the same road from
Kompong Som, Cambodia's only
deepwater seaport and site of
an oil refinery.

The objective is to try to
dislodge the Communist
forces that have been en-
trenched for several weeks in
the area of the Kirirom Plateau
and the Pich Nil Pass, 60 miles
southwest of here. Because
the road has been blocked by
the enemy, the Government
has had to ration gasoline and
electricity.

A column of more than 1,000
South Vietnamese troops,
backed by heavy equipment
and artillery, was said to have
moved south out of Pnompenh
to join the Cambodian troops
that have been stalled near the
Pich Nil Pass. The South Viet-
namese task force included
186 trucks.

The South Vietnamese were
said to be fanning out on either
side of the highway, a tactic
that Cambodian units report-
edly have not tried in their
two-month campaign to open
the road.

Also today, a Cambodian
column of several thousand
men was reported to have
moved northward from posi-
tions near Kompong Som.

Allies in Cambodia Push
Drive to Reopen Key Road

31 of Foe Reported Killed

By The Associated Press

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Thursday, Jan. 14—More than 13,000 South Vietnamese and Cambodian troops pushed forward today in a drive to reopen Highway 4, Pnompenh's only route to the sea, the South Vietnamese headquarters announced.

In the first significant clash reported on the new drive, South Vietnamese armored and ranger units killed 31 of the enemy in fighting south of Stung Chhay in the Elephant Mountains, a military spokesman said. He said there had been no South Vietnamese casualties in the encounter.

Highway 4 runs from Pnompenh, the Cambodian capital, 115 miles southwest to Kompong Som, the nation's only deep-water port. The road has reportedly been cut for two months by North Vietnamese troops who control two passes through the Elephant Mountains, at Pich Nol, 60 miles southwest of Pnompenh, and at Stung Chhay, 25 miles farther south.

The South Vietnamese troops

Continued on Page 13, Column 1

A Cambodian spokesman reported that Cambodian and North Vietnamese troops had clashed in Trapeang Kea, south of Sting Chhay, and that one Cambodian had been wounded. The Cambodian command said that the North Vietnamese had dragged away several dead and wounded after the engagement.

The Saigon military headquarters said that 5,300 South Vietnamese marines, rangers, engineers, armored cavalrymen and artillerymen were taking part in the offensive, along with four Cambodian regiments thought to total 8,000 men.

South Vietnamese planes were backing the task force. Asked about United States Air Force participation, an American spokesman said: "We are continuing to fly normal interdiction missions in Cambodia. We don't discuss specific missions."

The South Vietnamese Vice President, Nguyen Cao Ky, flew to Pnompenh today to confer with the Cambodian Premier, Lieut. Gen. Lon Nol, about the operation, and visited South Vietnamese forward elements in the drive.

In South Vietnam, only small skirmishes were reported. The United States command said that one American had been killed and five wounded by a booby trap, and that two Americans had been wounded in an ambush of a truck convoy in the northernmost part of the country.

# U.S. Terms Cambodia Airlift Possible

By TAD SZULC

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14 —

The United States left open the possibility today that it might provide logistic and airlift support for the South Vietnamese forces in Cambodia if required by the deteriorating military situation there.

The Defense Department spokesman, Jerry W. Friedheim, said, at a news briefing that Secretary of Defense, Melvin R. Laird "has not foreclosed and will not foreclose the possibility of logistic support for troops seeking to prevent the re-establishment of enemy sanctuaries in Cambodia."

Mr. Friedheim also said he could not foreclose the possibility of a major United States airlift to Pnompenh, the Cambodian capital, although no such operation is under way "at the moment."

He refused to discuss a report in The New York Times today that Mr. Laird had rejected a recent request by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that United States planes and helicopters be permitted to ferry ammunition and South Vietnamese reinforcements for units operating deep in Cambodia.

## Possibility Held Open

The thrust of Mr. Friedheim's remarks appeared, therefore, to hold open the possibility of such American support for the South Vietnamese in Cambodia in the future in the event of emergencies.

Other Administration officials said that the "option" of assisting the South Vietnamese in Cambodia had always existed. It was the first time the possibility had been publicly discussed by a Government spokesman, however.

Mr. Friedheim and other spokesmen insisted that there were no plans to commit American ground troops or advisers to Cambodia under any circumstances. Such action is barred by law.

The briefing followed reports that Cambodian and South Vietnamese forces were facing difficulties in coping with increased Communist activity.

Intelligence sources said the bulk of North Vietnamese troops infiltrating south over

the mountain trails were flowing into Cambodia. Concern with that infiltration led to strikes in Cambodia by United States B-52 bombers for the first time since the allied incursions against the Cambodian sanctuaries last spring.

In the view of some officials here, the Communists, for all practical purposes, have established new sanctuaries in northeastern Cambodia below the Laotian border. They said that about two divisions of North Vietnamese that operated in the Fishhook sanctuary area last spring have moved into the new sanctuaries.

Officials said that the possibility of an American airlift to Pnompenh could be related to growing fuel shortages. Highway 4, the only link to the sea, is controlled by the Communists and barges carrying fuel from Saigon on the Mekong River have been sunk.

Mr. Friedheim noted that United States aircraft had flown supplies to Pnompenh under the military assistance program.

Cambodia's airlift capacity is extremely limited. A small privately owned airline, the Cambodian Transport Service, was organized last November to fly internal routes.

South Vietnamese Report
Taking Pass in Cambodia

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Jan. 16 (AP)—The South Vietnamese command said today that a Government armored force had dislodged enemy troops from a key mountain pass on Route 4 in Cambodia and was pushing on north.

Stung Chhay Pass, 95 miles southwest of Pnompenh, was captured after two days of fighting and at last report armored units had advanced about two miles farther north, the headquarters said.

The northward South Vietnamese drive is intended to link up with a southbound Cambodian force, backed by a brigade of South Vietnamese

The New York Times Jan. 17, 1971

marines, moving toward Pich Nil Pass, 60 miles southwest of Pnompenh. A report from Cambodia said this force was two miles from the pass.

Such a link-up would break a nearly two-month enemy blockade of Cambodia's most important supply route.

Until the enemy seized the two passes on Nov. 21, most of Cambodia's fuel and many of her other imports were transported on the 115-mile route from Kompong Som on the Gulf of Siam to Pnom Penh, the capital.

## Foe's Strength Put at 13,000

The offensive to reopen Route 4 was begun Wednesday by a combined South Vietnamese and Cambodian force of more than 13,000 men.

Reports from the Chung Chhay sector said that the South Vietnamese were moving ahead cautiously in the jungle on both sides of Route 4 and had lost several armored cars in the fighting. Field commanders estimated enemy strength at three North Vietnamese battalions and a battalion of Khmer Rouge soldiers, the Cambodian rebels. This would make a combined force of 1,000 to 1,500 men.

Headquarters here said 72 North Vietnamese had been killed in the fighting for Stung Chhay and put South Vietnamese losses as five killed and 30 wounded.

A military spokesman said South Vietnamese troops deployed on both sides of the pass to secure it while other troops advanced about two miles beyond it.

## May Occupy the Pass

The spokesman said some South Vietnamese troops might be left at the pass to prevent North Vietnamese from moving back.

In South Vietnam, fighting

one of the white men who pressed for yesterday's OEO action.

Later this month the administration must decide whether to override Gov. Ronald Reagan's veto of the OEO's decision to renew the California Natural Legal Assistance project, which has won major victories against the state administration in the poverty law field.

## Probe Set on Coeds' Use of Police Cars

WILLIAMTIC, Conn., Jan. 16 (UPI)—Mayor Alfred H. Novel says a full investigation will be made into reports that policemen dating college coeds were letting the girls drive police cruisers during midnight meetings.

The Hartford Courant reported Friday that coeds at Eastern Connecticut State College dating policemen drove

By Peter Osnos

Washington Post Foreign

ALONG HIGHWAY 4, Cambodia, Jan. 16, 1971—If not for her soft pretty face and the yellow scarf around her neck, it would have been impossible to tell that 18-year-old Sog Ghenda was a girl.

She was standing in the midday shadow of the World War II vintage tank she served as radio operator. Her hair was tucked beneath a helmet and her tiny body was covered in oversized fatigues.

It was less than 500 yards to the front line of the Cambodian army's slow push down Highway 4, the road to Kompong Som, which has been cut by the Communists since late November.

Reopening the 120-mile American-built highway has become the momentary focus of the Cambodian war. Without it, Phnom Penh faces an

Men Service

increasingly critical fuel
shortage.

"I volunteered for this
battle because I love my
country," Sog Ghenda said,
"I am not afraid and I will
fight until I get killed." Her
fellow soldiers, some older,
some clearly children, gath-
ered around and nodded ap-
provingly at what she was-
saying

The will to win at the mo-
ment appears to be the
strongest weapon the Cam-
bodians have.

UPI reported that one of
its correspondents accompa-
nying Cambodian forces in
the drive overheard them
Saturday calling in U.S.
Phantom F-4 jets to drop na-
palm in the Pich Nil Pass,
one of the two key Commu-
nist-held objectives in the
Highway 4 offensive.

See CAMBODIA, A18, Col. 1

1

consideration
newly available appropria-
tions.

Terry Lenzner, who was

told as legal services director
after a series of disputes with
former director Donald Rums-
feld, charged in November
that political interference held
up approval for the project
last June. He said the delay
was ordered to give opponents
in Jackson a chance to pre-
pare a competing application
for a watered-down program
channeled through the white-
l dominated local bar associa-
tion.

Carlucci announced he fa-
vor ed a program that has op-
erated in Jackson for nine
months under private founda-
tion grants over "other pros-
als" because of its broadly rep-
resentative and b a l a n ced
board of directors, its success-
ful start and its superior
method of utilizing lawyers.

The only serious competing
proposal was the belated ap-

Pass Reported Taken

PNOMPENH, Cambodia, Mon-
day, Jan. 18 (Reuters) — The
Cambodian command said to-
day that Government troops
had reached and retaken the
crucial Pich Nil Pass on High-
way 4, Pnompenh's only route
to the sea.

"The most difficult section on Highway 4 has been retaken and our troops are pushing down toward Stung Chhay on the other side of the pass," a spokesman said.

The spokesman said he did
not know whether the Cam-
bodian flag had been planted
on the heights overlooking the
road at Pich Nil, 62 miles
southwest of Pnompenh.

It appeared from sketchy re-
ports here that the forward
troops of two Cambodian regi-
ments were through the pass,
and the column accompanying
the forces was in the pass it-
self.

The spokesman said he
thought the road was open. He
said there had been no resist-
ance by North Vietnamese
troops who held the pass.

called in the first air strike after clashing briefly with the enemy at the entrance to Pich Nil Pass, 60 miles southwest of Pnompenh.

Five Cambodians were reported wounded before three Cobra gunships arrived to strafe enemy positions with fragmentation rockets, cannon and rapid-firing miniguns.

Futile Cambodia P.O.W. Raid Reported

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Jan. 19 (AP)—Three hundred South Vietnamese paratroopers, airlifted by helicopter, raided a camp just inside Cambodia where 20 Americans were believed held but found it empty, informed sources reported today.

The raid, carried out last Sunday with American helicopter gunships flying as escorts, reportedly resulted, however, in the capture of 30 enemy soldiers. The raiding party was led by Lieut. Gen. Do Cao Tri, who directed South Vietnam's campaign against enemy sanctuaries in Cambodia last spring.

"It worked perfectly," one officer said of the three hour raid. "We suffered no casualties."

The raid was said to have been based on intelligence reports that American prisoners were being held in an area west of the Cambodian town of Mimot along Route 7. Mimot is 75 miles northwest of Saigon and about five miles inside Cambodia.

The informants said American ground advisers had accompanied the paratroops to the border.

General Tri, who commands the Third Military Zone around Saigon, landed with the raiding party, which was transported by a fleet of South Vietnamese helicopters.

### Sontay Raid is Recalled

The operation recalled the unsuccessful raid Nov. 21 by helicopter-borne American commandos on the Sontay prisoner-of-war camp 20 miles west of Hanoi in North Vietnam. Highly trained soldiers made both raids.

In both cases, they found no American prisoners, but the operations were carried off with precision.

From time to time, there have been intelligence reports that Americans captured in South Vietnam were being held in border camps in Cambodia. The number is not believed to be large.

The informants would not say whether the camp in Cambodia has been in use recently.

The raid was part of a 6,000-man operation by South Viet-

namese paratroops, rangers and armor under General Tri's command in a wide area in South Vietnam's Tayninh Province and across the border to Mimot.

The operation is aimed at cleaning up the area. Recent sharp fighting in the region indicates that North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops have returned and are trying to re-establish the sanctuaries on the Cambodian side raided by the allies in May and June.

Copters Shift Vietnamese
In Fight for Cambodia Pass

By Peter A. Jay

Washington Post Foreign Service

NEAR PICH NIL PASS, Cambodia, Jan. 19—Thirty helicopters, descending virtually nose-to-tail in a tight formation, dropped down along highway 4 just north of here this afternoon to rendezvous with two battalions of waiting South Vietnamese Marines.

The marines had come out of the wooded hills surrounding

Communist—held Kirirom, and the helicopters—three squadrons flown over this morning from South Vietnamese bases in the Mekong Delta — were to airlift them to another spot as part of a continuing operation to open the key Pich Nil Pass.

Nearly 14,000 South Vietnamese and Cambodian troops are now engaged here in an effort to free the pass and open

Highway 4, Phnom Penh's main link to the sea. Pich Nil was taken by the communists in November, and field commanders now estimate that it is held by only 500 troops.

The difficult terrain makes clearing operations difficult, and the Cambodians have been advancing very slowly while the pass is pounded with artillery and air strikes.

See CAMBODIA, A3, Col. 1

* In Bennettsville, S.C., charges were filed against a third person in connection with an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap this town's wealthy citizens and hold them for ransom. Donald Calhoun, 17, was charged as an accessory before the fact with kidnaping, assault and battery, burglary and robbery.

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Peterson joined Bell & Howell, the photo-equipment company that Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.) formerly headed, in 1958. He is a director of the First National Bank of Chicago and is a trustee of the Brookings Institution, the University of Chicago and National Educational Television.

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Saigon Force Shifted
By Air in Cambodia

CAMBODIA, From A1

On Friday the Cambodians had reached kilometer post 97 on the road south from Phnom Penh. Despite a communique yesterday that indicated they had taken Pich Nil, which is at kilometer 103, they were still about a mile and a third short of the pass today.

At midafternoon there had been little sign of enemy firing for several hours, and Cambodian troops sat in the shade beside the road and watched gunners fire mortars and artillery shells into the pass.

At one point, large Chinook helicopters passed overhead carrying equipments lung beneath their bellies, apparently bound for South Vietnamese troops who are advancing on the other side of the pass from the South.

Vietnamese officers, asked if the helicopters were American or Vietnamese, smiled and said they did not know. But most of the helicopters involved in the operation and visible to reporters on the highway near the pass were unquestionably Vietnamese.

"We like flying over here," said one Vietnamese pilot, lounging under his Huey while waiting for a chance to refuel. "It gives us confidence, you know."

Another pilot, whose hesitant English carried more than a trace of an American southern accent, said he hadn't enjoyed himself so much since he finished flight training at Fort Rucker, Ala.

Field commanders in charge

of the Highway 4 operation now say they expected to have the road open in a few days.

In Phnom Penh, the blockade of the road appears to have created few more inconveniences than it had a month ago. The market is well-supplied with food, prices have not risen sharply and automotive fuel is in no shorter supply than before as some new stocks recently arrived by ship up the Mekong River.

Reporters at the scene said that American Cobra helicopter gunships and fighter-bombers flew air strikes over the pass through the day. Their targets, however, were obscured by thick jungle.

The Cambodian units at the pass, reports from the scene said, appeared to be waiting for South Vietnamese forces to move up from the other end.

Periodically, Cambodian tanks and jeeps with machine guns could be seen moving up to a forward position to fire into the jungled slopes of the surrounding Elephant Mountains. Their fire was not returned.

The Cambodian command reported that its troops had captured a chalet on Route 4 at the entrance to the pass. The chalet once belonged to Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was ousted as Cambodia's Chief of State last March 18.

## Were Reserve in North

The South Vietnamese troops that were airlifted today had been the reserve for the 5,000 Cambodian troops at the northern end of Pich Nil.

Four thousand or more other Cambodian troops had been scheduled to assist the South Vietnamese drive up Route 4 from the coast. But they were reported far behind the spearhead and serving as "occupation forces" along parts of the road recaptured by the South Vietnamese, who are said to number 3,500.

The Cambodian command announced late yesterday that these South Vietnamese had reached Kompong Seila and relieved heavy enemy pressure on the 1,000 Cambodians imprisoned there. The camp had been cut off for several weeks and had been under harassing attacks from enemy forces entrenched in the mountains.

So far this week in the allied campaign along Route 4, there have been no major engagements reported in the vicinity of the highway. South Vietnamese forces fought two sharp engagements at the start of the drive last week.

The Cambodian high command reported heavy fighting, however, in the mountainous southeast corner of the country close to the Gulf of Siam and the South Vietnamese border.

By ALVIN SHUSTER

Special to The New York Times.

SAIGON, South Vietnam, Jan. 19—Shortly after American troops went into Cambodia for two months last spring to join South Vietnamese forces in attacking enemy supply bases, President Nixon said at a news conference that “when we come out our logistical support and air support will also come out with them.”

News
Analysis

The South Vietnamese remained and so did the American air support.

The nature of that support, however, remained a mystery—until the last few days. Conscious of the Congressional prohibitions against again introducing of ground troops there, aware that too much of any other kind of support would stir antiwar spirit at home and memories of the early days of Vietnam, the military command engaged in a concentrated effort to prevent the flow of facts about the evolving American role in Cambodia.

A few details trickled out after the South Vietnamese opened their operations last week to clear a vital Cambodian highway. And yesterday the White House acknowledged

to improve their army and welcome home the soldiers shipped to South Vietnam and elsewhere for training.

The South Vietnamese need to keep the enemy bottled up in Cambodia to allow more time to develop their own logistics and air support and generally to strengthen their territorial forces at home.

Americans Want Time

And the Americans want time, too, time enough to withdraw their combat troops from South Vietnam, preferably in substantial numbers this year.

Accordingly, many here make the point that for military reasons the Administration has no choice but to render all permissible aid to the South Vietnamese and Cambodians now trying to reopen the roads to Pnompenh.

The question whether the increased air activity violates the spirit of the Congressional prohibitions is debatable. But the South Vietnamese, some of whom say they are going into Cambodia largely because the Americans want them to, expect as much help as possible, particularly if they run into serious trouble.

One South Vietnamese army officer said this week, for example,

that “We side the country with warplanes pounding the supply routes in Laos daily, striking more frequently at SAM missile sites in North Vietnam and supporting the Laotian forces, the Cambodians and the South Vietnamese.”

The efforts outside Vietnam are all related to security inside it and the nightmare of officials here and in Washington is that catastrophe in Cambodia—strangulation of Pnompenh, a serious defeat for Saigon's troops, a critical need for large number of the South Vietnamese troops—could mean a slowdown in the rate of troop withdrawals after the already announced level of 284,000 men is reached May 1.

"It may be a cold-blooded thing to say," one official remarked today, "but we really do care more about Vietnam and our investment here than we do about Cambodia. It's just that we can't divorce one problem from the other. We've got to hit the trails in Laos because the stuff is heading for Cambodia. We have to hit in Cambodia because of Vietnam."

Reasons for Air Action

Other officials say the broadened air involvement in

tivity next year. He's going to need a calmer Indochina.”

No one is suggesting that the military command here intends to evade the Congressional ban against ground troops in Cambodia. Short of that, however, the American military involvement next door could become even more substantial, particularly if the South Vietnamese get bogged down and beginning taking heavy casualties or in Hanoi makes a basic decision to go all-out there.

Ground Action the Key

The military command, which has been known to twist and turn before to avoid political repercussions from military actions, thinks the prospect of stirring up a storm at home

# U.S. Acknowledges a Rise In Cambodian Air Actions

By HEDRICK SMITH

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 — The White House today acknowledged a recent step-up in the type and intensity of American air operations in Cambodia, but insisted that Administration policy had not changed from the guidelines laid down by President Nixon last summer.

Spokesmen were unable, however, to provide a precise explanation for a photograph showing an American in camouflage uniform racing to a helicopter that had landed near Tanew, not far from heavy fighting along Route 4 in Cambodia. The Associated Press, which distributed the photograph, quoted sources identifying him as an American liaison officer, presumably coordinating logistical support for Cambodian forces.

Newsmen were told by a White House spokesman that President Nixon's prohibitions against American ground combat personnel or advisers for Cambodian forces were still in force.

"There are no United States ground troops or advisers," Ronald L. Ziegler, White House press secretary, said.

## Suggests Embassy

Asked about the photograph, Jerry W. Freidheim, a Defense Department spokesman, suggested that the American in the photograph might be assigned to the American Embassy in Pnompenh, although the State Department took a contrary view.

"I suppose there are some people working for the Embassy around Pnompenh," Mr. Freidheim said in answer to a question. "I don't know where those people are. I have no idea who that individual was. You would have to address the Embassy."

At a later briefing by Robert J. McCloskey, the State Department spokesman, the question of Embassy involvement came up. He said that, so far as he

knew, embassy personnel were "not authorized" to leave Pnompenh and take part in operations by Cambodian and South Vietnamese forces. "To my knowledge," he asserted, "they do not."

Mr. McCloskey conceded that there had been an increase in the American mission in Pnompenh to 95—41 civilians and 54 military personnel. Of that number, he said, 22 are on temporary duty, ranging from one week to six months. Last month the embassy listed 77 on its roster, including temporary personnel. That represented an increase of about 20 since September, officials said.

Mr. McCloskey said the increases were largely a result of the increase on military assistance for Cambodian forces. Twenty of the temporary personnel at the embassy, he said, are members of military equipment delivery teams.

Mr. McCloskey also acknowledged for the first time that American helicopter gunships had been engaged in combat air support for Laotian troops.

"Oh, yes," he said in answer to inquiry. "There's no question about that. That's within the scope of our air operations in Laos." He treated it, however, as no expansion of previous air activities.

Despite the increased activity over Laos and Cambodia, the White House insisted that the United States was not embarking on a "full-time expanded air war over Indochina." Pentagon officials said that compared to two years ago, total American air activities were down nearly 50 per cent.

The Administration backtracked today, however, from an acknowledgment yesterday that American helicopters had been used over the weekend to ferry South Vietnamese troops into combat in Cambodia.

Mr. Freidheim said he had

been wrong in reporting ferrying operations yesterday, but added that they might be conducted in the future "if that becomes necessary."

The determining factor, he said, would be the extent of enemy efforts to reconstitute bases in Cambodia that were raided by American ground troops last June.

Nonetheless, the White House denied reports that the United States was stepping up the air war in Indochina or changing its policy on air operations in Cambodia.

"The basic policy on Cambodia has not changed in relation to ground forces and in relation to U. S. air power," Mr. Ziegler asserted. "What has happened is that there is increased air activity and increased air authority which has been given in Cambodia

as Move to Buy Time

could remain minimal so long
as it follows the "don't touch
ground in Cambodia" rule.

Despite all the present efforts,
however, those who are look-
ing ahead predict a bleak fu-
ture for Cambodia, which is al-
ready expected to be the focus
of military action in Indochina
in the next few months. They
see at best a Laotian-like ex-
istence—a country with eastern
provinces used by enemy
troops to infiltrate into Viet-
nam, with occasional pressures
on the capital to win political
concessions and daily visits by
American or South Vietnamese
aircraft. That could also mean
a bleak future for South Viet-
nam.

As Vice President Nguyen
Cao Ky said the other day, "It

is better we fight them in Cam-
bodia than to stay in South
Vietnam and wait until they
come back and fight them
here."

NATO to Get New Satellite

BRUSSELS, Jan. 19 (AP)—

A second communications sat-
ellite for the exclusive use of
the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization will be launched
from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on
Jan. 27, it was announced to-
day. The first NATO satellite
was put into orbit last March
20. The system is designed to
provide quick and secure com-
munications for the leaders of
the alliance.

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When American air operations in Cambodia were concluded last June 30, President Nixon asserted that the United States would conduct "air interdiction missions against the enemy efforts to move supplies and personnel through Cambodia toward South Vietnam and to re-establish base areas relevant to the war in Vietnam. We do this to protect our forces in South Vietnam."

In response to Congressional

pressure, Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird said on several occasions that American aircraft would not conduct tactical operations In close combat support of Cambodian units. Other officials, including Secretary of State William P. Rogers, acknowledged that there might be "dual benefits" of the interdiction operations.

The State Department went a step further today in describing virtually all enemy operations in Cambodia as potentially menacing to American troops

in South Vietnam and hence authorized for attack by American aircraft.

The Pentagon, however, denied Hanoi reports charging American aircraft with bombing regions around Dien Bien Phu and Vinh in the last few days. The only American aerial activity affecting North Vietnam since last Sunday, a spokesman said, had been attacks on missile sites along the Laotian border by F-105 aircraft protecting bombing missions against enemy supply lines in Laos.

what had been generally sus-
pected—that all the military's
air combat weapons could be
used in the Cambodian war.

Air Involvement Grows

With that kind of latitude,
the air involvement has in-
creased along with enemy
harassment to include B-52
strikes, helicopter gunships, lo-
gistical supply missions, close
air support, and, most recently,
the dispatch of two helicopter
carriers to the Gulf of Siam,
off Cambodia.

"The situation is not critical

ample, that "We moved in last
week with the full understand-
ing that we would have addi-
tional support of all kinds
whenever we need it." There
are those who feel that given
the American interest, South
Vietnam is now in a position
to demand and receive such
support. In any event military
officers say it is increasingly
to the advantage of the United
States to provide it.

Demonstration of Strength

The heavier reliance on air
power remains a key part of

Cambodia and the six "pro-
tective reaction" strikes against
North Vietnamese missile sites
over the weekend were fore
shadowed in President Nixon's
remarks on Dec. 10 when he
said he would take any actions
necessary to protect our re-
maining forces." They say the
object is to punish the North
Vietnamese for any actions im-
periling the plans for troop re-
ductions. And they note that
air power, sea power, and an
tillery power will remain
powerful ingredients of the mil-
tary mixture here to cover de-
lighting American ground-

Cambodia
POW Site
Is Raided

Joint Rescue
Effort Finds
No Prisoners

By Murrey Marder

Washington Post Staff Writer

A South Vietnamese raid with U.S. air support on a suspected Cambodian prisoner camp believed to contain 20 Americans reportedly occurred Sunday, as a new 6,000-man offensive by Saigon troops got under way.

No prisoners were found, but 30 enemy soldiers were captured, according to South Vietnamese sources who disclosed the raid. No official American sources would discuss the report. Defense and State Department spokesman replied "no comment" to all questions about the raid yesterday.

A South Vietnamese officer in Saigon was quoted as saying the raid "worked perfectly" and "we suffered no casualties." A similar claim of technical perfection was made in the unsuccessful U.S. commando attempt to find prisoners at Sontay, 20 miles west of Hanoi, on Nov. 21.

About 300 South Vietnamese paratroopers in South Vietnamese helicopters, supported by American helicopter gunships, reportedly made the raid west of Mimit, about five miles inside Cambodia.

Justice William O. Dougall, writing for the Supreme Court, focused on the stigma of the police chief's posting of Mrs. Constantineau's name. "Where a person's good name, reputation, honor or integrity are at stake because of what the government is doing to him, notice and an opportunity to be heard are essential," he said.

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger argued in dissent that the matter shouldn't have been a federal case. He said that although the court "very likely" reached "a correct result," the case should have been channeled through the state courts as a matter of "sound judicial administration."

Justice Harry A. Blackmum joined with Burger and also with a dissent by Justice Hugo L. Black, who said the law appeared so offensive that he couldn't believe the state's highest court would uphold it if given first crack at it.

SUPER
FOOD STORE

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LB. 77c

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LEAN, TENDER

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HOT OR SWEET

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EXTRA LEAN

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SNIDERS FABULOUS

DELMONICO

Lt. Gen. Do Cao Tri reportedly led the raid. He also commands 6,000 paratroopers, rangers and armored units striking back at the Parrot's Beak sector of the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border.

The spreading pattern of U.S. air combat support for South Vietnamese troops operating in Cambodia, and for Laotian government troops fighting in Laos, raised further questions yesterday about U.S. policy.

Administration spokesmen insisted there is no change in policy. But they used broader language than usual to define American policy, while emphasizing that no U.S. ground combat troops advisers are in Cambodia.

State Department Press Officer Robert J. McCloskey said the United States is still following the policy of "air intervention" to protect U.S. forces in South Vietnam, as laid down by President Nixon. But this time McCloskey said: "... We take the position that all enemy activity by the North Vietnamese in Cambodia is designed to disrupt the situation in South Vietnam."

White House Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler said: "Air activity is increasing over what has taken place previously because of enemy activity to re-establish the sanctuaries . . . All this relates to the security of U.S. forces."

Vietnam paratroops try
to rescue prisoners-

Saigon, Jan. 19.—In a daring rescue attempt, South Vietnamese paratroops, guarded by United States helicopter gunships, raided a suspected communist prisoner-of-war camp inside Cambodia where about 20 Americans were believed to be held, Vietnamese sources said today.

The raiding party found the camp empty of American prisoners but captured 30 communist soldiers, the sources said. The raiders were led by Lieutenant-General Do Cao Tri, the leading figure in last spring's Cambodian campaign.

The raid took place on Sunday and lasted for three hours, the sources said. "It worked perfectly", said one officer. "We suffered no casualties."

The raid was based on intelligence that American prisoners were being held in an area west of the Cambodian town of Mimot along Highway 7. Mimot is about 80 miles north-west of Saigon and about 10 miles from the Vietnamese border.

The South Vietnamese military command announced today in Saigon that South Vietnamese and

Cambodian forces, advancing from opposite ends of a narrow Cambodian mountain pass, were about 12 miles from linking-up and reopening Highway Four, the vital lifeline between Phnom Penh and the country's only deepwater port.

A spokesman said Cambodian tanks and troops, pushing southwards, had fought their way to a point three miles from the summit of Pich Nil pass.—A.P. and Reuter.

Phnom Penh, Jan. 19.—United States military sources said today that the allied drive to reopen Highway Four had not progressed nearly as well as had been hoped.

The sources said the slow progress in the drive to clear the Vietcong and North Vietnamese from Highway Four was the reason for the sudden introduction last weekend of United States Army helicopter gunships.

The helicopters had been flying from United States Navy ships off the Cambodian coast. American spokesmen refused to give a specific date when the helicopter gunships entered the Cambodian campaign—U.P.I.

Poker theatre can stage nudes in a piece by Arrabelan and another theatre can show *Hair*, I cannot understand how police can seize books with nude pictures in my shop."

Mr. Degheldere said he hoped his action would contribute to a clearer definition of what constitutes pornography.—A.P. and U.P.I.

## Yugoslavia

Moscow, Jan. 19.—Moscow today confirmed the appointment of Mr. Vladimir Stepakov, former Communist Party propaganda chief, as Ambassador to Yugoslavia. Mr. Stepakov, who is 58, lost his post in the propaganda department last year in a high-level reshuffle.

## French schools

statistics produced by his opponent to prove that education in France was undemocratic and did not prepare youth for the struggle for life—in other words for a worthwhile job.

It was largely a technical debate saved from boredom by the outstanding intelligence of the protagonists, and their mastery of their briefs.

The democratization of the school system occupied a substantial part of the debate. M. Mitterrand was at pains to demonstrate the inequality of opportunity which persists, by means of statistics showing the small proportion of workers' sons in secondary schools and universities. The children of the upper classes inevitably went further and did better, he said.

M. Guichard admitted that democratization of education was slow process, but he said the Fifth Republic had increased the education budget from 10 to 18 per cent of the total. (This year for the first time it exceeds the defense budget). Moreover, in 10 years the number of university students has risen from 200,000 to 750,000.

Both men agreed that a child's fate and future were decided between the ages of two and four in nursery schools, at least in the case of the less privileged, who do not have the benefit of a family background to help them.

Both men had a point. There has been progress. But not enough and less than in other comparable European industrialized countries.