Saturday, April 29, 1972
Navy Gunners Sink 3 N. Viet Attackers
SAIGON (AP) --North Vietnamese forces renewed their attack below the demilitarized zone Thursday, U.S. Navy ships battled patrol boats in the Tonkin Gulf and American fighter-bombers flew more strikes inside North Vietnam.The U.S. Command said three North Vietnamese patrol boats were sunk and a fourth heavily damaged Wednesday after they attacked the cruiser Oklahoma City and the destroyers Richard B. Anderson and Gurke. The U.S. ships were not damaged, the command said.North Vietnamese tanks, artillery and infantry opened the fifth week of Hanoi's big offensive with attacks on four sides of Quang Tri City, South Vietnam's northernmost provincial capital, 19 miles below the DMZ.A tank and infantry battle erupted five to six miles northwest of the threatened city. The South Vietnamese command claimed eight North Vietnamese tanks were destroyed and 70 enemy soldiers killed. It reported seven South Vietnamese soldiers killed and 12 wounded but no South Vietnamese tanks were lost.In the central highlands, the battlefront remained generally quiet for the third day. But on the central coast enemy troops increased pressure on the district town of Bong Son with mortar and rocket attacks and threatened to take over the entire northern sector of Binh Dinh Province, the least pacified in South Vietnam.Other North Vietnamese forces kept up the 22-day old siege of An Loc, 60 miles north of Saigon, with a 1,500-round artillery attack that killed 10 South Vietnamese and wounded 65. New assaults were launched against the district town of Dau Tieng, 30miles southwest of An Loc.U.S. military sources said American fighter bombers attacked supply depots, roads and bridges inside North Vietnam, but the raids were below the 20th parallel. The parallel is about 225 miles north of the DMZ and 55 miles south of Haiphong.The North Vietnamese Foreign Ministry charged that American planes attacked the seven coastal provinces to within 50 miles of Haiphong.The U.S. Command announced that American fighter-bombers flew 461 strikes against enemy positions in South Vietnam Wednesday and Thursday.The northern front below the DMZ exploded after several weeks of comparative quiet during which the South Vietnamese forces had been holding a defensive line along the Cua Viet-Dong Ha River 10 miles below the DMZ."Navy Gunners Sink 3 N. Viet Attackers", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Saturday, April 29, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.