G.I.’s and Bombers Begin Drive on Foe’s Sanctuary
From the New York Times May 2, 1970
SAIGON, South Vietnam, Friday, May 1 – The United States sent troops and B-52 bombers inside Cambodia early today in the first strike of an attempt to crush the sanctuary there of the North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces.
Details of the Drive, joining a South Vietnamese offensive in its second day, became available here shortly after President Nixon announced that he had committed American combat forces to the new action.
It was learned that about 2,000 American air cavalrymen took part in the action, moving on foot across the border after B-52’s, air cavalry, helicopter gunships and artillery had softened up the enemy positions along the allies’ route.
Sources here said that helicopter-borne troops from the United States First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and South Vietnamese Troopers had penetrated 20 miles inside Cambodia to attack the headquarters of the Central Office for South Vietnam – the Communist high command, which directs the war in South Vietnam.
The headquarters is a complex of heavy concrete emplacements with underground caverns hidden in heavy tangled underbrush.
Two battalions of North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops – perhaps 1,000 men – are reported to normally provide security for the headquarters.
 |
|
  |
Back to Stardust home page |
