THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00826A001000010036-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2006
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: July 17, 1966
• Content Type: IM

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM
Information as of 1600
17 July 1966
State Dept. review completed
ARMY review(s) completed.
PREPARED FOR THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
FURTHER DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION
CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT AUTHORIZED
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17 July 1966
Ho Chi Minh has dramatized North Vietnam's de-
termination to persist in its struggle with "US im-
perialism" by signing a decree calling for "partial
mobilization" of the reserves. Allied forces are
conducting two search-and-destroy operations close to
the Demilitarized Zone in northern Quang Tri Prov-
ince.
representatives from the ruling Directorate (Para. 2).
upset by the exclusion of a Hoa Hao from Premier Ky's
new cabinet, may be considering withdrawing Hoa Hao
I. The Military Situation in South Vietnam:
USMC and ARVN forces are conducting two search-and-
destroy operations close to the Demilitarized Zone in
northern Quang Tri Province (Paras. 1-2). Elements
of the 173rd Airborne Brigade have begun a spoiling
operation in Binh Tuy Province (Para. 3). The first
instances of 20-mm. AA weapons being associated with
VC/PAVN forces have been reported (Para. 4).
II. Political Developments in South Vietnam: The
government is apparently taking steps to improve re-
lations with the local Chinese community (Para. 1).
Hoa Hao religious leader Luong Trong Tuong, reportedly
Apo
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V. Communist Political Developments: Presi-
dent Ho Chi Minh has dramatized North Vietnam's
determination to persist in its struggle with
"US imperialism" by signing a decree calling for
"partial mobilization" of the reserves (Paras.
1-3). USSR Premier Kosygin reportedly reiterated
the Soviet line in talks with India's Prime Minis-
ter Gandhi, claiming that negotiations were im-
possible while the bombing of North Vietnam con-
tinued (Para. 4).
17 July 1966
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I. THE MILITARY SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM
1._ The only significant contact with VC/PAVN
forces during the past 48 hours has centered in
northern Quang Tri Province. These two operations
involving at least three USMC and five ARVN bat-
talions have engaged enemy troops within a few
miles of the Demilitarized Zone.
2. In Operation HASTINGS/LAM SON 289 a
USMC company fought a prolonged action on 16 July
1966 with an estimated 100-man VC force. Cumula-
tive casualties in the operation which began 7 July
include 29 US killed and 61 wounded. The enemy
units are believed to have lost 128 dead. In con-
junction with Ope2'htion HASTINGS, US Marines made
helicopter and amphibious landings about 35 miles
north of Hue in Operation DECK HOUSE II. Light
contact has been reported with no friendly casual-
ties. Naval gunfire support is being provided by
units of the Seventh Fleet.
3. Operation MACON continues with light
contact about 20 miles south of Da Nang. US Marines
have suffered casualties of 8 dead and 38 wounded
while killing an estimated 172 Viet Cong troops.
Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade began a
search-and-destroy/spoiling operation in Binh Tuy
Province on 16 July 1966 to be known as AURORA II.
No significant contact has yet been reported.
4. Two recent reports have been received
which may indicate the presence of 20-mm. AA guns
in the hands of VC/PAVN forces. On 16 July a,
unit of the 1st Infantry Division operating about
20 miles north of Saigon discovered three of
these antiaircraft weapons at a VC base camp.
On the same day US Marines operating close to the
Demilitarized Zone killed a Viet Cong who had
17 July 1966
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been carrying two boxes of 20-mm. AA ammunition.
MACV reports that these are the first known in-
stances of AA weapons heavier than 12.7-mm. be-
ing associated with enemy units. The findings
may serve to confirm-pilot reports of AA fire
over South Vietnam at altitudes of 10 to 12,000
feet.
17 July 1966
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1. The Ky government may be in the process of
abandoning the "hard-line" approach of all former
governments toward the Chinese minority in Vietnam,
and trying instead to win their support and coopera-
tion. The mayor of Saigon underscored this trend in
a recent conversation with a US Embassy officer,
pointing to a number of steps which have been or
will be taken by the government to improve relations
with the local Chinese community. The low point in
the present government's relations with the Chinese
probably was reached several months ago when a Chi-
nese merchant was publicly executed for profiteering.
In view of the importance of the Chinese in the eco-
nomic sphere, the elimination of hard feelings toward
the government by the Chinese could in time have a
favorable impact on current government difficulties
in managing the economy.
25X1 2,
Hoa Hao religious leader Luong Trong uong
is nignly upset by the exclusion from Premier Ky's
new cabinet of a Hoa Hao member whom Ky had earlier
promised to appoint. As a result, Tuong is now con-
sidering withdrawing the two Hoa Hao members from the
civilian side of the ruling Directorate. Moreover,
Deputy Premier Co, who lost a good part of his ad-
ministrative authority as a result of the cabinet
change, reportedly is urging Hoa Hao leader's to "turn
against" Ky.
.17 July 1966
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V. COMMUNIST POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. President Ho Chi Minh has dramatized
North Vietnam's determination to persist in its
struggle with "US imperialism" by signing a de-
cree calling for "partial mobilization" of the
reserves. However, in view of the high degree
of mobilization already existing in North Vietnam,
coupled with the fact that substantial numbers
of reserves have already been recalled to active
duty, it would appear that this decree was promul-
gated primarily for propaganda purposes.
2. In a concurrent statement published on
17 July, Ho warned that although the US might
send "500,000 troops, a million, or even more,"
they could "never" break the "iron will of the
heroic Vietnamese people." Although conceding
that "the war may last -five, ten, or twenty
years or longer" and that Hanoi and Haiphong
might be destroyed, Ho insisted that the Vietnam-
ese people would not be intimidated. The North
Vietnamese leader reiterated the long-standing
Communist contention that a settlement in South
Vietnam could only be achieved on the basis of
North Vietnam's "four-point" and the Liberation
Front's "five-point" programs.
3. Ho's stiff line was echoed in a National
Defense Council communique of 17 July which
claimed that although the "US imperialists had
hoped to shake the morale of our people" with
the recent bombing near Hanoi and Haiphong, these
actions only served "to promote our dq~termina-
tion to fight until final victory." Without
explicitly threatening North Vietnamese military
intervention in South Vietnam, the communique
called upon the army and the people of the
North to extend "all-out" support to their "south-
ern compatriots" in view of "the glorious obliga-
tion of the Great Rear to the Great Front Line."
17 July 1966
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4. India's external affairs secretary told US
Ambassador Kohler in Moscow on 16 July that Premier
Kosygin took the same line in his private talks with
Prime Minister Gandhi that he took in public--that
a request from Hanoi was a prerequisite for any move
by Moscow on the Vietnam problem, and that talks were
impossible while the bombing of North Vietnam con-
tinued. He also claimed that Kosygin had said that
any movement of US forces across the 17th Parallel
would mean war, although in line with Indian efforts
to point up the risks of further escalation the In-
dian official may have embellished the statement for
Kohler's benefit.
17 July 1966
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