CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/11/16

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03017652
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: November 16, 1954

- Approved for Release: 2019/08/13 C03017652
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16 November 1954 3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
of/W4 777, 10 / 14
Copy No.
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. /7
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
Ii DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE � /0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: ..r/i/eW _ REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Comment on sinking of Chinese Nationalist destroyer escort
(page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Viet Minh reported making plans to deal with successor to
General Hinh (page 4).
3. Czech activity increasing in Indonesia (page 4).
EASTERN EUROPE
4. Poles state Hungary will free Noel Field (page 5)o
WESTERN EUROPE
5. Germans find French co-operative in Saar talks (page 6).
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FAR EAST
1. Comment on sinking of Chinese Nationalist destroyer, escort:
The sinking of a Chinese Nationalist
destroyer escort by four Chinese Com-
munist motor torpedo boats on 14
November increases the pressure on
the N tionalists to withdraw from the Tachen Islands area.
The Nationalists' three destroyers
and five remaining destroyer escorts, together with smaller gun-
boats and other patrol vessels, are considered sufficient to assure
Nationalist naval superiority over that part of the Chinese Commu-
nist navy now available in the area. This loss of one of its major
combat vessels may, however, discourage Taipei from risking
further losses.
Should the Nationalists halt patrols by
their major vessels near the Tachens, the islands would be
thrown open to harassing fire from Communist ships in addition
to air attacks and artillery fire from the coast. The Commu-
nists were reported on 13 November to be working on gun em-
placements on a nearby peninsula, from which they could cover
shipping to the Tachens. Such combined operations by the Com-
munists would make supply of the islands difficult, and the islands
might become untenable.
Should the Nationalists choose not to
withdraw their major vessels, further Communist attacks on them
seem likely. There also seems some possibility of an attack on
American vessels patrolling the coastal waters, particularly if
one could be caught within the 12-mile limit, although Communist
behavior to date has suggested unwillingness to become involved
with American naval and air forces.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Viet Minh reported making plans to deal with successor to General
Hinh:
The Viet Minh committee for the Saigon
area concluded during a 9 November meet-
ing that General Hinh was about to be re-
placed,
The committee felt that if Hinh were replaced by an officer
of similar background, such as General Vy, the Viet Minh had noth-
ing to fear, but that the appointment of General Trinh Minh The
must be prevented
Comment: General The formerly served
capably as the Cao Dai chief of staff and is now commanding an
autonomous force of several thousand in northwest Cochinchina.
He is a strong nationalist and apparently pro-Diem.
The majority of the most experienced
Vietnamese officers, including General Vy, who has been desig-
nated as Hinh's interim replacement, formerly served in the
French army and have as a whole shown a pro-French or pro-
Hinh tendency.
3. Czech activity increasing in Indonesia:
The Indonesian air force has retained as
instructors two pilots who participated
in a Czech air exhibit at a recent fair in
Djakarta,
some additional
Czech as well as Rumanian pilots are being sought for the Indo-
nesian air force.
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Comment: All elements of the Dutch
military training mission, i7E.IcEaTig air instructors, have left
Indonesia. Contracts of most of the American pilots who were
hired on an unofficial basis have expired and are not being re-
newed. In addition to the activity of the two Czech pilots, the
Czech consul general in Djakarta has been extremely active in
promoting increased trade, and Czechoslovakia is reported to
have submitted the most favorable bid for the rehabilitation of
sugar mills in central Java.
EASTERN EUROPE
4. Poles state Hungary will free Noel Field:
Hermann Field has informed American
embassy officials in Warsaw that Polish
authorities have assured him that Noel
and Herta Field are alive and will be
freed by the Hungarian government. The Poles admitted, however,
that they were having some difficulty in dealing with the Hungarian
authorities.
Field believes that there will be a trial
of officials responsible for his arrest, but he has made it quite
clear that he will not be willing to participate in it. Field added
that a number of persons associated with him, who had been ar-
rested in Eastern Europe on the assumption that he was an Amer-
ican agent, were currently being released and he had been told
others would be freed.
Comment: Release of Noel and Herta
Field would be exploited to encourage the belief that present
Communist regimes are "liberal."
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WESTERN EUROPE
5. Germans find French co-operative in Saar talks:
Ambassador Conant reported from Bonn
on 13 November that Chancellor Adenauer's
representative in the Saar talks in Paris
found the French "apparently willing to
meet German po11t1cal needs as far as possible" in clarifying the
French-German Saar agreement, The representative warns, how-
ever, that any American promise to guarantee the agreement at
a future German peace conference would nullify what has so far
been accomplished.
Agreement was reached in Paris on
questions relating to political activity in the Saar and for an ex-
change of interpretative protocols. The German official fore-
sees no difficulty in working out with the French a more precise
definition of the powers of the proposed European commissioner
for the Saar.
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