THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03024595
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: April 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2019
• Publication Date: December 8, 1967

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
(toe�
Ti cret
3.5(c)
MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam
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8 December 1967
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WARNING
This document contains classified information affecting the national security
of the United States within the meaning of the espionage laws, US Code
Title 18, Sections 793, 794, and 798.
Der
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Information as
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HIGHLIGHTS
Fighting continues in coastal Binh Dinh
Province. Enemy forces are also putting up
stiff resistance to allied sweeps in III Corps.
I. The Military Situation in South Vietnam:
Fighting was reported on 7-8 December in North-
eastern Binh Dinh Province between allied troops
and elements of the North Vietnamese 3rd Divi-
sion Paras. 1-5). Enemy forces are active in the
Bu Dop area along the Cambodian border and are
putting up stiff resistance to allied sweeps else-
where in III Corps (Paras 6-9).
IV, Other Communist Military Developments: There
is nothing of significance to report.
V. Communist Political Developments: Premier
Kosygin has told the Swedish prime minister that
he did not think Hanoi would react to a US bomb-
ing halt (Paras 1-2).
TO CRET
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BINH DINH PROVINCE
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TO2,RECRET 7-
I. MILITARY SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM
1. Fighting continued on 7-8 December in north-
eastern Binh Dinh Province between US forces in Opera-
tion PERSHING and apparently revitalized elements of
the North Vietnamese 3rd Division. More than 250
enemy soldiers have been killed during three days of
fighting. American losses are 16 reported killed.
2. The action began on 6 December when a heli-
copter patrol was fired on from what appeared to be
a deserted village some 12 miles north of Bong Son.
Two companies from the 1st Brigade of the US 1st
Cavalry Division were flown into the area and almost
immediately encountered stiff resistance from enemy
troops in well-fortified, heavily camouflaged bunkers.
The village itself has been seized and US and South
Vietnamese troops are attempting to block the enemy
force--identified as the 1,500-man 22nd Regiment of
the North Vietnamese 3rd Division--from escaping into
the mountains to the west. Nine US companies are re-
ported closing in on the fleeing Communists, trying
to force them toward four South Vietnamese companies
which are blocking the way to the mountains on the
western perimeter of the battle area.
3. The Bong Son battleground is in the vicinity
of one of South Vietnam's major rice-producing areas,
and this may have been one of the main reasons for
the enemy's presence there. The renewed fighting in
the area after a lull of several months recalls indi-
cations that the Communist campaign farther west in
the highlands late last month was designed to draw
American forces from the coastal lowlands and give
the enemy easier access to the rice-rich coastal areas
4. Operation, PERSHING, a long-term search-and-
destroy operation, ha,accounted for more than 4,500
enemy troops killed and 19,100 Communist prisoners
taken since mid February. The recent upsurge in
fighting by elements of the North Vietnamese 3rd Divi-
sion in this area also suggests that the enemy has
received replacements and supplies and is now prepared
to increase military activity throughout the province.
8 December 1967
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5. Another subordinate of the 3rd Division
has been identified in combat with South Korean
troops to the south of Operation PERSHING. The 8th
Battalion of the 18th Regiment, together with a Viet
Cong local force unit, lost some 60 killed in a
sharp 24-hour battle on 7 December in an area some
15 miles northwest of the provincial capital of Qui
Nhon.
Enemy Forces in III Corps
6. Sporadic action continues in the Bu Dop area
along the Cambodian border and Communist units are
putting up stiff resistance to allied sweeps elsewhere
in III Corps.
7. A Viet Cong battalion launched a ground attack
against a US 1st Division base being constructed just
south of the Bu Dop Special Forces camp during the
early morning hours of 8 December. Four Americans were
killed and 48 of the enemy. The attack failed to
breach the US defensive perimeter. The Communists
also shelled nearby Bo Duc district town and another
1st Division position in the area, causing light damage.
Allied positions in this sector have been subjected
to occasional mortar and rocket attacks and ground
probes for the past nine days.
8. On 7 December a South Vietnamese Army bat-
talion lost 15 killed and 47 wounded in a clash 17
miles north of Saigon in Binh Duong Province. A US
helicopter pilot was also killed and four US helicop-
ters were downed. On the previous day a US 1st Divi-
sion company reported 10 killed, 88 wounded, and 14
missing in another fight in Binh Duong Province, some
32 miles north of the capital. In both of these en-
gagements the enemy units fought from well-constructed
bunkers and underground tunnel systems. Enemy losses
were reported as light.
9. In the immediate Saigon area, an estimated 60-
man Viet Cong unit attacked a South Vietnamese Regional
Force company on 5 December, killing one soldier and
8 December 1967
1-2
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wounding four. Although the attack lasted only 15
minutes, the appearance of an enemy force of this
size less than than two miles from Saigon is a new
show of boldness by the Viet Cong in this area.
8 December 1967
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IV. OTHER COMMUNIST MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS
1. There is nothing of significance to report.
8 December 1967
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V. COMMUNIST POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. According to a British Embassy official in
Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Nilsson reports
that Premier Kosygin, very pessimistic about prospects
for peace in Vietnam, said he did not think Hanoi
would react to a US bombing halt. He further stated
that Hanoi was completely independent of Moscow or
Peking.
2. In earlier press reports on his talks with
Kosygin in late November, Nilsson indicated that the
Soviet Premier had held out little hope for Soviet
peace initiatives, stressing that Hanoi must make
its own decisions. Kosygin's comment about possible
results of a bombing halt is at variance with unoffi-
cial remarks by some lesser Soviet officials who have
been attempting to paint a rosy picture of prospects
if the bombing is halted.
8 December 1967
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