THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM - 28 JANUARY 1968 - 1968/01/28

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Tet Declassified
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06753738
• Document Creation Date: July 27, 2018

Approved for Release: 2018/07/26 C06753738
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
3.5(c)
MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam
ARCHIVAL RECORD
PLEASE RETURN TO
'AGENCY ARCHIVES,
IQPet
28 January 1968
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Information as� of 1600
28 January 1968
HIGHLIGHTS
Widespread fighting and numerous enemy at-
tacks continued over the weekend despite the
Viet Cong - announced truce period which began
on 27 January.
I. The Military Situation in South Vietnam:
Fighting and shellings continued through the
weekend in widely scattered areas of South Viet-
nam (Paras. 1-5). The Communists may have at-
tempted to improve their antiaircraft capabilities
in western Quang Tri Province with the possible
introduction of 37-mm. antiaircraft artillery (Para.
6).
z'
II. Political Developments in South Vietnam:
The Lower House blocs are realigning and assessing
loyalities in preparation for formal registration
of the blocs (Paras. 1-3). The Lower House's spe-
cial committee on illegal detainees is reviewing
dossiers of prisoners and intends to seek passage
of an amnesty bill for some detainees and prompt
action in the case of others not yet charged (Paras.
4-6). The National Assembly will begin considera-
tion of the national budget in early February af-
ter its Tet recess (Paras. 7-8). Tran Van Don's
Freedom Fighters' Association is expanding rapidly
and may be intended as the nucleus for a national
political party (Paras. 9-12).
III. Military Developments in North Vietnam:
There is nothing of significance to report.
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I. THE MILITARY SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM
1. Widespread fighting and enemy attacks Con-
tinued over the.weekend in almost total. disregard
.of the Viet Cong - announced truce which began on
27 January. The most serious incident occurred on
27 January when three US Marine companies engaged
a-well-dug-in force of North Vietnamese troops
while patrolling Route 9 just. north of Camp Car-
roll. Some 150 Communists were killed in the
fierce 21/2-hour. battle and there were 109 Amer-
ican casualties-19 killed and 90 wounded.
2. Sporadic shelling of American positions
throughout South Vietnam's- northernmost Quang Tri
Province was also reported over the weekend. US
positions in and around the Marine strongpoint at
Khe Sanh received numerous rounds of mortar and
rocket fire, while American positions near Dong
Ha and Gio Linh were hit by mortar and large-
caliber artillery, fire.
3. The Communists launched a two-pronged at-
tack on a South Vietnamese artillery base some
12 .miles northwest of. Dak To with small arms,
machine guns, .and bazooka-type rockets. The at-
tack was believed to have been launched by A
battalion of enemy. troops and a multibattalion
enemy force was used in.the final attack.
Friendly. losses totaled 11 killed and 44 wounded
while the enemy left 30 bodies behind .upon their
withdrawal. Another 9.0 fresh graves were found
nearby.
4. Other Communist-initiated activity over
the weekend included a 30-round mortar barrage
directed at the airfield at Chu Lai in coastal
Quang Tin Province. This resulted in five Amer-
ican casualties and two aircraft damaged. At
the same time, in an engagement near Tam Ky, a
US Army patrol was hit by heavy enemy fire. Rein-
forcements drove off the attackers after four hours
of fighting in which one American was killed and
six wounded while 21 of the enemy were killed.
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5. The li*ted allied cease-fire period be-
gins on 29 January and will run for 36 hours. It
is expected that the Communists will not completely
stand down in their military actions as evinced
in the recent Christmas and New Year's cease-fire
periods.
Possible Enemy Antiaircraft Artillery Sighted Near'
Khe Sanh
6.
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four 37-mm. antiaircraft weapons located
some 12 miles northwest of Khe Sanh. A strike was
directed at the site and two of the weapons were
believed destroyed. There have been reports of
larger antiaircraft weapons south of the DMZ, but
there have been no reports that pilots have sighted
airbursts from a weapon this large. The largest
antiaircraft weapon the enemy is known to use is the
12.7-mm. heavy machine gun. The introduction of this
type of weapon into western Quang Tri Province, if
confirmed, would significantly increase the enemy
threat to tactical aircraft,which have been striking
Communist targets at record levels in recent days.
Possible Large-scale Communist Offensive Planning
Continues
8. Although the bulk of this evidence indicates
the'most critical areas to be in the northern section
of South Vietnam, there are strong indications that
key Communist military units throughout most of the
country may also be involved. The major target areas
of enemy offensive planning include the western high-
lands,the coastal provinces of the Communist Military
Region (MR) 5, the provinces immediately north of Sai-
gon that border on Cambodia, as well as the northern
Quang Tri and Thua Thien provinces.
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11. While some of these signs point to the
initiation of enemy activity of large magnitude in
the immediate future, it is not yet possible to
determine if the enemy is indeed planning an all-
out, �country-wide offensive during, or just follow-
ing, the Tet holiday period. The current enemy
military posture throughout the country, however,
suggests that at least limited attacks on US and
South Vietnamese forces and installations will be
staged in several areas.
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II. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH VIETNAM
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1. The various Lower. House blocs are realigning
and reorganizing in preparation for the formal an-
nouncement of bloc formations. The blocs must be
officially-recogniZed by the house before standing
committee membership can be selected, as this is
apportioned on. the basis of bloc size. No blocs
had registered as of 27 January and, since' the Na-
tional 'Assembly has recessed for Tet until 6 Feb-.
ruary, there will probably be no registrations until
then.. .In the meantime', there will probably be much
shifting of loyalties before final alignments are
decided on.
2. The progovernment Democratic Bloc, 3.3(h)(2)
has elected
new officers because most of its former officers
were elected to Lower House positions. The new
president is Ba.Xuyen Province deputy Tran Huy Tu,
replacing Nguyen Ba Luong, now Lower House chair-
man. The bloc now claims 42 members, but
this number will change within the next
few weeks. The bloc.-reportedly does not plan to merge
with the Catholic-dominated Independence Bloc, but
does hope to maintain a policy of cooperation with
it. The two groups 'had formed a temporary alliance
for the purpose of electing their deputies to permAnpni7
3.3(h)(2)
Lower House offices.
3. The. Independence Bloc is having its diffi-
culties, . Several mem-
bers who lost election to house offices are reportedly
bitter and accuse their colleagues of not supporting
them.. These deputies have apparently gained some
sympathy and, as a result, the bloc may split into
two factions. Bloc leaders, who if necessary will
align against the disaffected members, are attempting
to avert a split and hope that tempers will cool dur-
ing Tet.
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Lower House on Prisoner Amnesty
4. The Lower House's special committee on il-
legal detainees held a press conference on 23 Jan-
uary to explain its purpose. The committee's in-
tent, according to chairman Ly Qui Chung, is to re-
view the cases of all prisoners, particularly politi-
cal detainees, held illegally since the fall of the
Diem regime in 1963. �Chung announced that the com-
mittee would specifically seek passage of a general
amnesty bill for political detainees and fugitives.
It would also attempt to force a legal decision in
the cases of others who have not been tried and
against whom no charges have been brought. Chung
emphasized, however, that serious law breakers and
Communists would not benefit by the proposed amnesty
law.
5. The committee, according to Chung, has re-
ceived about 100 complaints from, or on behalf of,
prisoners and will review cases as the complaints come
in.
mend appropriate action in
according to Chung, intend
try's responsibilities.
6.
The committee will recom-
each case but does not,
to infringe on the minis-
Thirty-three political and'. nonpolitical detainees
were recently released-frOM the Thu Duc Reformatory
Center, and Prime Minister Loc has promised to re-
view the Cases of. 61 prisoners granted amnesty in
1965 but:never released from. Con Son Island-. In
addition, PresidentThieu has announced the release-
of-53 prisoners-and a reduction in sentence for 334
in commemoration of:Tet. .The Upper House has also
estabiiShed.a COmmittee to consider the prisoner
issue,-but-thi- committee will apparently work in-
dependently of, although. parallel with, the Lower
House committee.
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Other-NationalAssembly Developments
7. The�NatiOnal.AsseMbly will 'begin considera-
tion. of the,nationalbudget.for:the-calendar year
1968 when-it�reconveneS'on 6 February-'-a. process'
which may preventaajournthent Of either house until.
just .before the next regiilar session, is scheduled
to' begin in April.. The.budgetwill go first to the
Lower.House4S budget and finance committee, where
it' will be under considera-
tion for at least ten�days. Thiswill.be.followed-by
Lower: House plenary debate which may take three weeks.
The. Upper- House will. therefore probably not begin its
consideration of' the budget. until early March, and
it too is expected to consume a:month in deliberation.
8. Both houses will probably be active on other
matters as well. The Lower House must still clear up
some administrative matters, including arrangements
for elections to replace two deceased deputies. It
is also possible that the house will begin considera-
tion of some nonbudget legislation. While waiting
to receive the budget, the Upper House will hear
briefings from several of its standing committees
and may submit some draft legislation to its com-
mittees for consideration.
Tran Van Don' and the Freedom Fighters
9. Senator Tran Van Don's Freedom Fighters'
Association appears to be expanding rapidly. The
group's Saigon chapter recently met to present the
association's platform, and it was announced at the
meeting that the organization now numbers more than
20,000 throughout the country. The Saigon chapter
alone claims a membership of 2,000,
the associa-
tion has chapters in four provinces and two cities
and has plans to form an additional six provincial
and one city chapter by the end of February.
� 10. Senator Don claims the association is not
a political party although its activities are politi-
cal. As stated in its platform, the group is an
anti-Communist organization devoted to "independence"
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end sociaLreform. The platform calls for the
formation.of:Unified national front" to strug-
gle-against "international' powers which are -
threetening-Our-survival'i'! and briefly outlines
the group's pOlicy.onlabor, agrarian.reform, and:
corruption. :
11. , The association was originally formed
in July-1967 as-a veterans' group. It now dis-
claims anY.miIitary Orientation, although 'its 3.3(h)(2)
executive committee is composed primarily of re-
tired military officers. Senator Don,
regards the Freedom Fight-
ers as "his" organization, rather than the
Farmer-Worker-Soldier Bloc, which he also heads.
The two groups are financed separately and, al-
though Don would like to wOrk actively, through-
out the country to promote �the bloc as well as
the Freedom Fighters, he is. hampered by several
of his bloc colleagues who feel the blocshould
be organized first in the National Assembly. be-
fore nationwide efforts:are begun. For that
reason, Don is recruiting into 3.3(h)(2)
the Freedom: Fighters a. number of people who want.
to work for the bloc but are prevented from doing
so.
12. Although the Freedom Fighters' Associa-
tion and the Farmer-Worker-Soldier Bloc appear
now to be working at cross purposes, much of
their leadership already overlaps. Don may be
planning for the day when the two groups can merge
to form the basis for a broadly based political
party. The reference in the Freedom Fighters'
platform to a "unified national front" seems to
point to this end, and Don's intention to begin
publication of a newspaper should be useful in
any attempt at forming ,a party. The mere size of
the Freedom Fighters should also be an advantage.
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III. MILITARY� DEVELOPMENTS IN NORTH� VIETNAM
IV. OTHER COMMUNIST MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS
1. There is nothing of significance to report.
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V. COMMUNIST POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. Hanoi's announced decision to release three
captured US airmen held in North Vietnam appears de-
signed for propaganda purposes. In a 27 January
broadcast, the North Vietnamese stated that the men
would be released in honor of Tet, due to Hanoi's
"humanitarian and lenient" policy. The broadcast
also noted that the three have displayed a "repentant
attitude." North Vietnam has not yet stated when or
where they will be freed.
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