RECENT COMMUNIST LOGISTICAL AND MANPOWER DEVELOPMENTS IN INDOCHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78T02095R000700080080-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 8, 2009
• Sequence Number: 80
• Publication Date: May 1, 1973
• Content Type: IM

Approved For Release 2009/04/08: CIA-RDP78T02095R000700080080-0
Top Secret
NSA review completed
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence Memorandum
Recent Communist Logistical and Manpower
Developments in Indochina
Top Secret
25X1
ER IM 73-19-12
1 May 1973
Copy No. 39
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1 May 1973
Recent Communist Logistical
and Manpower Developments
in Indochina
Significant Communist supply deliveries continue to be detected throughout most
of Indochina.
? The North Vietnamese are completing important new road construction
through Communist-controlled territory in the western portion of South
Vietnam's MRs 1 and 2.
? Gaps in the construction remain; however, the Communists may intend
to develop an in-country supply corridor from the DMZ to MR 3.
On the manpower side the following developments were noted during the week:
? No infiltration groups, either regular or special-purpose, were detected
entering the infiltration pipeline in North Vietnam.
? Additional evidence shows that elements of the 304th NVA Division are
now located in both southern North Vietnam and northern South
Vietnam.
? The 275th NVA SAM Regiment, possibly equipped with SA-3 missiles,
is deploying southward to the Vinh area of North Vietnam.
Note: Comments and queries re arding this publication are welcomed. They may be
25X1 directed to the Office of Economic Research, 25X1
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Recent Communist Logistical Developments
1. Communist logistic activity detected in southern North Vietnam
in late April reflected a pattern similar to that of recent weeks. Small
deliveries of rice continue to be dispatched from Binh Tram 18 in the Vinh
area toward northern Laos, but there was little evidence in COMINT of
supply deliveries from Binh Tram 18 to the south. Farther south, however,
a high level of activity continues in the Binh Tram 26 area, around Dong
Hoi. On 26 April the binh tram revealed that nearly 2,000 vehicles had
transited its area, possibly during April. The vehicles, more than half of
them probably southbound, had passed a vehicle checkpoint near the Giang
River. Binh Tram 26's summer work schedule was apparently started on
15 April and is to last until mid-October. By specifying that personnel are
to work only a 7-1/2-hour day and to have time out for sports and other
activities, the schedule implies that the resupply goals of the binh tram
are being met fairly easily.
2. Part of the sustained activity noted in the Binh Tram 26 area
may be the result of a recent dramatic increase in coastal shipping in that
vicinity. Since mid-April the North Vietnamese Naval Headquarters in Hanoi
and Naval Coastal Surveillance stations have reported large numbers of
"friendly" supply vessels operating around Hon La, Quang Khe, and Dong
Hoi. These are areas in which North Vietnamese domestic shipping
authorities are located; however, the recent heavy involvement of NVA
logistic elements around Dong Hoi makes it likely that some - possibly
a significant portion - of this coastal activity involves supplies destined
for Communist forces in the south.
Southern Laos and Cambodia
3. Various intelligence sources continue to reflect heavy Communist
resupply activity under way throughout the Laotian Panhandle and
Cambodia. For the second wee
a drop in vehicle
detections.
Photography,
for example, continued to show a high level of Communist vehicle activity
under way on roads south of the Ban Karai Pass and west of the DMZ.
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4. The concentration of vehicle activity through southern Laos
remains on the central corridor, comprising Routes 99, 9211, and 958. On
23 April, at least 262 cargo trucks were noted moving or parked along
Route 99 alone. COMINT revealed that roads in the central Panhandle were
generally clear and that vehicles were moving without incident. Vehicle
activity on feeder Routes 9 and 922 to South Vietnam also was heavy.
photography revealed about 70 cargo trucks moving east on
Route 9. On the same day, COMINT indicated that 95 vehicles had arrived
at Binh Tram 42, now operating along Route 922. On the previous day,
Binh Tram 42 reported that 222 vehicles -- capable of carrying almost 900
tons of cargo -- were to be dispatched to South Vietnam's B-4 Front over
an unspecified period.
5. Very large quantities of supplies are apparently still moving in
the Group 470 area of southern Laos and eastern Cambodia. An intercepted
message of 26 April reported 172 vehicles active within its area on 25 April
and a plan for the movement of 64 vehicles. on the 26th. US aerial observers
continue to report heavy Communist vehicle activity on the main logistical
corridors in eastern Cambodia. Sightings of barges on the Tonle Kong near
Siem Pang show that substantial tonnages also are being moved on the
waterways.
6. Route 19 leading, from Stung Treng into the B-3 Front remains
a major supply route. Pilots regularly report that damaged fords, bridges,
and road cuts on Route 19 are back in service within hours or a few days.
Along the new north-south bypass route paralleling Route 13, pilots
reported that several new large storage-like structures have been built.
Routes leading south from this new artery appear to be carrying a significant
level of traffic toward southern South Vietnam. The presence of bulldozers
and roadgraders on a new cross-border route from Mimot may indicate a
planned increase in the use of the corridor.
7. Extensive new Communist roadbuilding in South Vietnam has
recently been detected in photography. Along the western borders of MRs 1
and 2, a new road trace and clearing paralleling 7 miles of Route 548
between A Luoi and Ta Bat airfields may be an effort to shorten the
distance along this mountainous segment. To the south, additional
construction extending Route 614 is under way. The new construction adds
another 4 miles of motorable road south of the A Shau Valley and leaves
only an 18-mile gap to road clearing operations on Route 14.
8. In the highlands of MR 2, Communist engineers are rapidly
building a major new motorable road south through western Pleiku and
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Darlac Provinces. Between 29 March and 16 April, at least 52 miles of
new road had been cleared from the Route 19 border crossing south into
Darlac Province The new roadway probably
extends some distance farther south. If the Route 614/14 linkup and
further work on Route 14 are completed, an in-country motorable
north-south logistical corridor from the DMZ into northern MR 3 would
be available.
9. Photography also shows 8 miles of new road construction in
coastal Binh Dinh Province, extending eastward from Route 514 to within
5 miles of Sa Huynh. the Communists are
planning to move armor over this route after it is completed.
10. Meanwhile, evidence of significant Communist logistic activity in
South Vietnam persists. Large numbers of trucks were again photographed
in northern Quang Tri Province, and COMINT indicated that Binh Tram 12,
near Quang Tri City, may be resuming the use of boats to move supplies.
Near the A Shau Valley, traffic along Route 548 was particularly heavy
on 25 April, when 60 trucks were observed. Logistic elements subordinate
to Group 473, which encompasses all of northern MR 1, continue to report
substantial supply deliveries and extremely large quantities of supplies --
primarily ordnance -- in storage. As of 29 April, three major storage
facilities in northern MR 1 reportedly had 7,670 tons of supplies on hand,
roughly the same quantity reported in recent weeks.
11. In South Vietnam's MR 2, a newly constructed base camp about
15 miles southwest of Kontum City was reportedly receiving and caching
ammunition and other supplies in mid-April.
12. In MR 3 the Communists have recently increased supply
movements from Cambodia into Phuoc Long and northern Long Khanh
Provinces. Since late March, South Vietnamese air observers have sighted
numerous trucks moving southward through the two provinces, some towing
heavy artillery and antiaircraft pieces. Elsewhere in MR 3,
trucks in mid-April to ease the distribution of supplies to forces in Binh
Duong Province. The new complement reportedly brings the Group's
inventory to a total of 32 Soviet and captured US trucks. Fuel for them
reportedly is purchased locally. They have recently moved 107-mm rockets
and 105-mm howitzer ammunition from Tay Ninh and Binh Long Provinces
into Binh Duong.
COSVN's 83rd Rear Service Group received additional
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