THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00472A001900020006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: March 6, 1965
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/30 : CIA-RDP79T00472A001900020006-4
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CENTRAL
Office of
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Current Intelligence
March 1965
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
The Situation in Vietnam as of 0600 EST
Communist Military Developments
3. Initial photo interpretation of the 2 March
strike on Quang Khe--the South Vietnamese target--has
confirmed extensive damage to the target area. Six
buildings were destroyed and 10 were heavily damaged.
Communist Political Developments
4. A 5 March Chinese Communist broadcast has,
charged that Soviet police and troops brutally suppressed
the student demonstration against the US Embassy in
Moscow on 4 March. Peiping called the action of Soviet
authorities "an outrage," and claimed the students,
mostly Asian and African, were filled with "indignation
and anger" at the methods used by the Soviet police.
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6. The USSR continues its efforts to underscore
the seriousness of the current Vietnam crisis and the
wider ramifications for Soviet-US relations unless the
US changes its policy.
8. Following along the lines of the 4 March
Soviet Government statement--which attacked the US for
"open aggression" against the DRV--a 5 March Red Star
editorial was unusually bitter in asserting that US
actions recall the time when "Nazi gangsters behaved
just as cynically and traitorously."
Political Activity in South Vietnam
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12. An official spokesman of the Buddhist Institute
told a US Embassy officer on 5 March that the Institute
leadership had decided to ask Thich Quang Lien to drop
his "peace project." The decision stemmed. from the
leadership's feeling that the project could too easily
be misinterpreted and exploited by the Communists, and
could lead to misunderstanding of Buddhist intentions
both within South Vietnam and abroad. The Buddhist
spokesman also noted that the leadership generally ap-
proved the strikes against North Vietnam as necessary
blows at enemy base areas.
Viet Cong Military Activity
13, Viet Cong activity continues at a fairly high
rate, with widespread harassment of land communications
and district towns. Unconfirmed press reports note that
the Viet Cong on 3 March overran a town near Binh Gia
in Phuoc Tuy Province southeast of Saigon and that cas-
ualties among a 125-man Regional Force company guarding
the town were 16 dead, 22 wounded, and "many" missing.
On 3 March, elements of two South Vietnamese airborne
battalions and a Ranger battalion were airlifted into
the area.
14. Heavy fighting apparently continues in Quang
Tin Province in an area about 40 miles southwest of
Da Nang. Government forces have engaged an estimated
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two Viet Cong battalions. Initial press reports in-
dicate that the commander of the South Vietnamese
First Regiment is missing and may have been captured.
15. The presence of substantial Viet Cong forces
in Phuoc Tuy Province, despite several recent bombing
attacks by US jets
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/30: CIA-RDP79T00472A001900020006-4
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/30: CIA-RDP79T00472A001900020006-4