DEVELOPMENTS IN INDOCHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001100010015-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2008
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: March 14, 1973
• Content Type: SUMMARY

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Top Secret
DIRECTORATE' OF
INTELLIGENCE
Developments in Indochina
State Dept. review
completed
0
Top Secret
1?.7
19 March 197'
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DEVELOPMENTS IN INDOCHINA
(Information au of 1500)
provinces appears designed to complete a
supply road from the DMZ to the central
highlands. The Viet Cong spokesman in
Paris says the Communists will not talk
about elections until Saigon releases all
SOUTH VIETNAM
New road construction in the northern
political prisoners.
ernment troops are retreating from
CAMBODIA
Lon Nol renews his offer to hold
elections for a new legislature. Gov-
LAOS
There is some increase in fighting
near the Plaine des Jarres and in the
South.
Page
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nnfi_ w
VJ'ETNAM
Attopou
0 MILES 2G
Road oxtondod
Quo four miles ue Sony
bridge `*uuond in
Road
improvomonts
CAMBODIA
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SOUTH VIETNAM
Now Supply Corridor
Aerial photography shows the
Communists improving roads in the nort ern part of
the country. The improvements include building a
new dual lane highway bridge near Khe Sanh, and ex-
tending a road south from the A Shau Valley. If the
Communists finish the bridges and extend the road
another 12 to 14 miles, it will join roads to the
coast and to the central highlands. The North Viet-
namese would then have a through route from the
Demilitarized Zone into the central highlands.
Moreover, this road corridor is east of the moun-
tains and not affected by the heavy rains that flood
many of the supply routes in southern Laos in the
late spring and summer.
nists will do.
PRG Tactics at the'Pario BiZaterale
Ly Van Sau, a PRG spokesman, has given some
idea of the kind of linkage the Viet Cong will try
to establish between issues at their talks with the
GVN in Paris next week. He told newsmen on 1.3 March
that the Communists will not even talk about elec-
_,.ons in the South until Saigon releases all politi-
cal prisoners. The Thieu government has been calling
for early elections on the grounds that the longer
the elections are postponed, the better the Commu-
The Military Situation
Heavy artiller exchanges continue in northern
Quang Tri Province.
Fighting elsewhere in the country
was light. 25X1
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No!/l!7 O'bl / ,~l'r!
0 15 30 M110%
0 15 30 K Ki1c)
omelere
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The Struggle in the De Zta
The military situation in the delta is getting
fewer headlines than the current heavier action in
the northern provinces, but the low-level struggle
in the southern provinces may be more characteristic
of future enemy strategy.
In recent weeks, Communist forces have perceptibly
increased both in numbers and in influence through-
out the southern districts of Chuong Thien Province.
According to US Embassy officials, government control
has gradually been narrowed until the Communists now
have unimpeded access to communications and supply
routes, as well as a potential base for military and
political operations in the central delta. Moreover,
southern Chuong Thien borders Communist sanctuaries
in the U Minh Forest area of Kien Giang and An Xuyen
provinces.
The Communists have also strengthened their base
in the Seven Mountains area cf Chau Doc Province, pro-
viding easier access to the delta from Cambodia. There
has been considerable Communist activity in Bac Lieu
and Ba Xuyen provinces, but the government appears to
be holding its own in these areas.
In the northern delta provinces, the Communists
have been less successful. Government forces have
recovered most of the territory lost at the start of
the cease-fire in Kien Tuong, Kien Phorig, and Dinh
Tuong provinces, and the South Vietnamese are now
setting up outposts in some areas where there has
been no government presence. Most of these areas,
however, still harbor sizable Communist military
forces.
Viet Cong activity in the delta contains a heavy
mix of political threats and terror. Abductions,
assassinations, and sabotage are more on the in-
crease than in any other part of the country. F -
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PHNOM PENH*I
1 ? Prey Vong
n
v 2 3 hamba Neak Luong'
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CAMBODIA
New Election Propoa.l
In a statement issued on 1.3 March, President
Lon Nol again declared the government's willingness
to hold new legislative elections with the partici-
pation of all political elements--including the in-
surgents. The statement did not indicate when the
elections would be held, but is in line with a similar
proposal first floated in early February. That pro-
posal included two important preconditions: the prior
withdrawal of all Vietnamese Communist troops from
Cambodia and the exclusion of Sihanouk from any po-
litical role.
The MiZitarr)' Situation
Little fighting was reported along Route 2 on
13 March. The nearly 700 government troops who had
abandoned the town of Chambak on 12 March continued
to move south along the highway toward the provin-
cial capital at Takeo. A Cambodian brigade from Tram
Khnar on Route 3 began moving east toward Chambak on
13 March, advancing only a few miles before making
contact with the insurgents. Other gove.r::ment forces
trying to clear a section of Route 2 north of Chambak
remain stalled.
Elsewhere, the government is moving a brigade
from Kompong Chhnang Province to the east bank of the
Mekong south of Neak Luon
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The Military Situatirn
The pace of military activity increased some-
what around the Plaine des Jarres on 13 March. Two
enemy companies, supported by mortar fire, drove
elements of two government battalions from positions
some eight miles northeast of Pha Dong.
13 miles southeast of Thakhek. The irregulars had
only recently arrived in this area and the attack
was almost certainly meant to discourage them from
beginning offensive operations to clear Route 13,
the main road to Savannakhet.
two enemy companies, supported by
eavy weapons fire, attacked irregular positions
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