'70 POW RAID: DID U.S. FIGHT CHINESE, RUSSIANS?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200340001-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 4, 1976
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2~9
Ot1I~1 s01350R00020034?OOll A
ARTXCLE )IPPEA.CCC.ED July _ 1., li . n/ P J ,~~t G~ t r
ONPAGE la-7 lf? V~Cr'u`tu
By John Milne
United Preis International
U.S. commandos raided a
.North Vietnam POW camp
in 1970 despite reports it
was empty and killed 100 to
200 Russian or Chinese
troops in a? battle that
erupted when many of thg
raiders hit the wrong tar-
get, an author says.
Benjamin Schemrner,
author of a forthcoming
book titled "The Raid,"
said Defense Secretary
Melvin Laird and other offi-
cials received intelligence
reports that Son Tay camp
had been evacuated but
launched the Nov. 21, 1370,
raid anyway because aerial
photos suggested someone
might. still be there.
Schernmer is editor and
publisher of the Armed
Forces Journal, a private,
unofficial magazine devoted
to military affairs written
for a military readership.
lie said he interviewed
raid participants, POWs
and intelligence sources.
He said none of the volun-
teers knew the camp might
be empty and, in any event,
most of them were landed
by helicopter at a heavily
guarded antiaircraft train-
ing school 600 yards away.
"iHE LARGEST PART
of the raiding force landed
there by mistake and killed
100 to 200 Russian or Chi-
nese troops in a pre-emp-
tive strike that left the
school - the raid's ground
commander told me -?
`blazing like a roman
candle,' " Schemmer told
UPI.
He said the commandos,
in the heat of the battle,
could not tell positively
whether their opponents
were Russians or Chinese.
The other raiders, he,
said, broke down every
door in the deserted POW
camp 23 miles west of
Hanoi only to find no one
there.
Laird announced the raid
in a Nov. 23, 1970, news con-
ference, saying there had
been no serious U.S. casu-
alties and that President
Richard M. Nixon had ap-
proved the raid as a means
of saving U.S. prisoners
from (lying in captivity.
According to Schernmer,
56-Green Beret volunteers
flaw in by helicopter from
Thailand on a 300-mile,
ground-hugging course
without navigation lights.
THEY EXPECTED to
encounter North Viet-
name-se -guards at Son Tay
but not the well-armed for-
eigners at the neighboring
school, he said, and a five-
minute firefight ensued
when most of the party
landed tlrere.
Neither Laird nor any
other U.S. official mention-
ed any engagement with
Soviet or Chinese troops
and no official has admitted
publicly there was advance
information the camp was
empty.
"A hand:ul of officials -
but none of the raiders ---
knew (the prison) had been
emptied almost 4r/2 months
earlier," Sche'mmersaid.
Son Tay had held 60 to 70
American POWs as one of
North Vietnam's scattered,
cramped prison com-
pounds, but Schernrrrer said
the POWs had been re-
moved July 14 because of
flooding.
He said U.S. intelligence
photos "showed the camp to
be increasingly inactive
and empty."
About 18 hours before the
raid --- after laird sent a
"red rocket" message giv-
ing the go-ahead -- U.S_
intelligence got from a
carefully cul(ivated North
Vietnamese source, this
information that Son Tay
was erripty, Schernmer
said.
LAIRD 'VIAS told this,
Schernrner said, but chose
to launch the raid anyway
because infrared sensors on
an SR'71 reconnaissance
plane "flying at above 80,-
000 feet and over three
times the speed of sound
showed that someone was
back in the prison."
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Approved For Release 2005/01/13 : CIA-RDP88-0135OR000200340001-6