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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 1963)
2 C THURSDAY. AUGUST I. 1983 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD. OREGON Ptifoeti Lcao Ateack Ds Comisiiciinilt Threati to Covert Amy By ARTHUR J. DOMMEN United Prat International Attopcu, Laos-OJPll-A young rmy private of the Royal Lao army who earns the equiva lent of $10 a month looked up from his muddy foxhole on the bank of the Sekong river and said: "The Pathet Lao al ways attack just before dawn. ii makes the night seem very long." All along the river bank were similar foxholes occu.. pied by soldiers idly oiling their bright American rifles and .30 caliber machine guns. To the rear of the foxholes was a mud and log dugout with a .50 caliber machine gun emplacement, Col. K h o n g Vongnarath, commander of the Isolated and surrounded garrison here, pointed across the dirty, brown river and said he had companies deployed on the op posite side, where nothing appeared to be stirring among the banana trees in the twi light of early evening. It had been taining most of the day and darkness came a little earlier than usual. Khong said an estimated three battalions of Pathet Lao troops had the town virtually surrounded. In event of a ser ious attack, he said, he would J radio to the regional military headquarters at Pakse, 75 air miles away, for help. Battalions in Hills The situation was made more disturbing for the town's defenders by the presence in the hilly region to the south of two battalions of North Vietnamese regulars. Their location had been pin pointed by information sup plied by refugees from vil- lages in the arca-mostly loin cloth-clad Kha tribesmen-and by aerial reconnaissance. This meant that the Com munist Pathet Lao forces would have another 900 to 1,000 troops to back them up in any determined battle to take control here, Khong re marked. Arms were being passed out to a delegation of tribesmen, who had come into the town to volunteer to fight against a feared Pathet Lao attack. Of 10 tassengs (villages) comprising Attopcu district, only four remain free from Communist control. All others have been taken over by the Pathet Lao, who recruit sol diers and requisition food to take away to their forces in the jungles. In the center of a dirt com pound is a heavy bunker made of stout logs and mud and protected from the fre quent tropical rain by a cor rugated tin roof. Next door is a smaller bunker containing the garri son's heavy armament-a sin gle American 81 millimeter mortar-with boxes of ammu nition stacked beside it. The mortar is zeroed in on an un disclosed target across the river. Soldiers, carrying their ri fles across their hips or on their shoulders, straggle in from swimming in the river or from a meal of stick rice and bamboo shoot soup. There are about 500 men in all inside the town. But last Tuesday night a battalion of the Royal Army's 16th mo bile group from a plateau northwest of Attopeu reached here after a four-day, 50-mile forced march. It is camped at the edge of the vital airstrip, about a mile outside town. The battlion is under the command of a Col. Bounchan Svadphaiphane, who got his training at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. The colonel led his battal ion on the forced march, which included a single file descent down an almost per pendicular 500-foot cliff with the aid of rope ladders. This was necessary because the Pathet Lao control the passes through which regular routes leading off the plateau go. Attopeu is cut off from normal land transportation because the Pathet Lao con trol the roads leading into the town. It is dependent on air transportation for bringing in supplies. That is what makes control of the airstrip so im portant. When night falls here it is uneasy and uncomfortable. It is humid and even brushing flies away from one's rice is an exertion which brings more sweat. This night there were lew stars. It was black and silent in the surrounding jungle, but the silence is broken by oc casional dull thumps of mor tar fire in the distance. There's no electricity which mean's there's little to do at night but sleep. This night's sleep was inter rupted by a rifle shot down by the river. This was followed by two more shots in quick succesion. Then silence. The luminous dial of my watch showed it was five minutes before three. Suddenly, there was a burst of machine gun fire. It was closer. This was answered by shots from our side of the riv er. The whir of ricocheting bullets can be heard. They're coming from across the river. Then the mortar wakes up. It fires four rounds. The small arms fire ceases. All is quiet again. Khong Explains Over breakfast, Col. Khong explains what it was all about. The Pathet Lao made their normal probing patrol during the night to test the town's de fenses. They do it by sending two or three men to infiltrate the outer perimeter. They then fire a burst of machine gun lire. Tne response they pro voke tells them how alert and how strong the defenders are in that sector. If they think the defenses are weak, they attack, Khong said. The mortar fire of the de fenders is to let the Pathet Lao know that any attack will be met with stiff resist ance. The uneasiness ends with daybreak. "They (the Pathet Lao) sleep in the daytime," ex plained one officer. "But they're wide awake and mov ing about out there at night." One of the first things the Pathet Lao soldier learns is how to move quietly through the jungles at night and how to conceal himself by day un der the cover of bushes. The Pathet Lao gets ready for a large-scale attack by having coolie labor carry their mortars into position. Move ments or companies and pla toons are coordinated by blow ing whisiles. This is what they did last week when they tried to at tack but were beaten off. They carried away an esti mated 43 dead and wounded in pirogues (native boats) down the muddy Sekong. There's little doubt about a new attack. It probably will come when the Pathet Lao think the defenders are lax, tired or demoralized or when they think they have enough strength to overwhelm the de fending force. For the men defending the town, it is not a pleasant pros pect. There's no place to re treat, only 50 miles of inhospi table jungle. So they're determined to hold on. They have no choice. M 1 "0 J' JX. DRESS GETS SEAT-Actress Jane Russell and dress designer Mr. Blackwcll bought a seat on an airliner for one of the gowns Miss Russell wears In her show at a Las Vegas, Nov., hotel to avoit) soiling or folding the garment, valued at $18,000. The dres, shown being unloaded in Lax Vegas, is made of 14 karat gold chiffon and has six miles of white ostrich down. (UPI) ML u -n, .W- v' v. K ..... f.. - t FIRE REFLECTED-A pillar of flame from a raging three alarm fire at a country club in Pikesvllle, Md., is reflected in the club's pool. Firemen and volunteers from several nearby communities were called in tn help fight the blaze. (UPI) Articles Reported Gone A number of articles, valued at $102, have been reported missing from the Jackson House, according to city police records. Included in the list were from Jackson two transistor radios and sev eral items of clothing. All were the properly of hotel residents, out of town when Ihe Items were missed on Aug. 8. The report was made to police by Billie Mae Case. I SHOP THURSDAY AND FRIDAY EVENINGS TIL 9 P.M. LflDTT TTLEMTT A Feature of Our 4th Birthday Celebration in Medford. HOME FURNISHING PRICES CUT! FREE DELIVERY! cave $4.0 per .'fir 7-s;S?L- Regutr 15c taeh inlaid linoleum tt&r- - in. c :mzz gegu"' - w SAVE FT. 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