e

‘ee the outskirts of Moscow
Y to aymese airmen are learning
the supersonic MIG 21.” ©

|
{ tr By MAX LEON

¢,  *fanslated and abridged
_ from l’Humanité
t

ni

dues, necessarily sparse in de-
Se Soviet Union declares
Viet S giving multiple aid to the
not Mamese people, that means
bung 1” the delivery of trucks,
but ‘ae batteries of missiles
ists © the training of special-
of Jha technicians in the use
a Vien It is thus that numbers
haven, vnese—here: the figures
® rec yet been divulged —
tion a Siving a first class educa-
Union training in the Soviet
| Wher “0, ach of the branches
lg Countin the need arises (not
Civilians the thousands of young
1 in ¢ — Who are studying here
| institu rev ersities and higher
Ons.) The Soviet Union
ticiang qr bomber pilots, tech-
Men cr air bases, artillery-
batta;cunners for the missile

€ries,

1!

ae
the ated the air academy on
tecaretSkirts of Moscow where
the Vie a new contingent of

Cive, ¢tnamese officers have re-
this ..their final training. In
abou Same academy, situated
) pital j kilometres from the
Pines a n a beautiful forest of
; S0cialist | birch, officers of the
the gq Countries are receiving
- dents Me training as Soviet stu-
the who naturally constitute
. Beiity of pupils.
is comy etnamese group itself
— but gee of young officers
the te Me unlike the. others, have
Pa ible privilege of taking
Of pity their training in the fire
Of the €ss combat against one
, the eos powerful armies in
! Teturn tld and will tomorrow
thei; fi Ome having completed
f ma Nal training stage.
‘| CUssione® the visit and brief dis-
-—Omrag with the Vietnamese
ally hauer tne thought continu-
With th nted me that these boys
Smooth €lr dark eyes and faces

on itt

anton and serious, will soon
di jecinst te

|

— and perhaps one
es nas it often happens
“the we, of Hanoi or Haiphong
& plane es, Of American fight-
On nes and bombers.
Other had left his mother, an-
to aye wife who was about
haq ys a baby. Others also
dren, It Mothers, wives and chil-
and a had given them a will
Port discipline of fire to sup-
Combat €m when they go into
front lis they who will be in the
Peng ; ° and on whom will de-
Namegg © serenity of the Viet-
Kilo — Sky. Coming over 10,000

3, ome
hag <s from home to study

wae t
SL.

When in the official commu- —

enemy is in a goo

~ blackboard

" When one’s own country. ..

as Mig 21 pilots

is menaced by annihilation, even

if it is a question’ of studying

strategy and tactics and the
most modern techniques.

Also, I was almost ashamed
to stop our comrades even for a
minute from their work for the
needs of reportage.

At the air force academy they
are the ones who undoubtedly
have the most arduous task, for
they must overcome the barrier
of language first. To assimilate
sufficient Russian and pass
directly to their program of stu-
dies, they follow an accelerated
course, according to a special
method adopted by the acade-
my, classes equipped with indi-
vidual booths with magneto-
phones and semi - automatic
stands. In less than nine months
they know enough Russian to
take their places in the life
around them and to begin to
study the more difficult courses.

The MIG 21, for example, is
one of the latest supersonic alr-
craft. True to form, the nose
tapering, it carries two rockets

with telescopic

or two guns *
sights which makes it a redoubt-

able adversary for any American
planes. Our Vietnamese friends

are assembled i
pilots cabin, whose secrets they

will soon know. In waiting to

take over command, they fami-
liarize themselves with the
equipment and the arrangement
of the apparatus in a room that
is a simulated pilot cabin. The
student takes his place in a
small compartment whose dash-
board and fixtures are identical
with those of a real MIG 21. Be-
hind the professor gives a series
of orders which appear on the
registering apparatus and also
on the radar screen. The plane
goes to search the adversary,
taking into account the speed
and the altitude registered by
the enemy plane, manouvering
to get it into its line of attack.
The signal on the radar screen
is finally in dead centre. The
MIG 21 .zeroes on it and pre-
vents. it from escaping. despite
its desperate efforts. Finally the
d position. The

the trigger.

i squeezes
pilot A s. The death

Several seconds pas i
charges, as if possessed with a
diabolic intelligence, hit the
centre of the supersonic Ame-
rican plane.

I went through the. laborato-
ries, the roams for theoretical
study and for practical work. A
is replaced by @
great magnetic panorama where
the pupil works with colored
circles representing batteries
and regiments, red and blue ar-
rows showing an offensive or
encirclement. An electronic SyS-
ted by the professor

explains, the functioning ©

n front of the

f the.

- Vietnamese train

parts, firing power, orientation,
stabilization, etc.

There are also cannon of 23,.
30 and 37 mm. semi-automatic
guns, in fact, all the armament
of the MIG and other equipment
which each Vietnamese must
learn to use. In other rooms
there are different instructional
materials on the specialties: air
navigation, radio, ground tech-
nical service and organization of
air bases. Here also are minia-
tures on electronic tables which
allow the reproduction of each
small stage of actual combat in
the most complicated circum-
stances. :

In ‘the residence of the Viet-
namese a hostess met us. The
rooms have two or three beds,
spartanly funished. By the bed-
side you invariably find manu-
als of mathematics, Russian and
physics: In the reception room
you find a powerful radio to
hear Hanoi direct which has
been decorated by a. red flag
presented by one of the Komso-
mol organizations.

The Vietnamese can prepare
their soup and national dishes in

a well-equipped kitchen in the |

residence. But they don’t make
a habit of this, it seems to me,
and the several leisure hours
which they have at their dis-
posal are dedicated to study.
We met together for a few
minutes in one of ‘the audio-
visual classrooms of the Russian
language. We exchanged ciga-

rettes and I gave them greetings

of solidarity.

They told me they understood
the fight that had been waged
by the French people and they
didn’t forget the fight which be-

' gan before this war to assist

them in the liberation struggle

against the French colonialists. ©

“We will never forget,.’ they
said, “the exempliary attitude of
Raymonde Dien and Henri Mar-
tin.’ Some among them, they
explained, had taken part in the
liberation struggle. “Now,” they
said, “we are again faced by
aggression and we are studying
‘here to learn to fight better. We

are working in excellent condi- |

tions, and have the best rela-
tions with the Soviet garrison.
We feel right at home.”

They told me that the social-
ist countries and above all the
Soviet Union was giving enor-
mous aid. The planes which the
U.S.S.R. was sending were bet-
ter than the Americans in seve-
ral ways. “Our airforce,” they

-said, ‘is still young. We have

less flying hours than the Ame-
ricans and we always amaze
them. They do not understand
the role played by morale.”

I asked them if they had
used the MIG 17, in battle,

of a Mig 21.

“Yes,” they replied. “It is a ma-
chine with great qualities of
manoeuverability. We came here
to study the MIG 21. All the
comrades who received training
in the Soviet Union fight with
skill.”

“You arrived here at the end
of last autumn, did you have
much difficulty in adapting your-
selves?”, I asked.

“No. We were very surprised
to see the snow for the first
time in our lives. It is very
beautiful. Excellent conditions
wete provided for our study. We
live as simply as possible, with-
out forgetting for one minute
that our country is in battle
against the Americans.

Vietnamese pilots in training in the U.S.S.R. standing in front

“The Vietnamese people in
their entirety are involved in a
difficult fight. But we are cer-
tain of victory. We know that
the closer we get to victory the
harder the struggle will become.
In the South as in the North it

‘is a people’s war, one and the

same people, one and the same
just war, in the North led by
the Party of Workers, in the
South by the National Libera-
tion Front. Yes, with the help
of the socialist countries and of
all people who want peace in
the world, with the enormous
aid of the Soviet Union, with the
solidarity of the French people,
we are certain of victory in our
just cause.”

Canadian Union of Students.

fitable business. :

goes to war.”

prevent.

WHY VIETNAM

Reprinted from Issue, student magazine published by the

There-is no more important student issue on Canadian
campuses than the war in Vietnam. Every aspect of university
life—from corporate control of administrations to the con-
tent and method ‘of teaching — is related to the rationale
and practise of the U.S. intervention in Vietnam.

_ Every major Canadian campus, for example, has witness-
ed this year demonstrations against war recruiters. It’s not by
accident that Canadian university administration are unani-
mous about keeping recruitment “open.” Researcher Myrna .
Wood discovered at the University of Toronto 27 members
of the Board of Governors represent 67 major international -
corporations. One, Governor Neil McKinnon, is a director of
Honeywell Controls Ltd., a corporation responsible for landing
“defence contracts.” Chancellor O. M. Solandt was vice-
president of de Havilland, producer of Caribou, Otter and
other Canadian aircraft used by the U.S. in Vietnam. A pro-

At McGill University John Fekete discovered, “Over two-
thirds of McGill’s 33 Governors are involved—through car-
porate ties or professional association— with companies pro-
ducing war materials.” Fekete commented about this situa-
tion: “Where the university’s highest authority is a. body of
men drawn from big business, the university will be impli-
cated in war production, for in a warfare society big business

And is it a coincidence that two weeks after Fekete’s
exposure of the Board was printed in the McGill Daily, they
advocated control over Student Society finances at McGill?

Aside from the direct administrative means used by cor-
porate boards to keep the university “safe,” they see to it
their manpower needs are met. It’s not: by accident that
engineers are most vociferous in allowing Dow to recruit.
Their jobs are at stake. But what kind of educational system
do we have where everything is valued in terms of the al-
mighty dollar? And what kind of Canada do we have which
allows corporations to pose a moral choice—either work for ~
Dow, CIL, de Havilland et al., knowing your creative work
may be used in a genocidal war, or go unemployed?

We think one important step could be taken wher

“ . ” : . eb
that “choice” would be eliminated. The Canadian eon
could be consistent for once and illegalize the sale of arma-
ments to the U.S. until they stop their war on Vietnam.

With this goal in mind, we urge Canadian students to
respond en mass to the Student Mobilization Committee call
for action on April 26-27. The 1000 delegate conference in
Chicago calls for strikes in the U.S. Most Canadian students
will be writing exams then. But some action in unity with
U.S. students to end the war—be it a local march, a letter
to.an M.P. or a mass campaign in Ottawa is essential.

Part of student power surely means we don’t want one
universities complicit in a war our country was pledged to

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