_ Yanks suffering startling losses H° Chi Minh put his hand on my forearm as I sat next to him at the table and said: “Have you got a pencil and a notebook? I will give you a story,” Since we had just finished a Vietnamese dinner with members of the Workers Party central committee as our guests, I did not have a pencil and notepaper han- dy, but I excused myself and soon came with pen and paper, President Ho took outa tattered little notebook in which he had written some figures, “Take this down,” he said, “From the beginning of this year to the end of November, TORONTO EDMONTON VANCOUVER ‘Intourist’ ‘Cedok’ ‘Ibusz’ ‘Orbis’ ‘Carpati’ ‘Balkantourist’ Exclusive report from Vietnam: PT Associate Editor MAURICE RUSH tells of crushing defeats inflicted on U.S. by people of Vietnam OF WINNIPEG © 615 Selkirk Avenue, Winnipeg 4, Manitoba @nnounces the opening of branch offices.in Canada 962A Bloor Street West, - EAST-WEST TRAVEL, Alf branch offices are authorized representatives in Canada fort While the offices specialize in travel to Eastern Europe, our years of ‘experience in handling all types of travel arrangements — domestic, European, Mediterranean, and including countries such as Cuba, Mexico, and the lands of Latin America — enables us to assist travellers to spend their travel dollars wisely. Whether it’s an exotic cruise, informative tour, or the handling of business trips for yourself, or your firm, call on any Gobe Tour office. Spend Your Travel Dollar Wisely! American planes have flown 32,189 sorties in South Vietnam and puppet planes have flown 20,657 sorties, “Since January of this year, American planes have carried out 1,447 raids against the North,” What President Ho was point- ° ing out to me was the growing intensity of the war, especially in the South, Even in the last few weeks the war in the South has taken a sharp turn with the National Liberation forces win- ning big victories over the Am- erican and puppet troops on a GLOBE TOURS Toronto 4, Ont. Telephone 536-1424 In charge of branch office: (Mrs.) Galina Tyrras 10803A—95th Street, Edmonton, Alta. Telephone 424-9907 In charge of branch office: Mr. Marshall Diachuk GLOBE TOURS, 2643 East Hastings Street, Vancouver 6, B.C. Telephone 253-1221 2 In charge of branch office: Miss Mary Fedosenko U.S.S.R. for Foreign Travel. Czechoslovak Travel Office. Hungary. Polish Travel Office. Rumanian Travel Office: Bulgarian Travel Office. scale which even many North Vietnamese leaders thought im- possible a short time ago. The American people will be shocked when the truth reaches them about their huge losses in Vietnam, Not only have the North Vietnamese shot down over 800 American planes (a point they reached last week) but U,S, losses in South Vietnam in dead and wounded have reached start- ling proportions, The latest figures published in Hanoi last week show that nearly 17,000 American soldiers have been killed or wounded since early this year, This is nearly one-tenth of the total number of U.S, troops in South Vietnam so far, The important thing about this figure, however, is that the rate of U,S, losses has jumped drasti- cally in the last two months, In October and November U,S, cas- ualties exceeded 8,000 — almost as many as for the whole previous nine months, The South Vietnamese National Liberation Army is seeking out RP anaes amas ma Greetings to all our H members and friends in this Festive Season from the | i } 5 pac i counce i a | 5 UKRAINIAN : i CULTURAL : : CENTRE H ¥ i : ; } i 805 E. PENDER ST. 245-3436 i i } j Ske se pas Wh YO NSTI SCT IS YO IAHR OTR OSA OSE YO SOK SOR OSE SOSA OSE, OS SOGK NOER OSE FO IOS VIS VOSS, OSE YO OSA YOSSI OG POSH OSE SISA OE YOST OG NOR NOS and engaging U.S. armed forces in greater than battalion strength and in November wiped out eight U.S, infantry and motorized bat- talions, This appears to be a new stage in the war in which American casualties will con- tinue to rise rapidly, What has happened ‘is that the National Liberation Army in the South engaged the American HO CHI MINH troops in a few major battles and found them to be no match for “their own soldiers, The Canadian delegation here had an example of this last week when we met with a delegation of five National Liberation Front heroes, including a young woman, The delegation was visiting Hanoi, They are an inspiring group of youth, all in their 20’s and vet- -’ erans of many battles, When I asked them how they felt when they first had to engage Amer- ican troops in battle, they said: “At first we were worried, We | saw they were big men and well | equipped with modern weapons. | We knew that sooner or later we would have to go in and’ fight them, When we did we found that they are very poor soldiers. They panic easily and leavetheir — a weapons and run, Theyare afraid of the terrain and unfamiliar with it. They have no morale for this war, Our National Liberation © battalions are more than a match for them,” The experience of the National Liberation fighters has led toa mass surge of feeling “to search out and kill American aggres- | sors,” This, says the North — Vietnam daily, Nhan Dan, has | become a widespread emulation — movement among the army and | people of South Vietnam, The war in South Vietnam ap- pears to be entering the stage of larger and more open engage- ments despite the massive build- up of U,S, and puppet forces, If the U.S. rulers continue their tragic aggression against South Vietnam this country will be- come a graveyard for hundreds of thousands of American boys, BASES SBSRE BS EL EOE SER Boe EAE: Season’s Greetings to Pacific § Tribune readers from... ! RUSSIAN-CANADIANS FEDERATION OF Bou are invited to attend our wok Year's Eve Supper & Dance, Friday december 31, 600 Campbell Ave Supper: 7 p.m. Dance: 9 p.m. FAIR SR B Ph. MU 4-9939 for Tickets UKRAINIAN FILM FESTIVAL featuring FOUR FULL-LENGTH FILMS—(in color) MONDAY & TUES.—DEC. 27th & 28th “1. On Wings Of A Song. 2. The Blind Musician (English Sub-Titles) WEDNESDAY & THURS.—DEC. 29th & 30th 1. Taras Shevchenko (Ukrainian Dialogue Only } 2. Leesova Peesnya (Song of the Forest (English Sub-Titles) OLYMPIA THEATRE Cor. Hastings & Nanaimo Sts. a One Showing of Each Program at 8 p.m. Admission: Adults $1.00; Children & Students 50c Season’s Greetings to all our friends in the labor movement FISHERMEN’S UNION HALL 138 E. CORDOVA ST. AUDITORIUM available for dances, socials, smokers, meetings, conventions, etc. Good acoustics, public-address system, kitchen facilities, tables for conventions. For rates or additional information Phone: STEVE STAVENES— MU 4-3254 LALRSA SABE LAER OS SS RRR: