FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1967

Alt raids on Hanoi

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»Cratic R tinues to escalate the Vietnam war and increase the bombing

epubli i f North Vietnam stand ready Public of Vietnam, the people of No ee act the

ircraft, Work | elow the brave girls of Hoa Lok village in Thanh Hoa province, Md have the rice fields and detend their village from the U.S. bombing Nmen's poUSht down hree American planes. For their bravery, the girls of _ .* Sattery have been awarded the Feat Order of the third stage.

is over visible damage appears quite

> Tribune

VOL. 28, NO. 445

“AWESOME SPECTA

By RAE MURPHY

HANOI E WERE sipping coffee in the bomb shelter a few minutes ago discussing how it has been found necessary to teach the militia a few words in English. Words such as “hands up,” “surrender” and “forward march.” The subject came up in the interval between raids when word reached us that one downed pilot was discovered in the West Lake and hun- dreds of people were converging on the

scene.

Actually the -problem of captured pilots is not an easy question here. Great care is taken to ensure the safe- ty of these pilots and this entails some- times much persuasion with people, es- pecially in the villages, to see that the Americans are looked after and brought to the military for questioning.

Yesterday eight planes were downed in Hanoi and today so far five. I have seen two come down myself. This is indicative of the situation here. ‘The city has been pounded for two days now. Not the suburbs but the down- town area. The first day the main bridge was put out'of operation and today the power plant has been dam- aged but the city is still supplied and most plants and institutions are equip- ped with auxiliary units. The bridge is again closed but the workers are re-

pairing it.

I have been in Haiphong during sev- eral attacks and now I have witnessed several serious bombardments here. They are an awesome and serious spec- tacle on all counts. For the most part the Americans strike at populated areas. ‘On the first day of the bombard- ment here the Lake of the Restored Sword was the centre which is roughly comparable to attacking Toronto by centering the raid on Centre Island. Today the area around the power station was hit, and with the beautiful sunny and clear weather everybody is absolutely certain they will be back later.

The bombs that have been dropped on Hanoi so far are of three types, ex- plosive, time bombs and anti-person- nel. By far the most used are the time and anti-personnel. Thus after a raid

> 10¢c

light and { have seen places where merely superficial chip marks in the concrete show where bloody carnage took place. The pellet bombs are ex- tremely dangerous and have the effect of thousands of rifle bullets fired in all directions.

The time bombs are also a deadly weapon. They are set to explode either within minutes, hours or days after impact and they make rescue opera- tions next to impossible. Such bombs are also in essence anti-personnel.

The bombing is directed against the people, not as Johnson has often said against “steeel and concrete.” Steel and concrete are impervious to the pellet bombs, but they tear the flesh and or- gans of the human body. That also I have seen.

The main impression however one has of the air raids is the reaction of the people. Within minutes after the all-clear signal the lineups form at the movies and the flower shops open. The gladiolas are in bloom now and the profusion of colors is indescribable. Perhaps they are more of an emotional experience than visual one. There can be no mistake about it: the raids dis- rupt all aspects of life here, but the main point is that the city lives, and I believe shall live forever.

The spirit of Hanoi, or the spirit of Haiphong is confident and serene. This infects all the foreigners here. There is no anti-Americanism among the people and there is no militarism. I have found myself stopping on several occasions to witness and wonder at this fact.

The confidence that permeates the atmosphere is based now on the proven ability of the city to defend itself. The artillery missiles and the new North Vietnamese Air Force defend this city and its population. The real proof of this is the manner of the American attack. The mighty American airforce cannot now sustain an attack on both Hanoi and Haiphong at the same time. Last week Haiphong was under the hammer, now it is Hanoi. While it is- clear here that Johnson has escalated the war again, the unanimous feeling is that it is an act of desperation. I was having a drink with a friend when the warning signal was heard and he said: “My God Dean Rusk must have made an appeak for peace.” The girl who was serving us answered: “These raids in the North only mean our bro- thers in the South are scoring vic- tories.”

Whatever the raids mean, the bomb- ing will never defeat. North Vietnam, although suffering, death and destruc- tion surrounds us.