SAIGON: North Viet-Namese troops continued their deadly mortar-pounding of American Dak To position which has so far destroyed 1,100 tons of ammunition, flattened the Special Services Camp, and put the airstrip out of commission.

[An agency correspondent,] phoning reports from an underground bunker at the base, said the scene reminded him of Dien Bien Phu. He said the US Infantry had apparently given up the idea of dislodging the entrenched North Viet-Namese mortar units.

But incessant artillery and aerial bombardment — including a B-52 strike — have been unavailing against attackers dug-in on high ground less than one mile from the Dak To airstrip.

Two bombardments at 0500 and 1143 local kept up the pressure on the American camp, but it was attacks last night [Nov 15] that caused the greatest destruction.

Ammunition was still exploding when an incoming mortar slammed into some seven tons of TNT in the Special Services Camp. The explosion flattened everything that had been standing.

The North Viet-Namese opened up their barrage yesterday morning with the battle for the area in its 15th day. Since then, there have been seven bombardments and the only supplies to reach the camp were munitions convoyed in during the night because the airstrip was unusable.

[The correspondent] said the defenders had no idea where the North Viet-Namese were. “They fire from their jungle hiding places, we never see them. We’re up to our knees in bomb bursts,” the correspondent said during the seventh bombardment.

So far Americans have lost 114 killed and 508 wounded. About 706 N. Viet-Namese are reported dead according to the Dak To count.

The Dak To airbase runway was in a valley surrounded on three sides by mountains up to a mile high.

As the correspondent was filing his earlier story last night, the sound of an exploding munitions dump in the background could be heard over the telephone. Shells were falling every two or three minutes.— Agency

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2017