The Vietnam War, This Week,
Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages
19 December 1965 – 25 December 1965
The Franklin Oil City News-Herald, Monongahela PA
A Christmas truce.
*****
Four employees of an American construction company were feared kidnapped by Communist guerrillas on Monday while working outside the big US air base at Bien Hoa, 12 miles northeast of Saigon. The base was only a few miles from the Communist-infested Zone D. In ground action Tuesday American infantrymen accidentally ambushed a Vietcong kidnap squad on a jungle trail and rescued three of those who had been seized – two Americans and a Vietnamese. The fourth, a Dutchman, was killed by a burst of Communist machine gun fire.
In Saigon, a Communist terrorist hurled a hand grenade at a US Army dump truck, injuring five American servicemen and seven Vietnamese civilians. The attack on the dump truck was the only terrorist incident reported in the jittery capital on the fifth anniversary of the National Liberation Front, the political wing of the Viet Cong. But the sounds of heavy mortar fire could be heard from across the Saigon River where guerrillas were reported to have attacked a government post. Heavy fighting was reported elsewhere.
South Vietnamese government officials held talks with mountain tribesmen on Monday in efforts to soothe tribal discontent which had flared into an open rebellion during the weekend involving three US Army Special Forces camps. Although there were no reports of fighting between rebellious Montagnard tribesmen and government troops, highly placed Vietnamese sources acknowledged that the situation that prompted the revolt was far from settled.
In a blistering attack on the Soviet Union, Red China charged that most Russian military aid to Communist North Vietnam consisted of old or damaged weapons “cleaned out from the warehouse.” In a broadcast from Peking, Communist China also branded as a “slander” reports that China had demanded dollar payments to transport Soviet equipment to the Hanoi regime. Despite the indication of Sino-Soviet differences over aid to North Vietnam, Hanoi radio announced a new pact with the Russians for economic aid in 1966.
US planes attacking Communist North Vietnam’s industrial heart bombed a vital power plant 14 miles from Haiphong for the second time. The raids over the north were costly – five planes shot down and five crewmen feared killed. A C-130 transport was lost in South Vietnam Tuesday for a two-day total of seven planes and seven flyers. The aircraft losses were the worst since April 4 – Black Sunday – when the Communists shot down seven US planes. The lost planes were believed downed by conventional anti-aircraft guns. The same day U.S. Navy planes using improved electronic “seeing eyes” that cut through fog and darkness attacked a railroad bridge 18 miles from the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong in the fourth raid on the Hanoi-Haiphong industrial complex. On Thursday US planes, striking before a Christmas truce silenced their guns, completed the destruction of the giant power plant in the Haiphong area of Communist North Vietnam. Three planes were shot down, one by a Russian-built SAM missile. The spokesman said six crewmen were feared killed or captured in the Wednesday raid as US plan losses climbed to 11 for the week.
Early in the week the United States was considering a Viet Cong offer of a Christmas Eve truce, but the outlook appeared clouded. A US official said Tuesday night the US was still evaluating the offer made by the National Liberation Front, earlier in the month. Their position appeared to be a modification of the US Secretary of State’s earlier statement that a Red proposal for a 12 hour Christmas truce was a “local” matter for US field commanders. But there was no indication whether a truce would be reached. On Thursday, US and South Vietnamese military leaders, ignoring any mention of the Communist proposal for a 12-hour Christmas truce, announced that Allied guns would be silent for a 30-hour yuletide period. The statement emphasized that US and Government forces would shoot if fired on, however. The cease-fire was effective from six PM 24 December to midnight 25 December. Before the guns fell silent B-52 bombers struck a Viet Cong stronghold near Saigon and the US Navy bombed a bridge ten miles from Haiphong – the closest strike to the big Communist port. First indications were that the Communists also were observing the truce, but it was believed they might strike after their offered 12 hours of respite. Meanwhile in Vatican City, Pope Paul VI, in a continuing effort for world peace, appeared willing to use his holy offices – possibly as a mediator – in the search for a peaceful solution to the war in Vietnam. For the second time in the past few days, the pontiff addressed himself to the escalating conflict in Southeast Asia and urged efforts for “just and sincere” negotiations to end the strife in Vietnam.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Franklin Oil City News-Herald)