EXPERIENCE OF THE "IRON TRIANGLE"
Gen. S.L.A.Marshall's bleak observations on the American operation in the “Iron Triangle" near Saigon [see World Outlook March 17, p.275] have been confirmed by the London correspondent of the Australian Financial Review. In the February 1 issue he said that the Vietnamese "had built an intricate system of tunnels containing hospitals, storerooms and living quarters and deep enough to be virtually immune from attacks from the air. There are perhaps 80 VC strongholds similar to the ‘Iron Triangle' in South Vietnam. The fact that the Americans are only beginning to approach them now illustrates how far they have to go."
The correspondent notes that up to now much of the war has occurred in the "“relatively open spaces against Vietcong units often prepared to do open battle. The Americans are just beginning to face the problem of carrying the war to the really populous areas, the Mekong Delta in particular, where Vietcong can hardly be distinguished from loyal South Vietnamese." The problem is further complicated, in the opinion of the correspondent, by the fact that the guerrillas refuse to meet American specifications on the easiest way to get themselves destroyed. And their small-scale but numerous operations continue to take a heavy toll among the troops of the invaders.
IS CHIANG