Hanoi
siuc. He wished to mect his counter
t in
Cause the key to a peaceful solutio. was
share.
He wanted to establish what could be done to
lessen the tension and to reach a situation in which
South Vietnam could begin to demobilise part of its
MPMG forces.
3.
Mr Mattersley said there must be better ways of
spending scarce resources than on maintaining large
standing armies in the area. He enquired about the
current level of hostilities. Mr Bac said that
hortilities were definitely below the level prior to
the ceasefire and at the time of the general
offensive of 1972. But there were from time to time
fierce battles, for instance the current fighting
at Den Cat where the North Vietnamese were using
tablon and artillery. The North Victnamese capability
for a gone al offensive was still there though whethe
or not to launch one was for a separate decision.
He estimated the North Vietnamese had some 300,000
troops in the South at the time of the ceasefire and
that subsequent infiltration had brought these
forces up to 400,000 fully equipped with heavy weapons and improved logistic supplies.
L.
Hr Hattersley asked whether the South Vietnamese
Army could hold a general offensive at 1972 levels.
Mr Bac said this was difficult to say. In 1972 they
had had US air support. They could certainly hold
at the present level of military activity but a
general offensive would be very hard to meet.
North Vietnamese had not yet committed their air
force over the South and the South Vietnamese had
The
CONFID NTI AL
/therefore
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