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REBEL WAVES SWEEP
FRENCH
DEFENCES
HANOI, Fri.--Waves of Communist troops
in the past few hours have swept over French
defences some 35 miles south of Hanoi.
The French High Command said that increasing
Vietminh troops smashed the French defences like
matchwood to capture a French command post
outside Phu Ly.
The High Command re-
port described it as the
biggest battle since the
fall of Dien Bien Phu.
The French union forces
managed to regroup and launch
a counter-attack.
They rescued a French bat-
talion commander who had
been captured by the rebels.
In another action, a military
spokesman said, a mobile
French battalion was ambush-
ed by Communist units on a
nearby highway.
French losses in both actions
were described officially as
"serious."
The Vietmlnh forces, thous-
ands strong are sweeping
against the southern flank of
the Hanoi defences in an appar-
ent effort to cut off Hanoi, pre-
paratory to a threatened siege
of the northern capital of Indo-
China.
Rail Link
East of Hanoi, along the high-
way and railway linking it with
Haiphong other rebel forces
clashed with light Franco-Viet-
namese battalions guarding the
traffic artery which carries
Amierican aid inland from the
docks.
Rebel saboteurs blew up two
trains between Hanoi and
Haiphong yesterday with radio
controlled mines buried between
the sleepers.
"Many" civilian passengers
were injured, the high command
reported.
Increased pressure was re-
ported everywhere around
Hanoi, where war fever mount-
ed.
Very few women and children
remain in Hanoi now that
Dien Bien Phu has fallen and
the rebels are pressing closer.
Commercial airlines passenger
lists indicate an unofficial
evacuation of the capital of
Tonking.
The evacuees have gone to
France or to other towns of
Indo-China considered safe.
Many French residents who
had spent 15 to 20 years in
Tonking left some time ago
carry on.
Key City
Phu Ly, the city threatened by
the latest attack, is ten miles
west of the Red River itself,
and 21 miles west of Nam
Dinh, third city of the delta.
If Phu Ly falls, the road to
Nam Dinh will lie open before
the rebels.
Military dispatches late today
said that American-supplied
planes had flown 50 sorties
against the rebels at Phu Ly
during the day.
Yesterday the High Command
sent 40 B-26 light bombers
south to bombard arms depots
and troop concentrations.
They said that so long as the
main centre of population and
communication lines were in
their hands, they could domi-
nate the crucial triangle.
Evacuation
The first group of seriously
wounded French Union troops
evacuated from Dien Bien Phu,
arrived by helicopter today at
Luang Prabang.
The planes, single-engine
Morane spotter aircraft and De
Havilland beavers were due to
begin arriving back at Luang
Prabang this afternoon.
A helicopter, carrying a
French mercy mission headed
by Professor Pierre Huard left
Luang Prabang for Dien Bien
Phu on its second mission to
organise evacuation from the
fortress.
When the wounded arrive in
Luang Prabang they will be
transferred to Dakotas for the
flight across the mountains to Hanoi.
(Eden Calls On Reds, Page 3.)
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