Armoured personnel carriers come under Communist fire while bogged down (Visnews production number 10012-72)

Armoured Personnel Carriers - sent to the relief of a South Vietnamese Ranger battalion near Lai Khe - on Tuesday (15 August) came under North Vietnamese mortar fire when they became bogged down in a paddy field. The carriers were called for after the Rangers were forced to withdraw from an area near Lai Khe, 25 miles (40 km) north of the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon. The carriers began their advance before dawn - and it was in the darkness that the vehicles became bogged down. As other armoured personnel carriers tried to free the trapped vehicles, North Vietnamese mortar shells exploded near by. However, none of the carriers was hit. The Rangers' commander called in air strikes which pounded the suspected Communist mortar positions. Later, the South Vietnamese troops resumed their advance but made only slow progress. Latest reports from the area say sporadic Communist shelling of both Lai Khe and Ben Cát, suggesting a renewal of North Vietnamese interest in the Mekong Delta region.