The Key West citizen. [volume], May 03, 1954, Page Page 5, Image 5

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Monday, May 3, 1954
VIETMINH HALT
INFANTRY PUSH
ON FORTRESS
By LARRY ALL Erf'
HANOI, Indochina (£}—The Com
nunist-led Vietminh halted their
third massive infantry assault on
/Dien Bien Phu last night. The
breather for the weary and bat
tered French Union defenders ex
tended into today.
A terse French high command
communique early today said the
night at the besieged northwest
Indochina fortress was “calm,”
with only “light harassments” of
key French positiois by rebel ar
tillery and mortars,
The French took immediate ad
vantage of the slack in the fighting
to parachute tois of ammunition
and supplies into the beleaguered
fortress.
There was no immediate ex
planation for the rebel pullback,
a startling development since pre
vious reports of the fighting had
> indicated toe Vietminh probably
could ovetfun the besieged French
position Whenever they threw the
bulk of toeir much greater num
bers initsthe charge.
The Vietminh had launched their
third wave-on-wave infantry as
sault on the fortress Saturday
night *
Before they broke off their wild
charges from all sides of the
sbJOnken French perimeter, the
rMels had choked off three more
of the strongpoints guarding the
tinkered command headquarters
tA French Big. Gen. Christian de
'Castries and also overrun “Isa
belle,” an isolated outpost three
miles south of the main fortress
defenses.
A later French announcement
said the defenders in a violent
counterattack had recaptured Isa
belle.
The battle raged at close range
loir hours Saturday night and yes
terday as the garrison force, out
numbered about 6 to 1 and
squeezed into a trap less than a
mile across, fought for their lives
with bayonets, knives and hand
grenades.
The French army command said
its losses were heavy but claimed
the enemy toll was “extremely”,
high.
The fortress, Frances last
stronghold in northwest Indochina,
had withstood 51 days of constant
hammering by the Vietminh, in
cluding two previous attempts to
overwhelm it by sheer force of
numbers.
Bitter French counterattacks
drove the Vietminh from positions
held briefly on the southeastern
rhn yesterday, but the other cap
tured bunkers and trenches—on
the east, northeast and west—gave
the attackers new protected firing
positions.
French tanks, clustered in the
heart of the fortress, were of little
mm ?(** xm I^l
By MANLY WELCMAN.
Chapter 21
I*D been ready for almost any
thing but that. “Will you con
fess that to the police?” I asked
him.
"Why not? They’ll find it out*
"And why," I asked, “did you
do all this?”
“Isn’t that a superfluous ques
tion, Yates? I did it to cover my
own guilt I killed Dick Ealing.”
“How did you manage such a
good murder?” I asked him.
“I shot him with his own der
ringer and put it in his hand and
closed his fingers around it”
said KuhL
“Wait” I said. “When the door
was smashed down, Pettigrew
checked the position of the key—
in the lock on the inside of the
door. He called Dr; Stokes’s at
tention to it”
‘Well,” said Kuhl, and now his
voice was no longer clear and
steady, but shook like his hand,
"I just pulled the door shut and
let it catch.”
“With the key in the lock?”
"That’s right. Yes. with the
key in the lock.”
I thought for a moment. "I
don’t think it would work, Kuhl.
That was a patent lock and it
closes or opens by the key only.
If the door was locked, and the
key was in the lock, it would
have to be turned from the in
pide.”
f “Oh!” cried Diane Ealing, and
jumped up. “Mr. Yates, don’t
you see what Jim’s trying to do?
He didn’t kill Dick. He’s trying to
take the blame because he thinks
I did it.”
I needed only the one look at
James Kuhl’s face to see that she
had told the truth about what he
was doing and thinking.
“Before you get bitter toward
him,” I admonished Diane Eal
ing, “just remember how you
thought he was the murderer.”
/ Kuhl swung around to face me,
*o savagely that I imagined for
a moment he wanted to bite me.
“What was that, Yates? Just
say that again.”
“She was trying to cover up
for you before you came,” I said.
“Where were you, Jim?” asked
Diane Ealing sharply, “You teU
me, and at once.”
. THE KEY WEST CITIZEN
use in the fighting at dose quar
ters. French bombers and fighters
swooped over the battlefield but
could not blast the rebels at close
range without killing their own
troops.
As in their first big attack, on
March 13, and the second, two
weeks later, the Vietminh opened
up Saturday with a heavy artillery
and mortar barrage before
striking.
The Vietminh infantry hit the
main French positions from three
sides at 10 p.m. At the same time
“Isabelle.”
As the rebels pushed toward the
center of Dien Bien Phu by at
tacking again and again, the
French threw up new defense
lines. But all the time losing pre
cious ground.
French warplanes strafed and
bombed Vietminh reserves en
camped in the surrounding jungle
covered hills and hit at antiaircraft
and artillery positions. They also
slashed enemy supply routes which
fan northward to Red China.
Hollywood Notes
By 808 THOMAS
HOLLYWOOD Hay
den today came to the defense of
a much-maligned breed in Holly
wood-temperamental actors.
Mind you, Hayden is not one
to toss his ego around. He’s as
even-tempered as a British diplo
mat. Proof of his cooperativeness
is the fact that he has made 11
pictures in the past 2V& years. His
latest is “Suddenly” with Frank
Sinatra. ,
Having worked at every studio
in town, he has seen his share
of temperament. Some of it he
likes, some he doesn’t.
When we met for lunch, he said
he had meant to look up “tera
permental” in the dictionary. I
have done so, and the definition
is: “the peculiar mental and phys
ical character of an individual.”
That would support Hayden’s
theory.
“The word ‘temperamental’ has
acquired a bad connotation in Hol
lywood,” be remarked. “I don’t
think it is necessarily bad. I al
ways remember a foreword Clif
ton Fadiman wrote for ‘Moby
Dick.’ He said that Herman Mel
ville had been considered some
thing of an eccentric in his life
time. He added that perhaps we
should not apply normal standards
of behavior to someone with the
genius to write a ‘Moby Dick.’
“And I think that applies to all
creative people. Take Marlon
Brando. I don’t care if he has
f raccoon for a pet or is going
through analysis. To me he’s a
great actor. He can take a part
and act the heck out of k. For
“I was calling on my wife," he
said.
No wonder he’d tried to hold
that back. Diane Ealing was
furious with him on the instant.
Her anger exploded like a shell.
I looked across him at Diane
Ealing, winked at her, then
turned and walked out As 1
closed the front door, I could
hear their voices again, both
ringing out at once, fast and ex
cited.
AT the nearest pay phone I
called J. D.’s office. “News,
chief,” I said. “Kuhl admitted
that he framed Doc Stokes. Til
go into that in detail when I get
back to the office. Tell me, where
does Kuhl,’s estranged wife live?
You were calling on* her a couple
of days ago.”
“She stays with her aunt, Mrs.
Dora Howard, in the Lowell Park
District Why?”
“I want to talk to her. Give
me the address.”
J. D. gave it to me, and direc
tions how to get to Lowell Park.
At the house with the proper
number I rang a bell and a wo
man came to the door.
“Yes,” she answered my ques
tion, “I’m Mrs. Kuhl.”
I didn’t blame Kuhl for want
ing to trade her in on Diane
Ealing. Average height average
figure, average face, with slacks
and sweater over enough founda
tion garments to harness a horse,
big thick-soled wedgies, and hair
bleached to the color of raw, new
rope done in a hair-do straight
out of the funny papers. “What
do you want?” she asked, in the
empty high voice you hear from
the made-up lips of so many wo
men.
“What I want to ask is about
your husband.”
“I haven’t any husband any
more. We’re separated.”
“So I hear. Now, Mrs. Kuhl,
who came to see you the day of
the murder?"
“Jim came. It was about our
divorce. He wanted to get it into
court and offered me a settle
ment. I said I’d fight the case.”
“What time in the afternoon
was this?"
“Two-thirty, maybe.”
"to* talked a
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exactly what she feels. If she gets
mad enough, she’ll blow her cork.
Put she’s a wonderful gal, and
she has great integrity as an ac
tress.
“The first time I heard Mario
Lanza sing, I said, ‘This guy has
got it.’ I didn’t care how he acted
in his private life; that great voice
made up for it.
“Then there’s Sinatra. He’s sup
posed to be temperamental, but
I’m on his side. He has a mind
like a steel trap. He has some ter
ficic speeches in tills picture—wild
stuff that would throw me. He
doesn’t always get all the words
right, but gets the meaning across.
And there’s a certain sincerity
about the guy that comes through.
"An hour _ and a half or two
hours. We didn’t get anywhere.”
A little more of that and I
thanked her and went out.
Driving back to the office from
that meeting with Mrs. James
Kuhl. I tried to think where I’d
go from there for anew clue
and anew traiL I'd have to clarify
things in a good talk with J. D.
But J. D. met me in the outer
office. She didn’t pause for much
more than long enough to put out
her hand for* the car keys.
‘Tm overdue on a lead of my
own.”
“Where away?”
“At Dr. Stokes’s home,” she
said, and left
Dr. Stokes. She had said Dr.
Stokes, after saying she’d ignore
him from then on forever. I
walked into the rear office, where
Holmgren was sitting. He looked
up and smiled at me.
“Where did this latest tip come
from?” I demanded.
“From under the door. We
were discussing what we had on
the case backward and forward
and from side to side, and then
somebody knocked. I went out
and opened the door. Nobody
was there, but a folded note had
been stuck underneath. There it
is.”
The note read:
How much is it wurth for you
to kno I can tell who really
killd R. Eling Talk to me about
this quick befor its to late
Alchisez
"She went buzzing out there— *
Holmgren started to go on.
“And I’m buzzing right out
after her.”
J. D.’s car was parked in front
of Dr. Stokes’s house and as I
leaped up the steps I saw that
the front door was open. I walked
in, through the hall, and into the
parlor. I almost bumped into J. D.
She stood like a statue, gazing
and gazing at what lay on the
floor.
It was Alchisez, flat on his face
with his arms out and a stain
of dark dampness around his
head. Beyond him, half hidden
behind an easy chair, lay some
body with a checked coat and
pants. I knew those clothes. It
would be A1 Bensinger.
ff# b gentinae#
WASHINGTON W file Eisen
hower administration talked tough
but, it appears now, never had a
prepared plan to help the French
if they faced disaster in Indochina
at the hands of the Communist-led
Vietminh.
The tough talk didn’t stop the
Communists. Secretary of State
Dulles didn’t come up with a plan
until the French did face disaster.
So far his plan hasn’t worked.
When the Korean truce was
signed last summer, Dulles fo
cused American and world atten
tion on Indochina, where the
French had been fighting the Viet
minh seven years.
On Sept. 2 he warned the Com
munist Chinese not to send their
troops into Indochina. Such ag
gression, he said, “could not occur
without grave consequences which
might not be confined to Indo
china.”
If this was intended to warn the
Chinese they might be bombed in
China if they sent an army into
Indochina, it overlooked a reality:
they didn’t have to send in an
Army.
The native Indochinese rebels
were willing to fight and die. They
needed supplies and expert direc
tion and help. The Chinese sent in
supplies and specialists. A few
weeks ago Dulles said they had
sent in 2,000 specialists. Dulles
hadn’t said what this country
would do in a case like that.
Yet, that may be the future pat
tern of Communist aggression any
where: get the native communists
to revolt and then see them
through a victory with supplies and
trained men who stay in the back
ground.
In another major policy speech
Jan. 12 Dulles said aggression
would be met with instand and
massive retaliation. Later he wa
tered it down, saying he had
meant to emphasize not so much
try’s “capacity” to retaliate in
the word “instant” as this coun
stantly, if it wished to.
It was watered down even fur
ther by President Eisenhower on
March 10. He told a news confer
ence the United States would not
get involved in war without a for
mal declaration by Congress. That
could hardly be done instantly.
Three days later Dulles ex
plained Eisenhower could order in
stant retaliation if he thought an
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The World
Today
By James Marlow
attack anywhere was preliminary
to attack on this country. Chinese
aggression in Indochina could
hardly be considered that.
On the very day Dulles gave that
explanation, the Vietminh began a
major offensive against the French
fortress of Dien Bien Phu in north
west Viet Nam, The date was
March 13.
At this time the administration
seemed-to thfok the French would
win.
Secretary of Defense Wilson said
he thought so on Feb. 9. On Feb.
16 Walter Bedell Smith, Dulles’ un
der secretary, brushed off Red
advances in Indochina as “nothing
but real estate victories.” As late
as March 23 Dulles was predicting
a French victory.
Meanwhile, Eisenhower bad said
U. S. involvement in a hot war in
Indochina would be a great trage
dy for this country. There was
much congressional opposition to
involvement. By this time it was
fair to wonder what Dulles’ tough
talk amounted to.
By March 29 the Vietminh had
given the French a battering.
Dulles said a Communist victory
1 in Indochina would lead to domi
nation of all Southeast Asia. “That
possibility,” he said, “should not
be passively accepted but should
be met by united action.”
This, at last, seemed to be a
plan, although one thought up at
the last moment, for he dashed off
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Friction Between
Russia, Red China
May Develop
WASHINGTON Ufl —A study pub
lished by a federal agency says
there are potential points of fric
-1 tion between Red China and Russia
Wespne the “stalinization” of China
and efforts to weld stronger bonds
between the two countries.
The U.S. Information Agency
yesterday published for public in
formation and the guidance of its
own staff a study of Chinese-
Russian relations by Richard L.
Walker, assistant professor of Far
Eastern history at Yale University.
Walker said Communist China is
being remade in the image of
Soviet Russia with Russian help
to see if the French and British
would form a Pacific alliance like
the one they had with this country
in Europe.
There had been months in which
to talk this over with the two big
allies. The Geneva conference
with the Russians and Red Chinese
on Indochina Was to start April 26.
If the British and French turned
Dulles down on his united action
idea the Communists would know
that the three big allies were
divided.
Britain and France insisted on
waiting to see what happened at
Geneva before agreeing to “united
action.”
They went into the conference
divided, facing the undivided Com
munists, who could take advantage
of their split. They did. Now the
French may agree to a peace plan
which could lead to eventual sei
zure of all Indochina.
and thlt ties between the two na-’
tions are strengthening.
But he viewed as potential
trouble points China’s traditional
antiforeign attitude, which might
turn against Soviet advisers, and,
more important, the Soviet sys
tem’s inability to solve China’s
problems, particularly in agricul
ture.
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