Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part-V-B-4-Book-I.djvu/377

Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3 NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011  command or, perhaps, incorporated into 2nd Corps. The Combined Headquarters at 3rd Corps should cease to be responsible to Field Army Headquarters (which can then concentrate on the area north of Saigon and the Highlands), and should be directly responsible to the National Security Council presided over by His Excellency the President. The Corps and all its military units would, however, continue to draw logistical support from the H.Q. A.R.V.N.

6. Given this one Combined Headquarters for the whole area, the 32nd and 33rd Tactical Zones as such are no longer necessary Instead there would only be an operational dividing line between the two divisions but this would be changeable, depending both on the situation and on the operations planned. This will allow such greater flexibility with regard to the movement of military forces throughout the whole area.

7. It follows from this that the chefs de Province will be directly responsible to the Combined Headquarters on all emergency matters (though they will continue to work to the Ministries concerned in respect of normal routine administration). The Chef de Province should remain responsible for the direction and co-ordination of all emergency measures in his Province and the District chefs should similarly remain responsible to their respective Chefs de Province. Bearing in mind that most of them are military officers this is likely to be more satisfactory in the present circumstances than the Malayan District or Executive Committee system. This system should only be developed gradually as military Chefs de Province can be replaced by civil administrators.

8. (a) The military chain of command will operate in the normal way, from the Military Corps staff at the Combined Headquarters to the two Divisional Headquarters and thence to regiments and battalions. It may be desirable for Ranger Companies, specifically attached to a particular Province, to come under the operational command of the Chef de Province, but the latter should not comm,and any army battalion or regiment operating in his province. He should, however, be responsible for co-ordinating operations with the commander of that battalion or regiment, as the case may be. (b) The Rh