In the first eight months of 1967, more than
 75,500 attack sorties were flown over North Vietnam,
 only about 6,700 less than were flown during
 all of 1966. Attack sorties flown over Route
 Packages V and VI in the North mounted from a low
 of 9 percent in February 1967 to a high of 37 percent
 in July 1967. More than three-fourths of
 the 9,300 tons of ordinance dropped on northern
 railroad targets in 1967 was delivered during the
 three-month period June through August. Successful
 attacks have been made against key bridges
 over the Canal des Rapides and the Paul Doumer
 Bridge over the Red River in the Hanoi area, and
 many other targets - primarily bridges and rail-yards
 have been struck along the rail lines
 leading north to China and Haiphong.

The main thrust of the air campaign during
 1967, however, continues to be targeted against
 the logistics flow south of Hanoi. The recent
 extension to the key northern rail lines has not
 retarded significantly the flow of traffic and
 has not successfully entrapped transport equipment.
 A small number of locomotives were caught
 in the northern route packages, but more than 95
 percent of the trucks and watercraft reported by
 pilots to be destroyed were located in Route
 Packages I-IV.

The attacks against logistics targets in the
 north involved higher aircraft loss rates. The
 overall combat loss rate for US aircraft was 3.0
 per 1,000 attack sorties during 1967, an improvement
 over the higher rates of 6.7 and 3.5 during
 1965 and 1966, respectively. During the attacks
 on the northern railroads alone, however, US
 forces suffered a combat loss rate during 1967
 of 6.8 aircraft per 1,000 attack sorties.

North Vietnam has demonstrated its ability to
 counter the longstanding interdictions of through
 traffic on the Hanoi-Lao Cai line and the heavily
 pounded Hanoi-Vinh line. During the recent intensive
 attacks against the remaining rail lines in
 the northern area, the only additional disruptions

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