The War

South Vietnamese troops beat back a fierce North Vietnamese tank attack on Hill 31 in Laos, but the outcome of the battle for the base was still in doubt last night.

This assault was the first North Vietnamese use of armor since early 1969.

The base is five miles from a point where a South Vietnamese ranger base was overrun last weekend with severe losses to the defenders.

The action at Hill 31 was the latest in a series of bloody engagements that have erupted since the U.S. supported South Vietnamese invasion of Laos began February 8.

In an interview yesterday General Creighton Abrams, U.S. commander in Vietnam, said that the invasion had a limited objective, the destruction of enemy stockpiles. He denied that it was ever intended to seal off the Ho Chi Minh trail.