South Vietnamese Continue Retreat

As the South Vietnamese retreat from Laos continued yesterday, it was discovered that 53 American soldiers Saturday refused to recover abandoned equipment in an area under heavy bombardment.

"I suppose if I went by the book, we could take them out and shoot them for refusing an order in the face of the enemy," an American officer said yesterday. "But they're back in the field doing their duty."

In action yesterday a North Vietnamese tank column chased Saigon troops down Highway 9 to within six miles of South Vietnam's northwestern border while a U. S. force scrambled to block any North Vietnamese thrust across the frontier.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird said that the North Vietnamese had reacted in a "very vicious, violent fashion." A Pentagon spokesman said that Saigon troops "have won the battle so far..." He de-scribed the campaign as a successful test of the Vietnamization program.

A Mouth and a Half

In the early stages of the invasion, which began February 8, both Washington and Saigon indicated that the South Vietnam troops intended to stay in Laos until the start of the rainy season around May 1. The spokesman described the rout as a "planned withdrawal being accomplished in accordance with the plan."

Hanoi called the campaign that has pushed at least 10,000 of the original South Vietnamese force of 22,000 back onto home soil in the last three days a "great victory." The U. S. has lost its "biggest gamble," Hanoi declared today, Figures issued from Saigon headquarters showed that government forces had suffered close to 25 per cent casualties.