Tightening the Lines

INDOCHINA

From besieged Dienbienphu one day last week came a three-letter message: "R.A.S." The letters stood for "Rien `a signaler"--French army for "nothing to report"--and this was the first time GHQ had received such a message since the battle started five weeks before. Dienbienphu's tired but resting defenders still had to keep their heads down: Red artillery and mortar observers could note every movement along the shell-pocked valley. There was some heavy skirmishing: a Red commando detachment infiltrated the northern end of the airstrip disused since March 28, and the French could not winkle them out. But there was time for regular services on Easter Sunday morning.

Dienbienphu's commander, General Christian de Castries, took advantage of the lull to resurvey his battered position, and he decided that a couple of northwestern outposts were too exposed. He therefore abandoned these outposts under sharp Red fire and realigned most of his 12,000-man force inside one bristling, unbroken perimeter some 1 1/2 miles in diameter, leaving only one strong point isolated three miles to the south. De Castries stiffened the new perimeter with fresh, air-dropped reinforcements--infantry volunteers with only a few hours' parachute instruction and no practice--and built up his ammunition stocks for the battle's third round. De Castries professed to have no doubt who would win. "I'm going to kick General Giap's teeth in, one by one," said he.

French intelligence reported that Giap was also using the lull to bring up heavy reinforcements and supplies and to redraw his battle lines--nearer and nearer the fortress.

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