Situation: Better

Nearly 700 years ago, when Kublai Khan's Mongol hordes swept out of the north, Viet Nam's legendary military hero, Tran Hung Dao, sparked the courage of his beleaguered army by having them tattoo on their arms the words "Sat Dat" (Let's kill the Mongols). Though outnumbered more than 2 to 1, the Vietnamese routed the Mongols and drove them out of Viet Nam.

Today, as another army from the north --the Communist Viet Cong--threatens South Viet Nam, the South Vietnamese government is hopeful that history can be made to repeat itself. Requisitioning two livestock marking machines from the U.S., the South Vietnamese will tattoo on the chests of their sailors the phrase "Sat Cong" (Let's kill the Communists).

But more than a slogan will be necessary. Last week General Paul Harkins, commander of U.S. forces in Thailand and Viet Nam, returned from a swing through defense and training installations. "There has been a definite improvement," he said. "People won't come right out and say that we are winning. But they won't by any means say that we are losing."

Credits & Debits. U.S. military advisers still complain that poor communications and the highly centralized command setup of South Viet Nam's President Ngo Dinh Diem retard quick response to Viet Cong attacks. But slowly, the tactics taught by the U.S. advisers--most notably the use of helicopters--have begun to show results. The Viet Cong is now suffering nearly twice as many casualties as the South Vietnamese and the amount of captured Viet Cong equipment is rising. Viet Cong defections are on the increase, and Viet Cong terror tactics against the Montagnards (mountain tribesmen), who have been indifferent to Diem's government, have caused thousands of them to pour down into government territory to volunteer for military training.

There is still no sign, however, that the Viet Cong has suffered any significant loss of its capability to strike when and where it likes. Viet Cong casualties are negated by the hundreds of new Communist infiltrators who stream across the border from "neutral" Laos into South Viet Nam every month. Intelligence officers suspect that the Viet Cong is moving in the new units for a big push during the rainy season, when the government's airlifting and air-striking power will be grounded. Already the reinforcements have emboldened the Viet Cong to strike prepared government positions for the first time in battalion strength. Last week nearly 500 Communists ambushed a government convoy, killed 23 Vietnamese and a U.S. Army captain; he was the seventh U.S. soldier killed in action since last December. To meet this Viet Cong buildup, two new government divisions are hastily being trained.

Jungle Action. Meanwhile, the bitter, dirty guerrilla struggle continues. Last week, after accompanying a combat patrol, TIME Correspondent Charles Mohr described a typical action of the ugly little war in the jungle:

The target area was a fertile quilt of rice fields and palm jungle near the market village of Tan Phu, only ten miles from Saigon. Communist Viet Cong guerrillas not only control the countryside, but can enter the town itself with impunity. They collect both rice and money taxes from the peasants and, in their hidden weapons caches, keep musical instruments and songbooks for use in the evening indoctrination sessions held for the local citizenry.

It was the first time that the troops of the three South Vietnamese Ranger companies assigned to clear out the area had been flown into action. Moving at treetop level, choppers from the U.S. Army's 57th Helicopter Co., which since last December has flown some 45,000 troops on 6,300 sorties, ferried the Rangers and six U.S. observers to the strike zone. There was no cover but no enemy fire either as the Rangers jumped from the hovering helicopters into the knee-deep black mud of the paddy fields.

The troops fanned out in a long half-moon and moved toward the canals that bordered the palm jungle. AD6 attack bombers circled the paddies and tried to flush the Viet Cong into the open with rockets and napalm jelly. Suddenly a spotter plane picked out a group of fleeing Viet Cong guerrillas and dropped a smoke grenade. Fire from rifles and automatic weapons killed five of the Viet Cong, but two dozen more escaped into the trees. During the ear-shattering, three-minute exchange of fire, a farmer at the edge of the trees placidly kept plowing his field.

Sweeping the area, the Rangers destroyed two Viet Cong mantraps--camouflaged pits filled with barbed steel spikes. One pit was designed as an inverted cone so that if a leg were thrust into the trap, it would be impossible to pull it up again through the downward-pointing spikes. Rangers warned the U.S. observers examining the pits to avoid the barbs, which are usually covered with human excrement, or stronger poisons if available.

Swimming Lesson. As the hunt for prisoners continued, the Rangers found two Viet Cong youths, 15 and 19, hiding in a canal. The elder carried a packet of Communist songbooks and a picture of North Viet Nam's Red Leader Ho Chi Minh. The Rangers were in no mood for a kid-glove interrogation of the prisoners; only last spring a Ranger camp had been sacked by the Viet Cong and a number of Ranger wives and children killed. The older boy was pinned to the ground and --as the Rangers call it--"taken for a swim." His jaw was forced open and five gallons of water from a rusty old can gradually poured into his mouth. The youth gagged and screamed, but refused to talk, even when prodded with a rifle butt. The water treatment was more frightening than hurtful; at the end of the day, the still-silent boy was fully recovered and able to march three miles out of the area with his captors.

With the battle over for the moment, the troops rested. Several of the Rangers began to stalk the small sparrowlike birds that frequent Vietnamese canals; from time to time, one of the soldiers would lunge for a bird and fall into the water, to the uproarious laughter of his comrades. Souvenir-hunting Rangers moved among the wounded Viet Cong prisoners, pulling from their fingers their silver identification rings.

At last it was time to move out. One Ranger began to twang out a tune on a captured Viet Cong guitar, and a companion did a twistlike jig, holding onto the bipod of his automatic rifle like a boy dancing with a broomstick. The bag for the day had been seven Viet Cong killed, eight prisoners, 53 suspect villagers arrested, seven rifles, more than 100 rounds of ammunition--and one guitar.

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