The War Heats Up

Moments after midnight, 300 Viet Cong guerrillas crept through sugarcane fields toward a camp of U.S. and South Vietnamese Special Forces at Hiephoa, barely 20 miles west of Saigon. Ducking under watchtowers bristling with machine guns and floodlights, the Reds knifed a sentry, forded a three-foot-deep moat, snipped three barbed-wire fences, and slipped into the compound--evidently in collusion with a spy inside, who unlocked the gate. Then, while guerrillas outside opened up with a mortar barrage, the infiltrators attacked to the blast of a bugle.

Running from barracks to barracks, they killed 37 South Vietnamese, most of them in their bunks, wounded a U.S. lieutenant, beheaded a Vietnamese cook. A half-mile away, 200 government soldiers at another post heard the battle, but, fearing ambush, dared not go to the rescue (next morning the route they would have taken was found sown with Red mines). After 40 minutes, the Communists withdrew, carrying off enough weapons to arm one of their battalions, plus four captured American advisers.* Because it took Saigon's new revolutionary regime more than a day to supply enough troops for a helicopter-borne counterassault, most of the Reds escaped. Some government troops had been tied down in fighting elsewhere, but a U.S. officer said bitterly: "It was Sunday. And this isn't a seven-day war except for the Viet Cong."

Trails of Blood. One month after the death of President Ngo Dinh Diem, South Viet Nam's Communist guerrillas are displaying greater boldness than ever. Viet Cong "incidents" during November averaged 745 per week, double the rate for the preceding ten months, and the Reds are throwing bigger units into battle. In the north at Dakrode, 100 guerrillas assaulted one of the area's strategic hamlets--now renamed "combat hamlets" by the Saigon regime to create a more aggressive image. The attackers blew up barbed-wire defenses and overran the village after 550 montagnard tribesmen defending it fought valiantly until their ammunition ran out, then fled. (They later returned.) Forcing captured tribesmen to carry 30 Communist dead and wounded, the guerrillas faded once again into the bush, leaving behind a trail of bloody bandages.

Elsewhere government troops, many under new commanders, counterattacked more vigorously and even seized the initiative. Lieut. General Duong Van Minh and his ruling junta seemed more willing than Diem to risk casualties. In the south, 800 guerrillas staged a predawn assault on Chala, overran half the outpost, but were repulsed by savage machine-gun fire. When paratroopers and B-26 bombers hurried to the rescue, the Reds shot down one B26. Yet the counterblow was effective; villagers reported that the fleeing Viet Cong suffered approximately 400 casualties. Northeast of Saigon, government troops ambushed a Viet Cong battalion, killed or wounded 69 of the enemy. Also northeast of the capital, a three-day government offensive ended with 40 Viet Cong dead. West of Mytho, air and artillery strikes wiped out 82 Reds.

End of the Rains. Although casualty figures have been running consistently against the Viet Cong, the ratio of weapons captured has averaged more than three to one in their favor; last week the Viet Cong lost 85 weapons while capturing 300. The Communists control about as much South Viet Nam territory as ever, and infiltration of arms and men from North Viet Nam is on the increase. One alleged route: from Red China and North Viet Nam by ship to Sihanoukville, the new port of "neutralist" Cambodia, thence in junks to the Mekong Delta or by truck along Cambodia's U.S.-built "Friendship Highway" and by boat down the Mekong River.

U.S. advisers in Viet Nam are doggedly optimistic, insist that the morale of the South Vietnamese is rising and predict decisive battles within a few weeks, when the dry season drains the swamps and paddyfields, making fighting easier.

* Bringing to twelve the number of American military personnel believed to be in Viet Cong hands. Two U.S. Special Forces men captured in the Mekong Delta five weeks ago have reportedly been forced to parade through villages with ropes tied round their necks, sometimes crawling on hands and knees. Meanwhile the Communists freed an Illinois-born engineer, Arthur Krause, 29, captured 5 1/2 months ago; his job had been to advise the U.S. military on construction of roads and airstrips. But the Reds let him go only after Krause signed a letter, later broadcast by Radio Hanoi, criticizing the U.S. war effort in South Viet Nam.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.