Fighting the Reds & the Bonzes

From the swamps of the Mekong Delta in the south to the North Vietnamese border, the Viet Cong launched one of their hottest offensives of the war. But even as more Vietnamese and American soldiers died in the unending nightmare struggle against the Communist guerrillas (nine deaths last week raised U.S. killed to 331), South Viet Nam's Buddhists announced their firm determination to destroy what little stability remains in the country.

More Aid. Often fighting against great odds, government troops gave an uncommonly plucky account of themselves. In the Camau Peninsula, they lured an elite, 700-man Viet Cong battalion into a trap, killed 115 Reds with a loss of only 27 government dead.

Elsewhere in the south the situation worsened considerably, and even the mountain resort area of Dalat, popular as a site for government crisis huddles, is now Communist-infested. Through out the country, not a day went by without a Communist attack of battalion size or larger. The Reds have scored their most alarming gains in the central provinces, as evidenced by last week's biggest clash: the battle of Anlao.

Nestled in a valley like a miniature Dienbienphu, the government strongpoint was attacked one night when hundreds of Viet Cong overran its two 4.2-mm. mortars, isolated on a nearby commanding hill. In a bitter three-day fight, the Reds virtually wiped out Anlao's 100 defenders. The attackers finally withdrew before air power and 1,000 counterattacking government troops, but there was concern over the capture of Anlao's guns--heaviest mortars the Reds have seized to date.

Back in Saigon after consultations in Washington, U.S. Ambassador General Maxwell Taylor brought word of yet another step-up in U.S. assistance.

There were the usual provisions for beefing up South Viet Nam's ground and air forces, plus increased economic aid (current total U.S. contribution: $700 million a year). Reportedly, Taylor now had the authority to support air strikes against Viet Cong supply lines at his discretion. But Taylor made clear that first some political stability must be visible in Saigon. Again the Buddhists (TIME cover, Dec. 11) reminded everybody how dim the prospect seems.

Monks' Ultimatum. Following two days of meetings, yellow-robed monks handed out mimeographed copies of what amounted to a declaration of war against Premier Tran Van Huong's six-week-old government, which suppressed Buddhist riots three weeks ago. Drafted by the Buddhists' top two political bosses, Thich Tri Quang and Thich Tarn Chau, the letter branded Huong's regime "execrable" threatened a nation wide campaign of "nonviolent noncooperation" unless "this government of betrayal" is dissolved.

In another letter to Ambassador Taylor, the Buddhists hinted that unless the U.S. withdraws its support from Huong--as it did last year from President Ngo Dinh Diem--Buddhist ire may be turned against Americans. Pointedly the Buddhists warned Taylor: "We affirm that you are responsible, before both the American and Vietnamese peoples, for the existence of the Huong government." Whereupon Chau, Quang and the Buddhists' nominal religious head, Thich Tinh Khiet, announced a 48-hour weekend hunger strike, urging Buddhists to join them in round-the-clock prayer sessions. From Darlac province came an offer of candidates for flaming Buddhist suicides.

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