A Success & A Promise

The territory was familiar to the fighting men of the U.S. 1st Cavalry (Airmobile). From late January through mid-March, they had swept the scrub-grown slopes and rocky ridges of the An Lao Valley in a furious, 41-day string of fights that killed 1,342 Communist soldiers and netted 250 enemy weapons. The Reds moved back in when the Air Cav left, but last week--on the foggy coastal plain east of An Lao--they received an encore. "Operation Davy Crockett" proved as sharp-eyed as its namesake.

Stiffened Morale. Though the three Communist regiments in the An Lao Valley were reluctant to fight, the Air Cav's superb mobility forced them to.

Swooping in from north, south and west, the heliborne Americans hammered the Reds down onto an anvil of South Vietnamese motorized troops. One battalion was run to ground near the village of Tham Son, ten miles north of Bong Son. Red machine guns forced back an assault by troopers of one Air Cav battalion. The Americans dug in behind 2-ft. paddy walls and called for air strikes. Flights of fighter-bombers screeched in with napalm followed by bombs to spread the flaming jellied gasoline. Toll: 146 dead Reds.

After that, it was merely a question of mopping up. As the fleeing Communists were pinned down at every turn by helicopter-hopping Air Cav and South Vietnamese troops, the count mounted to 446 dead, 389 captured.

"We Will Fight." Whether or not his mood was affected by the military success, Premier Nguyen Cao Ky seemed to be in a freer and firmer state of mind about the political picture. Clad in a canary-yellow flight suit and sipping Jim Beam bourbon from a paper cup, he held an impromptu press conference at the Mekong Delta town of Can Tho. Ky said it would be at least a year before the new civilian government demanded by the Buddhists could be legally elected--and added that he expected to remain in power for that period. "Elections for a constituent assembly will be held as scheduled, some time in September," Ky explained. "The assembly will draw up a constitution. The congress must be chosen in another election, some time in 1967. So if the sky and the airplane--and particularly my wife--don't force me to resign, I'll be in power at least one more year. Why not?"

One possible reason why not could be the "baby Turks"--junior field officers who were rumored to be angry at Ky for caving in to Buddhist demands, and hence might be plotting a coup. An other could be Buddhist Leader Thich Tri Quang, who seems unlikely to endorse Ky's one-year timetable. Whatever the case, Ky made it clear that although he will honor his pledge to relinquish power to civilians, he will not tolerate a Communist or neutralist regime. "I don't think the elections will result in a Communist or neutralist government," said Ky. "But if they do, we will fight. I don't care if they are elected or not, we'll fight." And with the 400 warplanes of the South Vietnamese air force still behind him, Ky could doubtless make good on the promise.

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