Reminiscence on a River

This time of the year, when the monsoons flood the Mekong Delta, water is everywhere. The canals, which are the roads of the region, run long and straight from swollen rivers. All war plans inevitably involve boats. Under cover of night, the Communists cart their troops and supplies in flotillas of long, narrow, shallow-draft sampans; the same boats that carry the enemy to battle take him away when he retreats.

Last week U.S. troops tried the same sort of tactics--with far different equipment. As ground fighting flared up after a two-week lull, the Navy, Army and Air Force teamed with South Vietnamese regulars and staged a river assault reminiscent of Civil War engagements on the Lower Mississippi. They steamed off to battle in a "river assault flotilla" consisting of two converted World War II armored troop carriers and one "Monitor" gunboat that can slither along like water moccasins in shallow inlets and stand up to direct hits from recoilless rifles.

The scrap began as a search-and-destroy operation. The floating troop carriers dropped off two U.S. infantry battalions and one ARVN battalion at three scattered points along the Rach Hui River 17 miles south of Saigon, and the troops fanned out looking for action. When one company made contact with a Viet Cong battalion on the river, the boats rushed reinforcements up, and five air strikes were called in along with armed helicopters and the miniguns of the converted C-47s known as Puff the Magic Dragon. The Monitor and troop carriers opened up at almost point-blank range with their own 20-mm. and 40-mm. cannons and 81-mm. mortars. The Navy gunners even sent shells skipping off the surface of a pond in order to drop them onto enemy positions.

"We kept laying the fire in," says Navy Lieut. Augustine Marana, 37, "and just chopped the trees down." The fight raged on into the night by the light of flares," and the next day 250 of the Viet Cong's 300-man force were dead. The U.S. lost 48.

Dishing It Out. The Americans had barely savored one of their biggest victories of the year, however, when a North Vietnamese battalion pinned down a U.S. airborne company in the Central Highlands and gave them a bad mauling. After three banzai charges that brought the North Vietnamese within grenade range, the fighting became so close and intense that air strikes and artillery could not be called in. The Americans lost 76 men, including four of the company's five officers. But they dished it out in spite of their losses. Enemy dead were estimated at 475.

The Viet Cong tried to overrun the 11th Armored Cavalry the same way--with far different results. Bivouacked in an open field 53 miles east of Saigon, the Americans were hit just before midnight by Viet Cong mortar and recoil-less-rifle fire. "The V.C. were loaded for bear," said U.S. Army Major David Doyle. "They were well outfitted and their equipment was new." But in a sharp, short fight, the cavalry lost only nine men, the enemy 56.

When they made their retreat, however, the Viet Cong ran into an exploring American patrol and killed nine of its ten members. In two other clashes in the northern coastal provinces of the country, U.S. troops killed 130 of the Viet Cong's black pajama-clad regular soldiers, lost only six of their own men. During Operation Beacon Torch in Quang Nam province, U.S. Marines killed 57 North Vietnamese. During the battle, ten leathernecks also fell.

Search, Destroy & Hold. Despite such heavy losses, Communist troop strength in South Viet Nam has risen to a record 295,000 men. a gain that reflects stepped-up infiltration from the North and heavier recruiting; the Viet Cong has even begun drafting 14-and 15-year-olds from the villages it holds. Though the V.C. may not be winning control of more villages, they are not losing many either. Thus far, only 500 or 600 of South Viet Nam's 13,000 hamlets have been successfully and permanently secured, and General William C. Westmoreland, U.S. armed forces chief in South Viet Nam, plans to expand his search-and-destroy operations into search-destroy-and-hold operations. The change, he figures, will help maintain security over liberated villages and give the now-foundering pacification program new hope.

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