On the Offensive

For the first time since Tet, the allies last week swept out on the offensive, launching their largest operation of the war. Code-named "Resolved to Victory," the drive aimed at breaking the ring of three enemy divisions menacing Saigon. It employed more than 50 battalions formed from the U.S. 1st, 9th and 25th Divisions and the South Vietnamese 5th and 25th Divi sions, plus task forces of Vietnamese marines and paratroopers. The nearly 50,000 troops fanned out through a five-province belt around the capital.

The enemy proved elusive in the first days of the sweep, but then a U.S. armored cavalry regiment flushed a Viet Cong battalion 15 miles northwest of Saigon. In a nine-hour battle, 81 of the enemy were killed without a single U.S. loss. By week's end, some 500 Communists had been killed in about 60 scattered clashes. Even so, U.S. intelligence suspected that most Communist units had either withdrawn toward Cambodia or broken up their units into small bands to escape detection and avoid contact.

Despite bad weather, U.S. Navy and Air Force jets managed an average of 85 strikes a day against North Viet Nam, twice hitting a vital railroad-highway bridge and power plant in the port city of Haiphong. U.S. planes also kept up relentless pressure on the Communists surrounding the besieged U.S. Marine base of Khe Sanh, though 100 to 300 rounds of mortar and rocket fire continued to pour into the garrison each day. Last week the Marines at Khe

Sanh went on special alert to mark an ominous anniversary: the 14th year to the day since General Vo Nguyen Giap's initial assault on the French bastion of Dienbienphu. But the day came and went without any North Vietnamese attempt to celebrate with all-out fireworks.

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