Rabbit Stew

BATTLE OF INDOCHINA

In Indo-China (and China), Feb. 6 was the Tet, first day of the Year of the Rabbit, a time for celebration. For months past, Ho Chi Minh's radio has been saying that the Communists would celebrate Tet by marching into Hanoi.

Last week, on New Year's Eve, French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, no rabbit, took up Ho's challenge, plainly showed Hanoi's revelers his intention of defending them against Ho's Communists. For four hours, squadrons of French-manned Sherman tanks, each followed by 10 to 15 truckloads of combat infantrymen, paraded through Hanoi, criss-crossing through the streets into every quarter of the city to magnify the appearance of strength. In Saigon, De Lattre ordered 44 U.S. Bearcat fighters, unloaded from the escort carrier Windham Bay, to be towed through the streets in full view of the Indo-Chinese public (see cut).

The reality, as well as the appearance, protected Hanoi from Ho. Overhead, French-piloted U.S. B-26s roared into action for the first time in Indo-China, bombing Communist troops and supply dumps. Next day, Communists attacking the French perimeter were "everywhere repulsed."

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