The Test to Come

"There are two air forces in South Viet Nam," said an official in Saigon, "the Vietnamese and the U.S." Since the U.S. role, technically, is to instruct government pilots, Vietnamese trainees accompany the American pilots on bombing and strafing missions against the Communist Viet Cong. When fast action is needed, it is the U.S. air power that does the job. Last week that help was badly needed.

The usual method of the 25,000 Communist Viet Cong guerrillas is to attack in small numbers at scattered points, ambushing a government patrol or raiding a village. Recently, in an abrupt change of pace and tactics, the guerrillas began striking in larger numbers and concentrating their attack in the country's heavily populated southern part. The Viet Cong poured more than 200 men into a single battle, launched five other forays in batallion strength that seemed to signal the start of a spring offensive. Said one U.S. colonel: "The Viet Cong is entering a new phase of the war.''

Light That Failed. The heaviest fighting took place last week at the village of Bo Tuc, 82 miles northwest of Saigon in Tayninh province, six miles from the Cambodian border. Promptly at midnight, at the sound of five thumps on a bamboo drum, hundreds of Viet Cong guerrillas stormed from the tall grass, quickly overran two outposts manned by four civil guards. Their main objective was a large defense post in the center of the village occupied by 78 guards and militiamen.

Racing toward the fort, protected by barbed wire and an embankment bristling with bamboo spikes, the Communists burned the surrounding huts.

The flames proved their undoing. They lost their protective cover, became silhouetted targets. An eight-man team of guerrillas, however, had successfully lobbed a 57-mm. shell (from a captured U.S. recoilless rifle) into the fort, setting it afire. The battle raged until morning, when three waves of government planes, some piloted by Vietnamese and some by Americans accompanied by Vietnamese trainees, finally appeared to bomb and strafe the fleeing Viet Cong. Not until early afternoon did Vietnamese paratroopers arrive; by then, the enemy had disappeared. At nightfall, however, despite the paratroopers' presence, the Communists had managed to remove most of their 56 dead. Reported government casualties: 18 dead. 12 wounded.

Tree That Sheltered. Two days later, the Vietnamese went on the offensive. Flying from Saigon before dawn, 16 U.S. Army helicopters picked up a Vietnamese battalion. Their orders: to surprise 200 guerrillas that intelligence reports had located in the village of Cai Ngai, a Communist stronghold on the southeast tip of Viet Nam. Already in the area, concentrated in the Mekong Delta, were 1,500 government troops searching for the enemy in the mangrove swamps and inlets along the South China Sea.

Flying six to ten feet above the ground to hide from Communist spotters, the helicopters soon touched down near the village as AD6 Skyraiders strafed the ground to cut off the Viet Cong retreat. But instead of racing to the village from where the startled Communists had fled (leaving behind their dinner), the Vietnamese paused under coconut trees. "Let's move the thing forward,'' yelled a frustrated U.S. adviser. When the troops reached the group of huts, the main force of the Viet Cong had fled. Captured and destroyed were a crude armament factory, a food depot and a medical-aid station. Strafing had killed about 25 guerrillas. The only Vietnamese casualty was a soldier who was accidentally shot in the foot by a comrade. Six helicopters were riddled with bullets, but all returned safely. Said one U.S. pilot dryly: "They got hold of an American training manual that explains how to shoot at aircraft." Although Communist successes continued to outnumber their defeats, some government officials welcomed the larger-scale clashes as a sign that the Viet Cong is growing increasingly fearful of stepped-up U.S. aid to the Vietnamese army. In parts of the central lowlands, for example, guerrillas are on the defensive. But, cautioned one U.S. official: "It would be misleading to say that the situation has improved. The test has yet to come."

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