Of Revels & Reds

In Saigon last week things were quiet enough on the surface for officials to lift the nightly curfew so that New Year revelers could keep singing and drinking into the wee hours. It seemed hardly appropriate amid the tense political maneuvering taking place behind the scenes.

For one thing, the feud between U.S. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor and General Nguyen Khanh (see THE NATION) showed few if any signs of abating. While not speaking to Taylor, Khanh sent season's greetings to American troops in Viet Nam, warmly thanking them for their help in "our struggle for the defense of freedom." Khanh was shuttling back and forth from his resort-headquarters at Cap St. Jacques, where he huddled secretly with the Young Turk officers who, with Khanh, had outraged Taylor by toppling the civilian High National Council. At other times Khanh was seen speeding through Saigon in his green Mercedes, or bustling about his well-guarded villa inside Vietnamese naval headquarters.

Week of Silence. The U.S., for its part, tightened the screws on Khanh. U.S. advisers in the field were urged to try to ease tensions by discussing the situation with their Vietnamese counterparts. When Khanh demanded that the Americans stop "talking politics," the U.S. embassy ignored him. The embassy was also working on the Young Turks, one of whom said of the Khanh-Turk relationship: "Each side is using the other. Later we shall see who wins." Still in the middle was what was left of the civilian government of Premier Tran Van Huong and aging, ceremonial Chief of State Phan Khac Suu. After a week of frightened silence, Huong and Suu came out with a communique urging a measure of good will on all sides to achieve "a fitting solution to escape from the present crisis."

As usual in the unreal atmosphere of Viet Nam, war in all its ugly violence was exploding in the nearby countryside as the dreamlike sideshow of intrigue unfolded in Saigon. Near Soctrang, 90 miles south of the capital, a regional patrol stumbled on a regimental headquarters of 1,500 Viet Cong, who were dug into a field and camouflaged. Rangers, backed by air support that sowed the field with some 288,000 bullets, 4,000 20-mm. cannon shells, 1,552 rockets and 37,000 Ibs. of bombs, scattered the Red nest. At least 87 Viet Cong were killed and a record haul of Red weapons captured.

But next day 1,200 Red troops invaded Binhgia, a prosperous, palm-shaded agricultural community only 40 miles southeast of Saigon. Setting up headquarters in the village church, after first shooting off its crucifix, the Reds opened up with deadly fire on 1,000 counterattacking Rangers and Marines. Air-dropped into a nearby field, 175 government troops were ambushed from heavy foliage; those not killed were captured, among them the unit's two U.S. advisers. Of 49 U.S. helicopters taking part in the battle, four were shot down --one in flames, killing its four U.S. crewmen.

Khaki Uniforms. After three days, the Reds withdrew under steadily mounting counterattack by government forces. Moving into Binhgia, Vietnamese Marines found a macabre scene. Village and environs were strewn with 32 Viet Cong and 60 government dead.

Civilians popped out of great earthen jars in which they had taken refuge, and for a time, it seemed the guerrillas had withdrawn in defeat. Then, as a government Marine battalion advanced to rescue its own wounded and remove the bodies of the four Americans in the downed helicopter, bugles blared and wave after wave of Viet Cong--this time dressed in khaki uniforms--attacked from ambush. "These aren't guerrillas, they are regular troops," yelled an American officer over his field radio, as the attackers cut down at least 250 Marines, half of the rescue battalion.

To some observers, Binhgia seemed to mark a distinct shift from the usual Red hit-and-run methods. Had the Viet Cong decided on new large-unit tactics at the risk of heavy losses of their own? In any case, Binhgia would go down in the military history books as one of the biggest battles of the Viet Nam war.

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