South Viet Nam: Papering It Over

In grotesque, funereal procession, the Vietnamese marine convoy pulled out of the rubber plantation—twelve truckloads of the living preceded by trucks and carts piled with dead. Thus, after seven days, ended the battle of Binhgia —longest and bloodiest of the South Vietnamese war. There were a few parting Red ambushes. In one a U.S. captain, leaping from a shattered Jeep, found himself staring down the muzzle of a rifle held by a helmeted, uniformed Communist soldier, shot the guerrilla between the eyes. Then the Viet Cong vanished as swiftly asthey had attacked. The final score: 195 government troops dead, 182 wounded, 62 missing; five Americans killed, nine wounded, three captured;* an estimated 140 Viet Cong dead, two captured.

Hidden Honeycomb. The running fight around the Catholic refugee village 40 miles southeast of Saigon (ironically, Binhgia translates as “Peaceful House”) was a testimonial to Viet Cong cunning. Government paratroopers discovered one of their adversaries’ main camps. Circular in shape, it was crisscrossed with trenches camouflaged by fast-growing yam plants and running for hundreds of yards among concealed barracks roofed with thatch. Below the redoubt were huge, man-made caverns 60 feet underground, honeycombed with tunnels. At one point, eight tunnels converged into a large subterranean room that was complete with tables, chairs and Viet Cong flags.

The Reds massed an estimated 1,500 men at Binhgia—the third time in recent weeks that they had fielded a regiment-size unit (they did the same at Soctrang 90 miles south of Saigon a fortnight ago and at the battle of Anlao Valley in central Viet Nam last month). U.S. advisers suspect that the Viet Cong, swelled by 600 North Vietnamese regulars now being infiltrated monthly, may be trying to chew up government reserve battalions while testing their own ability to fight sustained actions. The Reds are also striking ever closer to major cities. Last week two Viet Cong companies attacked a government outpost eight miles south of Saigon, killed a U.S. Army lieutenant. Another Communist force opened fire on a squad of troops in broad daylight only four miles from Hué, one of South Viet Nam’s largest cities, but speedy government reinforcements killed 57 fleeing Reds.

“Committee of Honor.” A little less noisy but equally heated was the continuing political war in Saigon. A “committee of honor,” consisting of a representative acting for Premier Tran Van Huong, plus Deputy U.S. Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson acting for Ambassador Maxwell Taylor, plus two military officers representing Commander-in-Chief General Nguyen Khanh, met to negotiate. Khanh’s lads complained that the military Young Turks, who overthrew the ineffectual High National Council, had been “seriously insulted” by Taylor after he had demanded that coup-minded officers cease interfering with the civilian government. The officers got no apology. But at week’s end, under the whirling fans and gilded cornices of Gia Long Palace, Huong and Khanh signed what was advertised as a “solution.”

The armed forces promised once again to yield power to civilians and to release five arrested members of the High National Council. Huong and Chief of State Phan Khac Suu agreed to convene a “national convention” as soon as possible to act as a legislature; in the meantime, the aging, feeble Suu would exercise “legislative powers.” “The political crisis is considered ended,” announced a communiqué, and the U.S. embassy cautiously welcomed the deal as “a promising step in the direction of . . . stable and effective government.”

Turks Galore. Actually, more than anything else the agreement simply ratified the military’s Dec. 20 “demi-coup.” It did not restore or replace the High National Council, as the U.S. had demanded. Moreover the “solution,” as usual, only papered over again South Viet Nam’s myriad divisions. Even as it was being signed, word spread that a new coup of junior officers was becoming increasingly jealous of the Young Turks’ swift promotions. Inevitably, they were dubbed “Baby Turks.” Some of the brass, frustrated in their desire for power, were flirting with the Buddhists, who in turn kept up their own campaign to overthrow Huong. Once again the talk of coup was on every lip.

* Last week the U.S. Defense Department revealed that American casualties in Viet Nam during 1964 were 190 killed, 1,038 wounded. The combined total for 1961, 1962 and 1963: 164 killed, 486 wounded. The total of American losses in Viet Nam to date: 356 killed, 1,546 wounded, ten captured, 19 missing.