BATTLE OF INDO-CHINA: Bubbly for the Moles

BATTLE OF INDOCHINA

Beneath the wan light of flare shells, the war in Indo-China moved into the seventh year. Said a red-haired Foreign Legionnaire: "We now have the oldest war in the world." To the "Moles of Nasan" the usually frugal French commissary sent Australian beefsteaks, fried potatoes, vegetables, fresh bread, Algerian wine and 3,000 bottles of champagne—one bottle for every four men in the dusty, embattled airstrip. Thai and Vietnamese troops got frozen meat, dried fish and rice; the North Africans had wine, live sheep and goats, brought in by airlift. In a dugout mess 25 feet underground, Nasan Commander Two-Star General Jean Gilles passed out cigars and liquors to his staff. Said bearlike General Gilles: "We've done a nice job here."

The French could afford a small celebration. General Vo Nguyen Giap's Communist army was now in the situation previously occupied by the French: their forces were spread out thinly over a vast area of jungle and mountain country. In the north, the Communist supply lines were at that moment being attacked by Thai guerrillas, most pro-French of the tribesmen. On the other hand, the French were now concentrated in Nasan and the Hanoi delta. But where would this lead in the coming seventh year of the war?

Straws in the wind: 1) local tribesmen are supplying the French with more information about Communist movements than ever before; 2) the native Viet Nam soldiers are coming into their own. French officers, once hostile to their small, thin allies, now speak enthusiastically of the Viet Nam soldiers, report them gaining in strength and spirit. Last week, in an isolated post 30 miles south of Hanoi, a small Viet Nam unit fought off Communist attacks until relieved by a column of their own armor and infantry. The tough little Viet Nam soldiers evacuated their wounded, rebuilt their fortifications, put in a new garrison, and waited for the Communists to attack again.

If, in the seventh year of fighting, the French could command the confidence and support of the native peoples, there was hope for Indo-China.