The War: End of the Holiday

In Southeast Asia, the Year of the Snake ended and the Year of the Horse began. For the U.S. and its allies, last week marked a more ominous turning point. After a Christmas truce that was not a truce, after a four-day New Year cease-fire in which the firing did not cease, after a suspension of U.S. bombing raids over North Viet Nam that brought no whisper of response to President Johnson's intensive, month-long peace campaign, it was all too clear that the holiday and its fleeting hopes for peace were over.

The Viet Cong, who initiated the latest truce, shattered it almost immediately. Communist guerrillas fired on a U.S. Marine platoon near Danang, killing two sergeants. A fierce battle between Reds and South Korean troops near Tuy Hoa resulted in 53 Communist dead. In a pre-dawn raid by terrorists, a 25-lb. bomb exploded outside a U.S. billet near Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Airport, killing a U.S. soldier and a

Vietnamese civilian. When the ceasefire ended, the Communists had ushered in Tet, the lunar New Year, with at least 80 attacks, atrocities or acts of violence.

Ready for Action. In the weeks before Tet, a curious quiescence had enveloped the battlefield. U.S. troops had not encountered the Viet Cong in force since mid-December. Officials in Saigon launched a pre-Tet propaganda-for-peace campaign that included airdrops of millions of leaflets and safe-conduct passes for Viet Cong defectors, and endless broadcasts of heart-rending ballads ("Oh, what dreams are you making, dreaming of the success of the vicious Communists?"). But Hanoi seemed as deeply committed as ever to its stubborn, bloody gamble for South Viet Nam.

The infiltration of Red troops from North Viet Nam has increased markedly; some 6,000 men have slipped across the border in the past month. Military intelligence in Saigon reported two 10,000-man Communist divisions —one of crack North Vietnamese regulars, the other a veteran Viet Cong outfit—massed in central Viet Nam, readying twin assaults in the highlands and near the sea. Allied units were also poised for a major offensive. They were reinforced last week by 7,000 more American troops, swelling the total U.S. force in Viet Nam to 191,000. The fighting to come may well be the most savage of the war.

Beyond Invective. The end of the President's peace offensive was signaled by the return to Washington of Roving Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, who had traveled 30,000 miles, visited twelve countries. Harriman was the farthest flying of all the emissaries Johnson sent out. With him when he returned was Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who had flown to India for Prime Minister Lai Bahadur Shastri's funeral and then visited Saigon for talks with South Vietnamese and U.S. leaders. Neither official could disguise his disillusion.