South Viet Nam: Greeted by Waves

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It was only three months ago that the men of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division disembarked in Viet Nam. Since then they have been largely preoccupied with the routine of settling in—250 miles north of Saigon in a highland base camp near Pleiku. Last week, the Ivy made its first major contact with the enemy.

Slipping silently through the tall elephant grass surrounding a company perimeter near the Cambodian border, some 150 North Vietnamese regulars launched a grenade attack. Taken by surprise, the 175-man American company suffered "moderate casualties"official jargon meaning it was hit hard. After a fierce two-hour tussle, the Communists withdrew. Then another company was attacked by a fresh North Vietnamese company in a fight that ended only when Skyraiders and Gatling-armed C-47 "Puff the Magic Dragon" planes bombed and strafed the attackers.

But the Reds were still not through. A third company that had listened to all the shooting from afar suddenly found itself under grenade assault. This time the North Vietnamese, screaming and blowing bugles, launched successive human-wave attacks on the bloodied Americans.

The assaults against the 4th Division constituted the first direct challenge to American troops in almost a month. Whether they signaled the opening of the much-mooted Communist highland offensive, were an effort to draw sufficient U.S. blood to influence the congressional elections, or were merely a frantic stab at untried U.S. troops, only the Red high command knew.